PRESS RELEASE: KTG Agrar SE continues to benefit from trend towards organic and regional products

DGAP-News: KTG Agrar SE / Key word(s): Miscellaneous KTG Agrar SE continues to benefit from trend towards organic and regional products

2015-02-23 / 13:14

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KTG Agrar SE continues to benefit from trend towards organic and regional products

- Demand for organic products growing faster than land under organic cultivation - Deliveries of GM-free soy worth EUR 12 million agreed - New "Hofliebe" product line combines mega trends of organic cultivation and regionality - China showing great interest in food "made in Germany"

Hamburg, 23 February 2015. The mega trend towards organic food continues unabated. "More and more people choose organic products and also attach growing importance to their origins. Because organic does not necessarily mean regional," said Siegfried Hofreiter, CEO of KTG Agrar SE SE (ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4) after the BioFach 2015 fair. "BioFach has shown that our 'from field to plate' strategy is hitting a nerve. Our unique selling proposition of being able to offer products from the field to the supermarket shelf from a single source will now be highlighted more strongly also in the organic segment." At the world's leading organic food fair, Bio-Zentrale Naturprodukte, a KTG subsidiary, presented its current product range including the new "Hofliebe" product line. The latter offers a diverse range of products from soy oil to grains and flakes to muesli grown organically by KTG and bearing a clear seal of origin. "This unique combination of organic cultivation and regionality is what we call organic+". Thanks to the high demand for GM-free soy, KTG Agrar also signed framework agreements worth EUR 12 million at the BioFach fair.

On the occasion of the trade fair, Bund kologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BLW - association of organic food producers) again reported strong market growth for 2014, when sales of organic food and drinks totalled EUR 7.91 billion, 4.8% more than in 2013. According to BLW, the sales potential in Europe's largest organic market (approx. 30% market share) is far from being exploited in full. The limited regional supply is putting a damper on growth. At 2.7%, Germany's organically cultivated land again grew less strongly than the market as a whole. Being one of Germany's organic pioneers, KTG relies heavily on organic cultivation and can produce large quantities of organic food from the field of the plate.

The scarce supply of GM-free organic soy was one of the most discussed topics at this year's BioFach fair. Thanks to their high protein content, soybeans are popular not only as type of fodder but also as a foodstuff for human consumption - e.g. as a substitute for cow's milk and meat. As consumers reject genetically modified (GM) soy, the large producing countries outside Europe do not qualify as suppliers. This benefits KTG, which has built up a unique market position as a producer of GM-free soy over the past years and will harvest soybeans on more than 8,000 hectares in east Germany, Lithuania and Romania in 2015. A major portion of the soybean harvest is processed into 100% GM-free soy oil by KTG Agrar's own oil mill in Anklam. Going forward, the company intends to extend its value chain in the soy segment.

The above shows that the framework conditions for KTG Agrar, an organic food pioneer and leading producer in the heart of Europe, remain excellent. For over 20 years, KTG Agrar has specialised in organic and GM-free conventional farming. Increasingly often, the company processes its produce such as grain, maize, soybeans, potatoes and vegetables internally. To achieve this, KTG Agrar has invested in the extension of the value chain since 2011 under the "from field to plate" strategy. Today, the company processes 50% of its organic harvest internally. One third of the remaining 50% has been sold at good prices.

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PRESS RELEASE: KTG Agrar SE continues to benefit from trend towards organic and regional products

23.02.2015 / 13:14

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KTG Agrar SE continues to benefit from trend towards organic and regional products

- Demand for organic products growing faster than land under organic cultivation - Deliveries of GM-free soy worth EUR 12 million agreed - New "Hofliebe" product line combines mega trends of organic cultivation and regionality - China showing great interest in food "made in Germany"

