05/22/2008

New Britain doubles profit from palm oil

New Britain Palm Oil (Crude Palm Oil) doubled quarterly profits and underlined plans to double acreage over the next seven

years in anticipation of strong palm oil prices, the Australasia-focused planter said on Wednesday. First-quarter pretax

profits for the period to May 13 doubled to $37 million as sales rose 63 percent to $83 million, Papua New Guinea's largest

palm oil producer said. New Britain has doubled in value since its December listing giving it a current market value of 790

million pounds ($1.54 billion). Its performance compares with a 3.7 percent decline in the FTSE All Share <.FTAS> index in

2008. With no debt, about $50 million in cash and a share price that's a shade off its March peak of 600p, the company is on

track to double acreage by 2015, Executive Director Alan Chaytor told Reuters. New Britain has about 40,000 hectares of

plantation estates on Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands -- a size it can easily double in surrounding areas, Chaytor

said. Additional estates could come from acquisitions in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two top producers of the edible

oil, he said, adding that palm oil prices are expected to stay strong in the medium to long-term.

Nutrition: Eleven Superfoods You Ought To Know About

Coconut Fiber There’s a lot more to foods than just the nutrition they contain. Some can act as medicines, helping to tame

inflammation in the body, or protect cells from DNA damage. Others can act as aphrodisiacs (see number 2 below). Still others

can protect your memory. Superfoods are “super” precisely because they offer more benefits than what you can find on the “

nutrition facts” label. Every one on this list qualifies! 1.Blueberries These amazing berries are on anyone’s list of

superfoods. Recent research shows that they’re brain food-- feeding blueberries to rats actually slows their age-related

mental decline. Blueberries contain pterostilbene, a plant compound recently shown to have cholesterol-lowering properties.

Their ORAC value (antioxidant rating) is the highest of any fruit. And blueberries are rich in fiber. Tip: try them frozen.

They taste like sherbet! 2.Maca Based on a long history of traditional use in Peru, maca has recently become known as a

“natural Viagra”, and is popular as an aphrodisiac, and for increasing fertility and stamina. (I talked about it in my book

‘The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth” as part of a natural treatment for restoring sexual potency.) But maca’s also

a superfood from a nutrition point of view. It’s an important staple for the Andean Indians, has been around since 3800 BC

and is rich in sugars, protein, starches and essential minerals, especially iron and iodine. You can buy it as a supplement,

or, even better, as a powder which you can add to shakes. 3.Cherries Cherries are absolutely loaded with anti-inflammatory,

antiaging, anticancer compounds that don’t show up on your average nutrition facts label. These include quercetin, a member

of the flavonoid family which has powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Cherries also contain anthocyanains

which act like natural COX-2 inhibitors, reducing pain and inflammation. That’s one reason why they’re so great for gout.

My favorite “healthy” desert- frozen cherries mixed with full fat yogurt. Tastes like Cherry Garcia only way better for

you. 4.Guava Among the superfoods of the world, guava is a sleeper. With a taste that’s been described as “part strawberry

part pear”, one low-calorie cup of this vitamin rich fruit contains a whopping 8 grams of fiber. And in one widely used

nutrition lab test for antioxidant power, guava scored second only to blueberries, and right behind kale. Guava also contains

cancer fighting lycopene. 5.Kale Kale is a member of the brassica family, vegetable royalty that boasts cabbage and broccoli

among it’s relatives. It’s simply loaded with nutrition. It’s rich in potent cancer fighting substances called indoles,

and loaded with bone-building vitamin K. Kale also contains sulforaphane, a powerful nutrient that helps the liver detoxify

carcinogens and other toxins. Kale has the highest antioxidant rating of any vegetable and is ridiculously low in calories.

Try it tossed with olive oil, a few dried cranberries and some pine nuts.

Kenya: Tea Industry Responds to Increasing Competition

tea product On the usually bustling Koinange Street in Nairobi, Chai House towers like a solid testimony of the power of the

tea industry. On the ground floor is a splendid tea cafe, The T-Spot, that has marked the battle lines in the race of the tea

cup. A lane away on Loita Street is Sasini House, which not only houses the headquarters of a tea and coffee company, but a

new tea and coffee restaurant. Both houses are at war for the tea market and so are others out to add premium to their

produce as the international market weathers the dollar fluctuation storm. In April, the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA)

opened the T-Spot Restaurant, which is to street-test its entry into the beverage market. To back it up, its subsidiary Kenya

Tea Packers (Ketepa) launched the first cold tea drink, Safari Ice Tea, in the local market. Of late, the export of Kenyan

tea to traditional buyer countries such as Pakistan has shrunk by 18 per cent, which is forcing local companies to turn to

the home ground for survival. "A company has to be innovative to be part of this fast changing market, from what is inside

the package to the outside. The packaging has to be of good quality too," says Edwin Bii, the sales and marketing manager of

Sasini Ltd. Mr Bii says the new vibrancy in the sector is about integrating the business to bring another aspect about the

company and to increase shareholder value. At the newly refurbished National Museums of Kenya headquarters in Nairobi's

Museum Hill is a new coffee and tea outlet operated by Sasini as part of its diversification programme. "When a company does

this, it is addressing people's needs," says Mr Bii Sasini's core business has been in exporting coffee and tea from farms it

owns, while being a retailer in the local and regional market. Besides selling branded tea in Kenya, the company hopes to

take the African coffee drink to London and Dubai. Although tea has been commercially grown in Kenya since the 1920s - and in

small portions since 1903 - it has yet to be fully exploited and little value addition is done. Back in 1996, Flora Mutahi of

Melvin Marsh International, tired of seeing the same black tea on the shelves all the time, decided to add value to local

tea. She started her own tea packing company filling the vacuum and adding excitement in the local tea market. It worked. In

her office in the Nairobi's Industrial Area, the powerful aroma of spices filters and wafts into the corridors. This smell is

one that has changed the tastes of people; a sign the value addition is bringing a new life to the once business she was

tired of. As the pioneer of the local flavoured tea, Ms Mutahi is constantly recreating and introducing teas with only

natural fresh spices. Today, Melvin's Tea remains a case study of an experiment gone right. "I have to keep abreast with the

customer and keep moving with them," she says, sounding upbeat about emerging success on a mission to satisfy the market. As

the Kenyan consumer gets stronger in demanding the best and high quality from companies, the consumer market is moving fast

too and that is why the tea producers are entering the market slowly. As the tea growers struggle to add and interest locals

into taking more tea it is becoming a cut throat competition that has thrown into place all ideas into the arena. Although

Kenya is a tea growing country, its supermarket shelves still spot tea brands from other countries. This is a testimony the

market is there is need to improve consumer choice. That is how KTDA feels about it newest baby, the T-Spot which is entirely

run by a restaurant consultant management, Blanco's Holdings, which they hope to go regional, then international. It offers

all the teas grown in the country and experiments with it; from cookies made from tea to tea mochas.