text:
Business information vendor ZoomInfo has announced that ZoomInfo PowerSell is now fully integrated with Salesforce. Users of Salesforce can now use ZoomInfo PowerSell's advanced search capabilities from within Salesforce to "find and de-dupe new leads, qualify prospects and complete the data quality of their existing Salesforce leads, contacts and companies," according to ZoomInfo officials.
ZoomInfo was certified and available in Salesforce.com's (News
) AppExhange this month. It's a business information search tool designed to help sales teams access sales intelligence on companies and people. PowerSell SF users can access personal profiles on decision makers with organized data and Web references.
Matthew Gonnering, vice president of sales and marketing at Widen Enterprises, said by using the tool directly within Salesforce and our CRM workflow, "ZoomInfo has made it easy to find key contacts and build lists of prospects."
ZoomInfo PowerSell SF is available immediately through the salesforce.com AppEx.
Earlier this month Salesforce.com was named to Forbes' "Fastest Growing Tech Companies" list. With annualized sales growth of 85 percent over the last five years, Salesforce.com ranked second only to Google (News
) on the list of technology innovators.
"We are at the forefront of a sea-change taking place in the technology industry today as businesses of all sizes, in virtually every industry, all over the globe, are adopting Software-as-a-Service and now Platform-as-a-Service," said Marc Benioff (News
), chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com.
Selection criteria for Forbes' "25 Fastest Growing Tech Companies" included a minimum of $25 million in sales over the last four quarters; 10 percent annual sales gains over the five previous years; profitability over the past 12 months; and 10 percent estimated annual profit growth for the next three to five years.
To view the list in its entirety, visit: http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/01/24/fastest-growing-technology-tech- fasttech08-cx_jr_pm_0124fastintro.html.
In February Dow Jones reported that Salesforce.com said it swung to a profit in its fiscal fourth quarter, as revenue "jumped 50 percent" over the same period last year. The CRM vendor also raised its revenue outlook for the full fiscal year.
David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.


text:
It's 25 years since the Co-operative Bank adopted its ethical policy, and the bank has launched a new advertising campaign focusing on this, as Prolific North and Coop News report.
You can view the adverts on the Co-op Bank's website, here.
Customer Union for Ethical Banking
Unit 21, 41 Old Birley Street, Manchester M15 5RF
A cooperative society registered with the FCA number 4161
The Save Our Bank campaign is backed by Ethical Consumer magazine.

domain: news


text:
According to a feature story published in the finance section of the Italian national daily La Stampa last week, “Americans are going crazy for Italian sparkling wines.”
“Sparkling wine is leading ‘made in Italy’ wines in the U.S.,” writes the author of the piece.
“The most recent data shared by the [Italian] Trade Commission in America taste like an important milestone for Italy. In 2018, [Italian] wine exports grew by 6.8 percent in terms of value… the highest increase over the last 5 years and 1.2 percent higher than the previous year… the United States has established itself as the top market for Italian wine exports. It takes in roughly a quarter of the total number of bottles sold abroad.”
But the best news for sparkling wine producers is that Americans have become the leading consumers of Italian bubbles as well.
“Italy is the top supplier of white wines in the U.S., accounting for 40 percent of the market. It’s also the top supplier of red wines, accounting for 32.5 percent. And in the sparkling wine category, [Italy] dominates the market in terms of quantities with 57 percent of imports.”
At Vinitaly this year, Lini 910 will be sharing some big news as it begins a new chapter in its market presence in America. Stay tuned!


text:
- Subscribe TodayGet a Free Book of Lists
Sign Up for the Portland Morning Call NewsletterSee All Newsletters »
A digest of important news from sources selected by our local editors. Delivered weekday mornings.
Send this story to a friend
Oregon restaurants react to chains
- Wendy Culverwell
Portland-area restaurateurs are watching warily as national chains rush to highlight local ingredients on their menus.
Portland has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to using local, sustainably grown foods. Many of the area’s locally based, mid-sized operators — Burgerville, Shari’s, Hotlips Pizza, for instance — have long sourced everything from beef to lettuce to berries from regional farms.
Now national restaurant chains are getting in on the action. In November, Nations Restaurant News reported that Chipotle plans to feature locally sourced ingredients at all of its 1,000-plus locations.
Portland operators worry it will strain the supply chain, but ultimately welcome anything that strengthens local agriculture.
Jeff Harvey, president of Vancouver-based Burgerville, owned by The Holland Inc., said competing with companies like Chipotle is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to keeping local ingredients on the menu.
Burgerville, which built its reputation on Northwest ingredients and has a decade-long history of developing vendor relationships. Today, about 70 percent of items sold at its 39 restaurants are based ingredients grown in the Northwest. The company recorded about $45 million in revenue last year.
Harvey said Burgerville’s long-term relationships with vendors such as Country Natural Beef will help ensure its restaurants are stocked with what they need. Country Natural Beef, a cooperative brand produced by 120 ranchers spanning 12 states, is based in Vale, Ore. It entered into an agreement with Chipotle earlier this year to supply the chain with locally raised beef.
In a sign that restaurateurs are eager to solidify their links with their farmer partners, Portland-based EcoTrust’s FoodHub program has grown to 692 members in just a few years of operation. The program links buyers and sellers.
David Yudkin, co-owner of Hotlips Pizza, said he’s used locally sourced ingredients since 1989. He likes the competitive edge it offers and the positive publicity it generates.
He generally welcomes players such as Chipotle — a competitor — to the local food movement, saying growing demand for locally raised ingredients strengthens local farmers and cuts the distance food travels. That’s good for the environment in the long run.
Beaverton-based Shari’s Restaurants uses numerous Northwest vendors, including Farm Fresh Eggs and Umpqua Dairy. It hasn’t always highlighted its local sourcing. Shari’s, owned by New York private equity firm Circle Peak Capital LLC, doesn’t disclose revenue.
Michael Kiriazis, vice president of marketing for the 104-unit chain, said the company is doing more to tell its story as its works to boost its profile with younger diners.
It’s also increasing its commitment to Northwest farmers and ranchers. This fall, it added a premium hamburger sourced from a ranch in eastern Oregon.
Kiriazis said Shari’s size and six-state profile give it a buying advantage.
“We have the muscle to get some great regional products,” he said.
A National Restaurant Association survey of more than 1,500 professional chefs reveals that hyper-local sourcing of food will be one of the hottest trends on restaurant menus in 2011.
firstname.lastname@example.org | 503-219-3415
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most popular
- College ROI: Which Oregon universities deliver the best payback?
- Where are million dollar homes selling in Portland?
- Here's to the CFOs of the Year: PBJ names top financial whizzes
- The Collectors: Lane Powell's Ken Roberts loves cars and neon
- Why Dr. Dre and Eminem have a beef with W+K
- Listmakers: Thoughts from Portland’s top commercial contractors
- Why a PE firm is playing in the Willamette Valley wine grab
- Check out the Hillsboro Hops' new uniforms
- OMSI taps an old friend to execute its 6-acre expansion
- The Collectors: Tim Oakley's movie props, models and more
- Corporate Sales Manager USTravel | 1120 NW Hoyt St, Portland, OR 98209
- Director-Major and Planned Gifts United Way of the Columbia-Willamette | Portland, OR
- Careers at Verizon Wireless Verizon Wireless | Local Opportunities
- Hospital Chief Financial Officer Acadia | Portland, OR
- Teradata Aster Architect Tata Consultancy Services | Portland, OR


text:
Shell Lubricants has announced it will offer carbon neutral1 products for use in a range of industries including power and wind, general manufacturing, steel and construction, and oil and gas. As part of this new offering, the company will also make available carbon neutral oils for heavy-duty engines.
The company is offering the new products to help customers meet their zero emissions goals. In addition, Shell will continue its own carbon reduction efforts. Globally, the company says it aims to offset annual emissions of more than 52 million gallons of advanced synthetic lubricants. It is also working toward becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner.
“Shell Lubricants is invested in reducing the net carbon footprint and is committed to providing the most advanced products to meet the always changing needs of industrial operations,” said Machteld de Haan, Vice President Shell Lubricants Americas, in a press release announcing the new product offering. “Shell Lubricants is persistently moving forward across all of our business sectors to provide customers with sustainable solutions and is proud to be a part of the largest carbon neutral program in the lubricants industry.”
Carbon neutral lubricants and engine oils
Several products within Shell's global portfolio will have carbon neutral options added to them including:
- Shell Tellus S4 range
- Shell Gadus “V” range
- Shell Naturelle biodegradable lubricants
- Shell Rhodina Grease BBZ
- Shell Omala gear oils
- Shell Morlina bearing and circulating oils
- Shell Mysella stationary gas engine oils
- Shell Turbo range
In addition, Shell Rotella T6 Full Synthetic and Shell Rotella T5 Synthetic Blend oils for heavy-duty engines in North America will now be carbon neutral as well.
Shell notes in its press release announcing the new products that to achieve carbon neutrality for its products and overall business, it will work to reduce emissions during production and design of its products. It will do so by optimizing efficiency through the use of more recycled content in bottles when possible. Energy efficiency improvements will continue to be achieved by using renewable power sources; currently over 50% of electricity used in Shell Lubricant Blending Plants comes from renewable sources the company states. Shell also plans to offset remaining CO2e emissions through buying and selling carbon credits.
Shell says it will continue investing in nature-based solutions initiatives, as well, to reduce environmental impact.
1 The term “Carbon Neutral”, indicates that Shell has engaged in a transaction where an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent associated with the acquisition and pre-processing raw materials, lubricant production, packaging, distribution, and the subsequent use and end of life treatment of the used materials in relation to the Shell Lubricants products, has been removed from the atmosphere through a nature based process, or emissions saved through avoided degradation of natural ecosystems.


