Lactalis' proposed acquisition of Fonterra businesses cleared by Australian competition watchdog
Lactalis and Fonterra both currently acquire raw milk from dairy farmers in Victoria and Tasmania, as well as processing and supplying a range
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Iconic French chef stakes reputation on vegan menu
'There's light in this cuisine,' he told AFP. 'There are taste sensations that I've never experienced anywhere else.' L'Arpege used to be known as one of the leading rotisseries in Paris. It earned three Michelin stars in 1996, and has held the distinction ever since. In 2001, Passard caused a stir in the rarefied world of French cuisine by dropping red meat from his menu and saying he would focus more on vegetables grown in his gardens. The shift made him one of the first ambassadors of plant-based cuisine. While Passard is motivated by environmental concerns in his new quest, it is above all a culinary challenge. The restaurant's updated menu includes mesclun praline with roasted almonds and melon carpaccio. Lunch costs €260 ($502). Passard has no plans to become a vegan militant himself. 'I still eat a little poultry and fish,' he said. 'But I'm more comfortable with plants. They allow me to learn.' French chef Claire Vallee knows from experience that Passard is up for a challenge. 'It requires a lot more preparation, knowledge and research,' Vallee said of plant-based dishes. 'It's quite a colossal task.' In 2021, her vegan restaurant in southwest France won a Michelin star, the first for an establishment serving only animal-free products in France. Vallee in 2016 launched ONA – which stands for Origine Non Animale ('Non-Animal Origin') – thanks to crowd-funding from supporters and a loan from a green bank. The establishment closed in 2022, and the 45-year-old chef went on to open several pop-up restaurants. Since then, no other French restaurant serving only animal-free products has been awarded a Michelin star. Internationally, vegan haute cuisine is rare. Eleven Madison Park in New York has kept its three stars after becoming exclusively vegan in 2021. In the Netherlands, De Nieuwe Winkel's plant-based menu has earned it two Michelin stars. Laurent Guez, a food critic for French newspaper Le Parisien and business daily Les Echos, said Passard's announcement was 'a major event'. But he also warned that not a lot of chefs could excel in the art of high-end plant-based gastronomy. 'It's exceptional cuisine that not everyone can allow themselves to launch into,' he said. Michelin guide international director Gwendal Poullennec said he was 'delighted' with the transition at L'Arpege, describing it as a 'positive approach'. 'We will continue to follow the evolution of L'Arpege, remaining faithful to our criteria,' he told AFP. Passard has given himself two years to take his kitchen skills to a new level. Is he worried about losing his three stars? 'I've never thought about that,' he said. 'We're going to have to deliver. If we can maintain this level of quality, then I'm extremely confident.' – Agence France-Presse
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
The world wants our excellent butter
One of our favourite butter brands recently took home a prestigious award from the International Cheese and Dairy show, the oldest and largest such show in England. According to the judges, compared with other competing countries, our butter is creamy, velvet and rich, without being greasy. It carries flavour and can soak up all the spices, aromatics, and seasoning in our cooking. It is more yellow and has a higher fat content than the pale, grain-fed American butter — consequently, along with the judges and countless top chefs, they just can't get enough of it. Butter is one of the purest foods in the world, and we make lots of it. New Zealand is the largest exporter of butter, and last year we exported 525,000 tonnes which is a third of the global market and worth $2.54 billion, making it our second-largest export earner. China is our biggest buyer, purchasing $786 million worth in 2024. Chinese people have some trust issues with their dairy products, and New Zealand is the most trusted and the butter considered to be of high quality. Other large importers of butter are the US, Australia and the Philippines, but it's almost unbelievable that we import about $3.69m worth each year, mainly from Denmark, India, Australia, France and Fiji. The dairy export industry started from humble beginnings, with a few barrels of salted butter manufactured at the Edendale Dairy Co shipped to England on board SS Dunedin in 1882 alongside its cargo of frozen mutton. Today the industry employs 55,000 people, there are seven different brands of butter and New Zealanders on the global scale are the highest consumers of the product. Hogging various media headlines at the moment is the price, as it is at an all-time high, and some seem to be trying to give Fonterra a guilt complex as if it sets the price and is responsible — but it is the global auction that sets the price. Fonterra's chief financial officer Andrew Murray stated our butter costs a lot less than you pay in Europe. Is there an irony in all this? Farmers have been improving their environmental image, animal welfare, our clean and green brand and, of course, animals are grass-fed, with the long-term view that premier products attract high-spending customers which in turn help not only the farmer but the country — but we could struggle to afford what we produce. Butter is 49% higher than a year ago and could it be beef and lamb next, which is 50% higher than five years ago. However, what goes up usually comes down.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Trump's trade war victory is already under siege
