The proposed $45 billion merger of food giants Heinz and Kraft is not a big worry for dairy industry representatives in northwest Iowa.
Agropur, in the Sioux County town of Hull, is one processor that sells cheese to Kraft. Keith Braun, the procurement manager at Agropur, says he doesn’t anticipate any changes in their relationship with the food company.
“It’s going to mean business as usual,” Braun says. “Kraft is a solid brand, it’s a solid company, it’s not going to go away. That’s not to say it’s not subject to be sold and resold. It has gone through other sales in the past but from the cheese side, yeah, it’s going to be business as usual.” Braun says area dairy farmers won’t notice any changes if there’s a sale either.
“They’re not going to see any difference, no” he says. “We’re still going to have a need for a cheese product that’s highly sought after by Kraft and others.” Braun says as long as the new company can leverage or use its household brand names to sell more cheese and dairy products, it will be good for dairy farmers long term.
The merged company would become the fifth-largest food company in the world and the third-largest in the U.S.
(Reporting by Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)