Milling & Baking News - April 7, 2009 - 8

Late News

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FLOUR
FEED GFWN
BEPVILE

MILLING COMPANY

U.S.D.A. estimated
area planted to winter
wheat for harvest in
2009 at 42.9 million
acres, down 7% from
2008 but up 2% from
the January estimate.
Soft red winter wheat
plantings were pegged
at 8.38 million acres
compared with 8.29
million acres as the
January estimate.

Mennel
+800 6888151
FAX (419) 436-5150

sales@mennel.com
www.mennel.com

Flour W ill Locations
Bucyrus, Ohio
Fost oria , Ohio

ML Olive , liter s

8 / April 7, 2009

Milling & Baking News

and chief executive officer of
Campbell. "Artisan bread represents one of the fastest growing segments of the bakery category, and I am confident that
we can leverage our sales and
marketing capabilities to expand the availability of Ecce Panis products and complement
our existing bakery business."
Founded in 1988, Ecce Panis
operates a 113,000-square-foot
bakery in East Brunswick and
has 115 employees.

according to the company. Ultragrain flour performs
well when blended
with refined flour.
Consumers may
use the flour to replace a portion of
their refined flour
in recipes ranging from cookies,
biscuits and rolls
to baked or fried chicken. ConAgra Mills already makes Ultragrain available to bakers and
food service operators.

AIB addresses audit
procedure

Fitch downgrades Gruma,
maintains stable outlook

MANHATTAN, KAS. - AIB International last week released an
extensive account of its role in
the audit of the Peanut Corporation of America's Blakely, Ga.,
plant. In defending its services,
AIB said shortly after its March
2008 audit of the P.C.A. plant,
the facility's plant manager left
the company and was not replaced until October 2008. "Four
months without day-to-day ongoing technical oversight would
be more than enough time to
cause such a facility's condition
to decline," AIB said. When the
Food and Drug Administration
investigation was initiated in
January 2009, AIB said conditions clearly had "significantly
worsened." They added that
the problems identified by the
F.D.A. in early 2009 would have
been flagged by the AIB had they
been present in March 2008. AIB
also cited several steps it is taking to further improve its auditing process. For more information visit www.aibonline.org.

MONTERREY, MEXICO -
Fitch Ratings on April 2 downgraded several ratings for
Gruma S.A.B. de C.V., lowering the company's foreign currency long-term issuer default
rating to B+ from B++ and its
$300 million perpetual bonds
to BB-/RR3 from BB+. The ratings agency maintained its stable outlook. "The rating downgrade reflects the leveraging
impact on Gruma's capital
structure that will result from
the termination of Gruma's
foreign exchange derivative
positions and the subsequent
conversion of the realized losses into debt," Fitch noted. Fitch
said Gruma has closed approximately 87% of its foreign exchange derivative instrument
positions with its three main
counterparties, resulting in a
realized loss of $668.3 million.

Ultragrain flour to
appear at retail

MILLING COMPANY
"Since 1886'

DiMichigan
Roanoke. Virginia

WEEK OF APRIL 7

OMAHA - ConAgra Foods,
Inc. will make Eagle Mills 100%
Ultragrain White Whole Wheat
Flour available at select grocery
stores nationwide starting this
spring. The flour's taste, appearance and texture are similar
to that of refined white flours,
and the flour offers the same
nutrition as 100% whole wheat,

Tate & Lyle says profit
falls short of guidance
LONDON - Weak demand
for sweeteners and industrial
starches in the Americas contributed to pre-tax profit that will be
"marginally below" the company's guidance, Tate & Lyle
P.L.C. said in an April 2 trading statement for the full year
ended March 31. The company
did note that earnings per share
are expected to be "broadly in
line with market expectations"
when full-year results are announced on May 28. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.aibonline.org http://www.mennel.com http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - April 7, 2009

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