text:
"Katrina is an especially poignant study in risk because the catastrophe was so widely foreseen,' observes Forbes. The weather event itself was not just foreseen, it had for some time been considered a 'once-in-200-years' event. Now, businesses view a 1-in-200-year event as having a1-in-3 likelihood of occuring in the average 77-year lifespan, and invested accordingly. Elected officials on the other hand saw a 1-in-200-year event as a1/50 chance of occurring in a four-year political term, and accordingly they failed to invest, with the consequences we all saw.
“This is a case where they did an exceptionally good job on the natural science and a really poor job on the social science,” says a commentator. But from the point of view of the elected officials, they were acting rationally. Read Forbes discusion on the risk management of disasters here. [Hat tip NBR blog]
And big ups to the Home Depot people: notes Forbes:
A day after the storm, all but ten of the company’s 33 stores in Katrina’s impact zone were open. Within a week, it was down to just four closed stores (of nine total) in metropolitan New Orleans. “We always take tremendous pride in being able to be among the first responders,” says Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli [in photo right with GWB].Now there's a case study that some of those elected officials and their cronies could learn from.


text:
The new year doesn’t seem to be Ola’s year. After run-ins with the government, devaluation by 40 percent and Softbank writing off $475 million worth of investments in Snapdeal and Ola, the cab aggregator is now beset with exits by top hires like Rajiv Bansal and Raghuvesh Sarup. The news of the two quitting was confirmed to YourStory by sources within Ola. They confirmed that Pallav Singh had moved up as the interim CFO following Rajiv's resignation.
Rajiv had joined Ola after a stint at Infosys -- his severance package has seen much debate lately. He was hired when Ola had raised its Series F funding of $550 million in 2015. The year seems to have brought in a lot of churn to our home-grown startups. In January, Kalyan Krishnamurthy came in as CEO of Flipkart, thus moving Binny Bansal to the role of Group CEO.
Between last year and the beginning of this year, Flipkart and Snapdeal have seen several top hires quitting and leaving. Flipkart also saw its fourth devaluation this year.
The US-based investment firm Vanguard World Fund has marked ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, Ola’s Parent firm, by over 40 percent. According to their regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the current valuation for Ola is now $3 billion. During their peak Ola had raised $500 million at a valuation of $5 billion.
The filing stated that Ola’s shares have dropped from $311.27 per share in the previous quarter to $182.7 apiece. Vanguard now holds over 166,185 shares of Ola valued at over $30.37 million. Media reports have been talking since late last year about Ola looking to raise $300 million funding.
After incurring losses trying to capture the Chinese market, Uber is selling its Chinese subsidiary to Didi Chuxing in a deal that values the combined entity at $35 billion. But as part of the deal, Didi will be making a $1-billion investment in Uber at an estimated $62-billion valuation.
In June 2016, Uber had raised a $3.5-billion funding round from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Not to be outdone, Didi Chuxing announced that it had raised $7 billion, which included $4.5 billion in funds from multiple investors (including $1 billion from Apple, $600 million from China Life Insurance) and a $2.5-billion debt package from China Merchants Bank Co.
Uber gets a 20 percent stake in the combined entity of Uber China and Didi Chuxing. This will value the combined Chinese entity at $35 billion, up from its previous $28-billion valuation. The dynamics between Ola and Uber saw a perceptible shift after this deal, given that Uber had freed up all its resources for the Indian market. The cab market in India is growing exponentially.
It was following these developments that Ola started making claims of how capital dumping had come to seen as a measure better quality. Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO Ola has also said:
"Capital infusion is what pushes the impression of better service quality. That actually isn't the case. Uber's prices might be 15 percent cheaper than ours, but our higher market share tells market truths and realities. Having more money isn't the answer, the global companies come in and put in predatory prices, which isn't fair to the local markets and not even sustainable."
However, the year hasn’t been great for the blue-eyed boys of the Indian startup ecosystem. The valuation drop, according to the sources, comes at a time when Ola is allegedly looking for fresh infusions.
Jaspal Singh, Partner at Valoriser Transport Consultants, says “There is also talk in the market on the number of hacks that drivers use to game the system and create fake rides. Added to that, there is an increasing pressure for Ola to increase prices and focus on revenues. Internally, there is also a lot of pressure on the team to focus on their leasing out cars.”
Apart from this, Uber has been aggressively pushing into the India market, following on the heels of Ola, Uber launched uberHIRE on the heels of Ola Rentals. Also, according to sources, all of Uber China’s resources have been deployed to India. Also, if sources are to be believed, raising money for Ola isn’t happening that easily.


text:
The front page of the Travel section of the New York Times recently had an article about tourism to ‘small island’ Mallorca.
The Hilton Mallorca Galatzo, which just recently opened its doors, is the newest addition to the expanding portfolio of hotels owned and operated by Hilton in Spain.
Summer life carries on in its own way...
"Smoking is banned on public terraces..."
More measures needed to protect the coastline.
Tour operators are trying to pressurise hoteliers into offering discounts.
There are fears that tourists will opt for other resorts in the Mediterranean because of the high cost of food and drinks in the Balearic Islands.
4 cruise ships arrived in Palma on Sunday.


text:
By Caitlin Ball
I’m pretty sure that a day having 24 hours is not ground-breaking information for most adult human beings. So then, why isn’t everyone as successful as Molly-Mae?
The ex-Love Islander and newly appointed Creative Director of PrettyLittleThing has recently been confronted with an onslaught of online criticism following some of the comments she made during a recent guest appearance on the podcast Diary of a CEO.
She attempted to motivate her audience by reiterating that “you’re given one life and it’s down to you what you do with it… It just depends what lengths you want to go to get where you want to be in the future”.
Many have pointed out the ridiculous irony of preaching about hard work and equal opportunity while being top dog at a fast-fashion company that, in late 2020, was hit with allegations that they were paying their workers roughly 40% less than the national living wage at the time, effectively using slave labour. Ludicrous sales with 99% off left some items literally going for pennies – there is no way this could be possible without a detrimental human cost.
Of course, we know that the human cost isn’t the only price we’re willing to pay for fast fashion — my eyes also water at the environmental impact. According to research from McKinsey and Company, the fashion sector was responsible for “some 2.1 billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, about 4 per cent of the global total”.
According to the site Good On You which provides advice and expertise on ethical fashion, as of mid 2021 there is “no evidence” that PLT “has taken meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals, nor does it implement any water reduction initiatives”. Not only is Molly-Mae drawing her success from a company that has (allegedly) been careless with the lives of current human beings, but also from one that is being careless with the lives of future human beings who will inherit the planet in the state we’ve left it.
Those who came to Molly-Mae’s defence praised her for seizing the opportunities presented to her with both hands and breaking through the glass ceiling that usually prevents women attaining prestigious leadership roles.
But it’s bittersweet when she, at point-blank, refuses to check the privilege that has been instrumental in getting her to ‘where [she] is today’, even acknowledging during the podcast that she’s been ‘slammed’ for saying stuff like this before.
I’m a reluctant fan of Love Island, it has to be said, but arguably it did the most to boost Molly-Mae’s career, and I don’t think many people would consider lounging seductively in Mallorca for eight weeks ‘hard work’.
Further, her conventional attractiveness favoured by the fashion industry, that is, the bikini-ready Instagram body, the flawless tan and the flowing platinum locks must take up more of her money and her 24 hours than personal grooming does for your average Joe. I don’t doubt that she works very hard for her figure, but if you’re on the poverty line and all you can afford and have the time to make while juggling multiple jobs is fish fingers and chips, then such an appearance seems all but unattainable. You won’t have time for a workout at the gym either, let alone enough disposable income to pay for their extortionate memberships.
Not everyone is able to thrive off of the cards life has dealt them. Whether that’s poverty, disability, race, gender, illness or otherwise, society is not a level playing field — as much as we’re socialised to believe it is. Inspirational success stories from those who have achieved their dreams attach a romantic, sentimental value to the idea of the meritocracy, which is ultimately what gives it life.
Maybe Molly-Mae’s comments would have stung less if they’d come from someone who had managed to work their way up from abject hardship.
Although admittedly I can’t be sure of what being Creative Director of PrettyLittleThing entails exactly, perhaps there is a way for Molly-Mae to use her new position to make a positive impact. As Creative Director, she’ll most likely have influence over the clothes that are being designed and sold — reducing the sheer volume of products being trawled through the supply chain might be a step towards improving the lives of both the workers and the environment.
Taking steps to make changes such as this might help redeem her in the eyes of those particularly affected by her comments.
Image credit: latest in bollywood via flickr


