Latest news with #cane sugar
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coca-Cola CFO says the company will launch Trump-backed cane sugar soda: ‘He is a big supporter of the option'
is launching a cane sugar version of its flagship soda in the U.S., with CFO John Murphy confirming to Fortune that President Trump has endorsed the initiative that has been in development for 12-18 months. The move comes as the beverage giant works to address recent sales challenges in America, including lingering effects from a viral misinformation campaign and affordability pressures on lower-income consumers. Coca-Cola is moving forward with plans to launch a cane sugar version of its flagship soda in the U.S. market, with chief financial officer John Murphy confirming that President Donald Trump has endorsed the initiative following his recent social media claims. In an interview with Fortune, Murphy said the cane sugar variant 'has been in our pipeline for some time' and typically requires 12-18 months from development to launch. 'He is a big supporter of the option,' Murphy said of Trump. 'He has heard about it and is a big fan of the option. It's certainly been well reported.' Pressed for specifics on whether the cane sugar Coke will channel the 'Mexican Coke' model—popular in the U.S. for its glass bottles and distinctive taste—Murphy said: 'I think for commercial reasons, I'm going to wait until the U.S. team is ready to divulge all the details, so more to come on that in a couple weeks.' Murphy emphasized that expanding product options reflects broader market demand: 'Here in the U.S. there is just so much demand for variants and new options on both existing and the new. This [Coke made with cane sugar] is an option for the Coke portfolio and one we're excited about.' Fake viral TikTok video hit Coke sales The announcement comes as Coca-Cola navigates a challenging market environment. Coke reported second quarter results for 2025 on Tuesday, showing modest revenue growth driven by pricing and mix, significantly higher operating income and margins, and strong brand engagement despite a small global volume decline. Murphy attributed recent softness in U.S. and Latin America sales to two primary factors: lingering effects from a viral misinformation campaign and pressure on lower-income consumers. A false TikTok video that circulated in February claimed the company was collaborating with the Department of Homeland Security on deportations of Hispanics from the U.S. to Mexico. 'It was clearly false, but it went viral and for a period of six weeks or so, it had a significant short-term impact on the business in Texas, California, and in Mexico,' Murphy explained. The company has been recovering from that incident, but Murphy noted that affordability remains a challenge for lower-income consumers. 'While the U.S. consumer has been reported overall as resilient, there is a segment of the population, the lower income segment, that is under pressure given the cumulative impact of price increases on their household basket over the last two to three years,' he said. Coke pushing into AI The company is also accelerating its use of artificial intelligence across operations. 'AI is here, we see it positively impacting our end-to-end business,' Murphy said, noting applications in supply chain, innovation, marketing and finance. 'We're in the early stages of AI being part and parcel of how companies will operate to raise the overall performance bar.' The secret to working for 37 years at Coca-Cola Murphy, who is approaching his 37th anniversary with Coca-Cola next week, credited his longevity to two principles established by former longtime Chairman and CEO Robert Woodruff. Quoting Woodruff's philosophy, he said: 'One, which is very relevant to today's work, is that the world belongs to the discontented. So I think staying curious and, to some degree, unhappy with wherever you are is a great motivator to do more. 'And the second, which is maybe my favourite quote of his; there's no limit to what a person can do if they don't mind who gets the credit. I think it's a wonderful piece of advice for anybody, whether it's year one or year 37, to take on board, and if you live your life against those two quotes, I think you can survive just about anywhere.' This story was originally featured on
Forbes
23-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why Coca-Cola's New Cane Sugar Line Might Not Be As Good As Mexican Coke
Photo illustration byA fter President Donald Trump chided Coca-Cola on social media last week over moving to cane sugar for its iconic soda—'It's just better!'