By David Goldman , CNN US President Donald Trump holds up a chart while speaking during a 'Make America Wealthy Again' trade announcement event at the White House on 2 April, 2025 in Washington, DC. Photo: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / Getty Images via AFP Analysis: The economy was supposed to crumble. The trade war was expected to escalate out of control. Markets were forecast to plunge. None of that happened - at least, not yet. President Donald Trump has pulled off what few outside the White House predicted: A trade war victory of sorts that sets America's taxes on imported goods higher than the infamous Smoot-Hawley era, without any of the damaging fallout so far. Customs revenue has increased sharply while inflation remains reasonably low. And America's trading partners, for the most part, have been willing to accept the higher tariffs without significant retaliation. Multiple framework agreements between the United States and other trading partners have jacked up tariffs on foreign goods imported to America while setting levies on US exports at or near zero. Overseas trading partners have agreed to open previously closed markets to some US goods, pledged increased investments in the United States and dropped some of what the Trump administration has lambasted as non-trade barriers, like taxes on digital services. But Trump's early trade victory may be short-lived. In fact, it is already showing signs that it may not last. The European Union, fresh off its 11th-hour compromise to get a trade agreement done before Trump's self-imposed August 1 deadline, is already in revolt. French Prime Minister François Bayrou called Sunday a "dark day." Hungarian Prime Minister and Trump ally Viktor Orban said Trump steamrolled the EU. Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever lambasted the Trump administration's "delusion of protectionism." And Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, said the deal is "not satisfactory." The 27-member bloc has to hammer out key aspects of its framework, and the fragile trade truce between two of the world's largest economies could quickly break apart if sentiment turns against the arrangement. The Trump administration's trade talks with its northern neighbor and one of its largest trading partners have been effectively shut down. Despite Canada relenting on its digital services tax that the president has lambasted, Trump continued to threaten higher tariffs on some Canadian goods, including lumber. Although many goods imported from Canada continue to be tariff-free because of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, the USMCA only covers just about half of Canadian goods. So higher tariffs on Canada could raise some costs for American consumers down the road. And the fact that America is even embroiled in a trade spat with Canada in the first place is a sign that the recent cooling off in the trade war may not last: Trump negotiated and signed the United States' current trade agreement with Canada during his first term. At any time, even after an agreement is inked, Trump could turn around and decide to raise tariffs again. A third round of talks between China and the United States' trade negotiators is expected to result in a continued pause of their historically high tariffs on one another. But it's unclear what else might come from the discussions, and the Trump administration has grown frustrated by what it has described as China's slow-walking of its previous agreements. Both sides have aimed to reduce more regulatory barriers on shipments of key technologies. China has sought more access to critical semiconductors, and the United States wants the flow of rare earth magnets to increase further. But the Trump administration has tried repeatedly to speed up China's slow progress, claiming the country has failed to live up to its agreement to approve the critical materials for crucial electronics. Trump has also said he wants China to open up its market to more US goods - a desire that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping is unlikely to give in to significantly. Trump's rhetoric against China has cooled in recent months, but the truce appears to be on a knife's edge. A crucial appeals court hearing Thursday could determine whether most of Trump's tariffs are legal at all. For most of his tariffs, Trump has cited powers listed in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But a federal court in May ruled that Trump overstepped his authority to levy tariffs on that basis. An appeals court paused that ruling from taking effect and will hear oral arguments Thursday. It's not clear when the court will rule, and the White House would likely appeal to the Supreme Court if it loses. If Trump ultimately loses his ability to levy tariffs using emergency powers, he has plenty of other options - but legal experts have said those alternatives could limit his ability to set tariffs without Congress. For example, Trump may be able to impose some tariffs as high as just 15 percent but only for 150 days, potentially taking some of the bite out of his tariff regime. Although the US economy remains strong, with rebounding retail sales, a still-robust labor market and rising consumer confidence, there is some evidence that inflation in key areas is starting to creep higher - slowly - because of tariffs. That's a potential warning sign as the tariffs take full effect. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index earlier this month showed that some tariff-affected goods have started to gain in price. Clothing, appliances, computers, sporting goods, toys, video equipment, hardware and tools prices have been on the rise. And it's starting to become a trend - in many of those categories, the rise has been happening for a few months. Many major retailers, including Walmart, have said they will raise prices because of tariffs. Procter & Gamble, which makes Tide and a host of consumer goods, said Tuesday it will raise prices in part because of tariffs. And GM, Volkswagen and Stellantis all reported tariff charges of $1 billion or more over the past quarter. Economists widely expect inflation to pick up in the late summer and throughout the rest of the year as retailers work through the inventories of goods they had stockpiled before tariffs went into effect. No one expects anything close to the inflation crisis of a few years ago. But with consumers still dealing with price-hike PTSD, that won't be a welcome change from the return to healthy inflation levels over the past year. David Goldman is the executive editor of CNN Business. - CNN