text:
In yet another major step into the metaverse, NIKE, Inc. announced on Monday that it will acquire RTFKT, “a leading brand that leverages cutting edge innovation to deliver next generation collectibles that merge culture and gaming.” Nike President and CEO John Donahoe said in a statement that the acquisition is “another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming and culture,” and one that will help to “extend Nike’s digital footprint and capabilities.”
The news follows from Nike garnering widespread attention in connection with the filing of a number of intent-to-use trademark applications in the U.S. and beyond for its most famous trademarks – such as its “Nike,” “Just Do It,” and “Jordan” word marks, its iconic swoosh logo, the Jordan silhouette logo, and a stylized combination of its name and the swoosh – for use on various virtual goods/services. Specifically, the applications suggested that Nike was looking to use its famed marks on “downloadable virtual goods;” “retail store services featuring virtual goods;” and “entertainment services, namely, providing on-line, non-downloadable virtual footwear, clothing, headwear, eyewear, [and] bags,” among other things, “for use in virtual environments.”
Nike has since indicated its interest in the space by way teaming up with Roblox for Nikeland, a digital experience that enables fans of the sportswear giant to “connect, create, share experiences, compete,” and, of course, shop, in a nod to the importance of the metaverse as a burgeoning opportunity for brands ranging from sportswear titans to luxury goods purveyors.
In a release on November 18, Nike stated, “There’s a new place on Roblox for Nike fans to connect, create, share experiences and compete: NIKELAND. Nike created this bespoke world with the backdrop of its world headquarters and inside Roblox’s immersive 3D space, building on its goal to turn sport and play into a lifestyle.” In addition to connecting and competing, fans can also shop in Nikeland, with the digital experience enabling users to “gear up in classics like the Air Force 1 and Nike Blazer and in new drops like the Air Force 1 Fontanka and the Air Max 2021,” of which can be found in the digital showroom, “along with a host of other Nike apparel staples like ACG and Nike Tech Pack.”
Almost two-year old RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”), which was founded by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev, has similarly made headlines in the virtual space, selling 621 pairs of digital sneakers that it created alongside artist Fewocious, and netting $3.1 million in sales in a matter of minutes for them in March.
More recently, the London-based company, which Nike calls “a pioneering and innovative brand that redefines the boundaries of physical and digital value to serve their broad community of creators,” revealed that it had raised $8 million in a round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and that includes Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill, Behance co-founder Scott Belsky, artist Fewocious, and former LVMH Chief Digital Officer Ian Rogers, among others, in furtherance of its quest to “empower the future of fashion.” The round, which closed in May, valued the company at $33.3 million.
The terms of the deal between RTFKT and Nike have not been disclosed.


text:
“Good things happen when Home Depot comes to town”. That’s what Home Depot likes to remind us. But ask the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in the company’s home turf of Atlanta, Georgia. According to a report in the September 2002 issue of Merchant Magazine, the BBB suspended Home Depot at the end of July, 2002 for failing to respond to 110 customer complaints. The BBB met in early August to review Home Depot’s response. “We’re waiting for them to respond to all the pending complaints before we reinstate the membership,” said the President of the BBB. It turns out that Home Depot is a repeat offender. “This is not the first time their membership has been jeopardized,” the BBB noted. “We had met with them this past year and thought we had it all worked out. It’s not the kind of image I’m sure they want to have.” And what was Home Depot’s response? A company spokesman said the names on the BBB’s list didn’t match with Home Depot’s list. The Depot said being suspended “is not something we took lightly. Customer service is the holiest or holies for us at Home Depot.” The BBB reports that most of the complaints about Home Depot were customer service issues. While in suspension, Home Depot was listed as having an “unsatisfactory record”.
If customer service is so holy, why did Home Depot have 110 “sins” unabsolved? Let’s hope that Home Depot gets back in the good graces of the Better Business Bureau. Or even better, let’s hope that consumers get back to their senses and stop shopping at a company with an “unsatisfactory record” of serving its customers.


text:
BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) -- The Buffalo Brewfest will take over part of HSBC Arena this Friday evening. Organizers say it gets bigger and better each year. "120 different beers from all over the world," Tim Herzog, the Co-chair of Brewfest, said. "We've grown to...about 5,000 guests this year. We sold out last year at 3,500 so we took more space, brought in more beer, more brewers, and more fun."
There will also be live music and beer themed food. "Asked me to get a menu together based on some beers and I was happy to do that," Scott Green, a chef at Delaware North, said.
And if that isn't enough to make you satisfied you can feel good in knowing that all proceeds from the event go to the Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center. "It's our largest event and proceeds go directly toward us, providing scholarships for children in our literacy and autism programs," Joe Cozzo, the President and CEO of Buffalo and Hearing Speech Center, said.
For more information on Buffalo's biggest happy hour go to buffalobrewfest.com.


text:
Video sparks calls for animal cruelty crackdown overseas
A RAFT of federal politicians has urged the Abbott Government to crackdown on animal cruelty overseas, after reports of an incident involving Australian live cattle exported to Gaza.
Footage of the incident, which includes the vicious stabbing and slaughter of what are believed to be Australian cattle in Gaza, was released by Animals Australia today.
Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie led a delegation today urging the government to revoke export licenses of any company that might be associated with the animal abuse.
Among those urging more enforcement of Australia's live export standards were Labor MPs Kelvin Thomson and Melissa Parkes, and Greens senator Lee Rhiannon.
Mr Thomson said the footage showed what he believed were breaches of Australia's export standards, describing the footage as the worst he had seen.
He said it was telling that such issues were not coming to light through the industry or government inspectors but through animal welfare groups.
Mr Wilkie said it showed the current export standards, brought in after similar problems in Indonesia in 2011, were not working.
He said the rules would be flouted overseas without harsher penalties for companies found breaching the standards.
The group also urged the eventual phase-out of live exports, in favour of boxed beef exports and the expansion of meat processing around the country.


text:
Malaysia’s palm oil industry recorded multi-year lows for output, stock levels, exports in 2021.Palm oil is a key driver of the Southeast Asian country’s agriculture and agro-based sectors.
Covid-related restrictions created a shortage of much-needed foreign workers on palm oil plantations that lowered supply by 5% from 2020 to 18 million tonnes, the lowest after the La Niña weather pattern -which tends to bring increased rainfall- ravaged harvests in 2016 when production barely broke 17.3 million tonnes, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).
Monthly average inventories stood at just 1.6 million tonnes while export sales fell 11% on the year to an all-time low of 15.56 million tonnes, MPOB data showed.
Palm oil-based biodiesel sales decreased by 4% from 2020 to 362,000 tonnes, a four-year low. The downtrend is expected to persist in 2022 as the EU ban on palm oil for biodiesel has intensified. Under the bloc’s renewable energy directive, palm oil-based fuels are to be phased out by 2030, since palm oil has been classified by the EU as resulting in excessive deforestation and can no longer be considered a renewable transport fuel.
“We do not see a major improvement in production until the second quarter of 2022 due to the underlying labor issue alongside the seasonal factor,” Aditya Jeripotula, head of research at commodities firm TransGraph Consulting told Platts.
According to Sathia Varqa, founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics, there is a shortage of about 70,000 oil palm plantation workers in Malaysia.
Last year, palm oil benchmark futures rocketed to an all-time closing high of 5,071 ringgit ($1,213) a ton. Palm oil bulls will likely roar into 2022, as the rally is likely to continue in the $1,000/mt range, but could be dampened by higher soybean oil output, the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries said in its full year 2022 outlook. Palm, soybean, and sunflower oil compete for share in the global vegetable oils market.
Last week, palm oil booked its biggest gain in three months as output expectations were hit by concerns over adverse weather in key growing areas in Malaysia.
Last month, the UN’s FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index declined 3.3% with weaker quotations for palm oil and sunflower oil reflecting subdued global import demand. However, for 2021 as a whole, the FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index reached an all-time high, increasing 65.8% from 2020.
At the end of 2020, the oil palm covered about 5.9 mil ha or 18% of total land area in Malaysia; producing 19.14 mil tonnes of palm oil and 2.20 tonnes of palm kernel oil. The palm oil industry also provided RM 73.25 bil in export revenues and accounted for 3.6% of Malaysia’s total GDP. Palm oil has also elevated Malaysia to become the world’s second largest palm oil producing and exporting country. Today, Malaysia accounts for 25.8% and 34.3% of the world’s palm oil production and export; respectively, according to MPOC. Palm oil is the world’s most-consumed edible oil.
With reporting by Platts, Argus media, MPOC, FAO


text:
Social media influencer, Thickleeyonce, showed off her fringed-ponytail in her latest Instagram post, from celebrity wig designer brand, Uwinshair.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, 11 March 2020, Thickleeyonce shared an image which showed off her new wig from Uwinshair. The wig was styled with a straight cut fringe with longer layers which framed her face. She wore her hair in a low pony tail, allowing for the fringe to remain prominent.
See Thickleeyonce’s fringed-ponytail below.


text:
New Grand Sport Matches a C6 Corvette ZR1 on Track
We’re betting that there’ll be a few longstanding Corvette fans taking note of this latest bit of news, as well as a few foes of the great American sports car.
Yup, apparently, the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport was as fast as the C6 Corvette ZR1 during a recent test run at Virginia International Raceway. The new Grand Sport clocked a time of 2:45.18 around the legendary raceway, as highlighted in a GM Authority report.
News of the C7 Grand Sport’s impressive VIR run was shared by Corvette Product Manager, Harlan Charles, who was speaking about how the new variant was benchmarked at the track. Charles also noted that the time was clocked in a model with a seven-speed manual gearbox.
Other details about the new slate of C7 models are expected to be available on May 13, according to the report. But it’s clearly looking like the most popular new Corvette for the year will be the new Grand Sport.
Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>
Via [GM Authority]


text:
China’s trade restrictions on Australian wine, lobsters and other commodities could be the next to ease amid a warming of diplomatic ties and expectations that Beijing will soon resume imports of coal.
Curbs on commodity imports will probably be eased gradually and in an unofficial manner, said Hans Hendrischke, professor of Chinese Business and Management at the University of Sydney. While there’s some confidence that restrictions will be lifted, there’s currently no indication of timing, he said.
“Nobody could tell you whether it will start with barley, wine producers or lobsters for Chinese New Year,” Hendrischke said.
China’s boycott of Australian products has been a burden for the economy as inflationary pressures pushed up interest rates and pressured the property market. The prospect of increasing Chinese demand is now helping to support the currency which should ease some of the inflationary pressures.
The Australian Dollar closed the week above the 200-day MA for the first time since April. A clear downward dynamic will be required to question medium-term scope for continued upside.
S&P/ASX 200 Index reversed an intraweek decline to close back above the psychological 7000. That confirms a higher reaction low and suggests potential for a further rebound towards the highs above 7500.


