In business news this week, Solvay announced a price increase of its vanillin and ethyl-vanillin ingredients, while Stern-Wywiol Gruppe enlarged its production capacity in Mexico and is intensifying product development at the adjoining Technology Center. Mühlenchemie has introduced flour optimization by smartphone and Margarita Louis-Dreyfus announced new arrangements to finance obligations towards minority shareholders. Finally, Aviko, a Royal Cosun company, will terminate operations at its factory in Oberdolling, Germany.

In brief: Business 
Solvay is set to increase its vanillin and ethyl-vanillin prices by 15 percent across North America, as soon as pending contracts allow, according to a company announcement. The price increases are driven by continued and significant increases in raw materials and energy costs involved in producing Solvay’s vanillin and ethyl-vanillin. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restrictions in China and US/Chinese trade tensions are also affecting raw materials price and availability, the company reports. Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, a Solvay spokesperson says: “This is a global price increase. On a global standpoint, vanillin demand is continuing to grow. However, we can see an inflection vs. last year due to the switch to natural vanillin. Regarding ethylvanillin, we can see a sustained growth demand to continue.”

“In 2017 we successfully launched Rhovanil Natural CW and July this year we launched Rhovanil US Nat a natural vanillin specific to North America. We are also moving forward on formulations solution and this is what we will be promoting at SSW trade show. Also, we are proud to open a new Vanil Expert Center in Princeton. The Solvay VEC Americas provides American customers with technical and product development support across its full range of vanillin based solutions,” adds the spokesperson.

Together with its affiliate Stern Ingredients México, the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, based in Hamburg, this week celebrated the enlargement of its production plant in Mexico City. The company is set to intensify product development at the adjoining Technology Center. The research facility will in future focus on dairy products, beverages and deli foods, according to the company, and the plant has two new production lines for food ingredients, adding 4,000 tons of additional production capacity. After the facility in Malaysia, this is the second plant to be opened by the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe this year.

Meanwhile, Comax Flavors announced the completion of the Dr. Peter J. Calabretta Center for Innovation in Marlton, New Jersey, following its soft opening on July 25, 2018. The new Center for Innovation comprises 3,600 square feet and features state-of-the-art application and flavor labs as well as customer conference and tasting rooms. The new facility will allow Comax to work more closely with the company’s customer base to provide new and innovative product concepts and flavors. It will also proactively support Comax’s creative flavor and application capabilities together with the research and development teams headquartered in Melville, New York.

Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, Chairperson of Louis Dreyfus Company Holdings B.V. (LDCH), has announced that Akira B.V., the group’s majority shareholder, has secured the arrangements necessary to buy out any minority shareholders who so desired. LDCH is the holding company of global merchant and processor of agricultural goods, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC). “I am very pleased to have completed this process, reconfirming my commitment to safeguarding the Louis-Dreyfus heritage and shaping its long-term future,” comments Ms. Louis-Dreyfus. “With a stable ownership structure secured, we are well positioned to accelerate the execution of our growth strategy,” she says. “As part of LDCH’s long-term strategy, the goal of the past three years has been to refocus the priority on its core business. This goal has been successfully achieved, as we are on track for solid results in 2018 and beyond. Now, we can proceed to the next stage of our long-term vision, which is sustainable growth,” Ms. Louis-Dreyfus notes.

Mühlenchemie has introduced flour optimization smartphone tool, called the Mühlenchemie Navigator, which is an aid to help formulators decide on additives and enzymes. Now available as a real-time web application, the self-service tool complements individual applications consultancy on-site, according to the company. The Mühlenchemie Navigator is the miller’s periodic table: tried and tested, and unbeaten for estimating the effects of enzymes and flour improvers on the functional properties of flours, the company reports. Through a global network of rheological laboratories and trial bakeries, production facilities and local applications consultants the experts in Ahrensburg collected empirical data for flour standardization which they summarized in compact form in their practical guide, the “Navigator”; which they made available free of charge in 2008. The digital version now makes it simple for millers to find the right flour improvers to meet the physical and baking requirements of their doughs. Via dro-down menus, the desired product parameters are seleced and translated by logical operations into solutions using enzymes or additives.

In brief: Other highlights
KitoZymes ingredients are now authorized for organic wines, and KitoZyme products can now be labeled “bio.” The company reports it can now use chitosan derived from Aspergillus Niger, patented by KitoZyme, as an efficient tool for clarification. The ingredient, sold under the brand names No Brett Inside and KiOfine by the company’s partners Lallemand, Perdomini, IOC and ICV, will offer new solutions to this fast-growing market. Organic wine production currently represents10 percent of French production and between 8 and 12 percent of the worldwide production.

Finally, Aviko, a Royal Cosun company, has decided to terminate operations at its factory in Oberdolling, Germany and the Amberger factory will close before the end of the year. Aviko acquired the Amberger factory in 2014. The facility produces local potato specialties such as Knödel, Garkartoffeln and Kartoffelsalat that are sold chiefly on the home market in Bavaria. A raft of initiatives has failed to improve the factory’s results and some 150 members of staff will lose their jobs at Amberger. Some of them will be offered alternative employment at the Aviko factory in Rain am Lech, also in Bavaria, the company says.