p.12 NT - BW Spring 2013_p.12 NT - BW Spring 2013.qxd 15/03/2013 11:26 Page 14
national treNds: braZil
biscuits are prominent in the health and wellness
sector.
Brazilian market risks stagnation without urgent
product innovation.
Last April PepsiCo also made an unsuccessful
bid for fourth-largest biscuit producer Marilan.
Control of Marilan would have won PepsiCo a 12
per cent market share, above Nestle and Kraft and
second only to Dias Branco.
biscuits with added vitamins or
cereals are a focus for the
brazilian industry as it looks to
growing middle class demand to
deliver continued value growth.
Mondelez is well placed in this health and
wellness segment. Trakinas is made with high-fibre
flour, while the new Belvita breakfast biscuit is also
marketed in Brazil. Dias Branco launched Richester,
a children’s biscuit line with added vitamins, back in
2008. Recent Nestle launch Passatempo Júnior also
includes added zinc and calcium.
Brazilian firm Arcor is also active in the Wellness
segment. Its 2012 Cereal Mix launch targets the
growing segment of female professionals buying
such fortified products – both for themselves and
their families.
Such product lines have huge potential in a
market where over half the population is under 18.
Official surveys show one in three Brazilian children
are overweight – up sharply over the last 20 years
but still among the lowest in South America. The
Ministry of Health launched a healthy eating
campaign in 2011 as part of a wider anti-obesity
initiative amongst children and adults.
The current government’s anti-poverty strategy
also promises to lift demand beyond Brazil’s
comfortable middle-class.
The regime aims to end extreme poverty by 2014
and in total lift almost 20 million Brazilians out of
poverty. Greater mass purchasing power is good
news for biscuit firms. Nestle Brazil has already
focused on low income consumers with smaller
pack sizes in basic packaging at budget prices.
Control of the country’s best-selling biscuit brand
makes Marilan a major prize in the Brazilian
market. M Dias Branco also took part in a due
diligence process last year when the family-owned
firm was reportedly on offer at BRL600 million
(€221 million).
domestic producers
Nestle was another rumoured suitor – the biscuit
factories operated by Nestle and Marilan in Marilia,
450 kilometres from Sao Paulo, are just six
kilometres apart. Today Marilan President Jose Rubis
Garla insists the firm is no longer for sale. The family
have renegotiated a banking debt and will continue
to operate the firm founded 56 years ago by his
father.
But other medium-sized regional players can also
play hardball over their value given the rivalry
between Dias Branco and foreign market-entrants.
J Macedo and Bauducco are other important
domestic producers. Even Dias Branco itself, once a
takeover target of Kraft, could yet interest PepsiCo.
Biscuits with added vitamins or cereals are a
focus for the Brazilian industry as it looks to growing
middle-class demand to deliver continued value
growth.
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high-fibre flour features in trakinas
biscuits.
A surprise dip in first-half 2012 retail sales and
GDP growth caused the first jitters for Brazil boosters.
While headline growth shows signs of stalling amid
a slowdown in manufacturing and investment,
consumption remains relatively solid.
Well over half Brazil’s tax take is raised on
consumer expenditure. Industry is happy to see
public funds used to raise living stan \