text:
Rock band Elbow has helped to raise thousands of pounds for charity through sales of their specially-brewed beer.
The ale, created by Robinsons Brewery, was released on limited edition in September 2011, but demand for the beer Build a Rocket Boys has gone into orbit, and has sold more than 130,000 pints and 24,000 bottles.
The Prestwich band pledged a significant percentage of all profits to Oxfam’s East Africa Appeal, and so far have donated £11,000.
The money will pay for clean water, seeds and tools for millions of people in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
The areas are suffering huge food shortages following the worst drought in 60 years.
Harriet Roberts, from Oxfam, said: “The charity is so grateful for the amazing Build a Rocket Boys beer and the support of Robinsons and Elbow.
“It’s fantastic to have such a fun and innovative fundraising initiative that not only celebrates great local music, but also raises vital money for the people of East Africa.”
Robinsons brand manager John Robinson said: “There is a great feel good factor to raising this amount of money for such a worthwhile cause.
“This beer will quite literally save lives and help thousands of people. Let’s hope the sales continue throughout the rest of the year in order to hand over another sizeable cheque in six months time.”


text:
Wabash National Corp. (NYSE:WNC) stock was holding up well this year until it broke its winning streak last month and gave up all of its gains from April. Wabash ended May down 12.6%, its worst month so far in 2017.
Interestingly, there was no news from Wabash's end in May. The last big announcement that the trailer manufacturer made was its first-quarter earnings release in the last week of April which sent the stock soaring, and for good reasons.
Wabash's Q1 sales and earnings were down substantially from the year-ago quarter, which wasn't surprising given the sluggishness in the energy and chemical markets, both of which are critical markets for the company. Wabash is North America's leading manufacturer of liquid transportation systems.
Two factors appear to have gotten the market excited: Wabash beat earnings estimates and raised its full-year shipment as well as earnings per share outlook, albeit only marginally, by around 2% each. Nonetheless, Wabash reported operating income of $30.3 million -- its second-best Q1 ever on that metric -- and grew its free cash flow by 60%. That second number was particularly noteworthy as the company had just reinstated its dividend last December after a hiatus of six years.
Furthermore, Wabash's backlog also improved 8% sequentially to $863 million as at the end of the first quarter, reflecting an improvement in demand for trailers backed by stronger freight fundamentals.
End-market demand is nowhere close to where it was in 2014 and 2015, but Wabash is striving hard to boost margins by deleveraging and cutting costs while it waits for demand to improve. That is why management is confident of returning to its historic gross margin norms in the range of 21% to 25% by the latter half of the year. For perspective, Wabash's gross profit margin in Q1 was just around 16.4%.
I believe the drop in Wabash's shares in May was simply a case of profit booking. For long-term investors, though, this could just be the opportunity you've waiting for. Wabash boasts an incredible customer list that includes top trucking companies like FedEx, J B Hunt, and Navistar International, consumer companies like Nestle, and oil majors like BP to name a few. Also, Wabash serves several industries beyond its key chemical and energy clientele, among them pharma, food, and consumer. It's only a matter of time before these industries start spending more, and drive Wabash back onto the growth track. With its stock trading at less than 12 times trailing earnings, you may well want to hop on Wabash before the cycle turns.


text:
According to Steam’s latest hardware survey results, Windows 10 is already on nearly 2.21% of Steam users. Windows 10 nearly doubled the market share given the fact that RTM was released only on July 29th. In comparison, Windows 10 is now more popular than any individual OS X version. My bet is that Windows 10 usage among Steam users would have crossed combined Mac OS user share by now. But, we should wait till next month to see the actual numbers.
Windows 10 has been installed now on 18.5 million machines worldwide. Read about it here.


text:
Domino’s claims nearly half of all online retail food sales in Australia
Domino’s Pizza has reported a strong start to the year, with net profits jumping 15.47 per cent and profit from continuing operations growing 8.3 per cent in the six months to January 1.
Network sales climbed 26.8 per cent to $1.17 billion to drive the group’s overall revenue up 21.1 per cent to $539.4 million.
The company has also upgraded its full-year guidance, expecting net profit and underlying earnings to increase by 32.5 per cent in 2016/17.
In addition to a new menu and faster delivery times, growth in online ordering played a big part in the group’s strong trade, according to Domino’s chief executive Don Meij.
“Our technology is also driving consumers where we are 44 per cent of all online retail food (sales) in Australia and we are 2.8 per cent of all internet transactions in Australia,” Meij told AAP.
Across the pizza chain’s seven markets in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Japan and Germany, group same store sales grew 9.4 per cent in the half.
The ANZ network delivered 23.9 per cent growth in underlying EBITDA to $55.2 million, with 17.2 per cent growth in revenue to $150.1m.
Domino’s said franchisee profitability remains a key company focus for the company and reported average same store EBITDA has increased 31.7 per cent over the past two financial years.
The pizza maker reported its first-half earnings amidst claims that its franchisees are underpaying employees and exploiting foreign workers. Domino’s has been conducting its own investigation into wages for the past three years, but denies it is a systemic issue.
“I would prefer all of our franchisees lived up to our expected standards and I am disappointed some individuals have tried to take advantage of our business and team members,” Meij said.
Domino’s said over the past three years, it has conducted 456 store spot checks, completed 102 store audits with 42 ongoing and investigated 88 individual complaints, 25 of which are ongoing. They said this process has recovered a total of $4.5 million in unpaid superannuation and wages.


text:
A round-up of commencement speeches by tech leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, and more.
CEO Aaron Levie gives insight into the early days of Box and his decision to build for the enterprise instead of creating a consumer startup.
This week’s Product Hunt finds take you into the new year with tools for daily inspiration in your business and personal life.
Entrepreneur Pieter Levels is trying to launch 12 startups in 12 months. In our interview, he shares what he’s learned about idea validation, taking action, getting press coverage, and more.
The ramen phase: When you’re working 80 hour weeks and bootstrapping to make ends meet. Here’s some tips to get through those times.
When it comes to PR for a startup…timing is everything.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Charles Yim about the ground-breaking appearance on Sharktank—the first time that all five “sharks” invested in a single entrepreneur.
It starts off as a casual epiphany. Which floats away like a snowflake. Days and weeks pass by, but it clings to your thought. Soon you can’t ignore it. It…


text:
Zee Media Bureau
Delhi: Just after facing a major debacle in form of global recall of Galaxy Note 7, Samsung Electronics is reeling from another challenge. This time the South Korea based electronics company would recall about 2.8 million of its top-load washing machines in the United States to address safety concerns.
The top of the Samsung washing machines can unexpectedly detach from the chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement on Friday.
The machines being recalled were manufactured between March 2011 and November 2016.
Samsung received nine related reports of injuries, including a broken jaw, injured shoulder and other fall-related injuries.
(With inputs from Reuters)


text:
Retail sector opportunities for private equity in 2016
Thursday 17 December 2015
Private equity funds could re-emerge as buyers in the Australian retail sector in 2016, with divestments and distressed asset opportunities possible, accordingly to EY’s Oceania Consumer Products & Retail Leader, Glenn Carmody.
Carmody’s comments follow the release of EY’s Global Consumer Products and Retail Capital Confidence Barometer, which confirms that cost reduction and operational efficiency remains the focus for most (50%) companies in the sector.
The Barometer is a biannual survey of more than 1,600 senior executives from large companies around the world, including Australia. More than 239 were from Consumer Products and Retail sector.
Carmody says while globally M&A in the sector is expected to increase, with 66% of companies in the sector intending to make an acquisition in the next 12 months, local companies are facing the double challenge of low domestic economic growth and intensifying competition from global players.
“The general expectation is that discretionary incomes will be flat in the short to medium term, so as more consumers remain focused on achieving value from their purchases, it’s likely that private equity players will see opportunity in that end of the market,” he says.
Better use of data and a sharper customer focus required
Carmody says the low growth expectations for the local economy and the ongoing march of global brands into the Australian market means incumbent retailers need to raise the bar in meeting increasing customer expectations.
EY’s report shows globally consumer products and retail companies are looking to invest more in mature markets rather than emerging markets, a significant shift from 18 months ago.
“The combination of thin retail margins around the world and digital enablement has made Australia’s 22 million population more attractive than it has ever been in the past for global players,” he says.
“It also means the power base in the customer-retailer relationship has fundamentally shifted to customers, so retailers who do not genuinely have the customer at the heart of their strategy will find it increasingly difficult to survive. That applies to all retail formats, whether it is the in-store experience, online or click-and-collect.”
Carmody says while retailers have more sales and customer data than ever before, most are underutilising the information.
“Data is often scattered throughout an organisation and pulling it together in a coherent way is complex and difficult, but the potential impact on the bottom line is massive.
Carmody says organisations that have used their inventory, sales and customer data in this way are better able to understand their customers, what they are and are not likely to buy, why they shop with them, what is making them loyal and ultimately increase their spend.
“It is like going from a low resolution black and white picture, to high definition colour.”
Notes to Editors
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.
EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.
This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young Australia, a member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.


