A crisis rarely comes alone and the current one certainly does not. How a war amplifies the energy crisis and will lead to higher food prices, declining food production and a greater need for warm clothing. Because oil and gas producers have invested little in new oil and gas extraction with a view to 'getting rid of fossils', they are unable to increase production in order to slow down oil and gas prices, writes the Financial Times. As a result, the green Western policy is pushing up prices even more, as a result of the battle between Russia and NATO for Ukraine. By Thursday morning, the international oil benchmark Brent had risen to $102 a barrel, the highest level since 2014. It later rose to $105; the price has now fallen below $100 again. Insiders stated yesterday morning that the gas price has already risen by more than 40% since the Russian attack, an unprecedented high percentage within a day.
Much less barrels Russia is the world's third largest producer of crude oil and the main supplier of natural gas to Europe. Christyan Malek, head of global energy strategy at JPMorgan, expects Brent to reach $125 in the second quarter of this year. Global spare capacity, usually around 5 million barrels per day, has now fallen to 2.8 million barrels per day. According to Bob McNally, head of Rapidan Energy Group, the disruption from the Russian attack in Ukraine will likely be limited to that portion of the oil and gas transported through Ukraine. But more importantly, he thinks it becomes clear that there will be no interruption in the oil and gas supply. Putin guarantees it, but conditionally. Until that clarity is there, he expects prices to rise. Europe is 40% dependent on gas from Russia. Russia's Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov also said at an energy conference in Qatar on Tuesday that Russia aims to keep its gas flows "uninterrupted." If that fails, there is no country that can take over this gas supply, the Qatari energy minister said at the same conference. After all, as with oil, there was already a shortage on the reserve market. Russia has long refused to supply more gas to Europe than was contractually required. As a result, Europe had to draw on its stocks, which meant that reserves had already dwindled sharply before the invasion of Ukraine. Germany announced last Tuesday that it was halting certification of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would bypass Ukraine to supply Russian gas directly to Germany via the Baltic Sea. It is not inconceivable that Russia will further restrict the supply of gas in response to this. Putin's power: Energy The rising gas price is a reason for Greenhouse Horticulture Netherlands to urge the government to act quickly. "The longer it takes, the more entrepreneurs get into trouble. Some of them are already eating their bank balance. But eventually all contracts will expire," says Alexander Formsma of Greenhouse Horticulture Netherlands. He also points out that this situation means that horticultural companies no longer have any money left over to become more sustainable. As I wrote before, everyone will notice if Russia turns off the gas tap. Within four weeks we will all be cold. For the time being, we can hope that the editor-in-chief's gamble will come true: it is to be hoped that Russia will indeed 'let us feel it for a while' and will leave it at that. According to the South China Morning Post, China still sees opportunities to get out of the process diplomatically, which started with bloodshed. After all, Europe - which depends on energy imports to keep daily life and industry running - has no way out at the moment. Putin has made it clear that he has the power to drastically disrupt life and has us by the throat.
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China Evergrande, once the country's second-largest real estate developer, is drowning in debt. Some 1.5 million people have put deposits on new homes that have yet to be built. A collapse could be catastrophic. Property giant China Evergrande Group admitted Tuesday it is under "tremendous pressure" and may not be able to meet its crippling debt obligations. Over the past two days, angry protesters have gathered outside the real estate firm's headquarters, demanding to know about its future. Investors are growing increasingly nervous that if Evergrande were to collapse, this could could spread to other property developers and create systemic risks for the banking system of the world's second-largest economy. What is China Evergrande? Previously known as Hengda, China Evergrande was until recently the country's second-largest property group by sales. Headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen close to Hong Kong, Evergrande sells apartments to upper- and middle-income property buyers. It has a presence in more than 280 cities. The firm was started in 1997 by Hui Ka Yan (Xu Jiayin in Mandarin), who has since become a billionaire through the opening up of China's economy. In March last year, Forbes listed Hui as the third-richest billionaire in China — but in December, he had fallen to No.10. Evergrande has vastly grown due to a spectacular real estate boom caused by China's unprecedented growth. The firm has completed nearly 1,300 commercial, residential, and infrastructure projects, and says it employs 200,000 people. Evergrande has expanded into other areas of the economy, including food, life insurance, tv/film and leisure. It