I don’t often write about alcohol, because I don’t drink it. But society does and enjoys it, though not all of the consequences.
So Scotland is now proposing a minimum price, which would more than double the cost of some cheaper drinks such as budget ciders that are popular with drinkers who binge to excess.
This would not be a new tax. Taxes on alcohol are already high. The extra money will go to manufacturers, retailers or bars.
The question is : Will a minimum price help ?
Modelling indicates it will save £942 million over 10 years by reducing annual alcohol related hospital admissions 17% to 32,500 and alcohol related deaths 23% to around 1,000. That’s 300 lives saved each year.
Many dispute this. They say it will not affect the behaviour of those who most need to change. Instead, it will penalise the majority of cost conscious moderate drinkers.
Once again, the battle lines are drawn between public health and popular choice. The winner, as ever, is likely to be the political perception of the moment.
For three years, New York City has been campaigning in subway advertising to reduce sugared soft drinks consumption.
• “Americans are literally drinking themselves fat,” says the New York Commissioner in charge.
• 35% of US adults and 17% of youths – some 90 million people – are obese, reports Businessweek.
• The financial cost of obesity was $147 billion in 2008, according to one estimate.
The US soft drinks industry is now fighting back with its own campaign.
• “Calories from sugar- sweetened beverages make up only 7% of the calories in the American diet,” replies the American Beverage Association.
• “Sales of regular soft drinks declined by 12.5% from 1999 to 2010 … Obesity rates continued to rise.”
• “Calories from soda are down 39% since 2000 … Yet, obesity continued to rise.”
• There’s been a “23% reduction in the average calories per serving since 1998.”
The industry has also introduced front of pack calorie counts, stopped advertising to children under 12, removed sugared soft drinks from schools and reduced some pack sizes.
Obesity clearly requires everyone’s active attention. The debate needs to be properly informed. I’d rather have this improved choice than no choice.
The really big one was Nestlé’s $11,850 million agreement to buy Pfizer’s nutrition business. There were also two more over $1,000 million – Molson Coors’ $3,540 million purchase of StarBev in Central Europe and Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $1,240 million to take control of Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana.
So the April picture was fewer in number but greater in value. Of the 32, 8 were in alcohol, 7 in soft drinks, 5 in hot drinks, 5 in food, 4 in packaging/equipment and 3 in ingredients, with 0 in dairy.
20 involved the United States – 8 all domestic affairs, 6 overseas expansions and 6 incoming deals. The United Kingdom was next with 4, then Switzerland with 3. A total of 21 countries were affected.
Finland’s Valio seems to have sprinkled the fairy dust on dairy. At the recent Global Dairy Congress in Oslo, its Research and Development Vice President Dr Matti Harju gave an extraordinary outline of:
• the world’s highest consuming dairy country at more than one litre per day in continuing volume growth
• new added value milks contributing 30% of drinking milk volume and 50% of value
• the world’s highest milk values with revenue of more than €1.00 per litre of raw milk.
No wonder such a small country is happy to support a research and development team of 160 people.
At last week’s Global Dairy Congress in Oslo, my taste buds were tempted by two contrasting cheeses – one old, one new … one sweet, one spicy.
The first was brown cheese, a Norwegian breakfast tradition, which someone said is boiled whey and not cheese at all. What I tried looked like and tasted like a thin slice of fudge.
The second was Chunky Cheese, a new angle on cheese snacking for adults. It’s been launched recently in Britain and is a range of four cheese bars – a savoury alternative to cereal bars or even confectionery.
I wonder if brown cheese could catch on elsewhere. I certainly believe that an ambient cheese snack should be developed to become the energy shot of dairy – by the till in convenience stores. And Chunky Cheese comes close to that.
I don’t remember airports much. As a market analyst, I try to fill out other people’s survey forms. But a few days after a flight, I normally can’t recall anything about it at all.
Yet airports do tell you a lot. They are symbolic gateways to their country or region. Architecture reflects culture. The ethnic mix reflects trading patterns. So here’s what I’ve made of some recent experiences:
- Istanbul, Europe’s largest city – constantly bustling like the Bosphorus, but also very stretched like the roads.
- Dubai, a major global hub – all the style and scale you would expect, but increasingly endemic delays in flights and passport queues.
- Johannesburg, after three visits in a week – you can feel the regional economic strength of South Africa and you can sense the musical rhythm of its people.
- Maputo – modernising, but smaller and less active than my own local airport at Bristol.
- Heathrow – an enduring nightmare, but I’ve discovered a great new business lounge in Terminal 3.
I have just returned from another trip to Africa, my second this year after two journeys last year. I hope to make two further visits later in 2012 as well – one to the Global Dairy Platform annual forum and the International Dairy Summit at Cape Town in November.
I have to be there as it is my job to keep up with the future … and the future for Africa is developing fast. Here are some compelling fundamentals:
• Great natural resources including energy, minerals and water.
• Very young aspirational population rising faster than Asia.
• Rapid economic growth and increasing stability.
• Governments recognising the mutual benefits of partnership with business.
Companies like Coca-Cola, Nestlé and SABMiller are already huge employers and have announced very substantial investments amounting to many billions of dollars.
Africa is beginning to realise it’s all too long deferred potential.
In the latest edition of water innovation magazine, there is news of:
- B’lue, a new enhanced water range from India and
- Belu, a UK water brand which has just launched a green glass bottle with 70% recycled content.
Last week, I was researching markets in Africa, including Angola, where:
- Blue is the leading local soft drinks range, with orange as one of its most popular flavours.
And just yesterday, I read about:
- Forza Blu, a new energy drink launched by the Italian Navy to help raise funds in the face of Government spending cuts.
Seems everyone is singing a rainbow of blues.
