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April 6, 2005

Greek company to build New York yogurt facility...Bidding war continues for Australian dairy...State funding paves way for jobs at cheese plant...Lifeway Foods financials...Nestle Ice Cream seeks kid tasters, rolls out new products...Ben & Jerry's free cone promotion plus new flavors...Dairy People News...Financials for Ahold's U.S. units...Safeway launches major marketing push...Burger King launches new breakfast item...Odds-and-Ends...Stock Market Ticker...more news at www.idfa.org. More news at www.idfa.org.

DAIRY BUSINESS BRIEFS

Johnstown, N.Y., will be home to a new $27 million yogurt production and distribution facility to be built by Greek dairy company, FAGE Dairy Industry S.A.; construction is expected to begin this spring. FAGE will be eligible to apply for various tax credits, discounted utility rates and nearly $700,000 in state grants. The facility is expected to employ 60 people. (The Times Union-Albany, N.Y.)

The Philippines' largest food and beverage maker, San Miguel, raised its bid by 8.5 percent to about $1.45 billion for Australia's largest publicly held dairy company, National Foods. The offer bests an earlier bid made by Auckland, New Zealand-based Fonterra. San Miguel and Fonterra are each trying to gain a larger share of the Asia-Pacific region's food and dairy market. San Miguel has stated that it plans to triple its sales by 2007. (International Herald Tribune)

The state of New Mexico has awarded Southwest Cheese, Clovis, N.M., a grant for more than $700,000 to help fund nearly 80 jobs at its cheese processing plant. The plant, which is planned to be completed in October, is expected to employ 220 people and produce more than 250 million pounds of cheese each year. (Clovis News Journal - New Mexico)

Morton Grove, Ill.-based Lifeway Foods Inc. reports that its 2004 sales increased 9.7 percent to $16.3 million, from $14.9 million in 2003. Net income was $2.05 million (24 cents a share) compared to $2.2 million (26 cents a share). High milk prices were attributed to the dip in income; a corresponding retail price increase helped raise sales, according to the company. For the first quarter of 2005, ending March 31, Lifeway's sales were approximately $4.7 million, an 18 percent increase from $3.9 million in the first quarter of 2004. During the first quarter, Lifeway sampled products in one of the largest club chains in the nation and has entered talks to expand the product line into other large retail and club outlets. (Company report)

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the frozen pop, Nestle Ice Cream, Glendale, Calif., has launched a "Be a Frozen Pop Flavorologist" contest for kids ages 6 to 12. A frozen pop idea (including name and flavor description) as well as a "flavorful" resume are required to enter; ten winners will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to visit the flavor lab at the Nestle Ice Cream factory in Bakersfield, Calif., a $500 U.S. Savings Bond and a year's supply of frozen snacks. Nestle is also debuting 14 new frozen snacks for kids including: frozen pops with real fruit juice (Scooby Doo Mystery Pops, Splash Pops, Teen Titans Hero Pops and Shooting Stars); frozen pops with 100% DV of Vitamin C (Fruit Fuel); dairy snacks with calcium fortification (Miniwiches, Double Fudge Pops and Scooby Doo Ice Cream Push Up treats); and no sugar added snacks (NSA Double Fudge Pops, NSA Splash Pops and NSA Fruit Fuel). (Company report)

Burlington, Vt.-based Ben & Jerry's 27th Annual Free Cone Day will take place on April 19th from 12 noon to 8:00 p.m. in its 385 scoop shops worldwide. Last year's event gave away more than one million 4-oz. cones and cups of ice cream. Customers can choose from old favorites or sample one of four new Mood Magic flavors. The new line includes: Chocolate Therapy (chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and swirls of chocolate pudding ice cream); In A Crunch (peanut butter ice cream with fudge-covered peanuts and a crispy fudge swirl); The Last Straw (strawberry ice cream with a fudge truffle swirl and strawberry-fudge chunks); and Appley Ever After (brown sugar ice cream with a cinnamon-caramel swirl and apples). Ben & Jerry's is a subsidiary of Unilever. (Company report)

DAIRY PEOPLE NEWS

Brian Young has been named foodservice market development manager at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. At his new post, he will implement programs for specialty distributors and their key customers in target markets in the west. Young previously worked with other dairy companies including InstantWhip Foods, Schreiber Foods and Fisher Cheese. He joins Robert Dilcher, WMMB's foodservice market development manager, who will continue his focus on key markets and the eastern half of the country. (idmagonline.com)

In Passing: Richard Trawick, 66, died March 28 after a short illness. A longtime resident of Montgomery, Ala., he was part of the dairy industry for 35 years. He began working for Associated Milk Producers of Alabama in 1969, and left in 1976 to form dairy cooperative Southeast Milk Marketing Inc. In 1978, Southeast Milk Marketing merged with Southern Milk Sales Inc., and Trawick worked for the new organization through its 1995 merger with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). He worked for DFA until his retirement in 1998 and had served as an industry consultant. (The Montgomery Advertiser)...Leslie C. Mapp, 92, of Centerville, Ohio, died Saturday. Mapp worked as general manager of Ohio's Miami Valley Milk Producers Association from 1945 to 1972. He served as chairman of the snack company Mike-sell's from 1966 to 2005; he became chairman of the Dayton Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in 1973 (when Mike-sell's bought it) and served in that position through 1982. (Dayton Daily News-Ohio)

