Top Beer Brands will Now List Calorie Counts on their Products in Europe; North America Next

Alcoholic drinks sold in Europe will soon feature labels detailing their nutritional contents. The move comes after four of the largest brewers of the world confirmed that they would support a proposal to print calorie counts on their products. After Europe, a similar change will also be adopted in the United States.

The largest trade body that represents brewers in the European region—The Brewers of Europe—said this week that its members would soon list nutritional information as a practice on all of their products. The four major beer makers that endorsed the proposal were SABMiller PLC, Carlsberg A/S, Heineken NV and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA. Some of these will start printing the labels as early as the first week of April.

There has been mounting pressure on alcohol producers to follow on the same lines as food manufacturers and make known the nutritional contents of their products to consumers. This has especially been the case in developed markets where health-centric purchase decisions are impact market dynamics like never before. According to the International Food Information Council Foundation, a survey conducted in 2014 showed that about 71% American regarded the attribute of ‘healthfulness’ an influencer on their purchase decision. This figure is 58% higher than that recorded in 2010.

The use of similar labels could be seen in the U.S. market in the next two months on the products of Diageo PLC, which is the largest alcoholic beverages company in the world. The company has already announced that it will be providing calorie content per-serving on its popular products such as Guinness and Smirnoff vodka.

However, a few other brands such as SABMiller have already taken a lead in this initiative since 2008. But the company listed nutritional information on its website and not on its products hitherto.

Kraft Takes over Heinz to Create New Business Behemoth in North American Food Industry

This is a deal that will cause some far-reaching ripples in the American food industry. Two of the most iconic food industry players in the U.S. – Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz – have announced a merger to form what will be among the biggest food empires in the world. But it’s not just the business landscape that will change; it now remains to be seen how this merger will affect the way America eats.

The new entity, The Kraft Heinz Co. will be headquartered out of two locations – Chicago area and Pittsburgh. This deal catapults the two companies into the third place among top American food behemoths. The company will have to its credit over eight different food brands collectively boasting annual sales of at least US$ 1 billion.

Kraft’s classic namesake cheese, mayonnaise and dressing brands are household staples, whereas its other brands – Lunchables, Capri Sun, Jello-O, Cool Whip and others are among the top selling items in the North American food market. Heinz, on the other hand, is best known for its ketchups, Classico pasta sauce and Bagel Bites. Kraft said that about 98% of North American households purchase its products. 

But, somewhere down the line, the company’s stellar growth seems to have lost its sheen with cracks appearing in its profits. The heavily-processed food items that Kraft is best known for, are taking a beating as Americans are increasingly moving toward fresher, natural foods. Last year alone, the earnings of Kraft plunged by over 60%. Other factors such as product recalls have hurt the company further.

Investor Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway, along with Brazil-based 3G Capital Partners, engineered this deal. In 2013, the two companies had come together to purchase Heinz in a $23 billion deal.

Harvard Study Finds Consumers Using Re-Usable Grocery Shopping Bags Purchase Marginally More Junk Food

Consumers bringing their own re-usable grocery bags tend to buy themselves more junk food, a working paper by the Harvard Business School has revealed. Researchers found that consumers subconsciously perceive bringing re-usable grocery bags as a positive initiative, and tend to reward themselves for this by purchasing more junk food.

The study is based on data collated from loyalty cards over a period of two years at a grocery-store chain in California. The data was analyzed by researchers Bryan Bollinger and Uma R. Karmarkar, who sifted through about 1 million transactions. The store, where the data was collected from, offered a discount to customers who brought in re-usable grocery bags. The small discount amount was marked on the receipt issued at the tills – this allowed researchers to differentiate between those customers who were bringing in their own bags and those who weren’t. 

The researchers, for the purpose of this study, did not include certain types of transactions, such as: Late-night store visits or the purchase of just one or two items. This was done to weed out atypical shopping behavior. An analysis of the data revealed that a small percentage of these consumers – 0.25% -- were more inclined to buy basic foods (eggs and milk) with organic labels. However, these consumers were also noticed to have a slightly higher inclination – 1.24% – were more inclined to junk food (nonorganic) items such as chips and candy.

