Industry News

Caribou Coffee Co. will close 80 stores nationwide and rebrand another 88 under the banner of its corporate cousin, Peet's Coffee & Tea, in a restructuring that will cut the chain's footprint by more than 25%. The moves amount to a retreat from markets in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, eastern Wisconsin, and Washington, DC, which will effectively become markets for Peet's. Previously, Peet's had been strongest along the West Coast, though it also had a presence in Illinois (one of the few markets where both Caribou and Peet's overlapped, though Caribou was much stronger), reported Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Full Story

The U.S. grocery market has proven difficult for numerous international chains, with those companies wrongly assuming that strategies honed abroad would succeed in America, and they underestimated the resources and management attention required to make headway in a vast and fast-changing market. Probably the first foreign chain to open in the U.S. was Canada's Loblaw, which opened in Buffalo, NY in 1924. Of all the international ventures in U.S. food retailing, only two have unblemished records: Aldi Group and Trader Joe's; both are in German hands, controlled by separate companies owned by different members of the Albrecht family, reported Bloomberg.com. Full Story

Chiquita sold its joint venture with Danone called Danone Chiquita Fruits, to the German company Gebruder Bagusat. The deal took place at the end of March and will still have the name of Chiquita, working under the company name Chiquita Bagusat Smoothies, reported Fresh Plaza. Full Story

NORPAC Foods and Henningsen Cold Storage reached an agreement to build a 260,000-sq.-ft. frozen food storage and distribution facility near NORPAC's Salem, OR packaging facility. The warehouse, scheduled for completion in Spring 2014, would provide cold storage space for a nearby NORPAC food packaging plant. NORPAC, a fruit and vegetable processor, also plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to Salem. Full Story

Arcadia Biosciences and DuPont Pioneer will collaboratively develop a high-value, specialty nutritional oil for global consumer markets. Under the agreement, Arcadia will receive certain licenses to specific DuPont Pioneer innovations and intellectual property. The focus of the collaboration will be the development of new safflower varieties that produce high levels of arachidonic acid-containing oil in a concentrated, reliable and cost-effective way. Full Story

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Food Institute News

The just-published 2012 edition of Food Business Mergers & Acquisitions guide organizes a busy year of the significant deals in 2012 in to an easy-to-use accessible format. Organized into more than 25 categories, this annual proprietary Food Institute publication is a valuable resource for examining individual deals as well as exploring larger trends in specific industries or international markets. With consolidation a powerful force in the food industry, a lack of awareness of market trends and contemporary acquisitions may result in a missed opportunity or a mismanaged deal. Click here for more information.

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International News

Food and other consumer goods in Canada are priced slightly higher at Target than Walmart, according to a survey. A 920g container of Folgers Classic Roast sells for $6.97 at Walmart compared to $9.49 at Target, while 890ml of Kraft Miracle Whip was priced $4.97 at Target, compared to $4.99 at Walmart. The survey, by mobile research firm Field Agent Canada, found that 12 of 13 goods were 8% higher at Target. The 13th item was substantially lower at Target, which resulted in its prices, on average, being 1.16% higher, reported The Globe and Mail. Full Story

Health News

Getting plenty of calcium from foods has been shown to lower the likelihood of kidney stones in those most at risk, but a new study makes clear the benefit is not just linked to milk products, according to a study published in The Journal of Urology. In a large new analysis, men and women who consumed the most dietary calcium from foods had about 20% lower risk of developing kidney stones than peers who consumed the least calcium, reported Reuters. Full Story

Washington News

The White House will decide whether to raise low prices of sugar in the U.S. market by buying hundreds of thousands of tons of surplus sugar and selling it at a loss to ethanol producers. If approved, it would be the first implementation of the sugar-for-ethanol program, created in 2008 and known as the Feedstock Flexibility Program. USDA sent its proposal to the White House budget office for approval last week after large crops in the U.S. and Mexico pushed New York futures prices below the trigger price for potential forfeiture of sugar by processors, which could begin in July, reported Reuters. Full Story

Dole Food and Nestle's Gerber unit are among foodmakers facing a trial in California for allegedly violating the state's Proposition 65, a toxins-warning law, by not warning consumers of unsafe levels of lead in baby food, fruit and juices. The Environmental Law Foundation filed the suit in 2011, stating the companies should bring the levels down or provide a warning. The four-week trial began with testimony from an expert for the foodmakers who claimed the foundation's analysis overestimates children's exposure to lead in the products, reported Bloomberg Businessweek. Full Story

Market News

Click Here to view The Lempert Report, hosted by Phil Lempert.

In 2012, U.S. exports of value-added, consumer-oriented agricultural products to Korea reached a record high of $2.8 billion. In 2012, Korean imports of tree nuts including walnuts, almonds and pistachios, were almost exclusively from the U.S. With the new free trade agreement's tariff reductions, U.S. walnut exports increased 21% to reach $98 million and Korea became the largest U.S. market for shelled walnuts, surpassing both Germany and Japan. USDA Report

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