—Coca-Cola had denied the news. But, while releasing its second quarter earnings on Tuesday, the $47 billion (annual revenue) company confirmed a cane sugar line is en route and will hit stores this fall. It's a big win for the MAHA movement, as more and more big food holdouts like Kellogg's are relenting to demands from health-concerned consumers. Several people have asked me if I think this new product will be better than the cult-favorite Mexican Coke, which has been made with cane sugar for years and is a rare treat for many when they find it in a U.S. restaurant. I don't think it will be, and here's why: I doubt Coke will launch this new product in glass, as Mexican Coke is sold. Glass simply makes a better beverage, but tariffs are driving up the price of glass. I'd bet that the American cane sugar Coke launches in plastic bottles. But if Coca-Cola did want to go high-end with this launch, it has a pretty glaring opportunity. Coca-Cola has confirmed that the sugar cane will come from America, but has yet to say where it will be sourced. That decision is extremely important. Before discussing Coca-Cola's options, it's crucial to note that sugar cane farming in America has been a nasty business, with a history among the most violent of any crop that started out completely reliant to the global slave trade. Today, there are two U.S. operations that have the capacity to supply a launch of Coca-Cola's scale: a Cargill joint venture with growers in Louisiana called Louisiana Sugar Refining, and Florida Crystal, a Sunshine State grower and processor that's owned by the wealthy Fanjul family. And if Coca-Cola picks Florida Crystal as its supplier, it would create a new supply stream for America's largest certified regenerative organic farm. Many shoppers want to know that their dollars are supporting sustainable farming practices. If Coca-Cola wants to prove it's a leader in sustainability, using its significant corporate might to build such a large supply chain for a certified regenerative key ingredient would be a good place to start. — Chloe Sorvino This is Forbes' Fresh Take newsletter , which every Wednesday brings you the latest on the big ideas changing the future of food. Want to get it in your inbox every week? Sign up here .Coca-Cola said in its earnings release on Tuesday morning it will launch a version of the drink with cane sugar—as is already used in its products in Mexico and some European countries—later this fall. Let's Hang Forbes I'll be interviewing serial entrepreneur Justin Mares in an AMA for Forbes members at 12:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 30. The Kettle & Fire chairman and I will unpack what it takes to build a better-for-you food business in 2025, how Make America Healthy Again is changing the game for the food and beverage industries and the glaring gaps that still exist. We'll talk synthetic additives and food dyes, seed oils, Glyphosate residue and much more. Mares has done the work. He's been on a quest to sell healthier food to some of the most health-obsessed customers on the planet. That has fueled his bone broth brand Kettle & Fire for nearly a decade. And he has since cofounded a startup called Truemed, which helps consumers use their HSA or FSA funds for root-cause chronic disease interventions. Watch and learn all about: Insider strategies on how to formulate better-for-you food and beverages for mass consumption Advice on the top ingredients to cut from your kitchen to stay ahead of the curve Tips on labeling and the certifications that actually resonate with consumers and meet them where they are How to scale a brand built for the MAHA era RSVP here. The Feed Afghan children receive food aid from a local charity during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in Mazar-i-Sharif on March 2, 2025. ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images Up In Smoke: As hunger and emergency aid programs have been dismantled for the past five months, the Trump Administration has incinerated about 500 tons of emergency food meant for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Atlantic reports that the provisions have expired and would have been enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks during a news conference at the USDA headquarters building in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2025. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images Only The Best For Mom: The Associated Press investigated Mom's Meals, a brand of meals sent to Medicare and Medicaid enrollees that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. praised as 'one of the solutions making our country healthy again.' And the AP found the taxpayer-funded meals to really be ultra-processed foods. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to members of the media outside the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on July 23, 2025 in Washington, Watch: A small but growing group of Republicans in Congress are pushing back on widespread immigration raids and, as the Wall Street Journal reports, asking for legislation to be carved out that protects undocumented workers in agriculture. It's a major break in party lines, as the lawmakers acknowledge that America's food supply relies on illegal immigration. SUMMERMAXXING Ambrosia Bags In this new series on how to make the most of your summer, in the most Fresh Take kind of way, I'll be sharing tips and recommendations. First up is Ambrosia Bags—which has been a total gamechanger for me and my kitchen. Why I love them: I need my weekly vegetable, fruit and mushroom shares from the neighborhood CSA to last, and these raw flax linen pouches are designed to keep cucumbers and leafy greens crisp and mushrooms plump, while extending the shelf life of the produce inside completely naturally. And the business, owned by a mother-son duo, makes every bag in Southern California. Field Notes CHLOE SORVINO A trio of hot dogs from nearby bakery Elbow Bread: One with kimchi, one with mustard and sauerkraut and one with corn and tomato relish. Thanks for reading the 152nd edition of Forbes Fresh Take! Let me know what you think. Subscribe to Forbes Fresh Take here .