text:
The Battle of the Billboards in Tel Aviv
In recent months, three major poster campaigns have been launched along the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, Derech Namir and the outskirts of Herzliya Pituah. The billboards carry slogans in English and feature young employees of tech companies, making Tel Aviv look like San Francisco.
Business intelligence firm Gong, game developer Playtika, and venture capital fund Group 11 led by founding partner Dovi Frances have all bought millions of shekels worth of billboards. Last month, web traffic analytics company Similarweb graced the streets of Tel Aviv with billboards of hundreds of employees saying thank you very much. In February, the hitherto anonymous fintech Rapyd, which has more than 200 employees, decorated billboards, including at bus stops, with the latest images of their young employees.
The roles have turned: tech workers have become the hottest commodity, and billboard ads have become the showcase for Israel’s tech sector. The Tel Aviv and Herzliya billboards aren’t cut off from what’s going on in the industry, but rather are in many ways the result of developments there. Apparently, a tech company that doesn’t fundraise at a major appraisal or belong to the Unicorn Club (worth over $ 1 billion) will have a hard time competing to hire quality employees.
As serial entrepreneur Mickey Boodaei, CEO of biometric authentication company Transmit Security, told “Globes” earlier this week after the company announced it had raised $ 543 million for a valuation. of $ 2.2 billion, “We estimated that in the current situation in the market, the fact that we did not raise money, made it difficult for us to hire employees, because the candidates did not know not how to compare us with other companies that are unicorns and we had to invest resources in explaining why we are also such a hot company. The media also ignored us because we had not raised any money and many clients asked us who were the venture capital funds that supported us? â
Image, publicity, prestige and capital are linked. Unicorns raise hundreds of millions of dollars not only to be able to hire employees, but also to receive the status, prestige and visibility of being in the Unicorn Club, which in turn aims to improve their bargaining position. for employees.
The high-tech labor shortage is a chronic phenomenon that has grown over the years. From around 8,000 jobs available a decade ago in the tech industry, it has more than doubled to 18,500 jobs on the eve of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of 2019. According to the Israel Authority innovation, demand is currently declining. to 13,000 available jobs, but the shortage is felt in the tech industry and business, where companies are fighting for talented employees.
Biometric authentication, Transmit Security raises $ 543 million
Rapyd rents 15 floors in Azrieli triangle, spiral towers
Similarweb Completes NYSE IPO at $ 1.6 Billion Valuation
Israeli gaming company Playtika holds $ 11 billion Nasdaq IPO
In addition, about 75% of all tech companies in Israel of all sizes have doubled or tripled the jobs available since early 2021, according to Gloat, an Israeli startup, which has developed a platform to hire talented employees and manage careers. technology, and who himself raised $ 57 million earlier this month to a company valuation of hundreds of millions of dollars.
There are many reasons for all of this. The opening of capital markets last year and the climate of optimism have led many companies to choose the route of a public offering, while the movement of many online services due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that there is liquid research capital at low interest rates funneling into technology companies.
Not all billboards that target technical employees convey the atmosphere of a unicorn. Some of them choose to convey messages about personal growth, a healthy organizational culture and the ability to influence the global agenda. While Similarweb contented itself with thanking its employees after a successful IPO on Wall Street, Group 11’s ad campaign talked about hiring “the best people,” and game developer Plarium in a 2019 campaign cheered on the candidates. potential “to conquer the world” – a slogan that had a dual meaning for all players. Playtika, which develops gambling games, talks about the balance between leisure and work, with the slogan “Life is Play”, which targets a wide range of communities.
Posted by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 24, 2021
Â© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021


text:
Value retailer Primark has reported a 7% increase in like-for-like sales in the six months to March 2, 2013 as operating profits soared 55%.
Operating profits rose to £238m while overall sales came in at £1.9bn, 24% ahead of the same period the previous year.
The value fashion chain described its first half performance as “exceptionally strong”, with trading in its Northern European stores leading the charge.
Operating profit margin rose to 11.5% up from 9.5%, reflecting the benefit of lower cotton prices, a weaker US dollar and lower markdowns as a result of better trading.
Retail selling space increased by 700,000 sq ft since the end of the previous financial year, and by 1m sq ft - or 13% - compared to the same period a year earlier. Primark opened 15 new stores in the period including six in Spain and four in the UK including our second store on London’s Oxford Street.
Two new stores were opened in Germany including one in Frankfurt’s Zeil, and the retailer opened its first two stores in Austria and a further store in the Netherlands.
Primark owner Associated British Food’s chief executive George Weston said: “This pace of store openings will not continue for the remainder of this financial year.
“We expect to add a further 100,000 sq ft of space this year, mainly comprising the completion of extensions to our Newcastle and Manchester stores. Expenditure on new stores and refits for the full year is expected to be at a similar level to last year.”


text:
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Broadcom brcm on Tuesday said it'll pay $146 million to buy Global Locate Inc., a privately-held provider of global positioning system (semiconductor products and software. Additional consideration of up to $80 million in cash will be reserved for future payment upon satisfaction of certain performance goals.
Have breaking news sent to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Bulletin emails. Sign up here.


text:
The huge drop in Apple’s stock price has sent shock and Awe through the investment community. On one hand, you have the Apple bulls calling foul. Interestingly, this group consists of Apple fanbois, most of whom do not own the stock but have kind of vested interest somehow.
On the other hand, you have the Apple bears, who is currently celebrating Christmas in January – given the stock performance, screaming I told you so.
So, where did it went wrong for Apple?
Some might point the finger at Wall Street Journal and Nikkei reports published on January the 13. According to their report, Apple Inc. has cut their orders for components for the iPhone 5 due to weak demands. The Nikkei report stated that the order has been half from 65 million in the previous quarter.
Consequently, Apple’s stock has fallen from $530 to $485 at the close of trading today.
Many came out to condemn the style of reporting hoping to reverse the trend.
Writing for BGR, Tero Kuittinen talked about the strange math of Apple’s Alleged massive iPhone 5 order cuts:
Neil Hughes of AppleInsider reported that many analysts believe that there is nothing to see here, iPhone 5 demand remains ‘robust’:
Despite these bullish reports, Apple’s critics and bears feel justified with the Apple’s current predicament.
Bert Dohmen wrote:
- As early as late August 2012, I wrote on twitter.com that the boom in Apple was coming to an end because the new CEO had shown a trend of “disappointment.” Every new product since then was less than expected. Steve Jobs always delivered more than expected.
- Apple hit its all-time high of $705 on Sept. 21. Six days later, I wrote on twitter that my downside target was $520. That seemed outrageous, but it was hit about three weeks later on Nov. 16.
- On that day, I predicted a rally to $581. The rally actually hit $589, just a bit higher. Thereafter, I predicted that the next decline would go to $422
Even one of Apple’s biggest advocate Jay Yarow has been left scratching his head:
Some people want to cry “stock manipulation,” but the stock is down 30% since the end of September. It’s hard to totally fool the market. Something is amiss with the company.
At the end of the day, which one of these camps is correct in their analysis of Apple’s current situation. My guess is that Apple’s conference call on January 23 will shed some light.
In my opinion, they isn’t a lot wrong with Apple’s fundamentals for long term investors, however, the harsh reality of trading is that price is ‘King.’ And currently Apple’s stock price is causing many investors sleepless nights, which is not a good thing.


text: A number of scams have been victimizing Tri-State residents of late. I, personally, have received the phone calls from Florida, and even from myself (how is that possible?!) about my Mastercard (which I don't even have!). Now Vectren is warning us about another scam that has surfaced. It seems that "someone" is making phone calls to Vectren customers claiming to be a representative of the company and wanting an immediate payment or the service to their home or business will be disconnected.


text:
Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payments The default on about $174 million was expected, but the decision of the island’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, to order a “claw back” of cash draws criticism. Edgar Valdez-Villareal, a former leader of Mexico’s Beltran Leyva cartel who is nicknamed “La Barrie”… Finance News & latest business headlines from AWOL London Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-biggest supermarket chain, made a takeover Lapproach for Home Retail in November but was rejected by the owner of Argos and the Homebase do-it-yourself chain and is considering it’s next step. We’re sorry, an unexpected error has occurred, please try again later. Bank of China aims to launch the initial public offering APO of lessor BBC Aviation,… The company turned heavily to incentives to spark sales in December. U.S. sumos Labs Fined by FTC Over Brain-Game Claims Wall Street Journal – 30 minutes ago sumos Labs, the company behind brain-training app Lumosity, will pay $2 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations it “deceived consumers with unfounded claims” in its advertising. Each roadblock has a simply solution that will help you get back on track and in control. “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer shares his ideas of when and which shares to buy after Monday’s sell-off.
(Taisho Pharm), and a subsidiary of Teva, which runs a generic drug business and transfers Takedas long listed products (LLP) business in Japan as of the date. Please refer to the press release on December 28, 2015 below regarding details of the establishment of Teva Takeda Yakuhin and Teva Takeda Pharma. Outline of Teva Takeda Yakuhin Ltd. 3 Ohara-ichiba, Koka-cho, Koka City, Shiga Pref. (3) Representative Development, manufacturing, sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products (5) Capital (6) Date of name change (7) Number of shares issued (9) Major shareholders and ratio of shares held Teva Pharma Japan Inc. 100 *Name to be changed to Teva Takeda Pharma Ltd. in or after October 2016.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160331006498/en/Takeda-Teva-Establish-%E2%80%9CTeva-Takeda-Yakuhin-Ltd.%E2%80%9D
Healthy people who need less care should be more comfortable paying lower premiums the… 5. The Path to Charlie Sheen’s H.I.V. Even Insured Can Face Crushing Medical Debt, Study Finds A major survey of Americans struggling with medical bills finds that, even among the insured, illness and injury can reshape a family’s financial health. US auto sales in 2015 set record after strong December Detroit Automakers on Tuesday set a new U.S. sales record for 2015 even as December sales fell short of expectations, and most forecasters said the new year will be even better. In Cohen and I.B.M. Insider Trading Cases, Challenges for the S.E.C. All Rights Reserved. With its surging middle class, Africa’s most populous nation is embracing the places, and culture, that are sagging in America. Bank of China last post Goldman for $3 ban BBC Aviation APO sources Bank of China has hired Goldman Sachs and BBC International as joint sponsors for the planned Hong Kong listing of its aviation arm, expected to raise about $3 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.


