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- 1 How did China lose their jobs?
- 2 How many US jobs have been lost to China?
- 3 What are the impacts of currency manipulations on the US trade?
- 4 How does the US Treasury Dept determine if a country is manipulating its currency?
- 5 How many manufacturing jobs have been lost?
- 6 Do we have a trade deficit with China?
- 7 Why did American companies move to China?
- 8 What does China produce the most of?
- 9 When did outsourcing to China began?
- 10 Can a country manipulate exchange rates?
- 11 Why does a trade deficit weaken the currency?
- 12 Why would a country manipulate its currency?
- 13 When to know you are being manipulated?
- 14 Is the yuan undervalued?
- 15 What country is called the currency manipulator?
How did China lose their jobs?
U.S. jobs displaced by the growing goods trade deficit with China since 2001 (in thousands of jobs ) Trade deficits with China and the resulting jobs losses continued to grow during the first two years of the Trump administration—despite the administration’s heated rhetoric and imposition of tariffs.
How many US jobs have been lost to China?
The U.S. has lost 3.7 million jobs as its trade deficit with China has continued to grow, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Most of those losses came in the manufacturing and technology sectors. EPI officials said the Trump administration is right to go after China but hasn’t been tough enough.
What are the impacts of currency manipulations on the US trade?
There are three distinct adverse consequences for US interests from the currency manipulation that has resulted in a US trade deficit roughly $100 billion larger than it would be based on market-determined exchange rates alone: the short-term impact on jobs and output; the longer-term economic impact on US productivity
How does the US Treasury Dept determine if a country is manipulating its currency?
There are a number of criteria that the U.S. Treasury Department uses to officially determine whether a country is a currency manipulator, including its current-account surplus, its bilateral goods trade with the United States, the trade surplus with the United States and interventions in foreign-exchange markets.
How many manufacturing jobs have been lost?
Manufacturing Jobs Peaked In the 70s U.S. manufacturing peaked in the late 1970s, with nearly 20 million people in these jobs. However, between 1980 and 2017, the U.S. lost roughly 7.5 million manufacturing jobs.
Do we have a trade deficit with China?
The trade imbalance with China increased more than 22% to $36.9 billion. The deficit with Mexico rose 23.5% to $8.4 billion. The deficit has risen nearly 10% in 2021 alone and has exploded from the $47.2 billion level in March 2020, just as the U.S. was entering the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Why did American companies move to China?
One of the reasons companies manufacture their products in China is because of the abundance of lower-wage workers available in the country. China has been accused of artificially depressing the value of its currency in order to keep the price of its goods lower than those produced by U.S. competitors.
What does China produce the most of?
Agriculture in China
- China primarily produces rice, wheat, potatoes, tomato, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed, corn and soybeans.
- The development of farming over the course of China’s history has played a key role in supporting the growth of what is now the largest population in the world.
When did outsourcing to China began?
History. The outsourcing industry grew rapidly in the 2000s in China by beginning from an “embryonic” scale.
Can a country manipulate exchange rates?
Exchange rates can be manipulated by buying or selling currencies on the foreign exchange market. To raise the value of the pound the Bank of England buys pounds, and to lower the value, it sells pounds. The Bank of England can influence exchange rates through its Exchange Equalisation Account (EEA).
Why does a trade deficit weaken the currency?
For the trade deficit to turn into a surplus, imports must fall and exports must rise. One way this adjustment can take place is if the dollar depreciates, making imports more expensive for Americans and exports cheaper for foreigners.
Why would a country manipulate its currency?
Currency manipulation happens when one of our trading partners buys up U. S. assets such as treasury notes and bonds, which make the value of the dollar artificially high. By making the dollar more expensive, it makes our exports more expensive and makes the foreign countries ‘ products cheaper.
When to know you are being manipulated?
You feel fear, obligation and guilt “When you are being manipulated by someone you are being psychologically coerced into doing something you probably don’t really want to do,” she says. You might feel scared to do it, obligated to do it, or guilty about not doing it.
Is the yuan undervalued?
To be sure, modeling by the Institute of International Finance indicates the yuan is undervalued by 12.8%, according to its latest assessment published in March. The report also shows that the dollar has become increasingly overvalued.
What country is called the currency manipulator?
The Trump administration named China as a currency manipulator in 2019 during a standoff over tariffs.


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China’s Quantum Leap of IoT Superiority:
The Technology revolution is set to spur the global Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market, and simultaneous breakthrough innovations in the sensors market have transformed China’s economic transit outpacing the United States’ lead. The versatile utility of sensors in various industrial applications is a major consideration picked up by several leading OEMs. Rising digitization is progressively making scope for the sensors technology, consequently improvising the industrial and corporate working scenario, also complying with consumer requirement. The prioritizing of connected devices, intelligent technology convergence, and proliferation of miniature assets are propelling the Internet of Everything. China is the center of the world trade and industrial progress with a larger percentage of domestic consumers, which facilitates unprecedented national economic opportunity with the establishment and development of IIoT in this region. Additionally, China is constantly thriving towards the construction of prominent smart city projects, which will eventually require high performing automated sensors technology. Consequently, China sensors market acquired revenue of $781 million in the year 2018 and experienced a huge demand, which is estimated to grow at 7.17% CAGR through to 2025. With a higher population count, China has a superior hand in the global sensors market. The stronghold purchasing power of the population subsequently expedites the production procedure for the smart wearable and smart home appliances such as electronics collaborated with artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT technology. Significantly, China Sensors Market demand will elevate with the rising dependency on and investment in the IoT services to build a smart home and city in this region. Moreover, the International Telecommunication Union reflects that China’s smart home market will exceed a revenue of $436.34 million, and the wearable market will reach $87.27 billion by the year 2020. These statistics are indicative of the huge scope of opportunity for the China sensors market to prosper and expand its economic productivity in the forthcoming years. Also, recently, the Chinese electronics business giant, Xiaomi Corp., announced to invest around $1.5 billion on AI and smart devices in the next five years. Subsequently, this will emerge as imperative support to the sensors technology market in China to attain positive progress and high demand.
Rising Inclination Towards the Internet of Vehicle:
Furthermore, the sensors technology is overwhelmingly gaining prominence into the automotive sector aiding the zero-emission electric vehicles (EV) production across the world. Sensor fusion with the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is significantly boosting the smart connected car technology concept widely adopted in strengthening the modern transportation system. Among other nations, China is emerging as the leading manufacturer and distributor of electric vehicles pushed forth by the recent launch of a novel electric car with modern technology assistance. With a line of remarkable electric vehicles such as Geometry A by Geely, ET Preview by NIO, Concept 1 by Qiantu Motor, ME-S by Enovate, Vision I concept by SAIC, and many others have powered a sparking trend of technology dependency elevating China sensors market. These market pioneers also proffer a conduit of telematics and self-driving innovations through the installation of high-tech sensors, thereby escalating the connected vehicle advancement in this region. Also, the World Economic Forum highlights that China is acquiring huge dominancy in the electric vehicles market and experiences a 62% rise in EV sales in the year 2017. This incremented profit accounted for the transaction of 1.3 million plug-in electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. This is reflective of the huge demand of the EV in the domestic market, which marks as a strong catalytic factor in driving the China sensors market growth.
By 2020, the Internet of the Vehicle market in China is anticipated to acquire a profit of $290.89 billion.
-International Telecommunication Union
Furthermore, China’s auto industry is rampantly succeeding attributing to the humungous population residing and the proclivity towards spending culture in this country. With a multitude of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle manufacturing, China is largely relying on sensor technology -radar sensors, LiDAR sensors, ultrasonic sensors, tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS), and others- for encouraging risk-free, navigation tractable, and less accident-prone driving. Consequently, the automotive industry generates considerable demand-pull inflation over the China sensors market, which is projected to increase at a CAGR of 8.9% during the forecast period of 2019-2025.
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) account for nearly 75% of China’s total electric cars as of 2018.
-International Energy Agency
· Health Monitoring With Wireless Sensor Network:
Health monitoring is an essential part of modern medical advancement and adoption of patient-centric diagnosis and treatment. The wide application of pressure sensors and gas sensors in anesthesia delivery machines, ventilators, oxygen concentrators, respiratory monitoring, blood pressure monitoring, and others are likely to gather huge demand for the sensors technology in the modern medical sector. As medical science progresses, it extensively includes various technological assistances, the most common among this being the sensor systems to enhance medication and remote monitoring of patients. The advent of next-generation telemedicine has not only transformed the modern healthcare service, but has effectively escalated the demand for sensors technology to be assimilated in wearable, implantable, and others to assess motion activities, abnormal heart rate, body temperature, respiration, and so on. China leapfrogs towards the accomplishment of huge benefits for the sensors market owing to the development and advancement in its healthcare facilities and services. As home to one of the largest population, China increasingly takes initiatives for providing proper healthcare services to its citizens by embracing the trend of health gadgets, wearable, and smartphone technology convergence aligning with healthcare approaches. The recent instance of digital transformation in China’s healthcare system is marked by the availability of connected medical solutions in Jiangsu (China) through a partnership between AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Wuxi National Hi-Tech District (WND) and China Mobile. The main focus of the joint effort will remain establishment IoT for boosting healthcare facilities. Similarly, the collaboration of Shenzhen Lachesis Mhealth and EarlySense will boost augment the Chinese healthcare market through contactless respiration rate, heart rate, and motion monitoring and measuring. Concurrently, these smart approaches are likely to disrupt the wireless healthcare monitoring market, thereby procuring the mounting demand for the China sensors market in the future years.
· Minituarization And Nanosensors Technology:
With the advent of IoT and smart intelligence technology, the world is gradually accessing the capability of building micromachinery and microcontroller to cope up with the increasing inclination towards nanostructured devices and systems. The rise in 5G networking and internet accessibility has a dominant influence over the mobile market, simultaneously elevating the production of cell phones boosting digital progression throughout the world. With the ever-expanding mobile industry, the dependency on semiconductors also increases gradually. The miniaturization and nanosensors technology highly applicable to the manufacturing of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for developing semiconductors is a vital part of the mobile industry. Internet consumption and the digital revolution in China is constantly thriving the growth of smartphone usage whereby relying on sensors technologies such as accelerometer, magnetometer, touchscreen sensors, ambient light sensors, proximity sensors, camera sensors, and many more. Also, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, and various other smart devices also necessitate miniaturization and nanosensor chips for efficient performance. Considerably, the high demand for smart devices will drive the demand for nanosensors market in China in the forecasted years.
· Smart Safety Sensors And Environmental Monitoring:
Quantum sensing technology is transforming the modern world and its equipment in assessing, monitoring, and calculating impending environmental disturbances is a major wave of revolution in the modern world. Offering major areas of functionality such as air, water, and soil quality monitoring along with identifying volcanic eruptions, and other severities are possible through the adoption of advanced sensors technology in these areas of work. As per Our World in Data, air pollution caused the death of nearly 850,000 people in the year 2017. This comes as a major challenge in the development of a country like China, which is the huge gaining economy owing to the rapid industrialization in this region. With ambient air pollution sensors technology such as wireless sensors network, real-time sensor data, and others to detect contaminant level and associated danger analysis. Additionally, China is also rich in crop cultivation successively impressing the need for smart irrigation technique driven by atmospheric and soil temperature and moisture detection sensors. Resultantly, the deployment of this smart sensor enables automatic irrigation such as sprinklers and drop watering without human interference. Additionally, with smart multi-parameter sensor for remote water quality assessment is an essential need in this hugely populated country. Relying on ultrasonic water flow sensor, water purifier sensor, water conductivity sensors, and others for the domestic supply of water as well as industrial purposes will boost the China sensors market over the period.
Pioneering Companies And Their Contributions:
The major companies and their developments and innovations are positively pushing forth China sensors market. These key companies include Robert Bosch Co., Ltd., NXP Semiconductors N.V., STMicroelectronics Co., Ltd., Infineon Technologies Co. Ltd., TE Connectivity Ltd., Broadcom Limited, Texas Instruments Semiconductor Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Broadcom Limited, ams AG, Honeywell Inc., Siemens Ltd., and others.
Texas Instruments Semiconductor Technologies (Shanghai) is a leading semiconductor manufacturing, designing, and distributing company in China which also deals in a wide range of sensors such as temperature sensors, specialty sensors, digital temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and others.
Any other custom requirements can be discussed with our team, drop an e-mail to sale[email protected] to discuss more about our consulting services.
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Mr. Venkat Reddy
Email: [email protected]
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About IndustryARC: IndustryARC is a Research and Consulting Firm that publishes more than 500 reports annually, in various industries such as Agriculture, Automotive, Automation & Instrumentation, Chemicals and Materials, Energy and Power, Electronics, Food and Beverages, Information Technology, and Life sciences and Healthcare.