Hamburg, 23 February 2015. The mega trend towards organic food continues unabated. "More and more people choose organic products and also attach growing importance to their origins. Because organic does not necessarily mean regional," said Siegfried Hofreiter, CEO of KTG Agrar SE SE (ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4) after the BioFach 2015 fair. "BioFach has shown that our 'from field to plate' strategy is hitting a nerve. Our unique selling proposition of being able to offer products from the field to the supermarket shelf from a single source will now be highlighted more strongly also in the organic segment." At the world's leading organic food fair, Bio-Zentrale Naturprodukte, a KTG subsidiary, presented its current product range including the new "Hofliebe" product line. The latter offers a diverse range of products from soy oil to grains and flakes to muesli grown organically by KTG and bearing a clear seal of origin. "This unique combination of organic cultivation and regionality is what we call organic+". Thanks to the high demand for GM-free soy, KTG Agrar also signed framework agreements worth EUR 12 million at the BioFach fair.

On the occasion of the trade fair, Bund kologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BLW - association of organic food producers) again reported strong market growth for 2014, when sales of organic food and drinks totalled EUR 7.91 billion, 4.8% more than in 2013. According to BLW, the sales potential in Europe's largest organic market (approx. 30% market share) is far from being exploited in full. The limited regional supply is putting a damper on growth. At 2.7%, Germany's organically cultivated land again grew less strongly than the market as a whole. Being one of Germany's organic pioneers, KTG relies heavily on organic cultivation and can produce large quantities of organic food from the field of the plate.

The scarce supply of GM-free organic soy was one of the most discussed topics at this year's BioFach fair. Thanks to their high protein content, soybeans are popular not only as type of fodder but also as a foodstuff for human consumption - e.g. as a substitute for cow's milk and meat. As consumers reject genetically modified (GM) soy, the large producing countries outside Europe do not qualify as suppliers. This benefits KTG, which has built up a unique market position as a producer of GM-free soy over the past years and will harvest soybeans on more than 8,000 hectares in east Germany, Lithuania and Romania in 2015. A major portion of the soybean harvest is processed into 100% GM-free soy oil by KTG Agrar's own oil mill in Anklam. Going forward, the company intends to extend its value chain in the soy segment.

The above shows that the framework conditions for KTG Agrar, an organic food pioneer and leading producer in the heart of Europe, remain excellent. For over 20 years, KTG Agrar has specialised in organic and GM-free conventional farming. Increasingly often, the company processes its produce such as grain, maize, soybeans, potatoes and vegetables internally. To achieve this, KTG Agrar has invested in the extension of the value chain since 2011 under the "from field to plate" strategy. Today, the company processes 50% of its organic harvest internally. One third of the remaining 50% has been sold at good prices.

The positive start to the season was also highlighted by the company's successful participation in FRUIT LOGISTICA and the promising presentation of the "Die Landwirte" brand at this industry event. KTG Agrar is confident that it will be able to continue its growth in the food sector, with exports expected to make a bigger contribution going forward. "Having supplied the first products to China in 2014, we see great potential in the country for the coming years," said Reinhard Meiner, CEO of KTG Foods SE. "Healthy nutrition is playing an increasingly important role for the fast growing middle class. BioFach has also shown that interest is high-quality German food is growing strongly in China." 2014 saw KTG Foods almost double its sales revenues to EUR 100 million. This dynamic growth is to be continued in 2015.

About KTG Agrar SE With cultivable land of approx. 45,000 hectares, KTG Agrar SE (ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4) is one of the leading producers of agricultural commodities in Europe. As an integrated supplier, the company produces agricultural commodities and renewable energy and food. The Hamburg-based company's core area of expertise is the organic and traditional cultivation of market products such as cereals, potatoes, soy and rapeseed. For organic market products KTG Agrar is the European market leader. The company mainly produces in Germany but has also operated production in the EU member state of Lithuania since 2005. As a result of the takeover of Frenzel Tiefkhlkost and Biozentrale Naturprodukte, KTG has expanded the value chain by the production of food since 2011. In the year 2013, KTG achieved a total output of EUR 205.3 million and EBIT of EUR 23.9 million. Since November 2007 the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and had 775 employees at year end 2013. Further information can be found at http://www.ktg-agrar.de

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DGAP-News: KTG Agrar SE continues to benefit from trend towards organic and regional products

EDWINA Kent decided to open Wray Organic after becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of organic produce available in Toowoomba.