also operates the Guangzhou FC football club, formerly Guangzhou Evergrande. However, its electric car unit, founded in 2019, is not currently marketing any vehicles. Why is Evergrande in trouble? The Hong Kong-based developer is sinking under a mountain of liabilities totaling more than $300 billion (€254 billion) after years of borrowing to fund rapid growth. Evergrande has stepped up acquisitions in recent years, taking advantage of a real estate frenzy.But the property giant began to falter after Beijing introduced new measures in August 2020 to closely monitor and control the total debt level of major property developers. Evergrande relied on presales to finance itself and keep its activities afloat, and the crackdown forced the group to offload properties at increasingly steep discounts. Investors have made down p ayments on around 1.5 million properties, Bloomberg reported, citing data from December. Many buyers have expressed concern on social media about whether they will get their money back after housing projects were suspended. Evergrande was downgraded by two credit rating agencies last week and its Hong Kong-listed shares have collapsed by more than 80% this year. On Monday, the Shanghai Stock Exchange paused trading in Evergrande's May 2023 bond after it fell more than 30%. What is the company doing to save itself? Last Tuesday, Evergrande issued another statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, saying it had hired financial advisers to explore "all feasible solutions" to ease its cash crunch. The statement warned that there was no guarantee the property firm would meet its financial obligations. The firm blamed "ongoing negative media reports" for damaging sales in the pivotal September period, "resulting in the continuous deterioration of cash collection by the group which would in turn place tremendous pressure on [...] cashflow and liquidity." Even property discounts of up to a quarter off and selling stakes in some of its wide-ranging assets hasn't stopped a 29% slide in profit for the first half of the year.
Some analysts believe there is a slim chance Beijing would allow such a behemoth to go under. Beijing "will not let Evergrande go bankrupt" as it would undermine the regime's stability, analysts at US-based SinoInsider said. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that China's Guandong province had hired a team of accountants and legal experts to advise it on Evergrande's restructuring needs, although the regional government had turned down a request for a bailout.
Beyond decimating local populations of Pacific Flying Squid, which have declined by more than 70%, the vast and aggressive fleet is likely driving North Korean fishermen in smaller wooden boats further out to sea, where many of their engines either break down or run out of fuel. Drifting on the open sea, many of them never make it home. In 2019, more than 158 of these ‘ghost boats’ washed up on Japan’s coast, many with dead bodies inside. So many North Koreans have disappeared at sea in recent years that port towns like Chongjin are now called “widows’ villages”. “This is the largest known case of illegal fishing perpetrated by a single industrial fleet operating in another nation’s waters,” says Jaeyoon Park, a data scientist from Global Fishing Watch who travelled with Ian aboard a South Korean vessel to track down the fleet firsthand. Traveling at night, they witnessed a group of 10 Chinese vessels sailing with their transponders off, heading into North Korean waters. The squid ships would not respond to radio calls, and when launching a drone, one of the Chinese fishing captains suddenly charged toward the team’s boat, coming within 10 meters to ward them off.
Many of the fishing stocks closest to China’s shores have collapsed from overfishing and industrialization, which is why the Chinese government heavily subsidizes its fishermen, who sail the world in search of new grounds. Often these boats are fishing illegally in other countries’ national waters, according to analysis by C4ADS, a marine research firm.
The investigation took over a year and a half to conduct and was a collaboration between NBC News and The Outlaw Ocean Project, which is a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. that focuses on reporting about environmental and human rights crimes at sea. The story is an extremely important one and is being covered today in 20 news outlets in more than 10 different languages. Despite the seemingly insurmountable scale of the problem, Ian highlights the positive aspect of now being able to track and monitor such fleets – a capability that didn’t even exist five years ago. One of the takeaway lessons of this investigation was the sense of hope it offers for policing the world’s ocean. But it also shows the lack of governance at sea, including human rights, labor and environmental abuses that occur offshore, often with impunity. The discovery of this fleet raises further questions about the ways that overfishing by China and other countries is jeopardizing global food security, ocean health, geopolitical stability and the rule of international law. If you are advocating for lockdowns, you are complicit in tearing families apart. You are complicit in inflicting untold suffering on millions of people around the world. You are complicit in casting the poorest and most vulnerable in our societies into even further grinding poverty. You are complicit in murder.