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CARNIVAL Corporation has reported a rise in its adjusted net income for the full year 2017, despite facing voyage disruptions due to hurricanes and increased cruise costs during the period.
The company announced a US GAAP net income for the full year 2017 of US$2.6b, compared to US$2.8b for the prior year.
“Our full year performance was led by over 4.5% growth in ticket prices while overcoming a variety of headwinds,” Carnival Corporation president and ceo Arnold Donald said.
Looking forward, cumulative advance bookings for full year 2018 are ahead of the prior year at higher prices and Carnival expects full year 2018 net revenue yields in constant currency to be up approx 2.5%.
The post Carnival income up appeared first on Travel Daily.


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At 10am on 27 October in California, which is 4am AEDT 28 October in Australia, Apple will launch a refresh of many Mac lines, something the company has taken its time to update.
Retina MacBook and MacBook Pro owners will be relieved to hear that Apple has finally agreed to come to the party and fix screens with substandard anti-glare layers.
Apple has finally brought more Retina display technology to the iMac, with new Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Force Touch to the Magic Trackpad 2.
Apple has ceased sales of brand new original iPad minis, the ones with A5 chips and non-Retina displays, so is iPod Touch 6th-gen coming soon?
Apple’s new 12-inch, super-thin, fanless Intel Core M powered MacBook is coming 10 April 2015, with Retina display and much more - even silver, space grey and gold colours.
Apple has a ‘special event’ planned for 9 March 2015 (10 March in OZ): Apple Watch expected to launch, new MacBook Air too?
Apple sources have leaked details of what the upcoming MacBook Air 12-inch redesign could look like, but is this Apple raising a trial balloon or pre-warning this is what’s coming no matter what?
Apple has finally announced its new lighter-than-ever iPad Air 2, a new iPad Mini 3, its new OS X Yosemite operating system, the long-awaited Retina-class 27-inch iMac and ever longer-awaited new upgrades to the beloved Mac Mini - but will they all bend and blend?
While the iPad Mini might boast an extremely sharp display and tiny form factor, online reports are suggesting the device may actually display fewer colours than its iPad Air sibling, and other tablets.
Apple has confirmed what experts have been saying for weeks - a big event is set to be held on 22 October.
It's less than a week until what should be the next Macbook unveiling, and rumours are starting to flood in about the new line-up.
Now in its third generation, Apple's iPad is the stunning standard bearer for modern personal tablet computing, with some great features that are definitely worth sharing - read on!
REVIEW: The new iPad is very, very good. Let's not beat around the bush. It's clearly easily arguably the very best tablet on planet Earth right now, and while co-opetitors like Samsung have excelled with highly competitive Android Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Series 7 Windows Slates, Apple's new iPad raises the bar again for consumers - and Apple's lead over the competition - presumably just as Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and the rest of the iCrew planned it.
The first and second-generation iPads were officially known simply as iPad while they were current, so it should be no real surprise that the new model introduced overnight with a 2048x1536 resolution screen is still called iPad and not iPad HD. But predictions of 4G support proved correct.
Yes indeed, unwelcome scam calls are on the rise!add trojan and phishing links in unsolicited SMS to that list :)Interesting,[…]
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Definitely vital to check that whatever USB-C multi-port / multifunction hub/adapter you get, if you are buying for Windows OS,[…]
Hi Bob,Yes, it looks like $89 is the best price. https://www.staticice.com.a...Not sure how to answer whether that price is expensive[…]


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Church briefs, November 23
Amen Corner winter sale
Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church’s Amen Corner is having its winter sale on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1 and 2. The sale will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
There will be a variety of items for sale plus baked goods and lunch will be offered. The entrance to The Amen Corner is on First Street at the church.


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The former LoBill Foods grocery store on Indianapolis Road in Greencastle did not sell at auction recently, but a company official is hopeful for a quick sale.
Marsh Supermarkets spokeswoman Connie Gardner declined to specify the number of bidders at the auction, or if anyone bid at all.
"Our expectations were not met," she said without expounding any further.
However, Gardner said Marsh is currently working with potential buyers of the building and hopes to reach an agreement soon.
"Hopefully that will happen in the very near future," she said.
The Greencastle LoBill Foods was among a long list of Indiana stores that Marsh announced it was closing due to financial restructuring in 2006.
The building has sat vacant since that time.


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Loose Women presenter joins Romford shopping centre to launch sensory experience for shoppers with Autism
Posted by Ellandi on 7th Oct 2018
Linda Robson visited Mercury Mall, Romford's shopping centre on Sunday, October 7, to help launch Autism Hour – a National Autistic Society campaign for shops to lower music, noise and lights for an hour every day, to provide a more agreeable shopping environment for people with Autism.
The centre already holds Sensory Tuesdays where all music is turned off, hand driers replaced with paper towels and stores requested to either turn their in-store music off or have it at a very low level. Linda has a personal connection to the cause, as her great nephew has Autism.
The ITV chat show host was joined by centre manager, Spencer Hawken, who said: “We like to think of Mercury Mall as being at the heart of the community and hope our Sensory Tuesdays and our support of the needs of people who suffer from Autism by hosting this Autism Hour goes some way to satisfying their needs. ” Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. More than 1 in 100 people are on the autism spectrum, including an estimated 700,000 people in the UK.


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With the increasing costs of resources and the decreasing value of the Lebanese currency, it is inevitable that we will see an increase in prices and a sharp decrease in wages.
The price of bread, however, has remained stable as it is currently valued at 1,500LL per bag, or 1,000LL if you live in Tripoli.
However, there is fear that the price of bread may also increase in price and so the Union of Bakery Owners announced that they are going on an open-ended strike on February 24th.
They are calling for the government to keep the subsidy on wheat so that the price of bread remains stable.
“There’s a great burden. We have to pay in dollars and in cash for the maintenance of our equipment, in addition to taxes for the public administration,” said Kazem Ibrahim, the head of the Union of Bakery Owners, to Ashraq Al-Awsat.
He also added that the problem is “related to the cost of all the ingredients of bread-making, in addition to the taxes that are paid fully in dollars.”
Bakeries buy their resources such as flour, wheat, and fuel using dollars and sell customers in Lebanese pounds. This can result in them losing money if they continue to sell bread at the current price.
Wages have also been declining as people are unable to receive their salaries in dollars and have to instead receive them in Lebanese pounds that are still exchanged at the banks using the official exchange rate.
Ever since October, the prices of items have increased dramatically. On February 21st, Lebanon’s Consumer Protection Association revealed that prices have risen by 45.6% between October 2019 and February 2020.
“The purchasing power of the Lebanese is falling rapidly. The monthly minimum wage fell from $450 to about $267,” they said, while also noting that 40% of Lebanese people live below the poverty line.