Wray Organic opened in 2012 and is the only 100% certified organic cafe in our region.

Edwina Kent said the benefits of eating organic certified produce were endless.

"Many cafes attached to an organic store actually do not use organic produce," Mrs Kent said.

"We kept hoping someone would open a store and, in the end, we just ended up doing it ourselves.

"Organic food provides a variety of benefits. Some studies show that organic foods have more beneficial nutrients than their conventionally grown counterparts.

"In addition, people with allergies to foods, chemicals or preservatives often find their symptoms lesson or go when they eat only organic foods," she said.

Mrs Kent noticed that the number of people purchasing organic produce had increased since she opened her store almost three years ago.

Humans have an accumulated build-up of pesticide exposure due to the numerous years of exposure to the chemicals in commercially farmed foods.

Mrs Kent said buying certified organic produce had amazing health benefits.

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Lack of produce sparks cafe opening

OWNERS of Homegrown Health Darrin and Kylie Pateman cannot stress enough the importance of reducing the amount of toxins we expose our bodies to.

The pair has been organic farmers for 10 years.

Homegrown Health started as an online delivery service which delivered boxes of fresh produce to customers' doors.

The business has now expanded to a cafe on Railway Street.

Kylie Pateman said toxins found in commercially farmed produce could contribute to disease and illness.

"Organic food has been grown the old-fashioned way without the use of chemical sprays and pesticides," Mrs Pateman said.

"Our everyday environment exposes us to lots of free radicals so with this in mind it is important to be aware and reduce the amount of toxins we expose our bodies to.

"The chemicals used in commercial farming can be highly toxic and when we eat them we are forcing our body to also process these chemicals in order to obtain nutrients from the produce," she said.

Organic fruit and vegetables contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals and do not have the unwanted toxins found in commercially farmed produce and therefore are better for your body.

Organic farmers feed their crops with natural minerals, compost and fertilizers.

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Couple passionate about organic produce

Organic food is a scam, a friend of mine argued while slurping down his GMO, mass-produced, cheap-junk adult beverage while slouching at the bar one evening. I got to thinking; could there be some validity to my inebriated friends comment? How could food made without known-to-be-toxic ingredients be bad?

General Mills Inc. has experienced a major shift in its market recently thanks to people like you and me who make informed choices about our eating behavior. Profits are slipping for this mega-giant frankenfood corporation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kellogg Co. and Kraft foods are following suit with poor sales.

Before you crank up the jam-band music in celebration, pay attention to next issue. New Chapter is a company that made some of the best quality whole food supplements available. It offered some great education along with its line of supplements. Like General Mills, New Chapter is going through some changes. It has just been bought by Procter & Gamble.

If you cant beat em, buy em! How else can you control market share? This is just competition 101. Do you really think that the heads of these uber-successful corporations are going to let a few health-food nuts affect profits? No way. They have bills to pay too. Should they lay off thousands of workers just so a few hippies can eat healthier hemp seed granola?

The folks at General Mills are no dummies either. They need to compete with P&G for market share. They have shareholders to answer to, just like every one of these publicly traded companies that run everything. They just bought Annies Inc. to the tune of $820 million. This was a great, small company that made organic foods found at your local grocery mega corporation store. Do you think that corporate brass will change some of the practices of these smaller companies? Do you think that this will affect the quality of these products?

If big companies notice they are losing market share to a smaller company on any item, they have a few strategies to fix the problem. They can buy the company and bury it. They can just bury it with legal slander or great marketing without buying it. They will buy the company for the brand name and force the company to change the quality to make it profitable for the new owner. Big companies will force distributors not to carry competing products. Its just another day in big business.

A New Chapter co-founder was delighted to appeal to General Mills, and labeled it as a dream come true, according to Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com.

