On Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:30:41 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

On Nov 19, 10:05*am, Captain Crunch wrote:
* *"With US sugar tariffs set artificially high to protect Florida
* * sugar-growing concerns, a non-unionized shop with access to
* * lower-priced sugar in Mexico could be the Twinkie lifeline,
* * economists suggest."

And there you have it.

A Mexican Bimbo is going to benefit from your crazy and protectionist
food trade regulations.

* *"Bimbo reportedly put in a low-ball bid of $580 million a few
* * years ago, Forbes reports, and may be rewarded for that move
* * since the Hostess kit-and-kaboodle may fetch more like $135
* * million today."

So who's the real Bimbo now?

==================================

The Twinkie: Will it return as a Mexican expat?

http://news.yahoo.com/twinkie-return...26682.html;_yl...

Hostess Brands is liquidating its business after 82 years, which means
some of the most iconic brands of the century may be up for auction.
Will Twinkies become a foreign import?

By Patrik Jonsson | Christian Science Monitor Sat, Nov 17, 2012

Who knew there were so many Twinkie diehards?

The announcement that Hostess Brands would shutter and liquidate its 33
bakeries including its Twinkie-making plant in Illinois sparked a
fevered Boomer nostalgia ironically belied by the fact that it s been
years since most people have bit into that impossibly long-lasting and
sticky-sweet miracle of artificial confectionery. (Today, about 12
percent of US households buy Twinkies, down from 15 percent in 2004.)

But news that Twinkie bars are now selling at gold bar prices on eBay
hints at opportunity: In fact, global firms are already lining up to bid
on the iconic brand names Ding Dongs, Ho Ho s, Wonder Bread, Drake s
in order to prepare many, if not all, for reissue.

The brands most likely will be purchased by a competitor that will bolt
the additional sales to a more efficient delivery system, David Pauker,
a food industry restructuring specialist, tells Reuters. The company
itself won't survive.

Food producers ConAgra and Flowers Food, the American company behind
Nature Valley granola, have expressed interest and so has Little Debbie
baker McKee Foods. *But another possible bidder hints at the future of
Twinkies and maybe the US bakery business as a whole: Mexico s Grupo
Bimbo, the world s largest bread baking firm, which already owns parts
of Sara Lee, Entenmann s and Thomas English Muffins.

Bimbo has already sniffed around the bankruptcy proceedings that have
haunted Hostess for a decade, in a bid to further expand its North
American portfolio and pad its $4 billion net worth. Bimbo reportedly
put in a low-ball bid of $580 million a few years ago, Forbes reports,
and may be rewarded for that move since the Hostess kit-and-kaboodle may
fetch more like $135 million today.

But the big question is whether the same problems that haunted Hostess
high sugar prices tied to US trade tariffs, changing consumer tastes,
and union pushback against labor concessions will squeeze whatever
profit is left in the brands.

Especially if a Mexican buyer is involved, production may go the way of
the Brach s and Fannie May candy concerns: south of the border. *With US
sugar tariffs set artificially high to protect Florida sugar-growing
concerns, a non-unionized shop with access to lower-priced sugar in
Mexico could be the Twinkie lifeline, economists suggest.

On the other hand, if Hostess problem is its legacy delivery system,
which is what University of Maryland economist Peter Morici suspects,
Bimbo may be able to squeeze profits out of the supply chain while still
making Twinkies in the US, albeit probably not in union shops.

It may well be that other US producers step into the void and expand
their US production, in which case the Hostess liquidation might not be
a total loss, says Chris Edwards, an economist with the conservative
Cato Institute.

For now, the future of 18,500 Hostess jobs are up in the air, and many
may never return. As for the Twinkie? It looks like it actually is
indestructible.

Unions and hostess have agreed to mediation and restarting production.

Nearly all of hersheys candy is produced in brazil...

hostess could move all production to mexico although transit costs for
perishables may be costly.

Perishables? Twinkies?

maybe some mag lev trains from mexico?