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The British company innov-8 have used graphene in their sports shoes in an industry first .
They will be arriving on the market in 2018. Graphene has been incorporated into the rubber outsoles, and tests show this has made them stronger, more stretchy and more resistant to wear.
The company hail from the same North England Lake District fells as graphite, the mineral that graphene is produced from, and currently trades in over 68 countries around the world.
“Product innovation is the number-one priority for our brand. It’s the only way we can compete against the major sports brands,” says inov-8 CEO Ian Bailey. “The pioneering collaboration between inov-8 and the University of Manchester puts us — and Britain — at the forefront of a graphene sports footwear revolution.”
Graphene was first isolated in 2004 at the University of Manchester. It is the thinnest material on Earth and being one atom thick, it’s the world’s first two-dimensional material. The material has been used in various pioneering projects, including sports cars, medical devices, aeroplanes; and now, footwear.
Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavan, Reader of Nanomaterials at the University of Manchester, explains further: “Despite being the thinnest material in the world, graphene is also the strongest, and is 200 times stronger than steel. It’s also extraordinarily flexible, and can be bent, twisted, folded and stretched without incurring any damage.”
This can be especially useful when considering the needs of running and fitness shoes. “Off-road runners and fitness athletes live at the sporting extreme and need the stickiest outsole grip possible to optimize [sic] their performance, be that when running on wet trails or working out in sweaty gyms,” says Michael Price, innov-8’s Product and Marketing Director. “For too long, they have had to compromise this need for grip with the knowledge that such rubber wears down quickly.
“Now, utilising the groundbreaking properties of graphene, there is no compromise. The new rubber we have developed with the National Graphene Institute at The University of Manchester allows us to smash the limits of grip.”
Dr Vijayaraghavan adds: “When added to the rubber used in innov-8’s G-Series shoes, graphene imparts all its properties, including its strength. Our unique formulation makes these outsoles 50 per cent stronger, 50 per cent more stretchy and 50 per cent more resistant to wear than the corresponding industry standard rubber without graphene.”
“And this is just the start, as the potential of graphene really is limitless,” CEO Ian Bailey goes on to say. “We are so excited to see where this journey will take us.”


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For Jim Bernau, it’s important for his business to be environmentally conscious. By operating a biodiesel fleet, his vehicles — and trackers — run on recycled cooking oil.
“It’s using a waste product again for a useful purpose,” says Bernau, owner of Willamette Valley Vineyards. “You are reducing your reliance on fossil fuel.”
Located in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Bernau farms on 500 acres and has three winery locations. For 25 years, Bernau ran a wine distribution operation with a fleet of vans and trucks. After selling the distribution company a few years ago, his fleet of Sprinter vans has been reduced from eight to four. Currently, the biodiesel-running Sprinters haul wine between the company’s three different tasting rooms.
Bernau even encourages his employees to switch their personal vehicles to biodiesel. Every month, he offers each employee up to 50 gallons of biodiesel for their daily commute.
“My employees are essentially part of the marketing program promoting biodiesel,” says Bernau. “They have the materials about the benefits of biodiesel and put a sticker on the back of their cars.”
Produced from renewable sources, biodiesel is a clean-burning alternative fuel that contains no petroleum. According to the National Biodiesel Board, it’s created through a refinery process called transesterification using a fat or oil.
Biodiesel is available in various percentage blends, from B10 (10% biodiesel and 90% diesel) to B20, B99 and B100 (100% biodiesel).
“Biodiesel is cleaner burning, cuts carbon significantly and is made in the U.S.,” says Jessica Robinson, director of communications at the National Biodiesel Board. “Fleets from coast to coast have turned to biodiesel as an affordable option to seamlessly convert a diesel fleet to a renewable, low carbon fuel.”
A benefit to biodiesel is the ability to switch fuels withou making any engine modifications. However, regular use is dependent on its availability in fleets' areas.
In 2004, Pacific Biodiesel opened a biodiesel production plant in Salem, only a few miles from Bernau’s vineyards. According to Bernau, the plant’s main source of biodiesel comes from the used cooking oil at Kettle Chips headquarters in Salem. Additionally, the biodiesel plant goes around to local restaurants to pick up used cooking oil.
“Our biodiesel is delivered by our local fuel distributor whenever we need it,” says Bernau.
Years ago when he didn’t have a local distributor, Bernau attempted to make his own biofuel in the barn, using cooking oil from the Kettle Chips plant. “It was messy and not very efficient.”
Favorable Fuel Prices
At SeQuential Biofuels station #1, a biofuel retail pump located near Bernau’s winery, biodiesel B99 currently costs $2.29 per gallon, biodiesel B20 costs $2.10 per gallon and regular diesel is priced at $2.19 per gallon. The price for biodiesel has dropped about 30 cents per gallon since October.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy's report on the average price of alternative fuels nationwide from Oct. 1, 2015 to Oct 15, 2015, biodiesel B20 was $2.42 per gallon, regular diesel was $2.33 per gallon and biodiesel B99-B100 was priced at $3.36 per gallon.
"The price of biodiesel varies depending on how fleets draft their RFPs and purchase the fuel," says Robinson. "Biodiesel is slightly more expensive than diesel to produce, but by the time it reaches the consumer, that cost difference is almost always offset by a $1 per gallon tax incentive and the price of a RIN credit (the renewable identification number used to track alternative fuel blended into the supply stream and required by the Renewable Fuel Standard)."
Originally posted on Business Fleet


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Farmers, environmentalists and consumer groups are pressing the government to honour its manifesto pledge not to undermine food standards with low-quality imports in a post-Brexit trade policy.
A coalition of organisations, led by the National Farmers Union, failed to secure amendments in the Commons to the agriculture bill last week to protect UK farmers and producers from lower-quality imports from countries like the US.
Imports that are of particular concern to UK farmers and producers include US poultry products, including chlorinated chicken, eggs and hormone-injected beef.
As the bill moves to the Lords for a second reading, the NFU and environmental and consumer groups say they want the government to ensure that any future trade policy ensures that goods imported under a free trade agreement are produced to as high or higher standards of animal welfare, environmental protection, food hygiene and plant health, as are currently applied under UK law.
To read the full article at the Guardian, click here


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PRZOOM - /newswire/ -
Mountain View, CA, United States, 2007/01/02 - Aruba plans to offer training to its thousands of end-customers and channel partners around the world by using SumTotal’s TotalLMS™ 7.2, which is enterprise software for delivering training and analyzing talent. NASDAQ: SUMT
SumTotal® Systems, the largest provider of talent and learning solutions, announced that Aruba Networks -- the Mobile Edge Company – will tap SumTotal’s TotalLMS to facilitate product and technology training for Aruba’s end-customers and partners. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Aruba provides products for building mobility solutions and wireless local area networks (WLANs) for enterprises.
Aruba plans to offer training to its thousands of end-customers and channel partners around the world by using SumTotal’s TotalLMS™ 7.2, which is enterprise software for delivering training and analyzing talent. With TotalLMS, Aruba’s end-customers and partners will be able to access online training on how to install, configure and manage the Sunnyvale-based company’s wares. TotalLMS can also be used to deliver product training prior to the launch of new releases. In addition, Aruba’s channel partners will be able to receive sales training.
“We believe TotalLMS will give our customers a way to purchase training ‘on the fly,’ so they can learn at any time how our products address issues like mobility, security and convergence,” said Chris Mullendore, knowledge manager for Aruba Networks. “With TotalLMS, we feel our end-customers and partners will be able to self-register, administer, manage and monitor their Aruba training. We feel they will also be able to gain access at anytime to information and tools that will help them learn more about Aruba’s products, as well as wireless technology in general.”
According to Mullendore, TotalLMS also offers Aruba a way to see when a customer has taken training and what products customers have learned about. As Aruba introduces new products and associated training offerings, the learning platform will identify relevant topics on which the customer has already been trained and purge duplicative training.
Aruba will also use SumTotal’s authoring tool, ToolBook™ to re-design much of its curriculum and move the Sunnyvale-based company to an e-learning environment. Aruba says it chose ToolBook because of “the product’s reputation as an industry leader for e-learning creation, as well as its tight integration with TotalLMS.”
“ToolBook and TotalLMS have a more advanced integration than other similar products,” opined Mullendore. “With content created in ToolBook and run on TotalLMS, an LMS administrator can provide an easier-to-use, yet more helpful interface than what people often find in a standard online course.”
“For example, when people use our LMS to launch online courses created with ToolBook, they can embed an ask-the-expert feature that automatically pops up to give the user help if she or he isn’t doing well in a course,” said Brad Crain, SumTotal’s vice president of ToolBook. “Aruba is the latest in a string of thousands of corporations that have seen the power of ToolBook for creating web-based training, simulations and interactive e-learning content.”


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The cost of shipping goods from Asia to the US has soared in the past month as American companies seek to restock depleted inventories ahead of the holiday season and prepare for the pandemic to worsen over the winter.
Container shipping lines had cancelled hundreds of sailings in the early months of the pandemic as countries around the world closed their borders and global trade slowed. But the reinstatement of services has yet to restore balance in a market responsible for about 90 per cent of global trade.
Long term rates to the US west coast jumped by 12.7 per cent over the weekend following a 37.2 per cent increase on October 1 — the biggest overnight jump since 2015, according to international shipping association Bimco. Prices now stand 63.4 per cent higher than on the same day in 2019.
Prices from Asia to the east coast, meanwhile, are 25 per cent higher than this time last year.


