China, UK Trade Talks Pose Positive Opportunities for US Animal Food Industry

The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) is pleased to see a cooling of U.S. tariffs on and retaliatory tariffs from China and a proposed trade agreement with the United Kingdom coming to fruition, given discussions late last week and over the weekend between the U.S. and respective countries’ trade officials. Both China and the United Kingdom present valuable opportunities for U.S. animal food manufacturers, which produce some of the safest, highest quality and innovative feed, feed ingredients and pet food globally...

Tariff Talks 2025: Expana's Weekly Rundown #8

Expana’s global team of specialist reporters has been tracking every twist and turn in the fluid tariff situation.

Click to read "Tariff Talks 2025: Expana's Weekly Rundown #8."

This report allows the Expana community to see where key commodity markets stand as of this past week... Click the above PDF report, or keep scrolling to read in plain text...

ANALYSIS: UK Lamb Export Market Update

The latest UK sheep meat export figures released by HM Revenue & Customs show that exports for February 2025 are 3.9% lower y-o-y at 6,165 tonnes. The cumulative January to February 2025 sheep meat exports are 2.2% lower than the same period in 2024.

In February, the top three export locations (France, Germany, Belgium) represent the majority of the decline, while the Netherlands had a 79% y-o-y increase. Despite export quantities declining in the first two months of February, export value is up and shows that there is good demand even with higher prices. Market participants reported last week that lamb exports have supported trade volumes and that prices from the Rungis market have held steady during April...

Valeo Foods Acquires Italian Baker Freddi Dolciaria

Europe’s sweet snacks producer with footholds in the EU, UK, and Ireland has again expanded across Europe into Italy with the acquisition of Italian sweet baked goods producer, Freddi Dolciaria. A price of sale was not disclosed in the press release.

Currently, Valeo Foods has many recognized brands across Europe like Rowse honey, Jacob’s biscuits, Batchelor’s canned beans and peas, as well as Kettle crisps. Valeo will add Freddi Dolciaria brands like the bakery’s Swiss Roll products that contain ingredients like whole milk, Italian eggs, cocoa cream, chocolate flakes...