Quotes from Food and Agriculture Summit

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Senior executives from across the U.S. food industry are attending the Reuters Food and Agriculture Manufacturing Summit in Chicago this week to talk about the state of the economy and how they are responding to the downturn. Other speakers are in the Asia-Pacific.

Below are some quotes from the summit's first day:

DOUGLAS CONANT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CAMPBELL SOUP CO (CPB.N)

"Quite frankly, sales are growing, our marketplace presence is growing, consumer purchases are actually growing faster than sales, so we're winning with the consumer," he said. "So it's not likely we're going to be reducing prices in the near-term."

"Russia and China account for around 50 percent of world consumption of soup, all home-made. So we see a huge opportunity there as there is no real commercial competition."

ANDREA THOMAS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF PRIVATE BRANDS, WAL-MART STORES INC (WMT.N)

"The (redesigned Great Value) packaging is simple, it's clearer and it's much easier to find. We've created a package with better pictures on a white background so it really pops off of the shelf and that makes it easier to find when they go aisle to aisle on their shopping trips."

"We've carefully designed this so that the price of the product wouldn't go up. Prices were not impacted by the relaunch."

JEFFREY ETTINGER, CEO, HORMEL FOODS CORP(HRL.N)

"I think we're still trying to sort through what the challenge in this economy is on some of these items for consumers to make sure we continue to deliver the value they are looking for."

"Going forward, there is going to be an added attention to the affordability aspect."

GREGG DOUD, ECONOMIST, NATIONAL CATTLEMEN'S BEEF ASSOCIATION

"On the steak side, you are seeing a lot of features for rib-eyes and T-bones at below $5 a pound. That is some of the best featuring we have seen in many many years."

"You are seeing some of the best value in grocery stores for steaks than what you have seen in an awfully long time."

BRIAN PALMIERI, PRESIDENT, GLG LIFE TECH CORP (GLG.TO)

"What I will say with a high degree of confidence is that probably every major beverage and food company that you would consider a household name in some way has been looking at stevia," he said of a plant whose leaves are used to make a low-calorie, natural sweetener.