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The current generation of gaming consoles cost consumers $1 billion in power bills annually, $400 million of that in standby mode.
Nintendo's 3DS struggled upon introduction, prompting the Japanese console-maker to drop the price of the handheld in an effort to boost sales. Now the company is dropping the 3D aspect of the 3DS with a new device dubbed the 2DS.
It just now registered that everything I saw at EA's booth during E3 2013 had nothing to do with Nintendo's Wii U console, not even Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare.
There's speculation that the lack of innovation in the Wii U may force Nintendo into embracing mobile after all.
I imagine that there are many an angry parent out there who doesn't want to spend $26 on their child itching for everything on the official iOS Pokédex.
TV-focused Hulu Plus is now available on the Nintendo Wii console, complementing Netflix's focus on movies.
The Nintendo Network will provide access to DLC and retail games, claims Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
There probably won't be an actual appearance, but rather an outline of things to come for the next generation consoles in order to put a little fear into Nintendo.
Here's a good way to play your SNES and Genesis games on the PC without downloading ROMs from the internet.
Even though Nintendo reportedly doesn't see Apple as a threat, a developer claims that the Mario company is launching an ebook store for the Wii U in addition to an app store.
This new 7-inch tablet looks like the Wii U controller and sports Sony's PlayStation controller setup.
Nintendo is finding itself in financial trouble as the company has not an effective tool to halt the decline of its console shipment numbers.
Nintendo’s 3DS is groundbreaking in that it’s the first glasses-free 3D handheld console. However, it seems one of the company’s competitors isn’t even going to pretend to be impressed by Nintendo’s efforts in the console market.
While meny current 3DS owners are experiencing technical issues, retailers aren't seeing the expected number of units fly across retail counters.
The Nintendo 3DS launches in North America on March 27th. Is this new glasses-free 3D goodness worth your hard-earned $250?
Nintendo's warning about the 3DS and children six and under had very little basis in science, experts say.


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Analyst: the cheap iPhone will be a free 3GS
Analysts really want Apple to enter the low-price smartphone market. So much so, they can't stop talking about this rumored cheap model. The latest analyst to chime in on this topic is Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital. He predicts Apple will release a cheap iPhone model when the iPhone 5 debuts. It won't be a new model, though. Instead, he expects the iPhone 3GS to be offered for free. Apple will also drop the price on the iPhone 4 to US$99, says Abramsky.
Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore kicked off this rumor again when he proposed the idea of a mid-range iPhone 4S that will launch along with the iPhone 5. Toni Sacconaghi of Sanford Bernstein also called for Apple to release a lower priced iPhone, but did not mention an iPhone 4S. Keith Bachman of BMO threw a monkey wrench into everyone's predictions by dismissing the idea of a cheap iPhone and predicting a single, full-featured model - the iPhone 4S.
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The new index with Tesla in it begins trading on Monday, but all the trading action happens at the close on Friday.
The trading volume will be so heavy, some are concerned it could result in fireworks at the close.
S&P estimates that approximately 129.9 million shares of Tesla will need to be purchased to add to the S&P 500. At the current market price of $655, indexers would need to buy $85.2 billion in Tesla stock at the close on Friday. However, there are billions more that will need to be bought by "closet indexers" that do not officially pay S&P, but nonetheless track the index. No one knows how much these "closet indexers" will buy, but it could be 50%-100% above the "official" $85.2 billion estimate.
Even at the lower estimate, that means that more than $85 billion in the rest of the S&P 500 will need to be sold. This will be by far the largest rebalancing in the history of the S&P. The prior record of $50.8 billion was in September 2018.
"This will be one of the largest trading days in a long time," said Harry Whitton of market maker Old Mission, noting that the large dollar amount involved could make it the largest trading day in history.
The sheer size of Tesla will have a significant impact on the S&P 500, which is weighted by the free-float market capitalization of each company.
Here's how Tesla will change the S&P 500:
- Ranking: 7th largest
- Weighting: 1.52%
- 2021 P/E ratio: from a (pricey) 22.3 to a (even pricier) 22.6
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
Like all mega-cap stocks, it will not take much of a move in Tesla's price to move the S&P 500: For every $11.11 Tesla moves, the S&P 500 will move 1 point.
Index rebalancing has become important because so much money is now tied to these indexes through "passive" investing, which merely seeks to mimic the behavior of the indexes.
Rebalancings usually involve changes in the weighting of the companies listed in the indexes, but they can also involve additions or deletions to the indexes, which is the case with Tesla. Mutual funds, ETFs, and others that seek to mimic the behavior of the index must then buy or sell the stocks in proportion to their weightings in the indexes.
The addition of Tesla into the S&P would itself be an enormous trading event, but it is also happening when the S&P itself is rebalancing all of the existing constituents.
It's also occurring on what is known as a quadruple witching, the quarterly expiration of index futures and options, and individual stock futures and options.
"Two unprecedented phenomena will be converging," Steve Sosnick, chief options strategist at Interactive Brokers, wrote in a recent note. "The index has never added such an immensely large stock at the same time that options volumes and open interest are at record highs."
Sosnick is concerned that the combination of the Tesla addition, the quadruple witching, and the rebalancing in the rest of the S&P 500 could result in very high imbalances in demand for stock that could cause price dislocations. "There is a potential for massive market on close imbalances because this is the biggest stock entry ever. There is an awful lot of money that will be sloshing around at that time," he said.
"Because this is such an event, we could be in for a much more volatile market on close than people are used to, particularly with so many retail traders involved in stock options that could swing in or out of the money," Sosnick added.
Others are concerned that the sheer volume of trading could cause glitches, especially since most of it will be concentrated in the few minutes toward the close.
The Nasdaq, which is the exchange where Tesla is listed, recently put out a statement saying it was ready: "As Nasdaq and the securities industry prepare for the upcoming quadruple witching and S&P 500 rebalance, Nasdaq is highly confident that its systems will provide the reliability and capacity required to ensure a smooth, successful rebalance."
The addition of Tesla to the S&P highlights a major problem for passive investors: They often buy stocks at high prices, and in the case of Tesla, which is up 600% this year, at stupendously high prices.
Indexers often claim that the addition or deletion of stocks to indexes do not change prices. While prices do not usually change drastically between the price at 3:59 p.m. ET on the day of an addition or deletion and the 4 p.m. final price, prices can and do change significantly in the runup to index changes.
On Nov. 16, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Tesla would join the S&P 500 Index on Dec. 21. However, the stock had been running up for months. Some of this was likely due to Tesla's strong fundamentals, some due to retail traders infatuated with Tesla.
But much of the runup was also likely due to speculation Tesla would soon be added to the S&P, as Rob Arnott, Vitali Kalesnik and Lillian Wu from Research Affiliates noted in a recent report:
"From the beginning of 2020 to the announcement date, Tesla's share price rose 400% from $83.67 to $408.09. Most of that runup occurred after the media began speculating in March about Tesla's likely addition to the index. From the announcement date through December 7, Tesla's share price rose another 49% to $608.32."
"That decision to include Tesla in the S&P in Nov. 16 created $200 billion in worth for Tesla shareholders," Sosnick said.
Tesla's price rise is exceptional, but Arnott and his associates found that stocks do indeed rise going into the S&P and fall when coming out. In a 2018 study of stocks that had gone into and out of the S&P 500 from 1987 to 2017, Arnott found that the average mega-cap stock (ranking in the top 100 or higher by market capitalization) outperformed the S&P 500 by 127% in the 12 months prior to the close of the rebalancing day. The average deletion loses 31% over the same time span.
Not surprisingly, the pattern reverses after the addition and deletion: The added stocks tend to underperform, the deleted stocks tend to outperform. Arnott found that the average entry rises an additional 1% relative to the market on the day after joined the index, then loses about 2% relative to the market over the following year. The average deletion drops 1% more the day after its removal from the index, then beats the market by an average of 20% over the next year.
What does all this mean? "The S&P 500 is designed to buy high and sell low," Arnott concluded.
Tesla's size raises another point of concern: Typically, only two to three of the top 10 stocks ranked by global market-cap remain in that list 10 years later.
Arnott concluded that the weight of history is working against a similar massive rise in Tesla's stock in 2021: "Given all the classical signs of a bubble in Tesla's stock, and the evidence of 31 years of S&P additions and deletions, December 21-22 likely marks the beginning of a reversal in Tesla's share price."


