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International Update
Milk Production
European milk production continues to trend downward, down 3.6% versus prior year,
while US milk production continues to grow and is projected by Blimling to continue:
January 2017 Planning Meeting - Philippines
In January, all our international representatives met in the Philippines in place of
our traditional January meetings in San Francisco. The efficiency of meeting
closer to most of our international markets saved approximately 50% of the
historic cost and provided an opportunity to have both individual planning
meetings and joint sessions. Jen also met individually with each country’s team to
customize their launch plans for social media using the global platform that Jen
has developed. We had a “lessons learned” session from 2016 where each country
shared their greatest challenge and success. We discussed e-commerce and other
growth platforms of the future. Imalinx, our new Mexico agency, was also present
and able to develop contacts and hear best practices from all our Asian country
teams.
Mexico
Concerns about US and Mexico trade relations seem to be creating unease. Every
month, about 25% of US NDM/SMP production goes to Mexico. Talk about
redoing trade agreements, building walls and altering immigration policies don’t
instill confidence today, even if things don’t ultimately become worse tomorrow.