As planned, Marbacher Ölmühle GmbH commissioned additional processing capacities in spring. The trend towards healthy, tasty food is continuing unabated around the globe. Our strategy of offering products with added value meets a market need.

With new and existing products, the Cereals & Ingredients Division generated gross sales revenue of CHF 13.6 million, a figure that corresponds to that of the previous year. One of the highlights in this context is the profitable net sales growth of Marbacher Ölmühle GmbH.

The consumer demand for healthy food with added value – e.g. for vegan or organic products – is still on the rise. Our endeavour to be a competence centre for healthy nutrition is in line with this need. In the first half of 2017, we consistently pursued our path, focusing on the production of products and ingredients to meet this demand, e.g. in the area of cereal-based dry products and kids' food as well as vegetable oils and gluten-free flours.

The employees of the Cereals & Ingredients Division of HOCHDORF Swiss Nutrition Ltd have reason to be proud of their outstanding service. In spring, they received two awards from a major business partner, namely the "Best Service" award and the "Best Collaboration" award. Congratulations! At the national and international level, we are active in the Health Supplements and Kids' Food areas. Our developers are working on organic and supplementary products in this field. Moreover, we launched our collaboration with Pharmalys and presented several products from the existing product range. Some of them are now being tested directly in the target market. In the Private Label division, our sprinklers and other products are successful in Switzerland. In collaboration with a customer, we successfully introduced new vegan seed mixtures to the market.

In spring, Marbacher Ölmühle GmbH commissioned additional production capacities. This was one of the reasons for the significant increase in gross sales revenue. The supplementary production of oils and seed flours was successfully sold in the market. Our first participation in the BIOFACH exhibition in Nuremberg as an exhibitor was a great success. In the first six months, we gained some new customers, and the demand for organic flours is on the rise. This year, our passion for quality oils has again been rewarded with the Taste Award: Our organic almond oil received two stars, and our golden linseed oil was awarded one star.

As a mere start-up, HOCHDORF South Africa Ltd achieved a respectable turnover. The distribution of the exquisite Afrikoa chocolate was intensified, and new distribution partners came on board. We further increased the level of awareness of our chocolate at the "Good Food & Wine Show" in Cape Town.

We shall continue with the work that started in the first six months and invest a lot of energy in the innovation and sale of healthy products. In November, we shall take part in the Food Ingredients Europe show in Frankfurt with a large stand. FIE is one of the world's ten most important trade shows in the field of ingredients. At the trade show, we shall present a highly attractive innovation in the field of "quality criteria for vegetable oils".