If you are a subscriber to Nutrition Business Journal, you can now access all of the 2008 Nutrition Industry Overview online at nutritionbusinessjournal.com. No need to sort through your over flowing mailbox, search your desk and interrogate your co-workers for your copy of NBJ. Just go to nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

To see all the articles, go to the current issue page. Here you will see the entire overview issue laid out in an expanded table of contents view. From here you can link to every article if you are signed in as an NBJ subscriber.

If you do not know your NBJ subscriber username and password, call Rachel Dederich, NBJ’s Subscriber Services Coordinator, at 303.998.9263.

-Patrick

In an effort, “shrouded in secrecy,” Coca-Cola has teamed up with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences to develop beverages using Chinese herbal cures, according to the Atlanta Journal-Contstitution.

NBJ noted an October 2007 press release in HerbalGram, the journal of the American Botanical Council.

Certainly, this could bode well for suppliers of herbal medicines in the United States and abroad.

For more on this story, go to Secret brews in China: Coke’s next big thing?

-Patrick

I would like to introduce you to the new website for Nutrition Business Journal - www.nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

Alot has changed in the world of web design since we first launched NBJ’s website in 1998, so you will notice MANY changes in the look, feel and efficiency of the new nutritionbusinessjournal.com.

NBJ’s mission has always been to deliver strategic business information, analysis and market data to those in or interested in the nutrition industry to fuel better business decisions and promote healthier lifestyles. The new nutritionbusinessjournal.com is our new way of delivering on this mission.

I welcome your feedback and suggestions, via this blog or via my email prea@nutritionbusiness.com

Enjoy!

-Patrick

I find the development of the Chinese economy fascinating. The BBC reports today that the Chinese governement has issued price controls on consumer goods to curb inflation. Apparently, the hundreds of millions of low-income Chinese families spend 30-50% of their income on food.

Right before the holidays, I was honored to speak a the UNPA’s China II Seminar in Salt Lake City, UT. It was a very educational one day event hosted by Loren Israelsen and his competent staff.

One noteworthy presentation detailed a A.M. Todd’s efforts to find a manufacturing partner in China. They spent $2 million on this search, visiting 25 facilities when they had originally planned on visiting only 7-8 facilities. The executives from A.M. Todd presented a great slideshow from their travels and what struck me was how much the quality and cleanliness of the facilities vary in China. Surely, one can find significant differences in the quality and cleanliness of facilities in the United States, but the point was driven home….to insure the quality of your finished product, you need to know the quality of your supply.

China is amidst an industrial revolution and it will continue to hit potholes in the road it travels, but one thing is for sure - China’s manufacturing capabilities are improving rapidly and will overtake those offered in the United States sooner than we probably think.

For more on the Chinese Nutrition & Supplement Industry, please read NBJ’s report on this dynamic market.

-Patrick

Registration is now open for Nutrition Business Journal’s Supplement & Nutrition Industry Raw Material & Ingredient Supply Webseminar. We’ll begin the live online event on December 4th, 2007 at 11am MT.

I think that this webseminar will be highly educational for any executive in or interested in the supplement & nutrition industry supply chain. So much has impacted this business in the last year - rising fuel costs, poor weather producing poor crops, currency fluctuations and China…to name a few. We’ll discuss all of these issues on December 4th, completely reviewing our November RMIS issue.

NBJ is one of the few research firms that dives deep into the supplement & nutrition industry’s supply chain in any significant way. Issues to be discussed will include: pricing, imports, exports, leading players, nutritionally enhanced flavors, sales and growth forecasts…and how they all relate to the complex and ever changing supply chain.

I highly recommend you sign up for this webcast.

-Patrick