Baking&Snack International - January 2012 - 4

Global food industry holds steady on capital expansion

According to a recent survey by Bloomberg, multinational food companies maintained their capital outlays as a share of sales during recent high unemployment and weak consumer spending. Even more important, capital budgets planned for 2012 and into 2013 indicate the intention by food manufacturing companies to hold recent investment levels even if economic conditions show little or no improvement. Capital spending by the top global food companies ranges from 3 to 6% of sales. Within the US food industry as well as in grain-based foods, the willingness to maintain their levels of capital spending has been a huge positive. A stagnant economy and credit problems have not spurred noticeable cutbacks as companies sought every possible

opportunity to lower costs while exercising appropriate diligence where unit volume has been under pressure. Around the world, the main growth in food capital spending centers in Asia, especially in the developing nations of this continent. With economies that are expanding at 8% annual rates, contrasted with 2.5% in the US, this region is not only experiencing unprecedented growth in total demand but is the focus of exceptional gains in food service. Yum! Brands Inc., operator of the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut chains, which already has 4,100 outlets in China and is adding more, has just turned to India as it offers the same opportunity. Grain-based foods is a, if not the, main supplier to such expansion. — Morton Sosland, editor in chief, Sosland Publishing

DESIGN STAFF Designer Vol. 1, No. 1 Steve Piatt PUBLISHING STAFF Chairman Charles S. Sosland Vice-Chairman L. Joshua Sosland President Mark Sabo Publisher Paul Lattan Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer Melanie Hepperly Audience Development Director Don Keating Advertising Manager Nora Wages Advertising Coordinator Debbie Maniez Digital Systems Analyst Marj Potts Circulation Manager Judy Arnone Director of Online Advertising & Promotions Carrie Fluegge Promotions Manager Taré Torres Promotions Assistant Meredith Liberman

Editorial and US Sales Office 4800 Main St., Suite 100, Kansas City, MO, USA 64112 Phone: (+1) 816 756 1000; Fax: (+1) 816 756 0494 E-mail: bsinternational@sosland.com Internet: www.bsimagazine.com

EDITORIAL STAFF Editor Executive Editor Managing Editor Senior Editor Assistant Editor Dan Malovany dmalovany@sosland.com Laurie Gorton lgorton@sosland.com Lucy Sutton lsutton@sosland.com Shane Whitaker swhitaker@sosland.com Charlotte Atchley catchley@sosland.com

Newsletter

BAKING & SNACK International Global Intelligence Report is distributed free-of-charge each month via email to all interested parties in the baking and snack food industries. Log on to BSImagazine.com and click on Magazine/Subscriptions to register. BAKING & SNACK International assumes no responsibility for the validity of claims in items reported. ©2012 Sosland Publishing Co., a division of Sosland Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.

www.bsimagazine.com

•

January 2012

•

Baking & Snack International Global Intelligence Report

http://www.bsimagazine.com http://www.BSImagazine.com http://www.bsimagazine.com

Baking&Snack International - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Baking&Snack International - January 2012