While the researchers acknowledge that these numbers are not significant, Karmarkar said that the results could likely have been slightly different if they had also gathered data from an additional location, such as the East Coast.

Coffee Consumption to Experience 17% Uptick in Indonesia in 2015 as Consumers Become more Affluent

The Association of Indonesia Coffee Exporters and Industries expects that Indonesians will consume 17% more coffee in 2015 as compared to the previous year. Expressed in volumes, this will translate into a demand of 350,000 metric tons in 2015, against approximately 300,000 tons in 2014. In 2010, Indonesia’s coffee consumption approximated 190,000 tons.

According to the chairman of the Association, Irfan Anwar, there will be an upsurge in the consumption of coffee in Indonesia thanks to an increasingly affluent middle class that is willing to spend more on premium coffee as well as slashed exports. The country is the third largest producer of robusta globally.

Coffee exports from Indonesia saw a downslide between 2013 and 2014. While the country exported 382,000 tons of coffee in 2014, the figure was marginally higher at 432,000 tons in 2013. This dip in exports has occurred because of a rising demand for coffee beans from the domestic market.

And, it’s not just coffee that Indonesians seem to be consuming copiously. The domestic demand for nearly all of Indonesia’s key export products, such as palm oil, is rising every year. This comes as no surprise considering that Indonesia is the fourth most populous country and has a thriving economy. The country ranks among the top importers of sugar and wheat worldwide. Improvements in lifestyle have brought about a parallel increase in demand for fine foods and high-quality ingredients.

The expansion of the coffee culture in Indonesia can be gauged from the fact that Excelso, an Indonesian coffee chain, which set up shop in Jakarta in 1991 today operates more than 100 coffee shops across 28 cities in the country.

Moreover, Indonesians are now drinking high-quality coffee and have come to possess a better understanding of the difference between fine and mediocre coffee, which has changed the demand dynamics in the domestic market.

Philippines’ Textile Sector on Course for Revival with New Industry Initiatives

Until a few years ago, the textile industry in the Philippines was considered to be a sunset sector. But that scenario seems to be changing, with industry stakeholders showing confidence in the revival of the textile industry in the Philippines. This sentiment was echoed by several industry entities during a recent seminar attended by hundreds of players from the textile industry.

The conference, which was called Philippine Textiles: the Future, Today, was held by the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), which functions under the aegis of the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST’s). The key aim o the conference was to provide industry players with a platform to exchange ideas as well as offer insight into innovations that could help bring the industry back on track. Participants were mainly from sub-sectors such as garments, textile and the fashion market.

Besides business entities, the conference saw an impressive turnout of academicians, social enterprises, government bodies, as well as private entities. The leading suggestions that were presented during the conference were to increase the use of indigenous materials as well as natural dyes and textiles, which can help the Philippine textile sector to chart a new growth trail. The industry also decided to renew its focus on eco-friendly textiles and smart textiles. 

Besides consumer-use textile, opportunities within emerging areas such as functional textiles, and automotive-grade nonwoven composites were also deliberated upon. With an ASEAN economic integration on the cards, the secretary of DOST said that this would create challenges for the textile industry in the Philippines, which it must embrace and overcome.

Industry experts said that current challenges that the industry faces are: High electricity costs, trade barriers, high tax rates, as well as difficult import policies.

Israel Extends Helping Hand to Turkey for Setting up World-Class Diamond Polishing Industry

The Israeli diamond industry is taking a keen interest in harnessing the many advantages that Turkey offers for the trade of precious stones. Leading players in this market from Israel find that Turkey’s proximity to both Europe and Arab countries puts it in a unique position to set up what could potentially be an extremely remunerative industry. It is with this view that Israel Diamond Exchange will help Turkey establish a wider diamond industry, according to a report in Globes recently.