Pete McGee BANGKOK, August 26 -- The government has banned hoarding of glutinous rice and will sell discounted packs as prices soar amid shortages. Government spokesperson Narumon Pinyosinwat said on Monday that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had ordered the Commerce Ministry to prevent hoarding and to launch discounted packs in the wake of the all-time high price of glutinous rice. Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit ordered the Internal Trade Department to impose the ban immediately since the grain is on the ministry's price control list, Mrs Narumon said. "There will be discussions with millers, traders and cooperatives so they can quickly produce packed glutinous rice at a special price to relieve people's trouble," she said. Mrs Narumon attributed the expensive glutinous rice to drought that caused its low yield. The situation should improve when the new yield comes out in October, she said. Glutinous rice now sells for 50,000 baht a tonne while Hom Mali fragrant rice costs 35,000 baht. Local retail prices were nearly 50 baht per kilogram and a smallest bag of steamed glutinous rice is now 10 baht, double recent prices. Pete McGee HONG KONG, August 17 -- A collection of rare Japanese whiskies fetched 7.19 million Hong Kong dollars ($917,000) at an auction Friday in Hong Kong, a record high for whisky produced in Japan. Hanyu Ichiro's Malt Full Cards Series consisting of 54 bottles, sold to an Asian female collector, was made in 1985 through 2014 at a distillery in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo. Each bottle of whisky was matured in different barrels and is featured with labels of playing cards. The price nearly doubled from 3.80 million Hong Kong dollars fetched in 2015 at an auction held by Bonhams. "I was shocked" to hear the price, said Ichiro Akuto, president of the distillery, Venture Whisky. "I appreciate the high evaluation, but I'm anxious if they would be consumed with satisfaction after being sold at such an extraordinary price. I will be glad if they are consumed," he said. Lora Smith NEW YORK, August 8 -- Humanity faces increasingly painful trade-offs between food security and rising temperatures within decades unless it curbs emissions and stops unsustainable farming and deforestation, a landmark climate assessment said Thursday. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that efforts to limit global warming while feeding a booming population could be wrecked without swift and sweeping changes to how we use the land we live off. Its report on land use and climate change highlighted the need to protect remaining tropical forests as a bulkhead against future warming. But in a stark warning to those who may hope that vast reforestation and biofuel schemes alone can offset mankind's environmental damage, the report cautioned that these mega-projects could endanger food security, underlining that reducing emissions will be central to averting disaster. "This is a perfect storm. Limited land, an expanding human population, and all wrapped in a suffocating blanket of climate emergency," said Dave Reay, Professor of Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh. Land is intimately linked to climate. With its forests, plants and soil it sucks up and stores around a third of all man-made emissions. Intensive exploitation of these resources also produces huge amounts of planet-warming CO2, methane and nitrous oxide, while agriculture guzzles up 70 percent of Earth's freshwater supply. As the global population balloons towards 10 billion by mid-century, how land is managed by governments, industry and farmers will play a key role in limiting or accelerating the worst excesses of climate change. LAND USE TO BE PART OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE EFFORTThe report says Earth's land surface area is a key part of the solution to reducing the risks from climate change. The land, from tropical forests and peatlands to desert grasslands, soak up large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. It is part of a natural cycle in which carbon is produced and recycled by plants on land and organisms in the oceans as a way to regulate the climate. But large-scale burning of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal, as well as clearing and burning forests, has distrupted the natural order, leading to ever greater amounts of CO2 that nature can no longer absorb, fuelling a warming world. The IPCC said the land should be part of any global effort to keep the world from overheating. "But keeping global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius can be achieved only by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors including land and food," the IPCC says. The report finds that there are many solutions to reduce the impacts on farmlands, including switching to less intensive cropping practices, ecosystem conservation and land restoration, reduced deforestation, cutting food waste and switching to climate-friendly diets. It says coordinated action to address climate change can simultaneously improve land, food security and nutrition, and help to end hunger. FOOD SECURITY"Food security will be increasingly affected by future climate change through yield declines -especially in the tropics - increased prices, reduced nutrient quality, and supply chain disruptions," said author Priyadarshi Shukla from India. "We will see different effects in different countries, but there will be more drastic impacts on low-income countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean," he said in a statement. The report also highlights the changes in