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Move over, Hot Topic ( HOTT). There's a new bad boy on Wall Street. Investors would do better to heed the sentiments of Hot Topic's thinning customer base and steer clear of the retailer rather than bet on its turnaround plan. The company will soon log its second straight year of profit declines, and its disappointing 8.4% drop in February comps extended its streak without a positive same-store sales gain to 11 months in a row. It's nearing time to cue up the lyric once sung by fatalistic rock legend Jim Morrison, "This is the end." The mall-based specialty retail chain, which once held sway with countercultural teenage rockers, isn't likely to restore its mojo anytime soon. There's a new wave of momentum developing on Wall Street for a mall-based retail chain connecting with the coveted teen demographic. Investors directing their flow toward Zumiez ( ZUMZ) these days are the new "Riders on the Storm." While Hot Topic was reporting its latest sales drain, Zumiez was logging a 28% jump in February same-store sales, a key retail metric gauging sales at stores open at least a year. That came on top of a 10.8% comp-sales increase in the same month last year. The purveyor of clothing and gear for young extreme-sports enthusiasts will report its fourth-quarter earnings next week, and analysts have high hopes. "We regard Zumiez's robust February sales results as further evidence that the concept is one of the best-positioned and well-differentiated retailers in the teen space," wrote McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sara Hasan in a recent research report. With her buy rating on shares of Zumiez (her firm has an investment-banking relationship with the retailer), Hasan is one of the four out of five analysts covering the retailer who are bullish on the stock.
Since the initial public offering last May, Zumiez shares have soared 160%. The chain logged a 13.7% jump in same-store sales for the recently ended fiscal year on strong demand from surfers, skaters, snowboarders and BMX bikers. That kind of performance, with its support from the sell-side research community, gives it all the earmarks of a trendy, fashion-driven stock, which are notorious for big price swings based on momentum trading. Just as the shares get pumped up after a stretch of good results, any shift in the fashion winds can result in a wipeout. But a look at Zumiez's long history off Wall Street makes it difficult to write off the company as a shooting star. The retailer has been operating since 1978, and 26 of its 27 full years in existence have seen positive same-store sales. Its only negative sales year came in 2002, a recession period, and it has been profitable in every year of its existence. William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia notes that in the five years before it went public the company logged nearly a threefold increase in its store base, an average annual same-store sales gain of 10%, and a 36% increase in average annual store volumes to $1.2 million. Over the same time frame, its systemwide sales more than tripled and its operating profit grew nearly fourfold. Trading around $53.75, the company was recently valued at 45 times earnings estimates through 2007. That's a rich valuation even in the red-hot teen fashion space, where Abercrombie & Fitch ( ANF) and Pacific Sunwear of California ( PSUN) trade at 11 times estimates and American Eagle Outfitters ( AEOS) trades at 12 times estimates. But analysts argue that Zumiez's growth potential is such that it needs to be valued differently. Zackfia estimated in a research note that the extreme-sports market has exploded into a $12 billion industry, driven by a surge in interest after ESPN's first X Games in 1995 and the addition of snowboarding as an Olympic event in 1998.
The increasing popularity of snowboarding was apparent at the recent Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Relatively new events, like the half-pipe competition and the snowboard cross, drew some of the largest crowds of the games in person and on television. Zackfia, whose firm makes a market in shares of Zumiez and has an investment banking relationship with the company, estimates that the company "can expand its store base nearly fivefold to approximately 800 units, implying nearly a decade of growth at the current rate of expansion." Furthermore, she sees off-mall opportunities for Zumiez that could boost its ultimate store potential closer to 1,000 locations. If those expectations are even remotely realistic, then Zumiez looks to be nearing a sweet spot in terms of growth when compared with Wall Street's more mature specialty concepts. With only 174 stores, it's well behind Abercrombie, with 466 stores. Hot Topic boasts 661 stores, Aeropostale ( ARO) has 659, PacSun has 798 and American Eagle has 868. Zumiez opened 35 stores in 2005, and it plans to open 42 in 2006. If it can manage to keep its cachet with the youngsters intact while it grows to Wall Street's liking, today's rich valuation could be tomorrow's bargain. The company sells both hard goods, like skateboards and helmets, and soft goods, like sneakers and apparel, which could give its brand more sticking power than its fashion peers have. Of course, contrarians may want to look to Zumiez's only dissenter on Wall Street, Ivan Feinseth, director of research at Matrix USA. Feinseth, who works for an independent firm with no investment banking business, holds a sell rating on the stock on the basis that it's overvalued. "They've had a good performance, but it's fading, and all the growth expectations in the world are already more than priced in here," Feinseth says.
He avoids traditional accounting measures of performance when evaluating a stock. He bases his analysis on a methodology called EVA, or "economic value added," which looks at a company's return on capital minus its cost of capital. Feinseth rates stocks using a screening system that combines various operating performance, risk and valuation factors. By his calculations, Zumiez averages a 10.2% return on capital and an 8.3% cost of capital. That indicates a decent performance, but he notes that its return on capital posted a steep decline in 2005 from 13%. "Sales have increased, but capital investment has also increased and there's evidence that their ability to generate economic value for shareholders is deteriorating as they grow," Feinseth says. "At this valuation, the stock could eventually collapse if the economic profits do not improve." If Zumiez's valuation has run out of whack, it may take a glitch in its sales numbers to provoke a selloff and force investors to take a more sober look at the stock. If, like Hot Topic, Zumiez should lose its alternative edge with its core customers in its pursuit of mainstream growth metrics, shareholders could find themselves singing "Roadhouse Blues." By then, a new bad boy will undoubtedly be coming on the scene through Wall Street's revolving doors of perception.


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Life is messy and now, Delta Faucet Company is encouraging consumers to live each day to its messiest through the multi-platform "HappiMess" campaign.
"Somewhere along the way, mess got a bad reputation. But that's not really fair. Mess is the evidence of a life well lived and means we're out there making, creating, doing and playing," said Catherine Roper, Delta brand marketing director, "With our new campaign, we want to help consumers embrace 'HappiMess' with confidence, knowing our kitchen and bath innovations will be there to help with the cleanup."
The HappiMess campaign is extensive. Creative agency of record Leo Burnett Chicago created the campaign's 30-second TV spots. Content agency of record McMURRY/TMG created the HappiMess social hub and #HappiMess sweepstakes on Facebook. And Spark is handling media strategy and investment.
"This was a departure in that all agencies worked together from the beginning," says Bonnie Dombrowski, Media Supervisor, Spark. "From day one, we all were working on integrating all of the campaign's elements."
This concept represents a shift for Delta. "We traditionally have advertised around technology and now we are focusing on the human aspect," says Steve Carlson, Media Director, Spark.
The campaign message illustrates that messy moments require a good faucet, whether it is for backyard gardening or family meal clean-ups.
All elements of the campaign are designed to engage consumers. Consumers will have the opportunity to share their own messy moments through a Delta #HappiMess social media sweepstakes, starting today. The user generated content will be aggregated and showcased at DeltaFaucet.com/Happimess.
To help encourage this consumer interaction, Delta Faucet is partnering with several online content providers. The brand becomes the first and only brand in the plumbing and fixtures category to partner with Buzzfeed. "We want to be seen as leaders in the DIY and home improvement space," says Dombrowski, explaining that the site attracts a high number of readers interested in home and design. Launching in September, Buzzfeed will create eight custom posts around HappiMess content that will serve as a call-to-action, driving to the HappiMess Sweepstakes. They will be distributed across Buzzfeed and their affiliated partners.
At the same time, Delta Faucet is teaming up for the second year with Mode (formerly Glam), which utilizes its bloggers and influencers. Delta will engage a network of influencers for a three-part HappiMess content series across their influencer network. The partnership will initially host a launch event exclusive for a select group of bloggers. This event will be filmed, and the footage will be turned into a digital video that then will be distributed across online websites.
More broadly, Mode's influencers will post content introducing readers to the HappiMess campaign and
encouraging them to share their own HappiMess moments with Delta. All thirty participating bloggers will host an In-Home HappiMess Party and will each receive a Delta Touch2O Technology faucet to aid
in the cleanup. Bloggers will recap the party in their second post. The campaign will culminate in a third post that drives readers to a Mode Sweepstakes where readers will share their own HappiMess
moments for the chance to win a Delta Temp2O Technology showerhead.
Integrated cross-platform partnerships with several publishers are designed to ensure the campaign lives across print, digital and mobile.
Delta and Southern Living's partnership includes an advertorial in which readers receive monthly cooking tips, and starting in September, they will be able to scan a digimarc in the advertorial to unlock recipes. Southern Living's website features a custom co-branded unit that displays the tips and additional video content from the Test Kitchen. Lastly, Delta Faucet and Southern Living serve as sponsors for the annual Taste of Charleston festival in September. The Southern Living Test Kitchen will conduct a live demonstration of one of Delta's messy recipes on their main stage with the help of Delta's Touch2O Technology.
Delta Faucet will also run an advertorial in Real Simple magazine that encourages Real Simple readers to participate in the HappiMess sweepstakes. In addition to a print advertorial that features a homemade ravioli recipe, the program includes a how-to video featuring Real Simple blogger Pippa Lord creating the dish and more to make a complete meal, which readers can unlock using a digimarc. An accompanying digital and social plan drives to the campaign landing page on Delta's website that houses the complete blogger video and recipe.
Delta is partnering with Outside magazine and its “Best Towns in America” series for the "Find Your HappiMess" advertorial that shares the best messy activities in the top best towns.
To extend the content to the digital space, MCMURRY/TMG worked with Outside editors on a content piece for Delta's “Inspired Living” content hub - "7 Bath Essentials for Active People" that will also be featured on Delta's website.
Lastly, Delta's partnership with HGTV includes an advertorial that features how-to instructions for readers to create their own in-kitchen herb garden. The advertorial runs in its print magazine as well as across HGTV's and Delta's social channels.
As part of the media buy, traditional ads will air across network and cable TV, including late night and primetime cable programming on AMC and FX.
This multi-faceted initiative is critical in reaching today's consumers, says Carlson. "We wanted to extend the campaign to more places and more experiences. It makes a stronger connection and brings the brand to life rather than just seeing an ad."
Delta's parent company Masco declines to break ad spend by brand, but the company, which also owns Behr and Liberty Hardware, spent $17 million in 2013 and projects 2014 ad spend to be around $10 million, according to company financial filings.


