Food & Beverage Asia February/March 2020

4
NEWS
Emirates SkyCargo poised to support global trade in 2020
Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of
Emirates, has geared up to facilitate global
trade and cargo movement in 2020 and
beyond through a combination of product
development and investment in its “fit for
purpose” infrastructure.
Nabil Sultan, Divisional Senior Vice-
President, Cargo, Emirates, forecasted the
outlook for 2020 to be “more positive” with
the air cargo industry set to post a “modest
recovery” due to improved economic
activity and trade growth.
He elaborated, “With our commitment to
‘deliver as promise’ backed by a global
network covering over 155 destinations
centred in Dubai, our modern fleet of
all wide-body aircraft and our Emirates
SkyCentral terminals, Emirates SkyCargo
is well positioned to support trade and
economic growth in line with the Dubai Silk
Road Project. With Expo 2020 Dubai also
set to kick-off in October this year, we will
see a surge in movement of goods to and
from Dubai, and we are working with our
partners to provide specialised air freight
services for this one in a lifetime event.”
Despite a challenging 2019, Emirates SkyCargo looks forward to a "more positive" 2020
Describing 2019 as a “challenging year”, Last year, Emirates SkyCargo continued
Sultan explained that economic uncertainty to roll out products catered for specific
and tensions in global trade as well as industry verticals. For instance, more
unrest in key markets have negatively than 400,000 tonnes of perishables were
impacted cargo volumes, and continued, flown on Emirates’ flights under Emirates
“However, the tough market conditions Fresh, Emirates SkyCargo’s specialised
were an opportunity for us to review our product for perishables. In November and
core offering to our customers and ensure December 2019, the carrier operated nine
we remained market leaders with our charter flights from Santiago, Chile for
specialised product offering, capabilities carrying cherries. ■
and infrastructure as well as our agility in
responding to customer demand.”
SweeGen and Ingredion extend stevia distribution agreement
SweeGen and Ingredion have jointly
announced an updated agreement which
includes an extension on the distribution of
the former’s stevia sweeteners for another
three years.
The companies commercialise Reb M in
early 2017. Reb M is a non-calorie stevia
sweetener that provides sweetness with a
“clean, sugar-like” taste, and enables food
and beverage manufacturers to reduce
sugar, without sacrificing taste.
Katharina Pueller, Director, Natural
Sweetener Business, SweeGen, elaborated,
“Ingredion has been a global distributor
for SweeGen, and a great partner to
support the commercialisation of our
next-generation stevia sweeteners. We
are pleased to extend this partnership
to continue to leverage each partner’s
strengths, while eliminating unnecessary
exclusivity barriers to execution.”
SweeGen’s production process starts with
the stevia leaf, and uses a bio-conversion
process to achieve “high purity, cleantasting”
Reb M and Reb D. Together,
SweeGen and Ingredion have helped
customers formulate and launch no and
low-sugar products in the US, Canada,
Mexico and Australia.
Nate Yates, Global Sugar Reduction
Platform Lead, Ingredion, concluded, “The
sugar reduction trend is shaping the way
manufacturers formulate, and extending
our partnership with SweeGen allows
Ingredion to continue to provide solutions
which unlock the reduction in sugar to
meet customer and consumer demands.
Ingredion and SweeGen can now operate in
a different structure enabling an enhanced
customer experience.” ■
FOOD & BEVERAGE ASIA FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020