text:
"You don't hear that any more."Public attitudes toward online dating are becoming more positive, and people are less uncomfortable talking about it, as the volume of online daters has grown in recent years, experts said.
Right, and checking your e-mail in the same sitting? While some still view online dating with suspicion, millions of Americans are turning to those sites as an alternative to bars and blind dates. Fellouris, a marriage and family therapist in New Bedford.
"You have to wonder why they're hiding behind a computer in the first place.
They can't hide if they're right in front of you."Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, said online dating has been stigmatized as the last resort for the desperate and lonely.
The stigma has diminished, though it still lingers somewhat.
The reality of online dating belies the negative perception, Mr.
Tracy said."In fact, it's the best way possible to meet your soul mate," he said.


text:
Local company celebrates 90th anniversary
Started in 1932, Holloway commemorates anniversary this week with customer appreciation event
– Long-time Central California-based company Holloway this week is officially celebrating its 90th anniversary in business.
Founded in 1932, Holloway will commemorate its 90th anniversary with a customer appreciation event this week, an employee appreciation event later this summer, along with a host of 90th campaigns, giveaways and events that pay tribute to 90 years of business in the agriculture, mining, environmental and logistics industries.
Here’s a look at some of the campaigns Holloway has launched to mark its 90 years:
- 90th-anniversary logo, highlighting its years in business (1932-2022) on its iconic red ribbon, symbolizing its dedication to superior customer service, along with a tagline representative of the company’s core values: “Experience. Trust. Innovation.”
- Disced a giant 90th logo that can be seen from space at its Lost Hills Mine, showcasing its ag services.
- “From the Field” with CEO Brian Maxted video series, interviewing experts from around California about the issues most affecting the ag, environmental, mining and logistics industries.
- Celebrating the retirement of President Vard Terry after 50 years with the company.
- Slideshows, videos, and Q&As looking back at Holloway’s 90 years in Central California.
- Charitable donations and sponsorships to dozens of local organizations, schools and community groups, another of Holloway’s core values.
“We say it all the time at Holloway, but we truly mean it: We do business for tomorrow, not simply for today,” Holloway CEO Brian Maxted said. “You don’t last for 90 years in this business unless you put your customers and your community first.
“Since the company was founded, Holloway has always focused on building those long-term relationships, with farmers, with our partners and community stakeholders, and now with the leaders from the other industries we work in. The company has really come a long way, but in a lot of ways our core values remain the same.”
H.M. Holloway was founded in May of 1932 by Harvey Holloway at the dawn of the Great Depression, despite the stock market crashes, bank failures, and drought conditions that plagued the era.
Working in the Lost Hills area for Richfield Oil Corporation at the time, Harvey Holloway first discovered reflective white outcroppings of gypsum while walking the rugged terrain as a night watchman. After collecting samples and having them analyzed at a Bakersfield lab, Holloway confirmed the material was calcium sulfate dihydrate, or gypsum, a soil amendment known to add calcium, neutralize salts and improve water penetration for farmers.
Holloway first leased a 40-acre parcel that May, and Holloway’s Lost Hills Mine was born with little more than a pick, a shovel and a wagon. As the company grew, Harvey Holloway invested in surface leases and was finally able to purchase land from Richfield eventually leading to over 2,200 acres owned in fee and 800 acres leased at the Lost Hills site.
Ninety years later, Holloway’s Lost Hills location is as productive as ever, providing gypsum and other products to the agriculture and construction industries, and also hosting a landfill that takes in multiple waste streams from around the state.
Today, The Holloway Group, which has grown into a multi-unit collection of privately held companies in the ag, environmental, mining and logistics industries, continues to grow and was recently named Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing ag and natural resources company for 2021-22.
“We’re a completely different company today, and while we’re growing rapidly we cherish our history and where we’ve come from,” Maxted said. “Our products and services have stood the test of time, but we’ll continue to innovate and evolve and bring on new products and services that help our customers grow with sustainable solutions for generations to come.”
Learn more about Holloway’s 90th-anniversary celebration and history at hollowayag.com/90.


text:
After an error-filled and frustrating online experience a few weeks ago, OnePlus will once again allow anyone to pre-order their OnePlus One smartphone on November 17. As they did last time, the pre-orders will only be open for a one-hour period that will begin at 11 am Eastern time (8 am Pacific and 4 pm GMT).
President Barack Obama has issued a new request to the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify broadband wired Internet service in the US as a public utility, like telephone or power companies are currently classified. This is just the latest attempt to regulate Internet service providers under net neutrality principles.
Anybody shopping for Android apps, accessories, smartphones, or tablets will want to take a skim through these sales we've scrounged up from around the web. Every day, we comb through these sales to make sure they're fresh and accurate, and try to find a few more. Latest additions will be at the top of each list.
As always, if you find any sales out out there that aren't included, let us know in the comments.
Finally, a Chromebook with a great display — now it just needs more performance
Since we first laid eyes on the new Toshiba Chromebook 2 at IFA, we knew that this may be one of the leading Chromebooks of the year. Sure it had basic specs just like all of the other Chromebooks, but it actually looked good unlike much of the competition, and more importantly it had a beautiful 1080p IPS display.
The Chromebook 2 is mostly just a sprucing up of Toshiba's first Chromebook from earlier this year, but that's not a bad thing. You're getting a nice set of upgraded specs nestled in a similar frame, but the was never an issue with the hardware. In the competitive world of Chromebooks with tight margins and very similar components across the board, you just need to get a few things right and set yourself apart from the crowd. Toshiba has given it a great shot with the Chromebook 2 — read on for our full review.
Samsung's official kit for the Note 4 gives you a spare battery, protective case and external charger
All told, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has pretty good battery life. In our review we found that Samsung's latest could get us through into the night on all but the busiest of days. However, having a removable battery gives Note 4 owners the option to swap in a second cell in busier times.
That's just what the official extra battery kit from Samsung allows you to do, while also giving you a convenient way to charge a battery outside of your device. Effectively, you've got a relatively easy way to double your useful battery life when travelling, and a handy alternative to keeping your phone tethered to a wall when it comes time to charge.
Good news if you're rocking an HTC One M8 in Canada. HTC's Mo Versi indicated on Twitter that the Eye Experience software, which was announced with the Desire Eye, would be makings its way to carrier branded editions of the device tomorrow. Users on Rogers, Telus and Bell will receive the update starting 9 AM PST.
Apple had launched a new tool to make it easier for iOS users to switch to a competing smartphone platform and not lose text messages. Previously, iPhone users who switched to a rival operating system would still have their numbers locked into Apple's iMessage servers, creating problems with text messages not showing up. Now, with the new tool, users can unregister their numbers from the iMessage system and text messages won't be lost should you switch to Android or another platform.
LG surprised Android enthusiasts today by announcing that it intends to begin updating the its flagship G3 to Android 5.0 Lollipop starting next week. The update will be available in Poland first, before rolling out to other territories. And hot on the heels of the announcement, a couple of leaked builds have begun doing the rounds online, giving us an early look at what to expect from Lollipop when it arrives — imminently — on the G3.
We have the pleasure of seeing a ridiculous number of new and interesting apps come across our devices each and every week. That's why we round up an app pick from each of the folks here at Android Central on the weekend, giving us an opportunity to highlight our favorites. This week we have yet another set of great apps covering a few different genres, so read along with us and see our picks.
With the launch of Lollipop, Google had created some of the biggest visual changes to Android yet. But there's more to the story than what meets the eyes, and Google executive Hiroshi Lockheimer talks about Lollipop and some of the behind the scenes things that went into Lollipop in his latest interview.
One complaint many a faithful Disney fan (or their DVD-buying parents) have had with buying Disney DVD combo packs is that the digital copies that came with those DVDs for a long, long time were iTunes-only. In February, Disney Movies Anywhere brought those digital copies out of your iTunes library and into their app ... which was an iOS exclusive. So, when you bought Frozen and your kids wanted to watch it in the car on the way to Grandma's, you still had to have an Apple device in order to appease their Elsa cravings.
Not that anyone's actually pushed Android 5.0 updates yet, but so what if the Nexus 5 isn't the first to get Lollipop?
So let me make sure I've got this right. It's pretty clear that all the major Android device manufacturers have been working with Android 5.0 Lollipop code for some time now, and they're all practically tripping over each other to be the first one to release updates.
LG has announced that its flagship G3 will start receiving an Android 5.0 Lollipop update this week, beginning with users in Poland. Naturally LG is staying clear of giving exact rollout dates for other regions, saying that "key markets" will get the update in "the near future." Of course that doesn't mean it's coming right away to G3 users around the world, but you have to think that if its ready to go for one model this week it's not far from hitting other devices, too.
We're going to try something a little different for our best apps and games of the week round-up this go-around. Instead of providing brief overviews of the top apps and games released in the Google Play Store over the course of the week, we're going to dive deep into the top three, and filling out the end with a short list of additional download links of you're hungry for more.
We figure if all you need is a description of what's available, the Google Play Store descriptions and trailers can handle that. Instead, we're going to focus on delivering expert opinions. After all, that's what you're here for, right?
Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by the Android Open Source Project
and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution License. AndroidCentral is an independent site
that is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.


