Martek inks Chinese dairy deal as Q2 grows 34%
The deal comes as Martek announced sales increased 34 percent in Q2 to reach $124m for the quarter - $18m of which came from its end-product acquisition – Amerifit.
The DHA (docosahexaenoic acid ) and ARA (arachidonic acid) Chinese supply deal follows a May deal signed with China’s biggest dairy Mengniu for a children’s milk.
"Featuring life'sDHA and life'sARA, Xinfeifan Baby Formula Milk Powder is designed to meet the nutritional requirements of child growth and development," said You-bin Leng, Feihe Dairy chairman and CEO in a statement.
Of its Q2 financial performance, Martek CEO Steve Dubin said: "The improving economy, new launches of products with Martek's life'sDHA, growing international markets for Martek's products and sales of Amerifit's branded consumer health products all contributed to Martek's record quarterly results.”
“This year as a whole is looking strong from a revenue perspective, although revenues for the balance of 2010 are projected to be somewhat uneven on a quarter-to-quarter basis due to customer plant shutdowns for maintenance and other timing matters.”
He said extra brands would be launched through Amerifit over the next 18 months.
China and omega-3
Leading omega-3 supplier Ocean Nutrition Canada announced recently it would be establishing an office in Shanghai this year to meet an expected increase in demand.
It also has a distribution partnership with Chinese firm Ruihua Hexin International.
The Chinese diet has typically been high in fish and therefore less in need of omega-3 supplementation, but western dietary habits are changing this dynamic and increasing the number of people who are omega-3 deficient.