CUSTOMER CLIPS

Last year's rocky merger of Giant Food LLC and Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. took a toll on 2004 financials, though officials at Dutch parent company Royal Ahold NV report that merger troubles are in the past for the combined entity. The income of the combined chains dropped 26 percent to $847 million in 2004, compared with $1.1 billion in 2003. Sales were $16.1 billion, up 3.6 percent. At Giant, the merger triggered product shortages, pricing glitches and employee morale problems. At the start of the merger in February 2004, Giant's 200 stores and Stop & Shop's 340 were highly profitable. Ahold laid off about 200 employees from Giant's administrative offices, named a new team of executives and adopted a single computer system (which resulted in product shortages, pricing issues and employee payroll problems at Giant). Meanwhile, at Ahold's U.S. Foodservice Inc., sales grew 5.7 percent to $18.8 billion, compared with $17.8 billion in 2003; its losses narrowed to $92 million from $224 million. (The Washington Post)

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway Inc. is launching a $100 million ad campaign to highlight new products, recently remodeled stores and other efforts to differentiate its stores from competitors. Beginning April 18, the ads will run during top-rated TV programs such as "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "24," as well as across radio, billboard and print media. The spots will feature an "ingredients for life" slogan and theme. The initial marketing will be devoted to Safeway's namesake stores, as well as Vons, Pavilions and some Carrs outlets; its Dominick's and Gernuardi's divisions will eventually be included as well. (Contra Costa Times-California)

Two slices of cheese are featured on the Enormous Omelet Sandwich, the latest introduction by fast-food chain Burger King. The 730-calorie breakfast sandwich with 47 grams of fat also contains two eggs, a sausage patty and three strips of bacon on a bun. (Contra Costa Times-California)

IDFA NEWS

Cultured Dairy Conference Set for May 24-25
Looking to help the cultured dairy industry manufacture and market innovative products, IDFA will hold the 2005 Cultured Dairy Products Conference on May 24-25 in Minneapolis. This year's conference will include technical and market-oriented programming, plus an exhibition to showcase the new technologies, products and services available to manufacturers of yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream and other cultured dairy products. For complete information, including registration and exhibiting information, click here.

ODDS-AND-ENDS

Searcy, Ark.-based Yarnell's Ice Cream is introducing sherbet in four flavors: orange, lime, raspberry and rainbow. (Company report)...Enosburg Falls, Vt.-based Franklin Foods is considering moving to Clinton County, N.Y. The dairy company claims that the high cost of electricity and transportation in northern Vermont are behind the possible move (County Courier, Vt.)...Seoul, South Korea-based Namyang Dairy Products Co. has started to supply milk products including yogurt to the United States Armed Forces stationed in South Korea. The company reports the contract marks the first time a domestic dairy producer will supply milk to U.S. forces in the 60 years the troops have been stationed there; Namyang notes it will be the only company in Asia to provide milk to U.S. forces. (Asia Pulse)...The 2006 planned move of the Penn State Creamery to the Berkey Creamery (a new food science building a half-block down the street) is behind a "Save the Creamery" Internet petition, which began circulating in late February; as of last week 1,600 signatures had been collected. As part of their plan to persuade campus officials to maintain two creameries (the old and the new), the students who started the petition also hope to have the current site be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Associated Press)

STOCK MARKET TICKER

As of 4/05/05, market close.

Company/Symbol		Last Trade		Change over Previous Close		Change over Last Week's D-brief
Dean Foods/DF Dreyer's/DRYR General Mills/GIS Groupe Danone/DA Hershey Foods/HSY Ingles Markets/IMKTE Kraft Foods/KFT Kroger/KR Ruddick Corp./RDK Safeway/SWY Saputo/SAP.TO Supervalu/SVU Unilever PLC/UL Weis Markets/WMK Wimm Bill Dann/WBD Winn-Dixie/WIN*		34.84 80.71 49.33 19.39 60.18 13.21 33.02 15.86 23.18 19.39 35.73 33.34 39.88 38.02 19.81 N/A		+0.45 -0.08 +0.54 -0.14 +0.32 -0.19 +0.18 +0.12 +0.14 +0.74 +0.43 +0.56 +0.68 +0.23 +0.89 N/A		+1.70 +0.06 +0.01 -0.20 +0.54 +0.16 +0.79 +0.16 +0.12 +1.03 -1.12 +0.69 +0.64 +1.02 +1.81 N/A
*The New York Stock Exchange suspended trade of WIN as a result of the company's filing of its Chapter 11 petition on February 21, 2005. Source: Yahoo! Finance

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