Page 5 - Food&Drink March 2022

NEWS
Asahi commits to local produce
TASMANIAN Westerway Raspberry Farm will supply Asahi Beverages with 50,000 kilograms of raspberries every year, with the beverage giant announcing it would no longer use imported berries from Poland.
The family-owned Westerway farm is the largest processing berry grower in Tasmania. Owner Richard Clark said they were proud to showcase quality Tasmanian produce to the rest of Australia.
“This deal will enable us to plant more fruit, employ more people and give greater security and certainty to those Tasmanians we already employ.
“We are a family business and take a lot of pride in what we do. By supplying our fruit to a local quality processor at Cascade, it enables us to showcase our berries in the best possible light. It means we are not compromising on the flavour which is important to us because we take care to grow our berries in the best Tassie soils and use local pristine water to irrigate,” Clark said.
The berries will be pressed and processed at the historic Cascade Brewery in Hobart, with some of the juice concentrate used in Tasmania for Mercury Cider. The rest will be sent to the mainland to be used in Asahi Beverage brands Spring Valley
fruit juice, Cottee’s cordial, and Pop Tops. Asahi Beverages general manager
Procurement Dave Baxter said the switch to Tasmanian raspberries was because of their quality, their more reliable supply, and Asahi’s commitment to supporting Australian farmers.
“We know the best beverages are made with the best raw ingredients – and it really doesn’t get much better than being able to source fresh, world-class produce while supporting local farmers,” Baxter said.
Last year, Asahi restructured its barley supply chain, removing bulk handlers from the process and allowing brewers to work directly with growers. ✷
Suntory sells fresh coffee business for $229m
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SUNTORY SELLS COFFEE BUSINESS Suntory Beverage & Food is selling its Oceania region fresh coffee business to UCC Coffee for $229 million.
SUNTORY Beverage & Food (SBF) is selling its Oceania region fresh coffee business to UCC Coffee subsidiary, UCC ANZ Management.
The sale, worth $229 million, covers Australia, New Zealand and Singapore operations and is expected to be completed by mid-2022.
SBF’s fresh coffee business is the largest coffee roaster in ANZ with brands Toby’s Estate, Atomic, L’affare, Robert Harris, and Mocopan.
It also has contract roasting operations that service the retail and convenience sector.
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CY20 was roughly $14 billion and revenue $1.5 billion.
Oceania represents four percent of revenue and six per cent of profit.
SBF’s fresh coffee business CEO for the region Dean Divehall said the company had been conducting a strategic review for the last six months.
“We assessed options that would maximise value of the fresh coffee business in this region, including the opportunity to enhance value under potential new ownership.
“The sale to UCC represents a positive outcome for employees, customers and wider stakeholders of our fresh coffee business in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore,” Divehall said.
CEO of SBF Kazuhiro Saito said UCC sees the brand strength of the SBF products.
“They anticipate further
growing the business and brands by leveraging their international experience and capability in coffee roasting, and their extensive global distribution channels,” Saito said.
UCC is a global coffee business that manages coffee estates, raw ingredient procurement and importing, R&D and quality assurance, manufacturing, product distribution and sales.
It is headquartered in Japan with offices across Asia, Europe and the Americas.
UCC Group CEO Gota Ueshima said the addition of the fresh coffee business was “highly complementary” to its existing operations.
“We intend to maximise the potential of UCC and the fresh coffee business to achieve dynamic and sustainable growth in the global coffee market,” Ueshima said. ✷
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www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | March 2022 | Food&Drink business | 5