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LOS ANGELES — Newcomer Tiffany Starr has landed the cover of "T-Girls Hotties 8" released by Exquisite and directed by Jon Sable.
Starr has been working on her official website TiffanyStarrXXX.com shooting exclusive content and staying active on all her social networks.
Members of her site will be able to see her live on Members Cam Thursday March 15 at 8 p.m. EST.
The DVD features her dressed in red lingerie, fishnets and gloves as she teases the camera in solo action.
The rest of the DVD offers hardcore action with fellow performers Claudia, Barbie, Cynthia and Sabrina.
"Shooting with Jon was a great experience from the wardrobe being supplied to the amazing Vegas suite, I know my fans who love seeing me alone and enjoying myself will love this DVD," Starr said.


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The UK is bucking a near-universal global decline by boasting the best confidence in its local economies - even more so than economic powerhouse Germany.
Reported by 4-traders.com, research from Sage Group found that UK business owners' confidence in their local market grew from 44.91 in March 2012 to 45.44. This marks a complete contrast from the global level of confidence which fell from 47.26 to 42.47 in the same period.
In addition, the 1,530 UK respondents were also some of the most optimistic about their individual business' prospects over the next six months (58.46) - the highest level since the Business Index began in 2011, reports freshbusinessthinking.com.
Overall, it seems that UK firms are prospering in austerity, especially as 81 per cent of those surveyed believe they have successfully adapted to the current economic climate.
Brendan Flattery, CEO of Sage UK and Ireland, commented on the figures: "While it remains an incredibly challenging environment for businesses around the globe, the fact that UK business confidence levels have overtaken those in Europe's largest economy is a significant milestone.
"It remains to be seen whether the UK is technically out of recession, but with over two thirds of respondents reporting solid revenue performance ahead of what is the most profitable time of year for many, the signs are encouraging," he added.


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A grid, sequencing, standalone operation – Polyend’s new Play, previewed at Superbooth, now looks like a familiar concept. But what makes Play look worth considering is right there in the name: fun and immediacy are the focus.Read more
They’re smaller and cheaper than the Boutique series and first-gen AIRA, they’re battery-powered, and they pack a surprising amount of functionality and hands-on control. Roland has a new compact platform for the AIRA, and they look cute and fun.
The next big idea from Teenage Engineering is a minuscule multifunction mixer-audio interface. It’s beautiful and – maybe unusably small. Those Teenagers never shy away from controversy.
brings together the latest breaking news on music, technology, gear, and live visuals. Got a project, found a news tip, or want to share your product? Submit to us directly.


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09:54 | 22/09/2016 Industry
Hanoi’s Thuong Tin district should focus on investing in the handicrafts industry and developing local craft products based on existing traditional craft villages.
Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi City Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai at the working session with the Thuong Tin district’s authorities on September 13
Politburo member and Secretary of the Hanoi City Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai made the recommendation at a working session with the district’s authorities on September 13.
To date, the province has a total of 126 craft villages, ten industrial and handicraft clusters, 900 enterprises, and tens of thousands of households producing handicraft products. Over the past eight months, the district’s total industrial and handicraft production value was estimated at VND5.7 trillion, reaching 65.9% of this year’s plan, up 7.5% compared to the same period of last year. However, the district’s infrastructure system currently remains inadequate. The transport system, water supply and environmental sanitation do not meet the requirements of local people.
Speaking at the event, the Secretary hailed the socio-economic performance of the district over the past eight months, particularly in collecting revenues and producing high-quality craft products. Ten of the district’s twenty communes have met the criteria for becoming new-style rural areas.
Secretary Hai also emphasised the need to put forth preferential policies to encourage and attract more investment in the handicrafts industry, coupled with assisting local people in applying technology to developing local craft products. The district should promote its craft products’ brand and develop traditional craft village tourism, he said.
He also emphasised that more attention should also be paid to upgrading infrastructure in the district./.


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By Neli Ivanova, head of sales, asset finance at Siemens Financial Services in the UK
Over the past two years the world has had to adapt to a new way of living. The pandemic has changed the way we approach nearly everything in our daily lives, and the effects on the global economy have been far reaching and unpredictable.
For manufacturers, disruptions to supply chains and factory throughputs have forced a rethink in the way they do business, with many now turning with renewed interest to 5G enabled, smart factory initiatives to enhance productivity and provide much needed agility as the sector enters a period of recovery.
Smart factories are on course to become the factories of the future, and interest in Industry 4.0 initiatives has increased dramatically as manufacturers search for emerging technologies that can play a central role in their post-pandemic recovery. According to a recent survey, 52% of businesses say that the pandemic has increased their organisation’s interest in 5G and IoT. Likewise 73% of manufacturers are planning to increase their investment in the new technology in the coming years.
In the UK the infrastructure required for 5G is already available in 104 major towns and cities via at least one mobile operator, and coverage is expected to rapidly improve. Industrial use cases also reflect the growing emergence of the network, for instance, one international automotive manufacturer has recently worked on a project with a multinational telecommunications company to implement a private mobile network at their facility in the East of England.
Along with the build-up of infrastructure, the UK Government has also taken steps to foster the technology’s usage, with its Industrial 5G Testbed and Trials programme (funded by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) offering manufacturers the opportunity to trial use cases and map out a route for large scale adoption.
Rapid speeds and no latency
Of course, the modern factory is already a highly complex and digitalised environment, with advanced machines and robotics present in nearly every aspect of the manufacturing process. What 5G adds is significantly greater speeds, 10 to 20 faster than its predecessors 4G and LTE (Long-Term Evolution), and near-zero latency, making the process of digitalisation much faster and more reliable.
When compared with the new generation of Wi-Fi, ‘Wi-Fi 6’, 5G is much better suited to large scale deployment across wide areas – like a factory floor for example. Thanks to its higher bandwidth and massive machine-type communication, a higher density of low-powered devices requiring little to no human intervention can be deployed on the network, like a fleet of warehouse robots for example. It also offers superior reliability and end-to-end security, as well as being more cost efficient per square foot than Wi-Fi, where the total cost is on average 22% higher.
The technology consequently has the capacity to accelerate Industry 4.0 initiatives, bringing the benefits of cost-efficiency and increased productivity, as well as the flexibility needed by manufacturers to face shifting demand and labour shortages with agile production processes, a necessity highlighted by the pandemic. In fact, research conducted among global manufacturing companies suggests that those who had already taken steps to integrate Industry 4.0 use cases into their infrastructure, found themselves much more able to withstand the challenges of the pandemic.
Specifically, 94% of respondents said that Industry 4.0 had helped them to keep their operations running during the pandemic, while more than half emphasised how new technology played a critical part in their crisis response.
This is unsurprising given that the shutdown of manufacturing sites and the disruption in raw material supply can be intelligently prepared for by building a digital twin of an enterprise’s supply chain. These can then be used to run predictive scenarios during the pandemic, while new manufacturing lines can be commissioned using augmented reality-based remote assistance.
Other benefits include easy integration with existing factory infrastructure, enabling the remote control of factory processes and the liberation of staff from fixed computer terminals. This subsequently leads to a considerably safer manufacturing environment due to fewer personnel being needed on the floor coupled with smart sensors able to quickly detect hazards with a near-instantaneous response time.
Part of the plan
Preventative maintenance is another key feature made possible from improved sensory technology and faster speeds. Consider the experience of a manufacturer without a 5G-enabled factory, who might endure a complicated production process with an error rate of up to 25%. Through smart factory initiatives, sensors capable of detecting potential faults in real-time would be installed, connected by a 5G network, which would be able to significantly reduce the error rate, cost, and wastage in production.
5G is just one aspect of Industry 4.0 that promises to play a key role in the creation of the factories of the future. In order to reap the full benefits of the ‘smart’ revolution manufacturers must recognise digitalisation and automation as integral parts of their plans for investment.
With the operational and financial efficiencies generated by these technologies integrated into a business model, manufacturers who embrace them can obtain a significant competitive advantage over those who don’t. In fact, despite the pandemic causing a fall in growth trajectories of overall global economic output – sales enabled by 5G are predicted to reach $13.1T by 2035. It is clear from these estimations that late adopters of this new technology will miss out on the many potential organisation and financial gains, yet the window of opportunity to invest and gain a competitive advantage is limited.
For smaller companies who must utilise every possible advantage they can get, 5G integration and digitalisation should be the first thought when planning long and short term strategies. If a lack of technical or practical knowledge is a barrier to investment then these companies can take advantage of government backed schemes that aim to provide a pathway to adoption, including the previously mentioned government Testbed and Trials programme.
Smart industry requires smart finance
Nonetheless some manufacturers may still be put off by the cost of implementation, which will depend on the size of the factory and the extent to which 5G and Industry 4.0 initiatives can be integrated into the existing infrastructure. It is a complex task and one that is not necessarily fully understood by generalist financiers. It is not surprising therefore that a lack of funding is considered by manufacturers to be the biggest constraint to the implementation of Industry 4.0 initiatives, and the selection of the right finance partner must be an essential part of any strategy regarding the implementation of 5G and Industry 4.0 initiatives. This problem, and its solution can be summed up very simply: smart industry requires smart finance.
Smart financing solutions tend to be offered by specialist financiers who understand the technology, its applications, and the role it occupies in the existing market. Using this expertise, they are able to create financing models based around achievable goals and realistic business outcomes for the manufacturer, affording a much greater ability to adapt rapidly to the challenges of the market.
Smart financing techniques help to manage a manufacturer’s cash flow by reducing the amount of working capital needed for up-front investment, and by offering repayment schemes aligned to the expected rate of return-on-investment delivered through new technologies and equipment, or to the expected cost saved due to the increased efficiency.
Increased productivity, cost efficiency, agility, and reduced emissions: these are just some of the benefits that await manufacturers who successfully take advantage of 5G as part of a digitalised factory and get in ahead of the smart factory revolution.
While the cost of financing such an upgrade may at first appear daunting, smart finance offers a route to investment that doesn’t require the use of precious capital. This presents manufacturers with the opportunity to take meaningful steps in realising the factories of the future, without delay.
Siemens Financial Services


