Peek No: 22  
Dec 17, 2003 

Hello!

Who wouldn’t love cash cows? The team at Marketspeek has been working hard to help its readers identify dependable cash cows.

Little wonder we turned our attention to the dairy sector!

On his second voyage to America, Columbus brought cows to our country. That marked the beginning of an industry. In terms of production, our Dairy sector fares second only to Beef, and is on par with Corn. Most of the milk we produce ends up on our table as cheese and allied products.

Our peek into the dairy sector assesses the current trends and challenges staring at the industry.

As usual, let’s take stock of our economy.

Vehicle sales
Sales of light domestic vehicles in November reached 13.5 million units, as against 12.7 million units in October. The incentives offered in November led to the spurt in sales.

Labor Productivity
The third quarter labor productivity leapt to 8.6 % from a revised 8.1 %. The annual rate of productivity growth compares with a 7.0 % revised growth rate for the previous quarter. The revised estimate reflects a much larger upward revision to output than hours. Manufacturing productivity increased 9.0 %, with durable goods gaining the most at 14.8 %.

Happy peeking!

Editor
Marketspeek
Executive Editor - Dr. Sharon Livingston
Editor - Vijay

 Week's Peek


Crying over spilt milk!

  • The ingredients of milk are water (87%), fat (3.5%), protein (3.2%), lactose (4.8%), minerals and vitamins (1.5%).
  • The cow breeds reared for milk production by North American dairy farmers are Hereford, Jersey, Guernsey, Simmental, Limousin, Gelbvieh, Angus, Brown Swiss, Ayrshire, Canadienne, Dutch Belted, Kerry, Milking Devon, Milking Shorthorn, Norwegian Red, Friesian and Holstein.
  • Cows are milked twice every day; in rare instances three or four times. Generally, a cow can produce 11,880 – 16,830 lbs of milk, a year. The production depends on the feed and the breed. The record is a Holstein with 32,120 lbs per annum.
  • The number of milk-producing cows in the U.S. is on the decline. The reasons are
    • Consumption of milk is decreasing.
    • Reduction in the number of dairies.

  • Milk production shows a decreasing trend.
    The reasons are
    • Decrease in the number of milk cows.
    • Competition from other beverages.
    • Increasing export subsidies in the U.S.
    • Increase in the stock of skimmed milk powder (to around 370,000 tons).


Vital Statistics - Dairy

Unhealthy trends, healthy insights

  • Almost 10 million Americans suffer from osteoporosis; a disease that weakens bones and makes them vulnerable to fracture.
  • An additional 18 million are likely to be at risk because of low bone mass.
  • Fall in milk consumption coupled with a parallel rise in soft drink consumption has detrimental impact on bone health in the U.S.
  • Children and adolescents in the U.S. prefer soft drinks to milk. There is a direct correlation between the age of children and consumption of soft drinks. On the other hand, an inverse correlation exists between their age and milk consumption.
  • On an average, for each ounce of reduction in milk consumption, a child is seen to consume 4.2 ounces of soft drinks. This results in a net gain of 31 calories and a loss of about 34 milligrams of Calcium.
  • Girls are poor consumers of milk than boys. It has been found that two-thirds of school-going children lack the calcium needed to build stronger bones.
  • Dairy products occupy a major share in our diet. Packed with high-quality protein, they are also proven sources of vitamins A, D, and B-12, and also riboflavin, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and calcium.

 

Analysis

Milking the Opportunities

  • The future of fluid milk sales depends on our children becoming long-term consumers of milk. An awareness campaign amongst mothers explaining the health benefits of milk should see a shift in attitude towards milk consumption.
  • The growth of fluid milk sales can happen only at the cost of non-milk drinks. The presence of natural vitamins and energizers, in contrast to artificial flavors and permitted preservatives in soft drinks, must be projected to promote the habit of drinking milk.
  • As our generation has turned health-conscious, the advantages of low fat milk must be exploited to the dairy industry’s advantage. And milk producers can target this niche to gain a significant market share.
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   Wish I Were

My Girl Friday

Legwork for the fast track life

Everything was running late for the Cincinnati-based pharmaceutical sales rep Julie Hagenmaier. Her husband was away on business and some last-minute headaches haunted her. By the time she got her two-year-old home from day care, all that she could make for dinner was peas and popcorn. That day, in November 1999, was really a hectic day for Julie.

Julie decided that the time had come to get help with her daily chores. A full-time nanny was out of question. Yet, the kind of occasional assistance she could afford was not available even on a part-time basis. The more Julie thought about it, the more she realized that other families too faced the same dilemma. A thought struck her. Perhaps, instead of looking for help, she should be the one to provide it.
This idea was soon to change the course of her life, forever. That led to Julie ideate a personal concierge service - My Girl Friday.

Julie sourced people who had enough time to spare. Her business offered maid service, lawn and pet care, catering, deliveries, setting up or taking down the Christmas tree, children’s birthday planning and taking the car for service. By the end of her first year, Julie had expanded to serve local corporations with office management, computer training and food deliveries.

Julie was able to keep her marketing budget low with companies helping her promote the services. Soon My Girl Friday became a success in her town and Julie began to look for ways to take the business nationally. She hosted a brainstorming session for several business executives, which generated a number of ideas like, using My Girl Friday’s expertise in travel planning and ancillary services to provide personal services via travel agents and the Internet. It only led to several new ventures, including partnerships, to identify and employ local vendors of ancillary travel services that hotels can offer online. Now she heads a company that employs 20 people locally and provides helping hands in 57 U.S. markets.

Julie’s life is every bit as hectic as it was on that fateful day in 1999. But with thousands of other harried families, businesses and travelers who count on My Girl Friday, she can manage the increasing demands of today’s busy world, with glee.

For further reading:

http://www.egirlfriday.com/

http://www.mygirlfriday-5k.com/

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3266/4_62/97236544/p1/article.jhtml

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/08/18/biz_wwwbiz2memo18.html

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   BrandFact

Hitachi, the electronics company, derives its name from Japanese word for "sunrise."
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  This Week that Age

17th of December 1903: The Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA, flew the first working airplane.
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  Insight

There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day.

-- Alexander Woollcott
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