diets in recent decades, where the supply of meat and vegetable oils has more than doubled since 1961 as well as the disparity between those with access to food and those who don't. There are about 2 billion adults who are overweight or obese, while an estimated 821 million people are still undernourished. "The conclusion that we reached from the report is that the land that we are already using could feed the world in a changing climate and even provide biomass for renewable energy and to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it takes early and far-reaching action on several fronts," said Dr Andy Reisinger, an IPCC vice-chair and Deputy Director (International) for the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. That included much better land management and careful planning on where to grow energy crops for renewable energy in a way that does not harm nature or threaten food security. "Land can't help us get out of climate change problems on its own. It has to be part of a broader mix. There are ways in which we could really make mistakes by focusing too much on land as a way to address climate change," he told The Straits Times. At present, between 25 and 30 per cent of total food produced is lost or wasted, the report says. Lora Smith AMSTERDAM, July 29 -- Alcohol-free beers drove rising sales at Dutch brewing giant Heineken in the first half of the year, but its shares slumped on Monday as profitability was flat. The world's second-largest brewer said net profit was down by 1.4 percent to 936 million euros ($1.0 billion) while sales jumped to 13.6 billion euros, up 5.9 percent from the same period last year. Operating profit rose mostly due to a positive effect of currency changes, and its operating profit margin -- revenues minus costs -- actually dipped. The company's shares fell by more than 5.0 percent in midday trading in Amsterdam. A key driver of the Heineken brand's 6.9 percent growth was the demand for low or no-alcohol beer, with Heineken 0.0 now available in 51 markets around the world, the brewer said. Heineken said its partnership within China Resources Beer became effective at the end of April, now giving it access to the fast-growing Chinese premium beer market. Under the deal the Dutch brewer took a 40 percent stake in the holding company that controls China Resources Beer, merged its current operations into the firm and licence it to the Heineken brand for use in the Asian giant. The two firms are joining forces at a time when competition is becoming fierce in the Chinese market, with consumers turning towards foreign beers and premium products as middle class incomes rise. Linda Lim “This is a significant milestone for DiMuto because it strengthens our capabilities in using disruptive innovation to grow the global agri-food cold chain market in a bigger way,” said founder and chairman Gary Loh. “With PwC’s deep expertise in helping companies expand, we are confident of accelerating our expansion worldwide, as we continue rolling out our Track & Trace blockchain to benefit more industry players. Now that we have stronger resources, we envisage a faster rate of market adoption for DiMuto, which is platform-agnostic and interoperable among the different blockchain systems currently used by the big global retailers.”
DiMuto’s Track & Trace, which digitises each fruit into a traceable digital asset, tackles key issues that are hampering global trade in the cold chain market, including financing, supply chain transparency, food safety and waste. It also levels the playing field for small and medium-sized fruit businesses to compete with the big global brands. As it stands, Thailand’s Queen Frozen Fruits and Australia’s Morning Glory Enterprise are now using Track & Trace to monitor durians and spaghetti squash, respectively. During its three-month trial between March and June, DiMuto has tagged 1.2 million durians, apples, avocados, lemons and oranges for firms in the US, Thailand, Mexico, Australia and China. “In today’s business environment, innovation is no longer just nice to have,” said Patrick Yeo, Venture Hub leader. “Businesses in all industries need to constantly innovate in order to keep up with the pace of change. Strengthening traceability in the food supply chain through innovative technologies is in line with our purpose of building trust in society and solving important problems, and we are pleased to be working with DiMuto in this regard.” Both parties intend to develop a trust framework for Track & Trace by establishing a set of principles to enhance safety and security in the food supply chain. PHNOM PENH, July 8 -- Cambodia's rice exports to the European Union fell sharply in the first half of the year following the imposition of tariffs, official data showed on Monday, but the loss was offset by increased sales to China. The EU in January imposed tariffs for three years on rice from Cambodia and Myanmar, aiming to protect EU producers such as Italy following a surge in imports from the two Asian countries. For the first six months, rice exports to the EU fell 32% from the same period last year to 93,503 tonnes, according to data from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality, a joint private-government working group. However, rice exports to China rose 66% over the same period to 118,401 tonnes, while total rice exports rose 3.7% to 281,538 tonnes, with Australia emerging as a new market. Kann Kunthy, vice president, of Amru Rice (Cambodia) Co Ltd, which exports the grain to foreign countries, said that the EU tariffs meant Cambodian long grain white rice was no longer competitive. "Exports to the