THE BEET - April 24

New Zealand and Prosecco top UK Wine Sales

hile a recent study from UK-based AccoladeWines, owners of Hardys and Banrock Station labels, showed nearly a 2-percentdrop in sales during 2017, not all areas have contracted. Sparkling wine salesrose 27-percent on the back of strong Prosecco sales and New Zealand wines sawan overall increase in their on-trade sales, rising 7-percent in volume, withan additional 11-percent increase in off-trade sales. Signaling a change in theUK wine industry, the study also showed demand for wine bottles under 250mlfrom UK adults, and an additional 29-percent of over 5,000 respondentsindicated they would increase consumption if they had access to a wider rangeof smaller bottles. [Full article]

Ireland Wins European Beef Exporters’ Race to China

In a first for European beef exporters, Irelandhas secured export access to China. Currently, China imports over 700,000tonnes of beef, which is expected to double by 2020. While per-capitaconsumption is low in China, it is on the rise, and a 1kg increase inconsumption per capita equates to an increase of 1.38m tonnes per year. By2020, China expects consumption of beef to be nearly 8m tonnes annually. Lastyear, Bord Bia won a contract to promote EU beef and lamb in China, Japan, andHong Kong, with stops that will include SIAL China 2018. [Fullarticle]

Organic Food: MEPs tighten EU rules to match consumer expectations

A new law overseeing Organic Production has been approved bythe EU Parliament, with the intention of ensuring only high-quality organicfoods are sold in the EU. The regulations introduce strict on-site supply chainchecks once every two years, and all imports will have to comply with EUstandards within five years. Other items such as group certification forfarmers, an allowance for mixed farming practices, removal of exemptions forconventional seeds and animals, and an obligation for producers to avoidpesticide and fertilizer contamination are laid out, although the agreed stillrequires approval from the Council of EU Ministers. [Full article

Alibaba helps Thailand Sell Agriculture Products Online to China

In a recent trip to Thailand for an investment deal, Jack Mashowed the power of Alibaba's T-Mall Platform. In 60-seconds, the platform sawsales of Thailand's "Golden Pillow, or Monthong Durian of 80,000 fruits ora total weight of 200,000 kg. Picked from the tree before ripening, ThailandDurian is markedly different than Malaysian Durian, which is left to ripen onthe tree and lasts for days versus weeks. Because of this, Malaysian Durian ismainly frozen for export. [Full article

China: Walmart unites suppliers in "Fresh Food Alliance”

In partnership with seven of their fresh products suppliers,Walmart recently announced their "Fresh Food Alliance", with moresuppliers expected to join in the future. One of the main goals of thisalliance is to synchronize the Jingdon Home Platform into their e-commerceplatform, and physical stores. Walmart is uniquely poised to deliver freshproduce across the country, with its distribution, transportation andreplenishment systems already in place, the plan is to integrate furtherproduction, distribution, and retail as part of the cooperative effort.[Full article