Trend Hunter 2009

Let's see how accurate this is:

Global Milk Glut Squeezes Dairy Farmers, Consumers

We're discussing pricing tonight....here's a good example for discussion:

Dairymen squeezed by milk glut, low prices, but consumers see little relief at supermarket

By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD AP Business Writer
BARNHART, Mo. May 25, 2009 (AP)

The Associated Press

A collapse in milk prices has wiped away the profits of dairy farmers, driving many out of business while forcing others to slaughter their herds or dump milk on the ground in protest. But nine months after prices began tumbling on the farm, consumers aren't seeing the full benefits of the crash at the checkout counter.

The average price for a gallon of milk at grocery stores last month is down just 19 percent from its peak of $3.83 in July. Farmers, on the other hand, got $1.04 a gallon in April — 35 percent less than they were paid last fall. This winter, wholesale prices were down as much as 45 percent.

Price disparities are a fact of life both for farmers and anyone who shops at a supermarket, but the nature of milk — how it's stored, priced and sold around the world — makes the gap all the more dramatic. In fact, the price that farmers get has been wildly volatile for years, creating a succession of booms and busts felt from pastures to the grocery store.

With each turn, proposals are floated to end the pricing seesaw, which at one extreme squeezes the profits of farmers and the other squeezes dairy processors. Any fix that boosts the price of milk runs the risk of bumping up how much consumers pay, too.

Today, frustrations are spilling over as the price crash creates widely divergent fortunes within the milk industry, boosting profits for the middlemen like dairy processors while pushing farmers to the edge of bankruptcy.

Darrell Kraus, a dairyman in Barnhart, spends almost as much today on hay and other supplies for his herd of 160 cows as he did a year ago, but he's getting paid less for a gallon of milk than his father in the 1970s. He blames middlemen who buy the milk from the dairies, process it and sell it to grocery stores at higher prices.

"Somebody's getting a cut of this, but it's not the dairy farmer," he said. "It's sad, but they're going to see a lot of dairy farms go out of business."

Takeda To Create Global Centers Of Excellence

Here's a good example of what we're discussing tonight in Chapter 10 - Global Products and Distribution


Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") announced a reorganization of its corporate structure, as part of its 2006-2010 Medium-Term Plan vision to become a global pharmaceutical company with highly integrated global operations. In order to become more responsive to rapid changes in the global operating environment and to maximize the global market potential of new products and the company's global presence, the company is streamlining executive reporting relationships to Yasuchika Hasegawa, President, by creating corporate-level, center of excellence R&D, commercial and administrative functions. Effective April 1, 2009, Shigenori Ohkawa, Ph.D., will become Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), and Alan MacKenzie will become Executive Vice President (EVP) International Operations. Additionally, a Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) role will be established.

"Takeda is making meaningful changes in structure and governance through this reorganization and the creation of the CSO, EVP, International Operations, and CAO roles, which we believe will further strengthen our global operations structure," said Yasuchika Hasegawa, President, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. "Through this new organizational structure, Takeda looks forward to continuing our history of creating and marketing novel pharmaceutical products that meet the needs of patients globally."