Consumer Foods to Go

It is always interesting to look at what is front of mind for investors in the food sector, in this case listed equities. Investors are important stakeholders for some food companies, and they might influence a company's strategic direction, if only by putting a valuation on it. Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott interviewed Christian Graven, Food & Agriculture Specialist at Kepler Cheuvreux (an independent European financial services company and a Rabobank partner) on what he believes the key themes for food investors are in 2022.

2021 has been the year of inflation. Almost all line items of food companies' cost of goods sold increased substantially. The ingredients (the agri commodities) are a key component. As it is the time of the year to look forward, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott invited Carlos Mera, Head of Agri Commodity Market Research, to discuss the outlook for the main commodities and the main drivers for price change going forward.

Labor shortages are all over the news right now. Many shelves are empty because, in many parts of the food & agribusiness supply chain, workers are missing. The same shortages are seen in foodservice. In this episode of Consumer Foods-to-Go, Maria and Cyrille discuss the labor challenges with Rabobank economist Elwin de Groot. Topics discussed include: sectoral shifts, government support schemes, and migration. All this should lead to an answer to the question: Are these shortages temporary or structural?

RaboResearch went to Germany to attend Anuga, one of the largest food trade shows in the world. In this episode of the Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast, Maria Castroviejo, Cyrille Filott, and Marjolein Hanssen review Anuga and share their findings from the event. The three discuss the innovations that were noticed, the things that were missing, and general observations. Topics include plant-based products, inflation, and the surprising lack of messaging on sustainability.

Consumer Foods-to-Go brings insights into the topics that should be top-of-mind for any food executive and the topics that should inspire us to think differently. This podcast falls into the latter category. We have always been fascinated by Japan and Japanese shopping and eating culture. In this episode, we explore konbini – convenience (food) shopping in Japan. We believe Japan is ahead of many markets in how convenience shops are set up and run. We invited Kaoru Yoshii, Retail Sector Analyst at Norinchukin Research Institute, and Hideki Obata, General Manager Food and Agribusiness Planning at Norinchukin Bank, to discuss konbini. Expect to be surprised on how konbini companies operate and what audiences they are targeting.

Climate change impacts business. Business impacts climate change. Many food companies are taking responsibility and setting targets to achieve lower emissions for their products in the near term and even zero emissions in the long run. Most of these emissions happen in companies' supply chains, outside of their direct control. The key challenge food companies face: how to make change happen in the supply chain? Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott quiz Rabobank analyst Marjolein Hanssen on the topic. She will talk numbers (scope 3 emissions are a large part of total emissions) and offer her thoughts on actions that may lower supply chain emissions.

In this episode of Consumers Foods-to-Go, we put the food manufacturing plant in the middle and perform a deep dive into the logistical processes around it. There are two major streams: the goods coming into the factory and the goods leaving the factory for distribution centers. In both cases, we are witnessing much higher prices for logistics. Together with Matteo Iagatti, Maria Castroviejo and Cyrille Filott explore the drivers behind the price spikes and the outlook for the logistical sector.

Consumer Foods-to-Go covered plant-based meat substitutes in two episodes in the last few years, but it's such an important topic in consumer foods nowadays that we believe we should do a third. This time we focus on Asia, as we are hearing a lot of stories about the growth of plant-based meat substitute products there. To discuss the topic, we invited our own Michelle Huang, who brings a Chinese perspective, and Nick Cooney from Lever VC, who invests in plant-based meat substitutes across the globe, including Asia. During the podcast, we review the key trends in China and spend a lot of time discussing the differences between the US and Chinese market.

Inflation is, or should be, at the top of any board room agenda. Developed markets have not seen much inflation in the last decade, but now it seems to be back. In this episode, host Cyrille Filott and co-host Maria Castroviejo discuss the drivers of inflation with Michael Every, strategist at Rabobank. One of the key drivers of the current inflationary pressure is the bullwhip effect, where supply and demand shocks ripple through the supply chain. In the end, future inflation will be partly politically driven, which is discussed as well. Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster ride of talk on inflation!

One-and-half years ago we released a Consumer Foods-to-Go podcast called Nutri-Score: A, B, C, Easy as 1, 2, 3... Or Is It? about a front-of-pack nutrition label. Now, some European retailers are trialing another front-of-pack label called Eco-Score that focuses on the sustainability of a product. It works in the same way as Nutri-Score: A for top of the bill, E for bottom of the pack. We believe some form of sustainability labeling will become the norm in the next few years, so Cyrille Filott and Maria Castroviejo explore the Eco-Score label in this podcast. Loads of nuggets in this episode for anyone in the food & agribusiness value chain!