May 16
Foods group Kraft has revealed plans to cut portion sizes as it struggles to keep prices down in the face of the surging costs of ingredients such as corn and rice. In the week after McDonald’s rattled investors with its first monthly decline in US like-for-like sales in five years, the maker of Kraft cheese and Kool-Aid drinks reported a 13 per cent fall in its first-quarter profit, to $US608 million ($648 million). The company blamed rising prices, pointing out that the price of wheat, used in its Triscuit and Wheat Thins crackers, more than doubled in the first quarter. Kraft said it would respond by introducing a range of smaller products and repackage Oscar Mayer deli meats in single-serve portions. Weekend Australian, May 3.
