World Grain - January 2013 - 10

newsreview

News review
Brought to you by World-Grain.com

Nisshin to buy New Zealand
flour milling business
NORTH RYDE, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA
— Nisshin Flour Milling Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based
Nisshin Seifun Group Inc., has agreed to acquire Goodman
Fielder’s Champion ﬂour milling business in New Zealand for
NZ$51 million ($42.4 million). The price excludes net cash
proceeds of NZ Milling receivables and payables.
The transaction is expected to be completed in February,
subject to the satisfaction of conditions.
“This transaction is another example of the successful execution of our strategy to divest non-core businesses to enable us to focus our capital and marketing expenditure and
our internal resources on our core categories and brands,” said
Chris Delaney, chief executive ofﬁcer of Goodman Fielder.
“Together with the sale, we have also structured a long-term
supply partnership with Nisshin to ensure Goodman Fielder
maintains an efﬁcient supply of ﬂour and related products for
our business in New Zealand. With global scale and expertise
in milling, Nisshin brings considerable scope to provide further efﬁciency and innovation to create value under this longterm supply agreement.”
According to the company’s website, Champion Flour Mills
produces approximately 60% of New Zealand’s ﬂour and cereal-based products at two milling sites in Christchurch and
Mount Maunganui. The company’s product range includes
ﬂours, meals, bread and cake mixes, margarines, shortening
and a variety of other baking ingredients.
Goodman Fielder said it will retain the business where it

Nisshin Seifun Group Inc.’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Photo courtesy of
Nisshin Seifun Group.

sells ﬂour to retailers, in-store bakeries and hot bread shops,
supported by the ﬂour supply agreement with Nisshin. Meanwhile, Nisshin will be responsible for supplying to commercial and industrial customers in New Zealand.
Nisshin said it intends to retain all existing staff.

China expects record 2012-13 corn crop
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — A record large corn crop in
China resulted in a 7-million-tonne increase to 1.284 billion
tonnes in projected 2012-13 world coarse grain supplies, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its Dec. 11
World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates and in its
latest Feed Outlook.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics pegged its ﬁrst estimate of 2012-13 corn production at a record 208 million
tonnes, which was “adopted” by the USDA and was up 8 million tonnes from the USDA’s November forecast for China.
The USDA said “economic information, weather data and
satellite imagery support the large increase” in China’s corn
output.
The 2012-13 corn production estimate is up 8% from China’s outturn of 192.8 million tonnes in 2011-12.
A total world increase in corn production of 9.4 million
tonnes from November partially was offset by lower output of
barley, oats and sorghum, resulting in the net 7-million-tonne
coarse grain increase, the USDA said.
China reported corn harvested area of a record 34.95 mil10

lion hectares in 2012-13, up 4% from the previous year. The
number of harvested acres planted to corn has been climbing in China for every crop year since 2003-04. Yield has increased every year since 2009-10.
The USDA said a number of factors contributed to the record crop, including a favorable price for corn at the time of
planting compared to other ﬁeld crops such as soybeans and
cotton.
Good growing conditions limited losses in the harvest-toplanted ratio in most areas with warmer-than-normal temperatures and plenty of precipitation aiding the corn crop in key
regions of China.
Total coarse grain production in the U.S., in contrast, was
forecast at a drought-reduced 284.8 million tonnes in 2012-13,
unchanged from a month ago and down 12% from 2011-12,
the USDA said. U.S. corn production was estimated at 272.4
million tonnes in 2012-13, down 13% from a year earlier.
U.S. corn exports, which have fallen steadily since 200910, have tumbled so far in 2012-13, although analysts forecast
some increase in export demand later in the marketing year.
January 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

http://www.World-Grain.com http://www.World-Grain.com

World Grain - January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of World Grain - January 2013