EU have declined after the safeguard measure so China and other new markets, especially Australia, are picking up," Kunthy told Reuters. "Losing a market is never good, but the good thing is that we find other markets," he added. Kunthy said Amru had concluded a deal with an Australian rice importer and anticipated annual exports of about 20,000 tonnes. Sales to Australia reached 8,035 tonnes in the first half of this year. Under a trade programme known as Everything But Arms (EBA), all Cambodian exports to the EU are duty free except arms. The block accounts for more than a third of Cambodia's exports, including garments, footwear and bicycles. However, in February the EU started an 18-month process that could lead to a suspension of Cambodia's EBA status over its record on human rights and democracy. In April, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said China will help Cambodia if the EU withdraws the EBA. China had also agreed to import 400,000 tonnes of Cambodian rice, according to Hun Sen's Facebook page. Author: Pete McGee SAPPORO, June 7 -- Japan will restart commercial whaling on July 1 in Kushiro, Hokkaido, after the government announced its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission in December, a local fishery source said Friday. Japan halted commercial whaling in line with a moratorium adopted in 1982 by the IWC. Since 1987 it has hunted whales for what it claims is research, a practice criticized internationally as a cover for commercial whaling. Following the withdrawal, Japan will hunt whales in nearby waters and within its exclusive economic zone but not in the Antarctic Ocean, where the country has carried out so-called "scientific whaling" for what it says are research purposes. SHANGHAI, May 27 -- China’s middle class, particularly better-educated white collar workers, are growing increasingly confused and anxious over how the trade war with the United States will affect the lives of ordinary citizens. In contrast to official press and social media which have been dominated by messages urging the country to stand strong in face of the adversity. Concerns about the impact of the trade war, combined with rising food prices, are already affecting consumers’ willingness to spend, which could cause a further deceleration in Chinese economic growth. These concerns may also increase efforts by the upper and upper middle classes to safeguard their wealth by buying gold or foreign currency and moving their wealth abroad. For China’s urban middle class, who have benefited from the country’s economic boom in the last few decades and may have taken it for granted that life would be better, the intensified rivalry between China and the US is bringing a strong sense of uncertainty about their future, pushing citizens to scramble for any information about the trade war away from the official propaganda rhetoric. “Please tell me the proper understanding of what the impact of the trade war will be on the lives of ordinary people like us. Thanks!” wrote Su Gengsheng, a popular online writer and blogger with more than 300,000 followers on China’s largest social media platform Weibo, four days after the US raised tariffs on US$200 million of Chinese imports.The post was unusual for Su’s extremely non-political account after she rose to popularity with cosmetics recommendations and make-up tips. However, the trade war question seemed to speak to the heart of the concerns shared by many of Su’s followers, and rapidly attracted thousands of replies and likes as well as more than 10,000 shares. Comments on the post were soon blocked because they “violated relevant laws and regulations”, although the original post was still visible. SAN FRANCISCO, May 18 -- A California cafe is brewing up what it calls the world's most expensive coffee — at $75 a cup. Klatch Coffee is serving the exclusive brew, the Elida Natural Geisha 803, at its branches in Southern California and San Francisco. The 803 in the coffee's name refers to the record-breaking $803 per pound the beans sold for at a recent auction after winning the Best of Panama coffee competition, said Bo Thiara, co-owner of the Klatch branch in San Francisco. He calls the annual competition the coffee world's equivalent of the Oscars. Only 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of the beans were available for purchase, and most went to Japan, China and Taiwan, Thiara said. Klatch secured 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) and is the only chain in North America to have it. The coffee's high quality and limited supply set off a bidding war that determined its astronomical price, topping last year's winning beans that sold for $601 per pound, Thiara said. Klatch describes the coffee as a rare variety of Arabica from Panama that has a floral, tea-like flavor with hints of jasmine and berries. The 10 pounds of beans will produce about 80 cups of coffee, Thiara said. A few lucky coffee lovers got to try free samples Wednesday at the San Francisco branch, where promotional signs are on display advertising, "World's Most Expensive Coffee." One of them was San Francisco resident Lauren Svensson, who said it was "very different" from any coffee she'd ever tasted. "My mind was a little blown about the fact that a$75 cup of coffee even exists," she said, "but it was shockingly good." Her friend, Charlie Sinhaseni, also gave his free sample a positive review. "When I first looked at it, I thought it would be hyper pretentious, and I would think of all the different notes for the coffee, but I was too busy enjoying it," he said. |
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