text:
A new 15 inch Apple MacBook Pro is on the way. It will be thinner, faster, and include Apple’s Retina Display high-definition screen resolution. These details, according to Mark Gurman, the Senior Editor of 9to5Mack.com, come from ‘trusted sources’ in Apple’s supply chain. Gurman has broken Apple stories before, we have no reason to doubt him on this one.
Gurman writes that sources in Apple’s supply chain have indicated that the new Apple notebook is undergoing test production rounds and will launch during the summer. “It features an ultra-thin design, a ‘jaw-dropping’ Retina Display, and super-fast USB 3,” wrote Gurman.
Gurman also says that the new new 15-inch MacBook Pro will forego the CD/DVD drive in its goal to be super thin. It will keep the unibody aluminum case.
The big new feature will be the screen. Gurman quotes his sources as saying it’s “jaw-dropping” and “definitely the most important Mac innovation in years.” The resolution is said to be as sharp and colorful as that on Apple’s new iPad – but bigger. The iPad has a 9.7 inch screen, the new MacBook Pro’s screen will be 15.4 inches.
Gruman didn’t have any details from his sources on exactly when the new MacBook Pro might be launched. What a thing to leave out, eh? However, there are rumors circulating online that the notebook might be revealed at the World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), which begins June 11.


text:
As challenging economic conditions continue to plague US small businesses, it seems that, despite enormous challenges and roadblocks, small business owners continue to remain confident and optimistic. There remain more than a few hurdles but business owners and entrepreneurs continue to forge on and make the best of what comes at them. In a new small business index report, the US Chamber of Commerce and Metlife have taken the pulse of small business and have come up with some surprising results. The following is taken directly from that recent report:
- The Small Business Index is a premier tracker of U.S. small business sentiment and perspectives. The Index reports are released on a quarterly basis and are compiled from 750 unique interviews with small business owners and operators. It delivers a comprehensive quantitative snapshot of the small business sector.
- Despite a challenging economy, the current Small Business Index score reached a pandemic-era high of 66.8 this quarter. This is slightly higher than last quarter’s score of 64.1.
- Over the last five years, one key finding stands out: in a post-pandemic world with major labor shortages, small business owners report working longer hours than they used to. In fact, half (50%) of small business owners say they are working more hours now than they were a year ago. This question was first asked in the inaugural SBI (Q2 2017). Five years ago, 30% said they were working more hours. This equates to a very significant 20-percentage point increase in the share of small business owners that report working more hours.
- This quarter, small businesses say inflation is, by far, their top concern. Forty-four percent of the small businesses surveyed cite inflation as the biggest challenge facing small business owners, up from 33% last quarter. This is up significantly from 19% when the question was first asked in Q3 2021. Furthermore, nearly nine in ten (88%) are concerned about the impact of inflation on their business, with almost half (49%) indicating they are very concerned (up from 44% in Q1 2022 and 31% in Q4 2021)
- To keep up, many small businesses report raising the prices they charge customers. A strong majority (69%) of small businesses surveyed report raising the prices of their products or services due to inflation in the past year. This is consistent with the 67% that reported raising their prices due to inflation last quarter. Nearly half (46%) report having taken out a loan to cover higher costs due to inflation (up from 39% in Q1 2022).
- One striking thing about small business owners over the past five years has been their steady optimism that things will improve in the future no matter what challenges the present throws at them. And this quarter is no different.
- Looking ahead to next year, 43% of small businesses intend to increase their staff—an increase of six percentage points from last quarter. Meanwhile, 43% anticipate they will invest more over the next year, and 66% expect revenues to increase, both on par with Q1 2022.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer


text:
President Trump Set to Visit India, US-India Trade Deal in Limbo
- US President Donald Trump will be visiting India from February 24.
- It is unlikely that a comprehensive trade deal will be signed between US and India although industry leaders are hopeful for a bilateral short-term trade agreement.
- Discussions on a US-India trade deal started almost two years ago, and the countries have yet to reach any clear consensus.
US President Donald Trump’s visit India on February 24 was touted to unveil a trade deal between the two countries. However, it has become apparent in recent weeks that the deal is in all but a limbo after Trump told various media that he is saving “a very big trade deal with India for later”, and also expressed uncertainty about a deal being signed before the forthcoming US presidential election, taking place in November.
Meanwhile, India has been working on Trump’s concerns, and has said that it does not want to rush into a trade deal as these decisions have long-term economic impact.
Since a wide range of issues are expected to be discussed during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi – covering issues as diverse as trade, investment, energy security, military, science and technology, research and development, and H1B visas – an agreement on outstanding trade grievances needn’t be ruled out just yet.
The discussions for a US-India trade deal started almost two years ago, with both sides insistent on their respective demands. For instance, the US has demanded duty cuts on Harley-Davidson bikes and removal of tariffs on American products. Meanwhile, India has asked for the removal of higher duties on iron and steel and easier certification for Indian fruit exports, to name a few.
Experts, however, say that during Trump’s visit India might agree to buy additional oil and gas from the US in a bid to narrow trade deficit.
India termed ineligible for GSP benefits
Earlier in February, the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) office removed India from its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), that allowed zero tariffs on US$5.6 billion of exports to the US.
GSP is a subsidy under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) rule, allowing developing countries to boost their weak economies by getting preferential trade treatment.
Since India was classified as a developed country by the USTR’s office, it is now ineligible for benefits that are given to developing countries.
India, however, was in talks with the US ever since the idea of change in GSP rules was floated last year to ensure that it was allowed exemption under the system. India had also agreed to import US$6.5 billion worth of US goods in exchange of the GSP exemption, but the US appears to want more say in how India manages these imports.
With this latest development, chances of a trade deal during Trump’s visit has, put simply, plummeted. It also signals that trade talks between the two countries have been contentious. It will certainly take longer for both sides to work out a trade treaty that is mutually acceptable.
What is stopping the US and India from signing a trade deal?
Trade negotiations have slowed due to inter-ministerial considerations in India and Trump’s hawkish position on US trade interests.
India has already begun addressing US demands by agreeing to lower import duties on Harley-Davidson bikes and creating a separate tariff classification for them.
Apart from bilateral trade disputes, intellectual property rights has also been a bone of contention between the two countries. The US is concerned about the piracy of software, film, and music, among others, and has long urged India to strengthen protection for intellectual property. Days ahead of Trump’s visit, India’s cabinet approved a plan to sign an initial pact on intellectual property rights with the US. More details on the pact are awaited.
Another factor affecting bilateral trade negotiations is the US insistence on unconditional access to the Indian market for its dairy products. However, India requires a mandatory certification of dairy products – stating that the source animal is not raised on feed made of bovine extracts.
Since India wants dairy products that are derived from a cow that has been fed a vegetarian diet, based on religious and cultural grounds, it has been hard for the US dairy industry to sell their products in India.
The US also wants more market access to manufacturing products, medical devices, cuts on import duties on information and communication technology products, and reduction in trade deficit. Meanwhile, India demands market access for its products in agriculture, automobile, auto components, and engineering, as well as resuming the benefits that it claimed under the GSP system.
Industry expectations from US-India trade deal
India Inc. wants the US and India to be able to negotiate terms and sign a deal during Trump’s visit. Further, industry groups are hoping for higher investment commitments from US companies.
Another expectation that has been put forward by the US-India Strategic Policy Forum and US-India Business Council is the removal of foreign investment limits for US investors.
Currently, under India’s FDI policy, certain sectors permit 100 percent FDI while some others have still stipulated FDI limits. In certain instances, prior permission from the government is needed before investment and/or additional requirements need to be fulfilled by the foreign investor.
Meanwhile, Indian exporters are hoping that USTR office reverses its decision on the GSP labeling as so they can continue to export their products to the US tariff-free.
India Briefing is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists foreign investors throughout Asia from offices across the world, including in Delhi and Mumbai. Readers may write to email@example.com for business support in India.
- Previous Article Statutory Audit for Companies in India: Frequently Asked Questions
- Next Article Trump in New Delhi: What Goods and Services is India Buying from the US?


text:
U.S. consumer confidence fell in April over concerns about hiring and business conditions, even though many people foresee a strengthening economy in the months ahead.
According to an Associated Press report, the Conference Board said Tuesday (April 29) that its confidence index dropped to 82.3 from a March reading of 83.9. Despite the decline, consumer sentiment for the past two months has been at its strongest levels since January 2008, when the Great Recession was just beginning.
Concerns about the state of the economy fell for the first time since the federal government partially shut down in October.
Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said consumer sentiment tailed off in April because the pace of hiring, while strengthening, “is still slow, and the tougher environment is hurting American confidence.”
Even though consumers are a bit more downbeat about existing economic conditions, their outlook for future growth held steady, noted Conference Board economist Lynn Franco. The expectations component of the index rose to an eight-month high in April.
Consumer confidence is closely watched because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy.
For the full report click here.


text:
Hunter Hall appoints retail sales head
Financial services group Hunter Hall has appointed former AMP Capital staffer Barbara Glover as its head of retail sales and marketing.
Glover’s appointment was announced by Hunter Hall chief executive David Deverall. He noted that Glover had been head of account management at AMP Capital for 10 years and head of investment sales at AXA Australia.
Deverall said Glover would focus on service delivery to existing relationships as well as building new business in the four retail funds.