So selling out a $100 million company to the absolute enemy is OK if its for enough money? This is only after youve made $100 million ripping on the very giant food corporations to which you are selling out. I wish somebody would pay me millions to give up; even a couple grand would suffice. I am not above bribery and/or extortion. We all like to think that we would not sell out. Its easy to sit here and criticize, but at least Ill admit that I would do it too.

The point is that if you think that you can trust organic food producers, think again. If you want something done right, do it yourself. You can control the quality of your food if you really want to its just easier to open a box of organic mac and cheese and talk yourself into feeling good about it. Its not organic thats the scam, my friend, its the delivery mechanism thats the problem.

We can blame everyone else for everything, but what are we actually doing about it? Not much at all, regretfully. The only way to beat super-intelligent, highly trained, extremely greedy, ego-driven, corporate entrepreneur types that run the worlds economic system is to drop out.

See the original post here:
Wells column: Corporations are taking over your 'health' food

Organic food is a scam, a friend of mine argued while slurping down his GMO, mass-produced, cheap-junk adult beverage while slouching at the bar one evening. I got to thinking; could there be some validity to my inebriated friends comment? How could food made without known-to-be-toxic ingredients be bad?

General Mills Inc. has experienced a major shift in its market recently thanks to people like you and me who make informed choices about our eating behavior. Profits are slipping for this mega-giant frankenfood corporation. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kellogg Co. and Kraft foods are following suit with poor sales.

Before you crank up the jam-band music in celebration, pay attention to next issue. New Chapter is a company that made some of the best quality whole food supplements available. It offered some great education along with its line of supplements. Like General Mills, New Chapter is going through some changes. It has just been bought by Procter & Gamble.

If you cant beat em, buy em! How else can you control market share? This is just competition 101. Do you really think that the heads of these uber-successful corporations are going to let a few health-food nuts affect profits? No way. They have bills to pay too. Should they lay off thousands of workers just so a few hippies can eat healthier hemp seed granola?

The folks at General Mills are no dummies either. They need to compete with P&G for market share. They have shareholders to answer to, just like every one of these publicly traded companies that run everything. They just bought Annies Inc. to the tune of $820 million. This was a great, small company that made organic foods found at your local grocery mega corporation store. Do you think that corporate brass will change some of the practices of these smaller companies? Do you think that this will affect the quality of these products?

If big companies notice they are losing market share to a smaller company on any item, they have a few strategies to fix the problem. They can buy the company and bury it. They can just bury it with legal slander or great marketing without buying it. They will buy the company for the brand name and force the company to change the quality to make it profitable for the new owner. Big companies will force distributors not to carry competing products. Its just another day in big business.

A New Chapter co-founder was delighted to appeal to General Mills, and labeled it as a dream come true, according to Mike Adams, the Health Ranger and editor of NaturalNews.com.

So selling out a $100 million company to the absolute enemy is OK if its for enough money? This is only after youve made $100 million ripping on the very giant food corporations to which you are selling out. I wish somebody would pay me millions to give up; even a couple grand would suffice. I am not above bribery and/or extortion. We all like to think that we would not sell out. Its easy to sit here and criticize, but at least Ill admit that I would do it too.

The point is that if you think that you can trust organic food producers, think again. If you want something done right, do it yourself. You can control the quality of your food if you really want to its just easier to open a box of organic mac and cheese and talk yourself into feeling good about it. Its not organic thats the scam, my friend, its the delivery mechanism thats the problem.

We can blame everyone else for everything, but what are we actually doing about it? Not much at all, regretfully. The only way to beat super-intelligent, highly trained, extremely greedy, ego-driven, corporate entrepreneur types that run the worlds economic system is to drop out.

The rest is here:
The corporate takeover of health food

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ), an organic food and farming nonprofit, is offering an Organic Vegetable Production Workshop. This full-day workshop will be taught by Al Johnson, a professional instructor and experienced organic gardener, on Saturday, March 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Merrill Creek Reservoir Visitors Center, 34 Merrill Creek Road in Washington.