According to senior VP of the Israel Diamond Exchange, Jacob Kattan, if Israel doesn’t take a lead on this front, there are several other contenders waiting to take advantage of this lucrative business opportunity. In this arena, Israel views countries such as South Africa and India as key competitors. He stated that players in the jewelry industry in Turkey do appreciate Israel’s interest as well as capabilities. The countries hope that they will soon be able to collaborate and set up industry-leading diamond polishing establishments.

The invitation that was sent out by the IKO-the largest organized group of Turkish jewelry businesses—was accepted by about 20 diamond merchants from Israel. The IKO, which comprises over 3,000 members, had extended an invitation to Israeli diamond merchants to partake in an international jewelry exhibition in the country’s capital, Istanbul.

The Israeli jewelry merchants said that they were impressed by the determination exhibited by Turkish authorities to develop the domestic diamond industry not just to earn revenues, but also to help create more employment. It is important to note at this point, that while the Turkish jewelry industry is regarded among as a world-leading entity, Turkey still heavily relies on countries such as India, Israel and Belgium to import polished diamonds.

Global Roofing Market is Expected to Reach US$ 97.59 Billion in 2020: Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research has published a new report titled “Roofing (Bituminous Roofing, Metal Roofing, Tile Roofing and Others) Market for Residential Construction, Commercial and Nonresidential Construction Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014 – 2020”. According to the report, the global market for roofing was valued at US$ 64.49 Bn in 2013 and is anticipated to reach US$ 97.59 Bn in 2020, expanding at a CAGR of 6.3% between 2014 and 2020. In terms of volume, the market stood at 10,600.9 million square meters in 2013.

Browse the full Roofing Market Report:  http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/roofing-market.html

Demand for roofing materials was the largest from Asia Pacific, accounting for approximately 40% share of the overall market in 2013. Emerging economies of China and India are the top markets for roofing materials owing to rapid infrastructural development in these countries. Roofing materials are used significantly for residential and nonresidential applications in these countries. Demand for commercial roofing is rising considerably in Asia Pacific, as many companies have set up their production units in countries in Southeast Asia. Additionally, the market for commercial roofing in Asia Pacific is likely to witness the fastest growth rate during the forecast period. Construction activities and natural calamities such as earthquakes and storms are the two major factors driving the roofing market.

Demand in developed regions such as North America has particularly been high in commercial and healthcare applications due to increasing usage of ceiling tile products such as bituminous roof tiles. Various types of roofing materials are used in North America; these roofing materials are used in different buildings such as offices, hotels and educational institutes. Out of these, bituminous materials are the primary choice for roofing due to their high quality and low cost of installation. Furthermore, due to the presence of a large construction industry in North America, particularly in the U.S., the market for roofing materials has been significantly high in various applications ranging from commercial to industrial.

Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/roofing-market.htm

Factors such as high demand in the current and emerging applications, modernization, and development of infrastructure have been some of the key factors driving the demand for roofing materials in Europe over the past few years. In addition, several initiatives conducted by the U.K. based organization, Waste Resource and Efficiency Plan (WRAP) to ensure the resources used for the production of roofing materials are utilized properly or these have no detrimental impact on the environment, have also contributed to the growth of the market. Several initiatives towards technological innovations in waste material logistics have enhanced the sustainability of the U.K. construction industry. In the RoW region, South America accounts for the majority of the demand for roofing materials, as innovative roofing materials are being widely used in this region due to changing lifestyles and growing need for better living conditions. Rising income levels and favorable government policies in economies such as Brazil and Argentina have also fuelled the demand for roofing materials.

Roofing Market - Product Segment Analysis

•  Bituminous
• Metal
• Tile
• Others (Including fiber cement, plastic, etc.)

Roofing Market - Application Analysis

• Residential construction
• Commercial
• Nonresidential construction

Roofing Market - Regional Analysis

•  North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Rest of the World

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