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coke's New Cane-Sweetened Soda Risks Upending Sugar Supplies
(Bloomberg) -- After four decades drinking Coca-Cola sweetened with corn syrup, Americans are going to get the chance to buy the soda made from domestic cane sugar. But whether US farmers can meet that demand is unclear. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US Why the Federal Reserve's Building Renovation Costs $2.5 Billion Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom Milan Corruption Probe Casts Shadow Over Property Boom The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday it will launch the new Coke variety this fall, a week after President Donald Trump said the company had agreed to start using the sweetener. The move is hardly an outlandish idea. In fact, Coke sold in other countries like Mexico is sweetened with cane sugar. And the company relied on cane sugar before switching to high fructose corn syrup around 1980. While the company will still be using corn syrup for original Coke, the addition of a domestic cane-based soda could help growers in Louisiana and Florida at a time when demand has been slow. However, a sustained bump in demand — especially if other companies follow Coca-Cola's lead — risks outstripping homegrown availability. US cane only makes up about 30% of overall domestic sugar supplies, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The rest comes from imports, which were about 2.2 million metric tons for the 2025-26 season, and American-grown sugar beets that perform better in colder climates. 'We have ways of trying to assist in new product launches, but mass usage — it would be very difficult for our industry to absorb that,' said Craig Ruffolo, a vice president at McKeany-Flavell, a broker of ingredients including sugar. A sugar supply shortfall would likely mean more cane imports from Mexico and Brazil, exposing American companies and consumers to higher prices just as they are facing market upheaval from Trump's tariffs. Cane sugar is more expensive than high-fructose corn syrup. On top of that, long-standing import tariffs mean US raw cane sugar futures are already more than double what the rest of the world pays. That price gap widened to a record on Tuesday. Foreign shipments can be costly, as decades-old US government policies limit how much sweetener can be cheaply shipped from other countries. That has long kept US sugar prices above that of the global market, even when lower-taxed imports under the US's limits and preferential shipments from Mexico were enough to keep the country amply supplied. In recent years though, the US has become even more reliant on record amounts of high-taxed imports after droughts impacted Mexican supplies. Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Brazil also risks raising prices. If cane-sweetened Cokes are a success, higher demand would add to the pressure. Refined cane sugar cost more than 52 cents a pound in June, about 12% more than the high-fructose corn syrup used in Coke and nearly 50% more than beet sugar, according to the USDA. US refiners have some spare capacity to process more raw cane, but that will depend on imports and is still 'not going to be able to go on the scale of a mass distribution like a classic Coke,' said Ruffolo. Expansions to cane acreage are also limited. Louisiana's growth could be capped at 10%, while Florida doesn't have much more land for cane, he added. Coke has been working with cane sugar suppliers, and believes they will be able to bring enough supply to market if there is demand from consumers, Chief Executive Officer James Quincey said on Fox Business. RFK Jr.'s Push The new Coke product comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against the prevalence of ultra-processed foods, which are generally more likely to use high-fructose corn syrup. The company's move, while an incremental shift away from corn, could open the door for other companies to follow suit. PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ramon Laguarta said last week that it would follow consumer preferences on sugar and other natural ingredients. Coca-Cola uses cane in other US products like lemonades and teas, and is looking to use 'the whole toolkit of available sweetening options to some extent where there are consumer preferences,' Quincey said on a Tuesday earnings call. The new Coke with US cane sugar is expected to be 'an enduring option for consumers,' he added. It is still unclear how much sugar these new products will require, said Claudiu Covrig, the lead analyst at Covrig Analytics. It could end up being a tiny segment with 'more publicity than real volume,' he said. But if US beverage companies shift significantly toward cane instead of high-fructose corn syrup, additional imports could range from 300,000 to 800,000 metric tons. (Adds analyst quote beginning in fifth paragraph.) Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border What the Tough Job Market for New College Grads Says About the Economy How Starbucks' CEO Plans to Tame the Rush-Hour Free-for-All ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Coke's New Cane-Sweetened Soda Risks Upending Sugar Supplies
