Page 58 - Food&Drink Nov-Dec 2020

YEAR IN REVIEW
✷
2020
headline makers
Food & Drink Business wraps up the news year with some of the top stories from 2020.
JAN/FEB
NESTLÉ’S $3.3BN PLASTICS PLAN
Nestlé announced it would invest around AU$3 billion (CHF2 billion) to shift from virgin plastic to food-grade recycled plastics. It will also
establish a sustainable packaging venture
fund to invest in start-up companies
that focus on packaging
innovation. Nestlé will
source up to two
million metric tons of food-grade
recycled plastics, with more than
AU$2.2 billion (CHF1.5 billion) will be allocated to paying a
premium for materials between now and its 2025 deadline, the company said.
Nestlé Oceania head of corporate affairs Margaret Stuart said: “Almost a third of packaging in our supply chain in Australia includes recycled content – predominantly in our
products packaged in glass and metal. From a local standpoint, the company will work closely with suppliers to develop new packaging solutions as well as ways to advance the local plastics circular economy.”
MCWILLIAM’S VOLUNTARY ADMINISTRATION Family-owned winemaker McWilliam’s Wines entered voluntary administration.
McWilliam’s history covers six generations of the family business, which first started in the Riverina district in southern New South Wales, and today also has assets in the Hunter Valley. The company produces its own wines, as well as being the Australian distributor for global brands, such as Champagne Taittinger, Mateus and Henkell.
KPMG Australia restructuring services partner and administrator Gayle Dickerson said the administration process is in its initial phase, with an immediate assessment of the business and its operation its current priority.
UNILEVER REVIEWS GLOBAL TEA BUSINESS Unilever CEO Alan Jope announced a strategic review of its global tea business as the company released its full-year 2019 results. Its tea brands include PG Tips, Lipton, Bushells and Australian business T2.
Black tea is a major part of Unilever’s tea business, selling in 60 countries and generating
around US$3.3 billion in annual
sales, Jope said. However, sales of traditional black tea, the largest segment of the category, have been declining in developed markets for several years due to changing consumer preferences.
COVID-19 ARRIVES
In early January, news started to come from China about a new coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. By 10 February, there were 40,554 people infected, with only 319 cases recorded outside of China.
By the end of February, earlier optimism based on the virus being contained was quickly giving way to increasingly nervous markets and entire sectors, including education and tourism, already recording massive profit downgrades.
World Economic Forum head of Shaping the Future of Advanced Manufacturing and Production Francisco Betti said that global value chains have been designed to optimise cost competitiveness, but COVID-19 underlined the need to also focus on risk competitiveness.
Betti said: “Many CEOs are scrambling to respond to urgent questions about how to protect their employees, ensure supply security, mitigate the financial impact, address reputational risks, and navigate market uncertainty, which is driving down demand.”
Hoarding toilet paper wasn’t even on the radar.
LACTALIS TO CLOSE ROCKHAMPTON FACTORY Changing milk supply drove Lactalis Australia to close its Rockhampton factory at the end of February.
Yoghurt production at South Brisbane was also scaled back because of insufficient farm milk in Queensland to support yoghurt manufacturing. The factory has been relying on milk from other states to meet demand, it said.
“Yoghurt manufacture will transition to other Lactalis factories in Victoria and Tasmania, which will reduce transportation requirements of milk between the states,” the company said.
Lactalis is the largest buyer of milk from Queensland farms, purchasing more than 150 million litres of milk from 114 Queensland dairy farmers each year. It owns major brands Pauls, Ice Break, Vaalia and Breaka.
FORMER BELLAMY’S DIRECTOR CHARGED Former director of Bellamy’s Australia Jan Cameron faced criminal charges following an investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). She was charged with contravening sections 671B(1) and 1308(2) of the Corporations Act.
Cameron was a director of the infant formula company between 14 May 2007 and 5 May 2011.
ON THE COVER
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