A no-frills, no-nonsense daily account of breaking global potato news stories
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The food processing industry in India’s Uttar Pradesh (UP) is set to get a major boost with PepsiCo announcing a Rs 814 crore (approx 11mil US$) project for production of Lay’s potato chips, according to a report by the IANS news agency, published by Daijiworld.com. The processing plant will reportedly start commercial production by the middle of 2021. The company will also be sourcing potatoes as raw product from local sources and thereby helping local farmers. Once ready, the plant will be providing direct and indirect employment to about 1,500 people.
It’s no secret Idaho is known for its potatoes, but when it comes to potato chips, most are grown somewhere else. That’s something a Treasure Valley family decided to change, reports Karen Lehr for IdahoNews6. Brothers Marc and Kyle Nehring put their heads together a few years ago and set out to create an authentic, savory potato chip made from real Idaho potatoes. Fast forward to present day, and their Idaho “Real Potato Chips” can be found on store shelves across the Treasure Valley.
McCain Foods will resume construction this month of a $300 million expansion at its french fry plant in Othello, Wash., the company announced, according to a report by Matthew Weaver, Field Reporter for Capital Press in Spokane, Washington State in the US in this article. “We are excited to resume construction on the 170,000 square-foot expansion of the Othello plant, where McCain Foods has operated for over 31 years,” Paolo Picchi, regional president, said in a company press release. “This expansion will increase production capacity through the addition of a new state-of-the art french fry processing line, bring new jobs to the community and require approximately 11,000 additional acres, sourced from local potato growers in the region.”
The Swedish brewery St. Eriks has a unique set of potato chips that are — as far as we know — the most expensive potato chip in the world. The chips were created to draw attention for charity donations, Moss and Fog reports. A bag of potato chips is one of the cheapest snacks you can buy. Unless you opted for the extremely limited edition set of chips from Swedish Brewery St. Eriks, boxed in an absurdly fancy package, made from absurdly special ingredients.
The UK may have already left the EU, but talks between the two sides to secure a trade deal are still in deadlock – with both sides saying next month is the deadline to do a deal. That’s causing big uncertainty for businesses on both sides of the Channel, who could face cross-border tariffs that would make their products more expensive.One of the countries set to be hit hardest by no deal on trade is Belgium – where leading economists claim thousands of jobs will be lost
McCain Foods’ Timaru plant is reducing its energy usage environmental impact, now looking to electrification, by installing New Zealand-first McCain proprietary technology. The business has now slashed its coal consumption by installing technology which was developed and is owned by McCain, Pulsed Electric Field technology (PEF). Contributing to the business’s global commitment to a 50 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions of our plants by 2030, the PEF system means the company will save approximately 4,800 tonnes of carbon each year.
They are best known for their ‘once you pop you can’t stop’ slogan. But the Pringles tube and lid which makes for the distinctive sound could be in for a change. The container is being redesigned after criticism that it was too difficult to recycle, according to a news story by The Daily Mail in the UK. Now Kellogg’s, which makes the snack, is testing out simpler cans in an attempt to make them more eco-friendly. The new cans are made from around 90 per cent paper, one with a recyclable plastic lid and the other a paper lid.
The study “Evaluation of the socio-economic impact of climate change in Belgium” commissioned by the National Climate Commission has just been published. According to the authors of the report, global climate change in Belgium will mainly be felt through heat waves, floods and droughts. Warmer and drier summers, and milder and wetter winters are becoming the ‘new normal’. The increasing impact of drought on potato cultivation is a main concern for the potato fry industry, according to the authors of the report.
In Australia, McCain Foods Ballarat has achieved an improvement of 20% in its water use efficiency over the past 12 months – smashing the plant’s 2% target set in the recently released Be Good. Do Good. Sustainability report. The company says its focus on Growing Green and Golden stems from the company’s vision towards a low- carbon economy in Australia and New Zealand by concentrating on emissions, waste, investment in renewable electricity and more sustainable use of packaging and water.
Earlier this week, McCain Foods USA announced its partnership with No Kid Hungry to help ensure children across America have access to healthy meals amid coronavirus-related school closures and beyond. McCain Foods USA says in a press release the partnership was launched by donating $75,000 which will be directed to No Kid Hungry’s coronavirus response and recovery efforts that will help provide children with the most important school supply they can have: food.
Cavendish Farms’ new Research Centre in New Annan, Prince Edward Island officially opened today with a ribbon cutting with Hon. Dennis King, Premier of Prince Edward Island, and company officials. The $12.5 million facility, which is fully funded by Cavendish Farms, is an investment in the sustainability of PEI’s all-important potato industry. “This is another step to help support potato growers and the potato industry on the Island,” said Robert K. Irving, President of Cavendish Farms. “Our goal is to help address the specific challenges faced by growers here on Prince Edward Island.”
PepsiCo Russia has laid the foundation stone for a new processing plant for the production of savory snacks in the Industrial and Logistics Park of the Novosibirsk Region, according to a recent press release issued by PepsiCo Russia. The plant in Novosibirsk will become PepsiCo’s third plant to produce salty snacks in Russia. In total, there are more than 20 PepsiCo subsidiaries in Russia. The company has over time invested over US$10 billion in Russia. PepsiCo will also launch an agricultural program in the region aimed at providing the new plant with local potatoes.
While shoppers’ smiles are currently hidden behind their masks, they’ll soon spot plenty of friendly faces in the snack aisle thanks to Lay’s, which is converting millions of potato chip bags to feature the real smiles of 30 “ordinary” people doing extraordinary things in their communities. During a time when joy is needed more than ever, the new Lay’s bags continue the brand’s mission to inspire even more smiles in 2020, with up to $1 million in proceeds benefitting Operation Smile.
According to the latest Potato Weekly report published by AHDB in the UK on Friday, the past week has seen free-buy trade fall once again. AHDB Analyst Alex Cook reports that movement of supplies on contract continues to hold the majority in potato markets. Repeat orders, in some cases with lower volumes, form the common comments this week rather than fresh demand. Anticipation and uncertainty surrounding a potential re-imposing of stricter lockdown measures has seen some purchasers await further information before placing orders, meaning demand has subdued.
With the coronavirus pandemic hitting the UK domestic potato trade, we have estimated a 1% drop year-on-year in the GB potato area for 2020/21, with the provisional area standing at 119Kha. AHDB market analysts (Potatoes and Cereals) Alex Cook and Anthony Speight prepared a report in which they take a closer look at how things are stacking up for the British chipping market at this time. In the report they forecast Britain’s potential chipping area for the 2020/21 marketing year; review pricing of chipping potatoes since covid-19, and forecast demand going forward and how this could affect the ex-farm price of chipping potatoes.
Kiremko proudly announced today that the 30th STRATA Invicta® steam peeler was bought by Aviko Belgium. The manufacturer and distributor of specialized processing equipment unveils that this milestone was reached in precisely 30 months after the steam peeler was first launched commercially. “We didn’t know of this anniversary of the Kiremko STRATA Invicta® steam peeler at the moment we bought it”, Aviko Belgium Project Manager Cor Koole admits. “We just bought it because it offers us the highest reliability.
It was widely reported in Australian media that Pure Foods Tasmania is planning to buy the business and assets of Daly Potato Company for $1.8 million. Daly Potato Company emerged from a 30-year-old farm owned by the Daly family on Tasmania’s southeast coast. Its premium potato salads are sold to major supermarket chains including Woolworths, Coles and Metcash with sales growing in the last three years from $211,000 to $2million.
In a news story published by iAfrica, titled “Urgent Action Needed To Protect SA’s Potato Industry”, it is said that South Africa is a key destination for processed potato product exports from the EU “where there is a history of dumping”. This is set to have a negative impact on the country’s agricultural sector and surrounding communities, according to the news article. André Jooste, CEO of Potatoes South Africa (PSA), is quoted as saying that the local potato industry has already suffered significantly from a decrease in demand as a result of COVID-19 related regulations, such as the closure of restaurants and fast food outlets, restricted trade and movement of informal traders.
Keeping an eye on the rising global demand for potato-based products, India’s Banas Dairy company started with the construction of a new potato processing plant in North Gujarat. Avinash Nair of The Indian Express reports that Banas Dairy aims to “take on established brands like McCain Foods India Pvt Ltd and Hyfun Foods in their backyard” in the potato processing sector. Nair says the unit will have an annual capacity to process 50,000 metric tonnes of potatoes. It will focus on producing French fries and 12 other processed potato products for both the domestic and international markets in South-East Asia.
Processing potatoes supply is still outweighing the reduced demand on the domestic market. Given that most planting decisions had been made this year when the pandemic hit, this demand erosion has had minimal impact on the GB potato area. Indeed, the current estimate of 119Kha is only 1% back on 2019. In recent years, the processing area has been increasing steadily, standing at 37.5Kha last year. Using the proportion the processing area made up of the total GB area last year (31%), we could estimate 2020 area to stand around 37Kha.
With Kiwis eating fewer hot chips during lockdown, one of New Zealand’s largest potato chip manufacturers was forced to cut production significantly for six weeks at its Timaru factory until the backlog was cleared. McCain Foods agriculture director Australia and New Zealand John Jackson said the company’s factory at Washdyke, Timaru, had reduced its usual 24/7 production to five day a week shifts when stock built up due to reduced orders. Fifteen weeks after takeaway food businesses and restaurants were allowed to re-open, the factory has returned to normal production.
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