Whether an organic gardening "newbie" or an experienced gardener, NOFA-NJ's Organic Vegetable Production Workshop will provide time-tested production information as well as opportunities to discuss specific questions about your garden. Learn why garden placement is so important, how to improve the "less than great" New Jersey soils, and how to plan, prepare and plant a garden. Where there are gardens, there are weeds, diseases and pests, and discover how to manage these challenges using tested methodologies for every kind of crop and critter.

Pack a lunch. Registration fee is $45 for NOFA-NJ members and $55 for non-members; pre-registration is required.

For more information and to register, call Connie at 908-371-1111 or visit http://www.nofanj.org

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Organic Vegetable Production Workshop slated for March 21 in Washington

The US Department of Agriculture has approved the commercialization of the first genetically modified apples despite efforts by GMO critics and the organic food industry to block the fruit.

Okanagan plans to market the apples as Arctic Granny and Arctic Golden. Both varieties have been modified so that they still look fresh even after being sliced or bruised.

Neal Carter, president of Okanagan, said that the USDA approval was a monumental occasion.

It is the biggest milestone yet for us and we cant wait until theyre available for consumers, Carter said.

But the news of the approval of the apples hasnt been met with complete acceptance. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) petitioned the USDA to deny approval, saying that the genetic changes could be harmful to humans and that pesticide levels on the apples could be excessive.

Read the original here:
US approves Canadian GMO apples for commercial debut

All is good in the land of organic milk and honey once again.

Whole Foods Market stock has returned with a vengeance, climbing to near all-time highs after turning in its second strong earnings report in a row last Wednesday. Earnings per share of $0.46 beat expectations by a penny, and sales improved 10% to $4.67 billion as same-stores sales rose 4.5%, better than 3.1% in the previous period.To date in the current quarter, comps are up 5.1% as the momentum seems to be gaining.

Just a few months ago, analysts were decrying the end of Whole Foods' organic empire due to competition fromthe likes ofTrader Joe's, Wal-Mart , and Kroger , all of which have expanded into Whole Foods' territory. The retailer is no longer alone in the organic food space it pioneered, but it's found a way to get back to stable growth once again. Let's take a look at what the high-end grocer is doing right.

Lowering prices Facing competition from the low-priced big-box chains, the company long mocked as "Whole Paycheck" has responded as you might think it would. It lowered prices, primarily on produce, showing off its curb appeal. Whole Foods has generally rejected the standard supermarket strategy of luring customers in with discounts or a "loss leader," but cutting prices on produce, a staple product and a key differentiator against companies like Wal-Mart, seems like a smart way to drive traffic. Once in the store, those customers are more likely to spend on higher-margin items like prepared foods and luxury brands.

Founder and co-CEO John Mackey explained the strategy, saying,"Our value focus is on perishables, where we see opportunities to broaden our selection of products at entry-level price points. We are encouraged by the pricing experiments we are running in several markets, and if results continue to be positive, we expect to expand our test to more markets during the year."

The numbers proved that the decision to lower prices, which the company made last year, is helping to boost sales without sacrificing margins too much, as profits improved 5.7% in the quarter.

Reinforcing the brand Whole Foods launched its first national advertising campaign last year, called "Values Matter." The company ran TV commercials and ads on magazines and billboards showing images of livestock and bucolic farmsin an attempt to reinforce the brand's commitment to humanely and sustainably raised food, local farms, and fair labor practices.

The underlying message seems to be that Wal-Mart may be selling organic food, but the retail giant is vastly different from Whole Foods, which has been committed to natural and organic food since its inception. That's what it does because that's who it is, not because that's what consumers are demanding suddenly. In fact, the organic movement exists in large part because of Whole Foods. Co-CEO Walter Robb explained, "Natural and organic products are increasingly available, yet no one offers the shopping experience we offer. We hold the idea of 'food' to a higher standard."

While it's difficult to directly connect the improved performance with the ad campaign, as it often is with any form of marketing, the social media response to the campaign was strong, and it seemed to remind viewers how Whole Foods is different from would-be competitors.

Read more here:
How Whole Foods Market, Inc. Got Its Groove Back