ATM - A2 Milk Corporation Limited

[MAC]

Certainly China is a delicate place to do business NT001, it’s easy for us to forget that it’s both a communist and a corrupt part of the world, but in having an incumbent government linked entity to process importation, I think a2MC have in aggregate de-risked that part of the process as far as any business possibly could.

I was a little surprised also when they decided to manage the in country distribution themselves, and have assumed that it resulted from a desire to better control costs, manage theft and corruption, and perhaps to better target market to specific retailers and geographic areas.

Still though, it’s not direct operational management as far as I’m aware, they will still be tendering for local incumbent distributing/courier type companies.

Looking forward to the China segment result actually, have a positive feel for that result, a sniff of very strong demand from Australian infant formula winging its way to China on the black market, fresh milk sales to China at 3M litters per annum kicking in about now.

And, who knows what the deal is with the a2 milk powder testing, but I suspect we may soon hear that they are selling that into Asia also.

[NT001]

There could be an interesting court decision in India directing that non-A2 milk carry health warnings. A case has been filed arguing for such an instruction to be made mandatory.

http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/ahmed...w/47193809.cms

The debate about A1/A2 in India revolves around two separate issues. One is the health aspect, with Indian researchers playing a leading role in establishing the medical harm that A1 milk can cause in humans. The other is a kind of nationalistic argument in favour of a ban on cows that have resulted from inter-breeding between Indian native breeds (which are pure A2) and European breeds that carry the A1 gene. Inter-breeding, especially with Friesian-Holsteins, can increase milk yields, and has been so common that it is now hard to find pure Indian bovine stock. But there is a strong popular movement in favour of returning to the traditional Indian breeds, which can survive well on far less feed than the Europeanised cows, can consume food scraps and other roughage instead of requiring pasture and expensive cattle feed, and have a much higher immunity to disease and thus require much less veterinary medication such as antibiotics.

[NT001]

Here's a longish article in an industry newspaper about a recent conference addressing the problems of trying to turn milk from an undifferentiated supermarket commodity into a value-added food that offers real benefits that can be promoted through branding. A2 gets a couple of specific mentions as an example of what to do, and a2MC's UK boss Scott Wotherspoon is one of the speakers quoted, which is good to see. The article helps explain the context in which A2 milk has been able to establish itself as a premium brand: it has a real point of difference that is beneficial to the consumer. It's interesting to read how the industry as a whole is floundering around, wondering how to emulate this.

http://www.just-food.com/analysis/a-..._id129994.aspx

[skid]

There could be an interesting court decision in India directing that non-A2 milk carry health warnings. A case has been filed arguing for such an instruction to be made mandatory.

http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/ahmed...w/47193809.cms

The debate about A1/A2 in India revolves around two separate issues. One is the health aspect, with Indian researchers playing a leading role in establishing the medical harm that A1 milk can cause in humans. The other is a kind of nationalistic argument in favour of a ban on cows that have resulted from inter-breeding between Indian native breeds (which are pure A2) and European breeds that carry the A1 gene. Inter-breeding, especially with Friesian-Holsteins, can increase milk yields, and has been so common that it is now hard to find pure Indian bovine stock. But there is a strong popular movement in favour of returning to the traditional Indian breeds, which can survive well on far less feed than the Europeanised cows, can consume food scraps and other roughage instead of requiring pasture and expensive cattle feed, and have a much higher immunity to disease and thus require much less veterinary medication such as antibiotics.

I wonder if Monsanto has a foothold in the cattle industry there like they do in GM agriculture--Its a crime whats going on in India (and of course other places)
They have had some real issues with cows and milk in the States(growth hormones)--If A2 could provide a good alternative it would be good (hopefully there is not some free trade deal that allows them to sue for lost profit.

[skid]

[QUOTE=NT001;571538]Here's a longish article in an industry newspaper about a recent conference addressing the problems of trying to turn milk from an undifferentiated supermarket commodity into a value-added food that offers real benefits that can be promoted through branding. A2 gets a couple of specific mentions as an example of what to do, and a2MC's UK boss Scott Wotherspoon is one of the speakers quoted, which is good to see. The article helps explain the context in which A2 milk has been able to establish itself as a premium brand: it has a real point of difference that is beneficial to the consumer. It's interesting to read how the industry as a whole is floundering around, wondering how to emulate this.

I reckon value added food is the key to New Zealand success rather than wholesale export of raw commodities.

[NT001]

For those interested in more details and developments regarding Synlait's new marketing strategy in China in cahoots with New Hope, here's yet another article by Keith Woodford. One of his main points is that a strategy based on lowering the infant formula price by selling direct online could backfire to some extent because Chinese consumers tend to assume that a lower price may indicate lower quality.

https://keithwoodford.wordpress.com/...-on/#more-1290

[mayday]

strong support at 0.50 ish

[Harrie]

strong support at 0.50 ish

Not surprising. It will stay in the 49c to 53c range until we get data on progress in target markets, or some research from India comes out which instigates a banning of a1 milk in India, or some other authorative research from another quarter.

Program on TV a few days ago about farming goats milk. The farmer stated that it was a natural milk, "the closest milk to mothers milk you can get". He stopped short of saying that it had only the a2 protein which was a bit of a shame, but why promote his competition understandably.
Not a serious threat to a2 milk, but does anyone know how economic goats milk is to produce c/f Cows milk?

[sb9]

I think someone's (big player) offloaded today...

[NT001]

...Program on TV a few days ago about farming goats milk. The farmer stated that it was a natural milk, "the closest milk to mothers milk you can get". He stopped short of saying that it had only the a2 protein which was a bit of a shame, but why promote his competition understandably. Not a serious threat to a2 milk, but does anyone know how economic goats milk is to produce c/f Cows milk?

Well, goats milk and formula is pure A2, and that's why a lot of people have found it easy to digest who react badly to the cows milk in supermarkets, and goats milk formula sells well at a very high price to consumers who are aware of the A1/A2 issue. But there's not a lot of it around. Goats are harder to manage than cows, per gallon of milk, so no economic threat there. But it's useful to have goats milk around as an example of the advantages of A2. Same as buffalo milk etc.

All milk except the mixed-up version of cows milk you find in supermarkets is A2 and therefore good. I personally buy A2 cows milk (Fresha) but when I buy yogurt it's from sheeps milk (at Commonsense Organics) if I can get it, and I buy the wonderful feta cheese from Blue River in Southland also made from sheeps milk (at New World). I doubt that goats milk can compete with cows milk on price - its formula sells at a very high price in the supermarkets and there aren't that many goats being milked. But sheeps milk is a growing industry in NZ and could compete with A2 cows milk on quality, although not outdo it on quantity. It sells on taste, which to many consumers is better than cows milk and also has a higher nutritional value.
NT