Cold Shoulder?

At the risk of perpetuating more rumors about major moves in the world dairy industry, there has been some speculation that Unilever is reviewing its frozen foods divisions with the thought of selling some or all of its brands. The Anglo-Dutch group is said to have asked the investment bank Goldman Sachs to look at the options for the division, whose brands include Ben & Jerry’s and Good Humor in the U.S. Carte D’Or, Magnum, Walls and Solero. Unilever is one of the top ice cream marketers in the world with annual global sales approaching $5 billion.

Nordmilch Looks East

One of Germany’s top dairy processors, Nordmilch, is establishing a distribution center and sales subsidiary in Prague to feed a growing market in Eastern Europe. As early as 2003, Nordmilch, Germany’s leading milk marketer was making inroads to the east.

Snow Brand Recovery

Moody’s Investors recently upgraded Japan’s Snow Brand Milk Products’ senior unsecured long-term debt rating to Ba3 from B2 with a stable outlook, reflecting the continuing recovery in its operating performance and financial profile. The new rating means the company still has some speculative elements, but stands at the upper end among the speculative ratings.

Organic School Milk

So what kind of drinks are parents packing for school lunch this year? Pop? Juice? Water? Organic Meadow, Guelph, Canada, now makes portable Tetra Prisma cartons of 2%, chocolate and strawberry milk that don't need to be refrigerated. Three-packs of 250-millilitre cartons retail for $4.99 to $5.29. A subsidiary of the OntarBio Organic Farmers Co-operative Organic Meadow, collects milk from more than 100 organic farms. Its milks are free of hormones, antibiotics and preservatives. Fair Trade cocoas and sugar go into the chocolate and strawberry milks.

Super Arla

Arla Foods’ UK division is putting the finishing touches on a new super dairy in Leeds. It is thought that the fluid milk plant will be one of the largest in the world when it is completed in October. Production is expected to reach full capacity early next year.