Milling & Baking News - May 1, 2012 - 1

THE NEWS WEEKLY OF GRAIN-BASED FOODS MAY 1, 2012

bakingbusiness.com / foodbusinessnews.net

FOOD INGREDIENT SOLUTIONS®

Alton sees ingredient prices still at center of issues facing A.B.A.
ST. CLOUD, MINN. — The volatility and strength of bakery ingredient markets remains at the forefront of issues requiring attention from the American Bakers Association, said the group’s incoming chairman, Howard R. (Robin) Alton III. Mr. Alton is chief executive ofﬁcer of Pan-O-Gold Baking Co. based in St. Cloud, Minn. Mr. Alton together with A.B.A. Alton president and c.e.o. Robb MacKie spoke recently with editors of Milling & Baking News and Baking & Snack magazines, both Sosland Publishing Co. publications. Mr. Alton began his term as chairman April 15, during the 2012 annual meeting of the A.B.A., held at the Fairmont Princess, Scottsdale, Ariz. “We’re always looking at commodities,” Mr. Alton said. “It’s always important to our cost modeling in achieving pricing so that the consumer can still afford a loaf of bread. God knows we’ve seen the price of bread move. Whatever we can do to keep the cost of baking a loaf of bread in check is important to pursue.” For an industry group that is staunchly committed to unfettered free markets, the issue of ingredient price volatility is anything but simple for the A.B.A., Mr. MacKie said. Still, he said the group has made important progress toward addressing what many consider an artiﬁcial source of market volatility — the proliferation of index funds in grain markets, classiﬁed in the past as hedgers. “After over two years of effort, we ﬁnally pushed through a proposal that
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Counting (down) calories
Formulate to reduce fat, sugar in snacks
Story on Page 23

LATE NEWS

Proﬁt rises for Frito-Lay, falls for Quaker
PURCHASE, N.Y. — Frito-Lay North America, a business of PepsiCo, Inc., had operating proﬁt of $780 million for the ﬁrst quarter ended March 24, which compared with $774 million in the previous year’s ﬁrst quarter. Firstquarter net revenue for F.L.N.A. rose to $3,010 million from $2,904 million, which reﬂected 6 percentage points of effective net pricing. Within Quaker Foods North America, another PepsiCo business, operating proﬁt in the ﬁrst quarter declined to $187 million from $214 million. An inventory accounting change recorded in the prior year contributed 7 percentage points
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Milling Technology

Haiti ﬂour mill powerful symbol of optimism and commitment

hen Seaboard Corp. and Continental Grain Co. joined as part of a consortium to acquire Les Moulins d’Haiti, in 1997, the group knew the road to revive the shuttered and neglected business would be lengthy and expensive. Indeed, in the 12 years that followed, an aggregate of about $20 million was spent to restore and expand

Haiti’s largest ﬂour mill to assure the business was able to more fully serve the impoverished Caribbean nation of about 10 million. The continuing investment in the complex in the 2000s was evidence of progress and even the success the venture enjoyed, but the many years of work and millions invested were wiped out in a matter of seconds in the January
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Marking nine decades in partnership with grain-based foods

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Milling & Baking News - May 1, 2012

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