text:
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Supervalu Inc. delivered slightly lower earnings for the fourth-quarter Tuesday and said it expected higher costs of food and fuel to pressure consumer spending the rest of the year.
Shares of Supervalu SVU opened the session lower by 73 cents, or 2.1%, to $33.04.
Minneapolis-based Supervalu posted fourth-quarter net income of $92.9 million, or 65 cents a share vs. $95.6 million, or 67 cents a share, last year.
Sales fell 8% to $4.59 billion from $5.04 billion, partly because this year's period was a week shorter. Supervalu, which also operates the Shop 'n Save and Save-A-Lot stores, outpaced the average estimate of 63 cents a share reached by analysts reporting to Thomson First Call.
For the year, the company is looking at 2006 per-shares earnings of $2.30 to $2.45, including 5 cents to 7 cents for technology investments and other items.
The company also noted that it believes "consumers spending will continue to be pressured by higher fuel prices and modest food inflation," according to the earnings release.
Wall Street's forecast stands at $2.51 a share for 2006.


text:
Well-known Chinese news site NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) recently reported that the Chinese Nation Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC, also known as the State Internet Information Office) just published the draft Automobile Data Safety Administrative Regulations for public comments. The proposed regulations will ban cross-border transfer of any data collected through an automobile camera or other sensors. This new move is expected to cause damage to Tesla’s operation in China. Modern electric automobiles, like market leader Tesla’s, are usually equipped with various sensors like GPS receiver, camera, radar, sonar, and lidar. Typically, these sensors generate a large amount of data that will be uploaded to the manufacturer’s database servers. These data can be coupled with the owner’s personal information for storage. Though Elon Musk promised not to provide data to any government, yet Tesla is after all an American company. It is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government, which can turn the promise into an empty promise. China has banned Tesla in some government areas as well as some military areas. The new regulations require approval before data leaves China and consent from the owner. Also, even approved data needs to remove personally identifiable information such as human faces. An analyst expressed the belief that China is worried about national security if sensitive data falls into the hands of the U.S. government.
Source: NetEase, May 13, 2021


text:
By Phillip Oladunjoye / Snr Correspondent Lagos
The efforts at diversifying the economy through non oil export by the federal government may soon be realized in the Cocoa production segment of the agricultural sector.
This is hinged on the avowed commitment and the renewed decision of the federal government to intensify an expansion projects for cocoa processing and manufacturing.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the Federal Government would intensify the implementation of expansion projects for cocoa processing and manufacturing in order to claim a greater share of the annual $200b global market for finished goods made from Cocoa.
Aganga, who said this in Abuja at a summit on Cocoa Value Addition in Nigeria, was optimistic that with the repositioning, Nigeria would extract immense value out of the Cocoa industry.
The minister explained that the total global value of exporting raw cocoa is approximately $10 billion a year; while the total value from chocolates alone, all made from cocoa, is over $100 billion a year, and the total value of all finished goods made from cocoa is estimated to be as high as $200 billion a year, all drawing from the same $10 billion raw cocoa beans produced.
He lamented that while about 76 per cent of total cocoa produced is from Africa, less than five per cent of the wealth in the value chain is retained in the continent, adding that after many decades of dominating cocoa production, it is worrying that Nigeria still remains price takers, and captures so little value. “This is not right, and this is what we have set out to change,” he said, noting that with the expansion of cocoa processing and manufacturing capacity, Government was set to retain more of the value of the Cocoa industry in Nigeria, create jobs and wealth for citizens and generate income for government.
The minister noted that the partnership between his Ministry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Organised Private Sector (OPS) was a very good evidence of President Goodluck Jonathan’s unwavering commitment to pushing the frontiers of economic development and returning Nigeria to the heights of its glory in the cocoa industry.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, said his Ministry was working with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment on a ministerial memo on value chain that would unlock the cocoa sector.
He said the memo would be presented to the Federal Executive Council, adding that Government had provided 1.4 million pods of high breed cocoa to farmers, free of charge, within two years, which he said had increased cocoa output from 250,000 to 300,000.
The European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Michel Arrior, who was also at the summit, said Nigeria was the number one largest trading partner with Europe with total trade volume of $50 billion in 2013, noting that a good and well-functioning West Africa and Common External Tariff would be a welcome development and that the European Union has no trade offensive in Nigeria. “Consumer and finished products would be excluded from trading agreement with Nigeria,” he noted.
The Regional Director, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Dr. Patrick Kormawa, said despite growing efforts of many African governments and private sector to move their way up the value chain, they remained constrained by the lack of appropriate financing, technical and management deficiencies and limited market access opportunities. He urged the stakeholders’ forum to further examine and come up with plausible strategies to address the four key problems inhibiting increased value addition to cocoa in Nigeria.
Chairman, Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN), Dimeji Owofemi, reiterated the importance of the commodity board and the need to encourage youth in cocoa and local processing, among others.
Cocoa was arguably one of the major cash-crops relied upon as a foreign exchange earner by the country before oil was discovered in commercial quantity.
Based on the determination of the federal government to diversify the economy, industry watchers are of the opinion that cocoa production and processing should be considered as a major step to enhance job opportunities and economic development
Cocoa and groundnuts were Nigeria’s two major exports until petroleum surpassed both in 1965. Cocoa, cotton, groundnuts, oil palm products, and rubber were the principal export crops in the 1960s and early 1970s, but with export reorientation, only cocoa remained of any importance after 1975. Although Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of groundnuts in the early 1970s, groundnuts fell from the export list by the end of the 1970s as a result of the severe Sahel drought of 1972-74 and a viral disease in 1975. With assistance from the World Bank, the government restored cocoa production in the late 1970s and 1980s through replanting programs and producer price supports. The resulting increase in cocoa output (to 200,000 tons in 1988) kept Nigeria in third place among world cocoa producers, after Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Cocoa came to be one of the symbols of commerce and industry and a stamp of legacy and honour bequeathed to the Southwest Nigeria by the pantheon of Yoruba politics, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As the Premier of the Old Western Region, revenues from cocoa formed parts of the funds deployed for the many landmark projects – infrastructural developments and funding of free education, among other many regional investments executed in the region by Awolowo. One of the famous relics is the Cocoa House in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The edifice, attests not only to the region’s strong ties with cocoa farming but also represents one of the efficient avenues proceeds from the produce was well utilised and managed.
National President of the Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mr. Sayima Riman, said the major problem in the cocoa industry is finance and sustainability.
He said the association has been working on how to develop a synergy between cocoa farmers and the financial sector so as to develop a model in funding the growing aspect of cocoa, noting that other sector of cocoa may not have been problematic like the growing sector.
“If we can succeed in getting finance for the growing aspect, we would be able to compete in the competitive market of cocoa.
“The strength of the industry as of today lies in the growing of cocoa and a little funding here and there will go a long way to give the necessary impetus that would raise the standard and boost cocoa production in the country,” he said.
Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria (COPAN), the umbrella organisation of cocoa processors, had in a statement issued to highlight the challenges being faced by its members, urged Government to give advantage to value addition sub-sector for increased foreign exchange earnings and employment creation by removing incentives in form of Export Grant to all exporters of raw agricultural commodities like cocoa beans without processing to semi and finished products.
It added that government should impose substantial export tax on all raw commodities exported as is done in other cocoa-producing counties such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroun; instead of rewarding the raw commodities exporters, at the expense of additional employment that could have been created in Nigeria, through value addition.”
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said the Federal Government would soon create a N100b cocoa development fund, which will be used to finance the rehabilitation and expansions of cocoa plantations across the producing states nationwide; expand access of farmers to agricultural inputs and support the take off of the proposed Cocoa Corporation of Nigeria.
He said it has become imperative for the government to revive the cocoa industry as a strategic option of enabling the country to explore the increasing opportunities in the global market for national economic benefits.
The minister lamented the uncoordinated operations of the nation’s cocoa industry and its revenue loss implications for the country occasioned by the scrapping of the marketing boards several years ago, explaining that the planned development fund and the cocoa corporation would create the institutional platform for revitalising the sector and transforming its huge socioeconomic potential to real economic gains for the country.
Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said recently that the moribund Cocoa Product Industry in Ede would soon become operational.
The governor, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Community Forum, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, at a recent public sensitization programme in Ede on government policies and programmes, said his government had last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a company from China for the resuscitation of the industry, saying that the resuscitation process is now at final stage.
“The resuscitation process of CPI is almost at the final stage and what this means is that we are bringing the industry back to life fully. When it is back to life, it will boost the economy of Ede, its environ, and Osun State in general and it would create job for our youths. This development is a departure from the past, this commitment is for real,” he said.
The company, which was grossly undervalued at 156 million naira is now worth 544.5 million naira by the effort of independent valuers from both sides.
In the new arrangement the state government shall own 30% equity share while the 70% equity share of the Chinese company shall be one billion twenty-one million, five hundred thousand naira (N1,021,500.00) only.
Also the new arrangement provides that the board of directors of the company shall consist of five directors, two representing the interest of the state while the other shall be appointed by the Chinese firm.
The Ogun State government had also during the 3rd Roundtable Conference on Nigeria Cocoa Value Chain held in Abeokuta, called for Nigeria to “set forth an industrial skills training programme that is relevant to linkages between the cocoa processing industry and other sectors of the Nigerian economy.”
Speaking at the conference, the State’s Deputy Governor, Chief Segun Olusegun, said: “Cocoa processing should be part of priority in Nigeria’s industrial development agenda; Nigeria must have a published industrial policy of strategy for local value addition in terms of local content or local processing of cocoa. Cocoa export and processing companies must continue to embark on forward integration and invest heavily in plant and machinery to add value to indigenous commodities.”
Source : Independent