1. Business
Happy New Year. We have had an early Spring clean on our Price List and have got rid of quite a few lines that didn’t seem to be going anywhere. As the Natural Product Show is coming up soon (where did that last year go?) new lines are starting to come through. Thankfully it looks like a reasonable batch.
We are booked in to a stand at the Show and will be very happy to see old and new friends alike there. If you’ll be around after the show closes please take advantage of our annual “say hello and have a drink” offer.
I forgot to mention on our Christmas list that we once again gave our Christmas card budget to Shelter the charity for the homeless. So we certainly hope that you had a Merry Christmas but there was no card from us on the mat.
Oh yes, we have just celebrated our 35th birthday. Where did THOSE years go?
We wish you all a very happy 2012.

2. Prices
Richard Austin opines……Almonds: Autumn shipment figures were 16% higher than expected but China continued to buy. Prices may ease a little but there will be some nervousness over the bloom in February and March. Hazels: The best ever crop of hazels was 950K tonnes. This years was only half of that so prices will probably sustain in spite of their high level. Walnuts: There have been good crops in Indian and Eastern Europe which may pressure high and rising Californian prices. Hopefully this will lead to some easing of prices especially if the Chinese crop is good enough to satisfy their own needs. Cashews: An interesting position with cashews has been that high prices have led to consumers changing over to peanuts and almonds. The easing of prices has failed to win back some of these customers so this correction of prices has sent some strong messages to brokers about their options for selling poor yields at high prices. Developments are being watched with interest across the trade. Pecans: China has become a big customer of pecan nuts but demand has dropped elsewhere as a result of high prices. The new crop has suffered as a result of droughts across the US Mexico border lands. It is unclear whether high prices can sustain in this market. Coconut: It looks like coconut prices will ease in 2012 with the Philippines and Indonesia competing for the market. Forward positions are uncovered which may force prices down especially as supply is good. Raisins: California raisins have been at rather high levels but Turkish raisins are very good these days and may ease the US price down. The weak Lira has helped stabilise prices. Pinenuts: Prices have come down rather markedly which has led to higher industry demand and a slight recovery of prices. New crop due soon.

Please bear in mind that prices can change for unexpected reasons and currency is always unpredictable. No-one knows the secret of predicting commodity prices so if you stock up on anything to make a few bob or you might end up with a loss.
richard@rainbowwholefoods.co.uk

3. Environmental Health
We are very pleased to have been rated as a 5 star (out of 5) establishment following a recent visit by the Norwich Environmental Health Inspectorate. It's not just a question of keeping the forklift trucks shiny and we are delighted that the many hours of paperwork and cleaning have been recognised.