(Bloomberg) -- After four decades drinking Coca-Cola sweetened with corn syrup, Americans are going to get the chance to buy the soda made from domestic cane sugar. But whether US farmers can meet that demand is unclear. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US Why the Federal Reserve's Building Renovation Costs $2.5 Billion Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom Milan Corruption Probe Casts Shadow Over Property Boom The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday it will launch the new Coke variety this fall, a week after President Donald Trump said the company had agreed to start using the sweetener. The move is hardly an outlandish idea. In fact, Coke sold in other countries like Mexico is sweetened with cane sugar. And the company relied on cane sugar before switching to high fructose corn syrup around 1980. While the company will still be using corn syrup for original Coke, the addition of a domestic cane-based soda could help growers in Louisiana and Florida at a time when demand has been slow. However, a sustained bump in demand — especially if other companies follow Coca-Cola's lead — risks outstripping homegrown availability. US cane only makes up about 30% of overall domestic sugar supplies, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The rest comes from imports, which were about 2.2 million metric tons for the 2025-26 season, and American-grown sugar beets that perform better in colder climates. 'We have ways of trying to assist in new product launches, but mass usage — it would be very difficult for our industry to absorb that,' said Craig Ruffolo, a vice president at McKeany-Flavell, a broker of ingredients including sugar. A sugar supply shortfall would likely mean more cane imports from Mexico and Brazil, exposing American companies and consumers to higher prices just as they are facing market upheaval from Trump's tariffs. Cane sugar is more expensive than high-fructose corn syrup. On top of that, long-standing import tariffs mean US raw cane sugar futures are already more than double what the rest of the world pays. That price gap widened to a record on Tuesday. Foreign shipments can be costly, as decades-old US government policies limit how much sweetener can be cheaply shipped from other countries. That has long kept US sugar prices above that of the global market, even when lower-taxed imports under the US's limits and preferential shipments from Mexico were enough to keep the country amply supplied. In recent years though, the US has become even more reliant on record amounts of high-taxed imports after droughts impacted Mexican supplies. Trump's threat of a 50% tariff on Brazil also risks raising prices. If cane-sweetened Cokes are a success, higher demand would add to the pressure. Refined cane sugar cost more than 52 cents a pound in June, about 12% more than the high-fructose corn syrup used in Coke and nearly 50% more than beet sugar, according to the USDA. US refiners have some spare capacity to process more raw cane, but that will depend on imports and is still 'not going to be able to go on the scale of a mass distribution like a classic Coke,' said Ruffolo. Expansions to cane acreage are also limited. Louisiana's growth could be capped at 10%, while Florida doesn't have much more land for cane, he added. Coke has been working with cane sugar suppliers, and believes they will be able to bring enough supply to market if there is demand from consumers, Chief Executive Officer James Quincey said on Fox Business. RFK Jr.'s Push The new Coke product comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against the prevalence of ultra-processed foods, which are generally more likely to use high-fructose corn syrup. The company's move, while an incremental shift away from corn, could open the door for other companies to follow suit. PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ramon Laguarta said last week that it would follow consumer preferences on sugar and other natural ingredients. Coca-Cola uses cane in other US products like lemonades and teas, and is looking to use 'the whole toolkit of available sweetening options to some extent where there are consumer preferences,' Quincey said on a Tuesday earnings call. The new Coke with US cane sugar is expected to be 'an enduring option for consumers,' he added. It is still unclear how much sugar these new products will require, said Claudiu Covrig, the lead analyst at Covrig Analytics. It could end up being a tiny segment with 'more publicity than real volume,' he said. But if US beverage companies shift significantly toward cane instead of high-fructose corn syrup, additional imports could range from 300,000 to 800,000 metric tons. (Adds analyst quote beginning in fifth paragraph.) Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border What the Tough Job Market for New College Grads Says About the Economy How Starbucks' CEO Plans to Tame the Rush-Hour Free-for-All ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
23-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Coca-Cola CEO Shares A Tasty Announcement
Corn syrup is out; cane sugar is in! Coca-Cola announced in a press release on Tuesday that it will release a new line of its trademark Cola products, sweetened with U.S. cane sugar instead of corn syrup, as a potentially healthier option. In an exclusive interview on The Claman Countdown, Chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola, James Quincey , shares the creative process behind the company's new project and their excitement for the brand's fans to taste it. He describes that they're in the final stage of the development stage, with only a few more steps to go. Now, it's up to Americans' taste buds to see which Cola beverage they like better.
