German retailers pivot to social commerce with 59% using social media for marketing and 27% enabling direct purchases. Study reveals 84% view Chinese platforms as unfair competition whilst AI adoption remains limited. Traditional channels still dominate but hybrid retail model emerges as future standard.

NFDT launches Level 3 Lead Baker Diploma in England to upskill bakery supervisors. New NFDT Academy supports wider technical and leadership training.

Barilla's 2024 Sustainability Report reveals €4.9 billion turnover and ambitious 2030 targets including 250,000 tonnes from regenerative agriculture, 24MW renewable energy capacity, and improved nutritional profiles across 21 brands. The Italian food giant has engaged 7,000 farmers in sustainable farming programmes whilst achieving gender pay parity and donating 3,700 tonnes of food to communities.

Spanish bakery group Monbake has appointed former Reckitt director Borja Lomba Sorrondegui as CEO, replacing Aurelio Antuna who becomes chairman. The leadership change comes as the CVC-owned company continues European expansion.

Cargill implements comprehensive decarbonisation across its global cocoa supply chain, installing solar power in Ghana, biomass boilers using cocoa shells in Côte d'Ivoire, electric barges in Netherlands, and renewable energy systems. The sustainability transformation spans West African origin countries to European processing facilities, targeting 30% emissions reduction by 2030 through circular waste management and clean energy adoption.

Mlinar Group's €100 million acquisition creates major Southeast European bakery consolidation, combining industrial production capacity with Panvita Group to form dominant regional commercial baking platform with enhanced procurement power and distribution reach.

Scottish Bakers has released its first Future of Bakery industry report in partnership with Dawn Foods, providing market data and consumer insights for industrial bakers. The report reveals Scotland's sweet bakery market is valued at £261 million with 4.6% year-on-year growth, while savoury bakery spend increased 3%. Based on NIQ consumer panel data from 30,000 UK households and bespoke research from 500 Scottish bakery shoppers, the report offers strategic intelligence for business planning.

Valeo Foods Group completes acquisition of Melegatti 1894 assets, adding two Italian production facilities specialising in panettone, pandoro and croissants to expand European sweet bakery manufacturing capacity and international distribution network.