Swedish confectionery firm Cloetta AB has reported a 14.9% decline in net sales, to SEK 1.5 billion (€150 million), in the fourth quarter of its financial year, ended December 2020. Operating profit for the quarter declined by 42.1% year on year, to SEK 121 million (€11.9 million), reports ESMmagazine.com. The company saw a net-sales decline of 12.3% in full-year 2020, to SEK 5.7 billion (€560 million). Operating profit for the period amounted to SEK 462 million (€45.5 million), down by 36.5% year on year, from SEK 727 million (€71.6 million) in 2019.
US corn futures rose on Tuesday, as strong demand for supplies pushed prices toward a more-than seven-year high. The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were up 0.3%, at $5.51 a bushel by 0139 GMT. Corn rose by 0.4% on Monday, when prices hit a June 2013 high of $5.54 a bushel. The most active soybean futures went up by 0.2%, at $13.68 a bushel, having closed down by 0.3% on Monday. The most active wheat futures went up by 0.2%, at $6.52-1/2 a bushel, having closed down by 1.8% on Monday. The US Agriculture Department confirmed private export sales of 125,730 tonnes of US corn to Mexico, and another 110,000 tonnes to Japan on Monday morning, for delivery in the 2020/21 marketing year.
Britain will formally apply to join a trans-Pacific trading bloc of 11 countries, with negotiations set to start later this year, the government has announced. Since leaving the European Union, Britain has made clear its desire to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which removes most tariffs between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. “One year after our departure from the EU, we are forging new partnerships that will bring enormous economic benefits for the people of Britain,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.
Ahold Delhaize has announced that it has nominated Jan Zijderveld as a member of its supervisory board, effective from 14 April 2021. Zijderveld is an experienced professional who spent almost 30 years at Unilever in several senior management positions in seven different countries, reports ESMmagazine.com. He served as the CEO and president of Unilever Europe and as a member of Unilever’s executive team. In 2018, he stepped in as the chief executive of Avon and left the company in 2020, after a successful turnaround of its business. Under Zijderveld’s leadership, the cosmetics giant acquired Natura & Co. Currently, he holds several advisory functions.
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