Atkins diet has flour producers milling around

Published on Monday 10 May 2004 01:00

FLOUR millers still view the impact of the Atkins diet on their market with some apprehension in the wake of a fall in bread consumption in the US.

But, so far, our appetite for carbohydrates in the form of potatoes continues to keep Britain in third place in this sector behind Portugal and Ireland as Europe’s leading consumer.

Both sectors are keeping a watching brief on the impact on British eating habits as book sales by the diet guru continue to soar.

The issue emerged at a joint Home Grown Cereals Authority/National Association of British and Irish Millers conference when Peter Knight, managing director of Smiths Flour Mills, queried whether it should be seen as a short term-fad or a long-term trend.

"With the American market for baked goods falling by 5 per cent, the effect could span most of the cereal product ranges," he said. "We need to decide whether it is a threat or opportunity and manage it properly."

British wheat growers have made major strides in meeting the changing demands of the milling market, with the proportion of UK wheat used by the millers increasing from 35 per cent of demand to 82 per cent in the past 30 years.

This had been a result of successful plant breeding efforts leading to usable products throughout the chain and, increasingly, joint efforts with farmers and retailers to boost new product development. This ensured UK farmers gained a bigger share of the grain price against overseas competitors.

Future issues would also focus on market volatility, aggravated by WTO changes, EU farm policy reform and EU enlargement.

Demand for organic cereal products had not shown major signs of growth and it could be argued there was a greater focus on provenance in the UK, with consumers looking for local and regional products.

The Atkins effect still had to be reckoned with, however, and as well as the drop in US bread consumption, Britain was facing up to a 1.5 per cent drop per year in demand according to the Federation of Bakers.

The British Potato Council is also monitoring the impact of the diet but so far had found little change from the average demand of 103kg per head per year.

A report to be published next month will claim that British cereal growers and users may be top rank for quality assurance and traceability, but they have a long way to go to catch world leaders in most other areas.

First results of the report on international benchmarking of the UK cereals chain, carried out by Prospect Management Services 9PMS with support from SAC - formerly the Scottish Agricultural College -make grim reading for growers.

They show Britain lagging well behind world leaders Australia, France and the US in the flour milling and baking chain and failing to cash in on areas of opportunity, such as risk management, global connections and automation.

"We need to establish areas where we can work together to produce a win:win situation," says David Thelwall, a partner in PMS.

"We haven’t succeeded in getting over the confrontational issue, for example in sharing data along the food chain so that we all get something out of it and trust one another."

Britain had the lowest price for bread in Europe, largely due to supermarket pressure. But competitiveness is not only about cost, he said. It involves providing value, service, quality, brands, innovation and better management.

To meet modern demands, the new version had to be smarter and bolder. There were other lessons to learn from the motor industry, he said, such as using knowledge more effectively, which could benefit the cereals production and processing sector.

The UK Motor Industry Forum had shown significant improvement in productivity with fewer defects in recent years thanks to the use of new techniques.