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December 20, 2004
De Beers to Scale Back Diamond Purchases from Alrosa
Alrosa, the Russian state-owned diamond company, and the De Beers Group agreed they will phase down the amount of rough diamonds De Beers purchases from Alrosa over a period of 6 years, the two companies announced Dec. 20. In 2005, De Beers will purchase $700 million in rough diamonds; in 2006, $625 million; in 2007, $550 million; in 2008, $475 million; in 2009, $400 million; and in 2010 and each year therafter, $275 million.
The two companies notified the European Commission of their altered commitments, which were spurred by an EC investigation concerning the two companies' proposed agreement of 2002, in which De Beers announced it would purchase annually the equivalent of $800 million in rough diamonds for a period of five years. The EC objected to the agreement, saying it appreciably restricted competition on the rough diamonds market by eliminating competition from Alrosa. EC also felt the agreement constituted what it called "an abuse of De Beers' monopoly power."
"We believe that these [new] proposals address the concerns that the Commission identified on the agreement and look forward to having these formally accepted early in 2005. In the meantime, De Beers and ALROSA continue to trade on a willing buyer, willing seller basis," said the companies in a written statement.
Alrosa's and De Beers' commitments will soon be available on the EC's competition website. The commitments will subsequently be published in the EU Official Journal so that interested parties can give their views to EC within one month from the date of publication.


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Counterfeits are a painful thorn in the side of luxury fashion brands but they can be even more of a headache for digital re-sellers.
Consumers on the hunt for high-end clothing at a cheap price often seek out well-preserved second-hand pieces online but hunting for legitimate goods in the global $460 billion counterfeit industry — according to OECD data — is no easy task.
Given the ubiquity of fakes among re-sellers, buyers often examine pre-owned fashion to deduce authenticity, often analyzing the stitching, font size and interior labels. But sometimes, a copy is just so well-madethat the human eye can't tell it from the original.
That's where technology can help.
Entrupy is a portable scanning device that instantly detects imitation designer bags by taking microscopic pictures that take into account details of the material, processing, workmanship, serial number, and wear/tear. It then employs the technique of deep learning to compare the images against a vast database that includes top luxury brands and if the bag is deemed authentic, users immediately get a Certificate of Authenticity.
After launching as a paid service in September 2016, the New York-based venture now has over 130 paid customers, almost all of whom are American businesses drawn to the 97.1 percent accuracy rate, explained Entrupy CEO Vidyuth Srinivasan.
Other investors include New York University, deep learning pioneer Yann LeCun, and Japanese venture capital firm Accord Ventures.
"We're choosing to start with second-hand re-sellers initially as we see a huge lack of trust in the luxury goods space, especially online," Srinivasan told CNBC.
In 2015, Singapore-based e-tailer The Fifth Collection, which specializes in secondhand luxury fashion, became one of Entrupy's early investors.
At the time, founders Nejla Matam-Finn and Michael Finn were self-funding The Fifth Collection and hadn't even paid themselves a salary but they called the Entrupy investment a no-brainer.
"Authentication is core to our business and we have always strived to be at the cutting-edge of the field," the husband and wife duo explained. "This (Entrupy) was consistent with that vision and we felt it was worth the risk both for us and for the betterment of the second-hand luxury ecosystem."
The sole player in Asia to possess Entrupy, three-year old The Fifth Collection says it has always guaranteed product authenticity thanks to an in-house curation process so it wouldn't be fair to charge customers for the verification service.
"This technology adds a new scientific dimension to our authentication arsenal but the fundamental promise remains unchanged – why would we charge more for continuing to do exactly what we said we would do?"
Instead of an immediate return, The Fifth Collection gains an opportunity to become a leader within a new generation of luxury re-sellers committed to combat piracy, explained Matam-Finn and Finn.
Entrupy isn't the sole authentication technology on the market but its simplicity and ability to learn from every scanned item was a major draw for The Fifth Collection.
But what happens if Entrupy falls into the hands of a counterfeiter?
"We have mapped significant parts of how, where and when authentic goods were made (so) for fakers to beat the system, they need to use the exact same specs as the authentic goods made in the last 100 years," said Srinivasan. "I wouldn't completely rule it out, but it is incredibly hard."
Still, technology can only do so much in the global fight against replicas.
State support and consumer awareness about unethical manufacturing practices are key, according to Matam-Finn.
"Government need to take a zero tolerance approach to counterfeiting in general, especially in places like Singapore that trade on their reputation for transparency, trust and strong rule of law."
The island-nation regularly conduct raids and arrests individuals found selling or distributing goods with falsely applied trademarks but despite the threat of police action, fake goods remain pervasive in various retail areas.
All forms of intellectual property theft should be crushed in an effort to brand Singapore as the first counterfeit-free country, said Matam-Finn.


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Indian auto giant Maruti Suzuki will be launching the YBA compact SUV by the end of this year and it will compete largely with the Ford EcoSport.
Maruti Suzuki will be launching its new compact SUV, the YBA by the end of 2015 according to company reports. The YBA is based on the XA-Alpha concept that was displayed way back at the 2012 Auto Expo and the vehicle will most likely be called the Vitara Brezza. The YBA was going to be powered by a new 1.5-litre diesel engine developed in-house by Maruti but the engine’s launch has been delayed by two years and hence the automaker will be plonking the 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel engine in the Vitara Brezza.
The Vitara Brezza has a boxy silhouette but the company’s designers have added sporty elements to make sure that the SUV doesn’t look bland. The vehicle is unlikely to get a petrol engine and it will be offered with only one engine. However, there is a slight possibility of Maruti offering the 1.6-litre MultiJet engine as an option on the higher variants but nothing can be confirmed right now. The Maruti Vitara Brezza might be made available at the company’s NEXA dealerships only, giving company to the S-Cross and the much-awaited Baleno (YRA) premium hatchback.
The compact SUV segment has seen a flurry of new products over the past two years and manufacturers are introducing more and more vehicles in the coming years. Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti, Volkswagen, etc. all of them will be launching their products in this segment to make the most out of the rising demand for compact SUVs. The Maruti Vitara Brezza will be priced between Rs. 6.5-9.5 lakhs approximately and it is likely to give a tough time to the Ford EcoSport, Renault Duster and Hyundai Creta.


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This has been Bottega Veneta’s year, while Alexander McQueen’s sneakers have enjoyed surging popularity, the former Meghan Markle has been the top influencer and sustainability has been the hottest topic.
Instead of leading in fashion education, Paris has historically dawdled behind its greatest rivals. Though that seems very likely to change, and quickly, thanks to a major new project launched in Paris with the IFM.
The new Lyst Index for Q3 shows that Daniel Lee’s appointment at Bottega Veneta was an inspired move for Kering with the label entering the hottest brands list for the first time, climbing 21 places in the ranking.
Located at 225 West 57th Street at the base of Central Park Tower, the mega 320,000 square-foot store offers seven levels of retail space and will play host to a series of exclusive releases and collaborations.
The British Fashion Council has released the shortlist for this year’s Fashion Awards, with Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Loewe leading the way with four nominations each. Winners will be announced on 2 December.
French fashion influencer-turned-designer Jeanne Damas has launched two establishments in one, the first boutique for her womenswear brand Rouje and a restaurant, both on Rue Bachaumont in Paris’ 2nd arrondissement.
Running 23 September to 1 October, the nine-day calendar announced for Paris Fashion Week on Friday promises new creative directors, big name brands and fresh talent, with highlights including Patou's relaunch by LVMH.
LVMH has created a special new prize for young designers named after Karl Lagerfeld, whose own career was ignited by winning an award. The LVMH Prize's Special Prize will now be known as the Karl Lagerfeld Prize.


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NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report
Saying it wants to focus on its core gas business, PhiladelphiaGas Works (PGW) has abandoned its entry into electricity marketingand several other retail marketing ventures and will reduce thesize of its marketing staff. PGW is the nation’s largestmunicipally owned utility.
“PGW can now focus on its primary business of providing safe anddependable natural gas service to our more than 500,000 customers,”said interim CEO Ben Hayllar.
Spokesman Peter Yaffe said PGW has suffered from severalwarmer-than-normal winters and needs to focus on its core gasbusiness. “Our marketing department just wasn’t bringing in therevenues to support a continued expansion. The direct equipmentbusiness wasn’t particularly successful,” Yaffe said. “At one pointwe had a vision of expanding beyond the borders of Philadelphia,but that simply hasn’t materialized.”
PGW had developed a venture with Edison Source to provide retailelectricity to customers who selected PGW/Edison Source as theirprovider under Pennsylvania’s Electric Choice program. EdisonSource had the license to provide the electricity, and PGW assistedwith the marketing. Back in August, then PGW CEO James Hawes IIIcalled the Edison Source electricity alliance “a terrific alliancefor PGW and all of our customers and stakeholders. Edison Sourceprovides us with a broad range of experience that will allow PGW tomarket and deliver reliable electric generation service, atcompetitive rates, to our more than 500,000 customers.”
Customers who signed up with PGW/Edison Source are to benotified that they will continue with Edison Source or its designeefor electricity supply, said Bud Karachiwala, PGW vice president ofgas management.
PGW plans to eliminate 32 management positions, out of a current52, from the marketing staff and offer the displaced workers thechance to compete for 17 new jobs within the marketing department.
Also announced last week, the Philadelphia Gas Commission plansto sharply reduce PGW’s Gas Cost Rate (GCR) for the remainder offiscal year 1998-1999, setting rates at $1.0161/Mcf effective Jan.19. According to PGW’s first quarter GCR report filed with thecommission, annual sales volume and gas expenses are lower thananticipated when PGW filed its proposed GCR in August 1998. PGW hadrequested the commission set a GCR for the remainder of FY1998-1999 at $1.24/Mcf, a decrease from the FY 1997-1998 level of$1.43/Mcf.
Joe Fisher, Houston
©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press, Inc. All rightsreserved. The preceding news report may not be republished orredistributed in whole or in part without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.
© 2020 Natural Gas Intelligence. All rights reserved.
ISSN © 2577-9877 | ISSN © 1532-1266 |


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Written by Stephen Burns, founder and chief executive of Workhorse Group. This is one in a series of periodic guest columns by industry thought leaders.
Innovation is something that we tend to recognize only in hindsight, after – sometimes long after – it has occurred. But it’s hard not to acknowledge that we are living in a period of dramatic change for how packages get delivered. Just picture the fleets of delivery trucks driving around our neighborhoods throughout the Christmas season. How many of us have bought an item from an online retailer in the afternoon only to see it arrive at our doorstep the next day?
Thank the innovators in Silicon Valley and at Amazon.com as well as the rise of e-commerce for developing a better way for finding, purchasing and receiving goods from our homes.
The paradigm shift from trips by shoppers to brick-and-mortar stores to clicks on e-commerce websites caused a dramatic increase in the number of items that needed delivering to homes across America. To propel the revolution further, many web-only-based sellers, or e-tailers, began offering free delivery. While this expense is an initial loss, its recouped over the long term because the middleman – the retailer – is cut out.
Those who are familiar with the current architecture of last-mile parcel delivery readily see how far it has come since starting with just a horse and rider and then advancing to wagons and trucks. Delivery companies in America, for example, now make use of innovations such as tracking packages, telematics to measure efficiency and high-end training to create the world’s best professional drivers.
However – like in any industry – there is always room for improvement, and the delivery business is no exception. That is why we see a combination of drones and electric trucks as the next significant advancement in package delivery technologies.
Workhorse Group is developing this type of delivery by testing our Horsefly electric drone in concert with our electric step vans, which are built by putting delivery-truck bodies from mainstream companies like FedEx, UPS or Alpha Baking onto a chassis powered by lithium-ion batteries from Panasonic. Rather than having our drones make individual trips from a warehouse of packages, we’ve simply put each drone on top of a delivery truck.
While doing this is a unique approach right now, we anticipate that the drone-and-truck system will catch on slowly before becoming part of the mainstream model for package delivery.
Basing drones on the top of delivery trucks is a practical model because it eliminates a host of issues that arise when flying drones directly from warehouses. Drones, for example, have a carrying capacity of about 10 pounds, which is sufficient for handling most packages, but certainly not all of them.
Also, by putting the drone on top of the truck, the delivery driver can use the drone strategically for last-mile deliveries to isolated locations when driving the whole way would be inefficient. Today’s drivers do a fantastic job of handling all deliveries that come their way, but making things just a little bit more efficient for them would be beneficial for everyone.
A drone-and-truck system is extremely efficient. A driver making deliveries to homes in a rural landscape will venture off the main roads several times to deliver small parcels to secluded homes. These side trips not only take up time, but they also cost fuel and maintenance fees by putting wear-and-tear on the truck.
UPS estimates that by reducing just one mile per driver, per day, over one year can save up to $50 million. Using drones to fly the small parcels that are going to isolated locations frees up the driver to handle larger packages and focus on homes in areas with higher concentrations of deliveries.
Our system addresses another shortcoming for warehouse-based drones by working within current Federal Aviation Administration regulations, which require drones to be within the pilot’s “line of sight” while flying. Placing drones on top of electric trucks makes it feasible for a delivery business to use our innovative technology and comply with FAA regulations.
Some might question the safety of having drones flying to and fro, often across residential areas. But drones are particularly safe because of how extensively they have been tested and refined over the years. While the idea of using them on top of delivery trucks is new, drones are already employed in many diverse areas, including aiding U.S. armed forces in counter-terrorism operations and entertaining Drone Racing League fans on ESPN.
It is also possible that lingering anxieties exist about drones because they are not as widely seen in the U.S. compared with Europe, which has more innovation-friendly rules for flying unmanned aircraft. That’s why we are seeing some companies test drones there.
Before delivery drones become a common site in U.S. neighborhoods, there is plenty of work to be done.
First, regulators have to determine whether “line of sight” will stay the law of the land. When the FAA handed down this regulation in early 2015, Popular Science called it “an insurmountable obstacle for drone delivery companies.” Nevertheless, it’s an important reassurance to have in place while people get familiar with the sight and concept of delivery drones.
Second, delivery companies have so far demonstrated an admirably enterprising spirit with their willingness to utilize drones – as well as electric step trucks – but that pursuit of innovation mustn’t cease. New technologies can revolutionize the package delivery process by making it faster, lowering costs and reducing environmental consequences.
The final responsibility for making delivery drones mainstream in America rests on our shoulders. As innovators, we have devised solutions – and will continue to come up with more – that improve package delivery and commercial transportation in general. Great inventions are only part of what innovation requires. The other side of the equation is putting our new technologies into the hands of end-users. One way is by partnering with other pioneering companies.
Just this past February, Workhorse Group and UPS teamed up to successfully test the drone-and-truck system in Florida. Was this moment of innovation the harbinger for the future of package delivery? Will drones become mainstream for America’s delivery companies in 2018, 2020 or 2025? We’re hopeful it’s sooner rather than later, but like the horse, wagon and delivery truck before it, we fulfilled the first challenge by developing the next delivery technology. All that’s left is to disseminate it.
Editor’s Note: Stephen Burns is founder and chief executive of Workhorse Group, a manufacturer of battery-electric delivery vehicles and fully integrated truck-launched unmanned aerial systems.


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General tickets for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will go on sale as early as late April this year, it has been learned.
The Games’ organizing committee is making final arrangements with an eye on promoting ticket sales in tandem with the Golden Week holiday period and heightening the mood for the event.
The committee plans to sell tickets only on the internet for the time being. As a result of the crown prince’s accession to the throne this year, the Golden Week holiday period will last 10 days from April 27 to May 6, the longest stretch of holidays since the National Holidays Law took effect in 1948.
The committee believes that people who want to buy tickets will have plenty of time to access the internet during that period.
Those who want to buy tickets must register at a special website. Details will be provided via email after registration.


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Singha Beer launches venture capital arm, invests $25mn
Singha Ventures, the venture capital arm of Thai beer producer Singha Beer (part of Boon Rawd Brewery) has invested a total of $25mn in venture capital.
It has invested in Vertex Ventures, the VC arm of Temasek, and Indonesian firm Kejora Ventures.
This makes Singha the second Thai investor in the latest funds of both these organisations.
Asahi sells stake in Tsingtao brewery to Fosun for $847mn
Business Chief - Asia edition, March issue out now!
Unilever Ventures invests $10mn in IDG Ventures India fund
Singha agreed these investments last year, but last week it formally launched Singha Ventures. This will be the Thai conglomerate’s VC business and it intends to invest at series A level in startups at a local and global level. Its areas of interest are consumer products, supply chain and logistics, and enterprise solutions.
The fund was officially lunched this week having been registered in Hong Kong in 2017. It will carry out direct and indirect investments in the startup sphere.
According to e27, Bhurit Bhirombhakdi, Chairman of Singha’s executive board, has stated “We are always trying to expand our business capabilities for the organisation’s long-term growth. Startup business is deemed as the new S-curve which meant business for the future because of its constant creation of new ideas, products and business model that fits with the current lifestyles of all people.”
- How Thailand is addressing its digital skills gap – MercerTechnology
- Thailand, Cisco partner on digital strategy to drive growthDigital Strategy
- Bangkok Air considers Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier to manufacture new fleetLeadership & Strategy
- Feature: Global healthcare insurer Aetna is set to grow in AsiaLeadership & Strategy


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Michele Ferrero, Italy’s richest person and owner of the Ferrero Group –the company that makes Nutella spread and Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs – has died. He was 89.
Ferrero helped bring the chocolate-hazelnut Nutella spread, Ferrero Rocher pralines, Kinder eggs and Tic Tac sweets to the world, turning a provincial chocolate factory into what is widely seen as Italy's most valuable privately owned company.
At the time of his death, Michele Ferrero’s net worth of $22.3 billion ranked him 31st, the highest of any Italian, on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It was Ferrero's father, a small-time pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero, who laid the groundwork for the recipe and famously added hazelnut to it to save money on chocolate. But it Michele Ferrero turned the paste into the Nutella, now known the world over.
Ferrero, who had been ill for several months, died Saturday in Montecarlo where he lived, surrounded by his family, the company said in a statement.
Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s president, praised Ferrero as one of the protagonists of Italian industry, “always ahead of his time thanks to innovative products and his tenacious and reserved work.” Twitter was also flooded with messages from people who thanked Ferrero for "sweetening up" their lives.