CHEMICAL ANALYSIS CUTS REJECTION RATES
Greater reliance on chemical analysis for quality control has dramatically reduced rejection rates of Amorim cork.

Originally purchased to support internal validation of the ROSA process,gas chromatographic machines are now a mainstay of Amorim's quality control regime.

Chemical analysis equipment is employed in all Amorim manufacturing plants in Portugal, testing product at all stages of production. Since 2001,Amorim has acquired five gas chromatographic units.

According to Professor Miguel Cabral, head of Amorim's Research and Development Department, the units have greatly extended the scope and efficiency of Amorim's quality control procedures.

Each machine can test dozens of samples every 24 hours with a high degree of accuracy.

"That's a much greater degree of control than we have with sensory analysis," Prof.Cabral said.

As proof of the benefits, Prof.Cabral said that in one year, chemical analysis of corks had virtually eliminated rejection of corks exported to the US market.

None had been rejected following internal sensory analysis by Amorim Cork America and none had been rejected ETS Laboratories, which undertakes regular quality control checks of incoming corks for Amorim Cork America.

And in that time Amorim had not received a single claim from an American client.

Gas chromatographic machines are a mainstay of Amorim's quality control regime.

UPDATE FOR WHISKY MARKET

Amorim is a leading supplier of bar top corks to the Scottish whisky industry.

Amorim held a technical conference in Scotland in early September to update the Scottish whisky industry, bottlers and retailers on recent developments in Amorim cork.

The half-day conference focused on natural cork closures for spirits, working under the title: Technical and quality innovations in Amorim cork stoppers for the spirits industry.

Leading technical, quality and purchasing managers from some of the country's key whisky brands,bottlers and retailers attended the seminar.

The conference featured keynote speeches on Amorim innovations in bar top cork production with the main address by Amorim's head of research and development, Professor Miguel Cabral.

Deborah Guimaraens, the product manager at Amorim & Irmãos responsible for natural bar top closures worldwide, said: "We were very pleased to bring our experienced team to Scotland to acquaint the Scotch whisky industry with the latest developments in natural bar top cork closures."

In 2002 Amorim secured a contract with the world's largest whisky producer, United Distillers and Vintners (UDV) to provide bar top corks for the company's premium malt whisky range.

NEW MD FOR AUSTRALIA
Tony Telfer has been appointed managing director of Amorim Cork Australia.

With over 25 years experience in the wine and packaging industries, Mr Telfer has been with Amorim Cork Australia as general manager since September 2002.

His background includes over a decade with leading Australian wineries working in technical departments as a wine chemist and quality manager.

Prior to joining Amorim, Mr Telfer worked with Scholle Corporation in both the United States and Australia in the packaging and chemical processing industries.

He replaces Noel Heyes who is retiring in mid-2004 after 30 years with Amorim Cork Australia (formerly Cork &Seals). Mr Heyes will continue his relationship with the company as a non-executive director and chairman of the board.

WAITROSE OUTS PLASTIC: 600 WINES UNDER CORK
British food and drink industry publication, The Grocer, has reported that large supermarket chain Waitrose is banning synthetic closures from its shelves.

A Waitrose wine buyer is quoted in the article as saying that customers have driven the move.

He suggested that plastic stoppers are not user-friendly and that customers felt they were difficult to remove or reinsert in a bottle.

According to The Grocer, 90 wines in the Waitrose range currently use synthetic closures compared with 63 wines under screw-cap and 600 under natural cork

FIRES HAVE MINIMAL IMPACT
Fires in Portugal last August caused only slight damage to the country's cork forests and it is expected that there will be little or no effect on Amorim's cork manufacturing operations.

The fires damaged 20 to 30 thousand hectares of cork forest ,equal to about 3.5 per cent of the total Portuguese cork production area.

However, an initial assessment by Amorim's forest inspectors indicates that most of the affected cork oaks will fully recuperate, provided the damaged outer layer of cork is removed during the next two years.

The chairman of Corticeira Amorim, António Amorim, said the raw material for 2004 was already in storage at Amorim's major cork-processing facilities in the south of Portugal and this year's harvest was almost complete before the fires took hold.