When Will U.S. Firms Become Major Dairy Exporters?

Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,

Parmalat

This Discussion Paper describes developments affecting Parmalat of Italy, once one of the world's leading dairy-food firms, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2003. After the bankruptcy, it was discovered that fraud on a massive scale had occurred at Parmalat, putting the firm in the infamous category occupied by Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom. This paper analyzes the origins, growth, strategies, downfall, and restructuring of Parmalat, and identifies implications for the U.S. and world dairy industries and international businesses that flow from the firm's experiences.Parmalat, Fraud, Bankruptcy, Distribution Channels, Brand Proliferation, Fragmented Industries, Debt Aquisition, Agricultural Finance, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty,

Why Most Small and Mid-Sized Agribusinesses and Cooperatives Don't Export - Implications for the U.S. Dairy Industry

Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

An Evaluation of The Impact of Globalization on the U.S. Dairy Industry: Threats, Opportunities and Implications

Agribusiness, International Development, International Relations/Trade,

Milk Contamination Problems in China - Implications for International Dairy Businesses

Agribusiness, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,

The Future Role of the U.S. in World Dairy Markets

U.S. dairy companies became more important exporters beginning in the mid-2000s when international and domestic developments changed the economic environment facing the U.S. dairy industry. This paper looks at five U.S. dairy firms and how their domestic and international strategies will influence the size of the U.S. dairy industry's dairy exports and foreign direct investment in dairy-food businesses.U.S. Dairy Exports, International Dairy Industry, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, International Relations/Trade,

Uniform in time estimates for the weak error of the Euler method for SDEs and a Pathwise Approach to Derivative Estimates for Diffusion Semigroups

We present a criterion for uniform in time convergence of the weak error of the Euler scheme for Stochastic Differential equations (SDEs). The criterion requires i) exponential decay in time of the space-derivatives of the semigroup associated with the SDE and ii) bounds on (some) moments of the Euler approximation. We show by means of examples (and counterexamples) how both i) and ii) are needed to obtain the desired result. If the weak error converges to zero uniformly in time, then convergence of ergodic averages follows as well. We also show that Lyapunov-type conditions are neither sufficient nor necessary in order for the weak error of the Euler approximation to converge uniformly in time and clarify relations between the validity of Lyapunov conditions, i) and ii). Conditions for ii) to hold are studied in the literature. Here we produce sufficient conditions for i) to hold. The study of derivative estimates has attracted a lot of attention, however not many results are known in order to guarantee exponentially fast decay of the derivatives. Exponential decay of derivatives typically follows from coercive-type conditions involving the vector fields appearing in the equation and their commutators; here we focus on the case in which such coercive-type conditions are non-uniform in space. To the best of our knowledge, this situation is unexplored in the literature, at least on a systematic level. To obtain results under such space-inhomogeneous conditions we initiate a pathwise approach to the study of derivative estimates for diffusion semigroups and combine this pathwise method with the use of Large Deviation Principles.Comment: 47 pages and 9 figure

How Mexico's Dairy Industry Has Evolved Under the NAFTA - Implications for U.S. Dairy Exporters and U.S. Investors in Mexico's Dairy-Food Businesses

This Discussion Paper shows that the demand for imported dairy products will continue to be strong in Mexico, especially after the 2001-2002 recession ends. However, Mexico's dairy markets have matured under the NAFTA. As part of the maturity, a larger number of strong domestic firms have emerged and powerful European multi-nationals have increased dairy product sales in Mexico. In addition, the expansion of U.S. exports of fluid milk, yogurt, dried whey, and lactose to Mexico will be slow in near future because U.S. market shares of imports of these products are already large. Thus, Mexico's dairy markets no longer represent "low hanging fruit" (if they ever did) for U.S. dairy exporters and direct investorsNAFTA, Maturing Mexican Dairy Markets, U.S. Dairy Exports to Mexico, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, International Relations/Trade,

Structural Change in the U.S. Dairy Industry: Growth in Scale, Regional Shifts in Milk Production and Processing, and Internationalism

Structural changes in the U.S. dairy industry from the early 1980s to the late 1990s included familiar increases in concentration, industry adjustments to serve large supermarkets, the emergence of two national fluid milk firms (Suiza Foods and Dean Foods), and the emergence of two national dairy cooperatives (Dairy Farmers of America and Land O'Lakes, Inc.). Shifts in the location of milk production in the U.S. to the Western states have caused new dairy product manufacturing plants to locate in those states. This development promises to intensify battles over market share in the expanding U.S. cheese market between Western firms and Upper Midwestern firms. Foreign direct investment in the U.S. dairy industry--especially by European Union firms and a large Canadian firm--increased during the 1980s and 1990s. Facing challenges to expand dairy exports or shrink, the U.S. dairy industry probably will gravitate toward the latter unless government price support and trade policies change to increase price incentives for U.S. firms to export dairy products.

How Leading International Dairy Companies Adjusted to Changes in World Markets

This Discussion Paper focuses on strategic adjustments made by leading international dairy firms in response to world market developments in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Firms whose strategies were analyzed include Fonterra, Nestle, selected other Western European companies (including the Kerry Group and Parmalat), Kraft Foods, Dairy Farmers of America, and Land O'Lakes. In part, the paper describes dairy industry success stories that have implications for a broader group of dairy companies. It also shows how even successful dairy firms have pursued strategies that expose the companies to significant risks. Strategic alliances entered into by the companies received emphasis in the study.International Dairy Companies, Business Strategies, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty,