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Increasing demand worldwide Oil price close to $ 100?

Status: 23.06.2021 3:10 p.m.

Oil is more expensive than it has been in two years. Experts warn of a supply crisis: The prices for crude oil and thus also gasoline, kerosene and heating oil could soon rise much higher.

From Angela Göpfert, tagesschau.de

Oil prices hit new multi-year highs this week. For the first time in two years, a barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea Brent cost more than $ 75 again. For a barrel of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) variety, more than 73 dollars were paid on the market – the highest amount since October 2018. Rising oil prices – something that businesses and consumers may need to get used to. According to some experts, the new multi-year highs in oil prices, which many consumers are already feeling painfully at gas stations or when buying heating oil, are just the beginning of a longer upward trend in the oil market.

Analysts predict rising oil prices

The experts at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs expect the Brent price to rise to $ 80 this summer. But that is not the end of the story. An oil price of $ 100 is a “real possibility”. Alex Sanna, top oil trader at Glencore, the world’s largest commodity trading group, also said, according to the Financial Times, that an oil price of $ 100 is becoming increasingly likely.

The experts at JPMorgan even see a new oil super cycle looming and recently renewed their forecast of an oil price of $ 190 in 2025.

Demand congestion as a price driver

Francisco Blanch, raw materials expert at Bank of America, may not look quite that far into the future. For this he has the most precise 100-dollar forecast ready: the oil price could crack the round mark as early as 2022. The market hardly changes on the supply side – and this in turn is offset by an immense backlog of demand. It is easy to explain where this backlog of demand comes from: Just as many private households restricted their consumption during the pandemic, so too many companies put the necessary investments aside. Now that the global vaccination campaign is gaining momentum, at least in the major industrialized countries, consumers, companies and economies have a lot to catch up on.

Delta variant is a risk factor

The more relaxed Corona situation and the awakening global economy are leading to higher demand for crude oil, gasoline, diesel – and kerosene. Oil expert Blanch sees the rising travel industry as a major price driver.

The delta variant of the virus from India, which could lead to a further tightening of the corona measures, is currently also posing a risk to the economy.

Signal of a shortage of supply

In search of signs of whether demand is actually exceeding supply at the moment, it is worth taking a look at the market for so-called oil futures. Current oil futures contracts are quoted there higher than contracts with delivery at a later point in time. Such a constellation, referred to by experts as “backwardation”, is rather unusual and a clear indication of fear of scarcity – “and thus for further rising prices”, as market expert Robert Rethfeld from Wellenreiter-Invest emphasizes.

A price corrective called fracking

The rising prices should actually make re-entry into the oil market attractive for the US shale industry. In the past, the US frackers acted as flexible price correctors on the oil market: If prices rose, more shale oil was drilled in the short term, supply increased, prices fell again.

As a reminder, the last time oil traded above $ 100 was in 2014, when a rapidly growing supply from the US fracking industry brought an abrupt end to the last oil super cycle.

Sustainability trend slows US oil industry

But this mechanism doesn’t seem to work that well anymore. This is due on the one hand to the new US President Joe Biden, who imposed a stop on oil and gas drilling on state-owned land in January, and on the other hand to the global trend towards sustainable investment.

“The number of active US oil wells is increasing only slowly,” emphasizes wave rider expert Rethfeld. “The investors do not want to see an expansion of the production capacities at the moment, but instead demand investments in renewable energies.”

Iran as a risk factor

The production countries of the OPEC + oil cartel, especially Saudi Arabia and Russia, could benefit from the West’s climate policy. It remains to be seen how willing they are to expand production to fill the void left by the US oil industry.

Especially since there are supply risks on the part of OPEC: “After the election of an ultra-conservative cleric as the new president, Iran will have a hard time overturning US sanctions and increasing oil exports,” said Eugen Weinberg, raw materials expert at Commerzbank .

Inflation Risks Before Revaluation?

Should the oil price actually rise further towards 100 dollars, this would inevitably lead to a reassessment of the inflation risks in the financial markets, since the oil price is one of the main drivers of consumer prices.

Just yesterday, Jerome Powell, head of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), told the House of Representatives budget committee again that the Fed was considering the current high inflation rates a temporary phenomenon considered. However, market expert Rethfeld emphasizes: “Any oil price above $ 100 would suggest to the public that Powell is wrong.”

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Tourism crisis Later restart the River cruises

Status: 19.06.2021 3:29 p.m.

River cruise ships are back in Bavaria – because of the infection protection with fewer guests on board. The long absence of the ships has left deep marks along the routes.

By Sebastian Grosser and Martin Gruber, BR

A melody sounds on deck of the river ship “NickoSpirit” before cruise director Ferdinand Selig starts his speech. “Welcome to Regensburg, dear passengers.” In front of Selig is a piece of paper with several names, which are in turn marked with different colors. “Please remember your grouping and don’t forget your mask when you leave the ship,” he says. At this point, several passengers have already gathered at the entrance of the ship to go ashore for a tour of the city. A maximum of 14 people are allowed in a group. This is part of infection protection.

Million revenues before Corona

The “NickoSpirit” is the first river cruise ship to be moored in Regensburg this year. Usually the season starts in spring. But Corona put the once booming tourism industry on the back burner in 2021. The Regensburger Stadtwerk, which manages the pier, is expecting around 100 landings this year. Similar to 2020, in the first Corona year, the city is expected to turn over only 100,000 euros with the ships. For comparison: in 2019, more than 1000 ships moored in Regensburg, with which the city was able to bring in a turnover of 1.3 million euros.

Hard times for tour guides

Michaela Ederer is already waiting for the guests at the Donaulände, where the “NickoSpirit” moored. The tour guide has longingly awaited the first ship and its passengers. “The last few months have been really tough,” she says. “The majority of the tour guides work as freelancers and rely on the tour guides and the sales they generate with them.”

In the peak of the pandemic, around 7500 tour guides nationwide were unemployed, says Ederer, who is also on the board of the Federal Association of Tour Guides in Germany. Many of her colleagues should have tapped their retirement reserves. “We are therefore very happy,” she says, referring to the arrival of the first passengers.

Passengers: No problem with infection protection

While the guests with audio guides in their ears follow the tour operator’s blue tablet to explore the historic old town of Regensburg, cruise director Selig talks to the passengers who have stayed on the ship. Unless they are sitting in the restaurant or on the summer deck, they all wear mouth and nose protection. Many of the mostly older passengers do not mind the infection control measures. “The guests are used to it,” says Selig. For the provider of cruise travel, however, creating a suitable hygiene concept was a bit of a challenge: In order to maintain the distance, only 143 of the otherwise 170 passengers are currently allowed on board. There is even a certified test center on the “NickoSpirit” so that everyone on the ship can be tested every 48 hours.

End of the cruise boom

While the provider Nicko had previously relied mainly on a German-speaking audience, other shipping companies, such as the largest industry association IG Rivercruise, have a harder time BR demand notifies. In particular, sales of shipping companies that specialize exclusively in guests from overseas such as the USA or Australia fell by 100 percent last year. But also those ships that were able to sail between July and October 2020 recorded losses of between 60 and 70 percent.

“The Queen would declare the year 2020 to be an ‘annus horribilis’. The IG Rivercruise joins this,” said the Industry association. The forecast for 2021 is no better. “The season is short,” said IG Rivercruise. Individual providers have therefore filed for bankruptcy, but had already got into financial difficulties before the pandemic.

Souvenir shops before the end

The lack of cruise business also brought Gabriele Winklmeier into existential difficulties. The 58-year-old has a souvenir shop in the old town of Passau. The ship tourists from the USA and France would actually be their main business. Due to the pandemic, hardly anything happened last year, according to Winklmeier. “This year, too, things have been bad so far: no buses, no ships, no customers. Now the first cruise ships are arriving, but they all dock outside.” She will probably give up her souvenir shop – after 17 years.

Winklmeier looks back with sadness: “Three years ago all hell was going on here. 300 guests as early as eight in the morning. You could still do business there. Today it can happen to me that I don’t have a turnover of 30 euros.” The guests of “NickoSpirit” will probably no longer buy souvenirs in Winklmeier’s shop. The cruise on the river ends in Passau. Several buses are waiting along the landing stage where the suitcases are already lined up. Cruise manager Selig, who has to say goodbye to his guests after nine days, draws a positive balance: “It was a relaxed trip, even if it seems unrelaxed. We were well prepared with the tests on board. Many guests were vaccinated or recovered. That is natural also a great relief for us. “

Corona crisis Further help for business in sight

Status: 06/18/2021 5:51 p.m.

The states are urging to continue Corona aid for companies until the end of the year – Federal Minister of Economics Altmaier indicated readiness. Support for domestic exporters has already been extended. There are signs of an extension of the corona aid for companies that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. The economics ministers of the federal states demanded that the funds previously planned until the end of September be continued until the end of the year. The federal government pays the previous “Bridging Aid III”.

Extension after the summer break if necessary

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) made it clear after a meeting with his country ministerial colleagues that he is not averse to an extension. One will look at the situation and, if necessary, extend the help after the summer break. The corona aid only applies to companies that can demonstrate a sharp drop in sales and can trace them back to the pandemic. As the economy is currently picking up again and more business is being done again, the number of companies eligible to apply is falling.

Altmaier: So far, 105 billion euros have been transferred

So far, a total of 105 billion euros have been transferred to companies as corona aid, said Altmaier. Roughly half of these are loans and half are grants that do not have to be repaid. In addition, there is money from the federal states. According to Altmaier, the state support has paid off: “Together we managed to prevent a loss of substance in the German economy.”

Against the background of the lower number of infections and the lifting of restrictions, Altmaier said the economy was “coming to a new start faster than many feared”. Growth is picking up – this year it will be 3.5 to 4 percent and in 2022 it will be more than 4 percent. The economy will have reached pre-crisis levels by spring 2022 at the latest. “That means, we are hopefully out of the worst,” said the CDU politician. When the bridging aid, which ran until the end of June, was extended by three months as “bridging aid III plus”, he was in any case in favor of continuing it until the end of the year.

Aid to exporters continues

Meanwhile, the corona aid for domestic exporters has already been extended until the end of the year. They were decided in July 2020 and should actually end this month. “Even if the economic situation has improved significantly in the past few months, the corona pandemic continues to pose challenges for the export industry,” the Ministry of Economics justified the decision. “Some companies are only now feeling the stresses with a delay.”

“Security signal” to the economy

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Andreas Pinkwart, spoke out in favor of continuing to support sectors such as the trade fair industry. After all, they would “presumably not yet be able to work in the fourth quarter in the way they normally would at normal times”. In addition, the FDP politician considers the extension of the bridging aid to be a good precaution for possible rising incidences in autumn. Then you would “not have to put on a new program from the hip”, but would have already been prepared. Saarland’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Anke Rehlinger, considers the prospect of the extension of the aid to be “a protective signal” to the economy. “We have to take care of the industries that are still suffering from the pandemic.” She stressed that the time should be used to prepare for all eventualities in autumn and winter. Should one be forced to make restrictions again because of the pandemic, there could be “other, smarter measures” that would take into account aspects such as a high vaccination rate.

Situation in trade fair industry “catastrophic”

The corona pandemic hit large parts of the German economy hard. In the meantime, things are looking a little better again, also because restrictions have been relaxed and restaurants and cafes are open again, for example. However, the situation in some sectors such as the trade fair industry is still very tense.

Jörn Holtmeier, managing director of the trade fair association AUMA, described the situation in his branch as “catastrophic”. The first industry get-togethers would take place again in September, but the number of trade fairs until the end of the year was clear. There have been many rejections. “If a stand builder finally gets another order for his first trade fair in November or December, but then does not receive any more money from the state in October, this can extremely worsen the already tense financial situation of his company.” Then company bankruptcies are possible. It is mainly about stand builders, caterers and private trade fair organizers. Exhibition companies that belong to municipalities and the state are not entitled to federal corona aid.

Around 231,000 employees

Holtmeier is also in favor of extending the aid until the end of the year. This was just a safety net, he said. “Some companies will get orders again beforehand and make sales, they will not have to use the help.”

According to AUMA, Germany’s trade fair industry has around 231,000 employees. This not only includes organizers and stand builders, but also companies with a strong trade fair business – a hotel, for example, which does most of its business with trade fair visitors, is proportionately included in the number of employees. Since March 2020, according to the Ifo Institute, the crisis in the trade fair industry has led to economic damage of an estimated 40 billion euros: Dealers could no longer buy anything at the industry get-togethers, and there were no more visitors who would spend money on restaurant visits, hotel stays or taxi rides

Aviation industry Corona isn’t the only problem

Status: 06/18/2021 6:46 a.m.

Aviation has been hit particularly hard by the Corona crisis. But the industry is also under pressure when it comes to climate protection. Will the change now succeed?

From Michael Immel, ARD aviation expert

The mood in the aviation industry has brightened. Because quite a few planes are filling up again, and many people are looking forward to their summer vacation. And so bookings are going through the roof almost everywhere these days: Lufthansa, Eurowings and Condor – all are experiencing a huge summer trend.

Will the first be the last?

The “National Aviation Conference”, which today is attended by top representatives from politics, business and trade unions at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, wants to continue this positive trend. But it won’t be easy. Even if capacity utilization is now increasing sharply: over the year as a whole, the aviation industry will probably only end up at 40 to 50 percent of the pre-crisis level. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr had already stated last spring: “We were the first industry to be affected by this global crisis and aviation will be one of the last to leave it.”

Remove travel restrictions

In the joint declaration on the aviation conference to be signed in Berlin today, it is therefore stated: “After around 15 months of almost total standstill, the German air transport system is suffering from massive economic losses. Therefore, further decisions and measures are necessary to revive air traffic to support.”

It is primarily about travel restrictions that are to be lifted gradually. And to simplify travel, in particular through a digital vaccination certificate for proof of vaccination, recovery and test results. This should accelerate the processes at the airports.

Successful and sustainable

In the nine-page paper that tagesschau.de is available, the main focus is on a green strategy for the German aviation industry. The revival should be based entirely on sustainability. Climate protection, eco-efficiency and sustainable competitiveness: These are the future topics for the entire industry – which has also understood that lip service alone will not be enough in the future.

“An essential instrument for climate protection in air traffic is the rapid and continuous renewal of the aircraft fleets”, it says in the Berlin declaration. New commercial aircraft would emit up to 25 percent less CO2 than the previous generation. With the collapse of air traffic, however, the renewal of the fleet has largely come to a standstill. “That is why the federal government has initiated a funding program to provide an economic incentive for the fleet renewal. We are continuing to advocate for the rapid approval of the program under state aid law during this legislative period.”

Criticism from unions

Meanwhile, in the run-up to the aviation conference, there is massive criticism from unions. According to the ver.di survey, 16 percent of the workforce have left air transport since the beginning of the pandemic. “The numbers of downsizing are frightening,” said Mira Neumaier, ver.di federal specialist group leader for aviation, who is also taking part in the aviation conference today.

“In view of the extremely thin workforce even before the start of the pandemic and the great stress situation for the employees, it is to be feared that a regulated restart in air traffic – even at 50 percent of the pre-crisis level – will no longer be affordable.”

Securing jobs

“It is not enough to save corporations,” warns Stefan Herth, president of the cockpit pilots’ union. “The short-time work allowance was an important measure in the acute crisis. What we now need is the sustainable safeguarding of jobs. In the past year and a half, politics has shown too little commitment here,” said Herth.

As a major shareholder, the federal government also has the responsibility not to lose sight of the well-being of employees when making important business decisions. “Wage dumping and social cuts at state expense must not be accepted anywhere.”

Lufthansa rescue package Paybacks before the election?

Status: 06/18/2021 12:37 p.m.

The low point of the crisis has been overcome for Lufthansa, said CEO Spohr a few days ago. He hopes to be able to repay the state aid quickly – if possible, before the general election. According to CEO Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa wants to repay the billions in financial aid from the state in the corona crisis in a few months. “We were one of the first companies that was saved by the federal government. We also want to be one of the first companies to pay back the rescue funds – hopefully before the federal election,” he said in an interview with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the National Aviation Conference. The election date is September 26th. Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland had pledged nine billion euros in government aid to the group last year due to the collapse in business caused by the pandemic, thus saving it from ruin.

“Low point is behind us”

The group had started preparations this week for a capital increase with which the aid could be paid. “We are switching from crisis mode to transformation mode,” said Spohr. The planned capital increase is an important step towards withdrawing from state financial aid.

Since April, the booking situation has improved significantly due to falling Covid infection numbers, progress in vaccination and the introduction of the digital vaccination pass in the EU. “The low point of the crisis is behind us,” said Spohr. “We’re not back to normal, but now is the time to look ahead with confidence.”

Cruises start again The return of the dream ships

As of: 06/17/2021 3:52 p.m.

The cruise industry is trying to start over in small steps. Successful vaccinations and falling infection numbers are fueling hopes, but the way out of the crisis should not be an easy one.

By Thomas Spinnler, tagesschau.de

The cruise industry, along with the entire tourism sector, was one of the biggest losers in the pandemic. The entire business came to a standstill at times. The 7-day incidence values, which have recently fallen across Europe, and the vaccination campaign, the progress of which is becoming increasingly noticeable, are awakening hopes for a successful restart in 2021, both in the industry and among those interested in cruises. It is not excluded. Just yesterday, a cruise ship with guests left Hamburg for the first time in seven months . This morning went for the first time since the outbreak of the corona pandemic in front of Palma in Mallorca a cruise ship at anchor, the “Mein Schiff 2” of the German shipping company TUI Cruises. It is said to be the first of more than 20 who will be calling this port by the end of August.

“Time was used”

“The chances of a real fresh start for the cruise industry are very good due to the measures that have been taken,” said Helge Grammerstorf, National Director of the Cruise Lines International Association Germany (Clia) tagesschau.de firmly. The providers used the time to expand the security measures against Corona, to keep the ships ready for the incoming operation and to strengthen the sustainability measures.

However, the memory of what happened during the start of the pandemic last year is likely to be fresh for many. Hundreds of vacationers were stuck on board, some for weeks, ports refused entry – the sometimes dramatic images are not so easy to forget.

“Safer than in the supermarket”

That is why protection against corona remains the determining issue on cruise ships. Grammerstorf is certain that health protection on the ships is guaranteed. Individual corona cases cannot be completely ruled out. But both staff and passengers would be tested before boarding, during the trip and also at the end of the trip.

“In principle, it is safer on the ship than when shopping in the supermarket, since the ships are completely sealed off from the outside,” says the Clia director. This also applies to shore excursions, which take place in closed groups that are not allowed to be left. “In the very rare event that a person should test positive during the voyage, it is provided that all affected persons and their contacts are taken off board to protect everyone else,” says Grammerstorf.

The shipyards are also suffering

The industry is an important economic factor. In Germany alone, the ocean cruise business is worth billions. According to the association’s data, the area with around 48,000 employees generated around 6.6 billion euros in 2019. Above all, however, it represents 80 percent of orders from German shipyards.

The German shipbuilders were therefore hit hard by the crisis. Because many shipyards have specialized in the construction and maintenance of cruise ships. Jobs have also been cut, both at the shipyards and among the cruise lines.

“Offers are accepted”

According to Clia, according to the latest available figures from September 2020, around 28,000 jobs have been lost, more than half. If the industry returns to a reasonably normal and predictable course of business, many will return. No wonder, then, when the hope of a new start becomes more and more urgent.

According to Grammerstorf, the customers are very enthusiastic about the offers, there is a great demand for cruises: “Demand pressure has built up while it was not possible to travel. The pre-bookings for 2022 are also very encouraging.” A more precise forecast is currently not possible, as the countries are only gradually opening up and therefore many departures are scheduled at short notice.

High costs, hardly any income

The business will hardly be profitable at first. No income, or at best low income, is offset by high running costs. After all, the ships cannot simply be completely decommissioned when they are in ports or in roadsteads. Some of the crew must remain on board, the ships must be kept functional, which requires regular and intensive maintenance. In addition, the huge passenger capacities of the ships cannot be used to their full capacity despite the start of travel activity due to the corona-related distance rules. Higher costs, also because of the various protective measures, are offset by lower income, which would have to be offset with higher prices. “At the moment, the main thing is to show that cruises can also take place safely under Corona conditions,” emphasizes Grammerstorf. The cruise operators have to accept that it is likely to be a losing business, at least initially

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Corona consequences for companies How much longer does the state have to help?

Status: 06/17/2021 10:18 a.m.

Today, the federal and state economics ministers are discussing how to proceed with corona aid for companies. Warnings against a permanent state economy are getting louder. But some industries are still deeply in crisis.

From Axel John, SWR

Tim Sandrock walks through the 3500 square meter hall of his event company. He points to huge loudspeakers, lighting systems or projectors that are piled up to the ceiling. “That would normally all be used outside in mid-June, at theater events, village festivals or music concerts”says Sandrock. “The camp could be swept through completely. We haven’t moved the technology for at least 15 months.”

He is one of the two managing directors of Flo-Service GmbH in Mainz. The company has 25 employees and six trainees. The company organizes up to 1500 events per year with a focus on the Rhine-Main area. “From the disco ball for the teenage party to the stage technology for a Sting concert, we cover everything”says Sandrock. Although the economy is taking off again across the country, Flo-Service still has few orders at major events due to the pandemic requirements. Most recently, among other things, the Oktoberfest was canceled. This sends a devastating signal to the industry.

Hope for further help

“We are broadly positioned and have thus been able to limit losses. The Federal Employment Agency helped us a lot through short-time work with around 31,000 euros per month. The bridging aids were also extremely important to us last year”says Sandrock. “However, our company has fixed costs of 150,000 euros every month.”

“I very much hope for further government aid” – Flo Service Managing Director Tim Sandrock. Image: Axel John, SWR

Flo-Service mainly draws on its operating reserves before Corona. In addition, there was a tough austerity course. Overall, sales have decreased by a good third. This means that Sandrock is still in a brilliant position in the industry. Other companies make a minus of 90 percent or are no longer there. “In the long run, of course, you can’t finance a company like ours. I therefore very much hope for further state aid”, he says. Cultural events have a pre-planning of three to nine months. In the uncertain Corona time, that’s half an eternity. “I am optimistic that the worst is behind us. But we still need support for a transition period. Otherwise all previous payments would be pointless”, says Sandrock.

Economics ministers discuss further aid

The federal and state economics ministers meet today in Düsseldorf – for the first time in attendance. One question is: what will happen next with the support for the economy? The bridging allowance and short-time work allowance were only recently extended to the end of September and even expanded. Now it is about a renewed extension until the end of the year.

The host of the meeting, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Economic Affairs Andreas Pinkwart from the FDP, has already made a decision: “I am in favor of the aid being extended beyond the end of September until the end of the year”, he says. “Sectors such as the trade fair and event industry or the showmen will continue to suffer from a drop in sales in the fall. The Federal Ministry of Economics also sees it that way. I would also like to advocate this course at the federal government.”

NRW Minister of Economic Affairs Pinkwart is campaigning for a further extension of the corona aid. Image: dpa

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister of Economic Affairs also refers to legal constraints. “Unfortunately, to fight the pandemic, we had to restrict the freedom of trade. That is why the bridging aid is not subsidy, but compensation. Parts of the economy are only now gradually returning to normal”says Pinkwart. Now it is a matter of creating transitions for the companies concerned.

Share of businesses in need is falling

More and more companies seem to manage this transition. According to a study by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), only eight percent of all companies saw their existence threatened by May. In April this value was still 13 percent. “The incidence values ​​are easing in many places, and at the same time private-sector companies in Germany are looking more optimistically into the future, “says IAB Director Bernd Fitzenberger. So far, the Federal Ministry of Economics has approved a total of more than 105 billion euros for the economy during the crisis. In addition, there is short-time work allowance of around 32.3 billion euros.

Criticism from economists

More and more economists are critical of the ongoing political assistance. Lars Feld is one of them. The 54-year-old economist is a proven regulatory politician, i.e. oriented towards the principles of market and competition. “The extension until the end of September is fine. But I do not believe in a renewed extension”, he says. “The upswing is in full swing. According to the Bundesbank, we will have growth of 3.7 percent in Germany this year. Next year it should be five percent. The need for an expansive fiscal policy that continues to be so strong is therefore decreasing.”

In addition, there are always deadweight effects at companies that find themselves in a difficult situation without this having anything to do with Corona. However, Feld limits his analysis with a view to the event industry. “If the state restricts certain companies in certain sectors of the constitutionally granted freedom of trade, then this must be compensated. But we will have to live with Corona in the long term. Therefore, I think it is questionable whether the events industry can continue as it did before the pandemic.”

Digital structural change also in the event area

Tim Sandrock in Mainz knows that too. In order to survive economically, Flo-Service had already digitized itself during the lockdown. “We have brought our analog offers into the digital space. Instead of a meeting with a projector, screen or interpreting service, we now also offer complete software solutions”says Sandrock. Corona has massively accelerated development. “There will be a growing digital share at events of all kinds in the future.”

In order not to complicate this structural change, Sandrock is also in favor of a foreseeable phase out of the aid. For the next few months, however, the company needs government aid again. If politicians decide in favor of renewed extension, Sandrock will submit an application. “But I am sure that the industry will recover quickly after Corona. I’m also counting on a catch-up effect. Man is a sociable being. That’s why we’ll be back.”

Real estate market in Europe Construction is not booming everywhere

Status: 16.06.2021 2:01 p.m.

Construction is one of the boom industries in Germany even during the crisis. But what about in other European countries? Our correspondents report that the situation there is only partially comparable.

Poland: increasing demand, increasing prices

By Jan Pallokat, ARD studio Warsaw Anyone in Poland who thought that the corona pandemic would slow down the construction industry, which has been booming in the country for years, was caught on the wrong foot at the beginning of the year. Housing construction in particular is buzzing even more; In the first quarter, developers in major cities sold 40 percent more than in the previous year and three percent more than in the previous record year of 2017. And because the supply of modern living space still lags behind demand in the country, the sales prices achieved are also rising steadily: on average by almost eight percent for new buildings and six and a half percent for used residential property. The rising prices for building materials and an increasing shortage of staff also play a role here. Because construction workers are scarce, market experts are now warning that construction sites could be paralyzed in rows during the high season in summer. The downside of the building boom: home ownership is often unaffordable for young families. Already today, 43 percent of under 35-year-olds in Poland lived with their parents, the Eurostat statistics office recently reported. This puts Poland in the top group in the EU when it comes to “Hotel Mama” and is on a similar level to Italy.

Spain: no construction boom in sight

By Reinhard Spiegelhauer, ARD studio Madrid Construction boom and Spain – wasn’t there something? Yes, Spain has actually experienced an absolutely ludicrous construction boom – but that was 20 years ago. In the nineties and noughties, the number of planned apartments practically doubled from year to year – up to the highest level in 2006 with almost 900,000 apartments. Then came the big bang: the real estate bubble burst, banks had to be bailed out, Spain rushed past bankruptcy, hundreds of thousands could no longer service their real estate loans, apartments were evicted. The market then recovered very slowly. But still, roads, lamps and park benches built in boom times are rotting in many development areas. In 2019, the year before the corona pandemic, the foundation stones were laid for a good 100,000 apartments. Since then, however, the sector has largely been paralyzed again. Unemployment fell again after peaking at around 25 percent after the euro crisis, but it again reached 15 percent during the pandemic. For young adults it is more than 30 percent. According to experience from the times of the real estate bubble, far stricter criteria now apply to the granting of loans. All of this is currently preventing any kind of construction boom in Spain.

Switzerland: mainly redevelopment and densification

By Dietrich Karl Mäurer, ARD studio Zurich Instead of a “construction boom”, the umbrella association of the Swiss construction industry, Building Switzerland, speaks of “continuously good work”. A large part of the orders are so-called consolidations and energy-efficient building renovations. But not least because of the low interest rates, large investors like to invest in construction projects such as new building complexes with rental apartments. The demand is good, although there are vacancies in some rural regions. Housing is still in short supply in cities. This is also because net immigration has recently risen again; During the pandemic, many foreigners who actually wanted to leave the country after a certain period of time in Switzerland preferred to stay – mainly because of the comparatively difficult labor market conditions in their home countries. The construction industry accounts for ten percent of Switzerland’s economic output and employs around half a million skilled workers. According to a recent economic survey, the situation in the construction industry is stable. However, the limited availability of building materials and preliminary products could become a problem. Incidentally, real estate prices in Switzerland have risen faster than they have been in eight years.

Produced | Sohu Finance

Author | Zhang Ying

On the morning of June 15th, Suning.com issued an announcement stating that Suning Appliances passively reduced its holdings of 10 million shares on June 11, and it is expected that Suning Appliances may reduce its holdings of Suning.com by no more than 384 million shares in the next six months ( (Accounting for 4.12% of Suning Tesco’s total equity).

Since June, Suning Appliance has repeatedly reduced its holdings of Suning Tesco’s shares.

On June 2, Suning.com disclosed that Suning Appliance intends to transfer 520 million unrestricted shares of Suning.com (accounting for 5.59% of the company’s total share capital) held by Suning.com to the new retail fund, with a total transfer price of 3.182 billion yuan.

On June 10, Suning Appliance received a supervisory letter from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The regulatory letter pointed out that Suning Appliance reduced its holdings by a total of 19.50 million shares through centralized bidding, accounting for 0.21% of the total share capital of listed companies due to the default clauses of the agreement triggered by some stock pledge repurchase transactions. Suning Appliance did not announce the relevant shareholding reduction plan 15 trading days before the first occurrence of the shareholding reduction event.

In addition, on the morning of the 15th, Suning.com also issued an announcement stating that Zhang Jindong’s 540 million shares were judicially frozen by the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing, accounting for 5.80% of Suning’s total share capital and 27.68% of Zhang Jindong’s holdings. .

A week ago, Suning Appliance Group Co., Ltd. added a piece of information about the person to be executed, case number (2021) Jing 02, No. 837, and the execution target was over 3.082 billion yuan. Zhang Jindong, Suning Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., and Suning Appliance Co., Ltd. Executor.

On February 28 this year, Zhang Jindong and his concerted person, Suning Holding Group, etc., planned to transfer 23% of Suning Tesco’s shares to Shenzhen International and Kunpeng Capital to introduce state-owned shareholders.

After the completion of the share transfer, the listed company will be in a state of no controlling shareholder and no actual controller.

This year, Suning.com has “continuous crises.”

The 2020 annual report previously disclosed by Suning.com showed that Suning.com’s 2020 operating income reached 252.296 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.29%. In 2020, Suning.com’s net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was -4.275 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 143.43% from 9.84 billion yuan in 2019. This was also the worst year for Suning.com since its listing.

Sohu Finance also learned that Suning Real Estate and Suning Appliance, which were executed this time, were also involved in a loan lawsuit with the leading real estate company Sunac.

Anhui Sunac Real Estate Co., Ltd. and Suning Real Estate, Suning Appliance, and Xuzhou Suning Real Estate related loan contract disputes will be heard on July 19, and Suning will be the defendant.

According to public reports, Suning Real Estate had previously cooperated with Suning Real Estate to develop real estate projects. During the development process, Suning Real Estate borrowed a sum of funds from Suning Real Estate, and Suning Real Estate failed to repay the arrears on time.

As of press time, Suning.com reported 5.65 yuan per share, down 9.02%.

Text | Chinese Business Strategies by Wu Su

In the Chinese food arena, Wang Shouyi’s thirteen incense and Lao Ganma are household names, and countless people have used them since childhood, and they can be called “national grandpa” and “national grandma” brands.

Both were once beautiful.

As early as 1998, the annual income of Wang Shouyi’s thirteen incense reached 400 million yuan, relying on “composite seasonings” to build a huge condiment business empire.

Laoganma is even more synonymous with hot sauce. There is no marketing, no financing, no loans, no listing, only with unique taste and low price, the market coverage rate in all parts of the country is as high as 90%, and even exported to foreign countries. Wherever there is, there is an old godmother.”

In 2019, Laoganma’s annual sales exceeded 5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.43%, a record high.

It seems that these two national brands still have a huge consumer market, but in fact, due to domestic and foreign difficulties, their sense of existence is getting weaker and weaker.

First of all, the younger generations feel that it is too slow to make money from selling spices and hot sauces, and they can’t sit on the “cold bench”, trying to make quick money from the real estate market, but they are all killed.

Wang Taibai, the grandson of Wang Shouyi, who held tens of millions in cash at the age of 20, was the “successor” that the second-generation leader once deliberately cultivated. He hoarded dozens of properties in the UK, but he did not expect to encounter the financial crisis and almost lost everything. Property, only relying on the family to “assistance” can get through the difficulties.

Similarly, Lao Ganma Tao Huabi’s eldest son Li Guishan Nuggets Real Estate, also touched his nose.

The real estate company of which Li Guishan is the second shareholder develops a real estate, but it has been unable to accept it due to construction problems, project balance problems, etc., and is involved in a lawsuit. In addition, this company suffered serious losses. From 2013 to 2017, it had a total debt of 950 million yuan. It frequently appeared on the list of untrustworthy executors and was involved in nearly a hundred judicial cases.

In addition to the huge resource loss caused by cross-border, the hunting of copycat products has also reduced the influence of Wang Shouyi Shisanxiang and Lao Ganma.

In the field of compound seasonings, the “fifteen incense” and “eighteen incense” have sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain, and they have fought guerrilla warfare with the “genuine products”. To this day, in some cities, these “li ghosts” sell more than the “genuine products” it is good.

Lao Gan Ma was also troubled by copycats and had to apply for registration of trademarks such as “Lao Gan Da”, “Lao Gan Da”, “Lao Qian Ma” and “Lao Shi Ma”.

Outside of the cottage, the “encirclement and suppression” of competitors made it even more difficult for them to resist.

Totole, Yihai International, which provides the base material for Haidilao, and Zhongjing Food, which uses mushroom sauce to beat the world, are all accelerating their attack on the city. Wang Shouyi’s thirteen incense is particularly silent.

Lao Gan Ma was chased by Lee Kum Kee and Spice Girls, and online marketing was relatively weak. At the beginning of the year, the media compared the hot sauce data with the highest monthly sales in each brand’s flagship store. The hot sauce brand “Fan Ye” founded by singer Lin Yilun had five times more than Lao Ganma.

Unfavorable factors are superimposed, Wang Shouyi Shisanxiang and Lao Ganma no longer have the style of the former leaders, but this also forces them to think about changes, and new growth points may be bred in them.

——END——

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Around the world, unsafe recycling of lead batteries (mainly from cars) is widespread. Perry Gottesfeld of Occupational Knowledge International (a San Francisco-based organization that campaigns worldwide against industrial pollution) called lead pollution “the most serious health threat to children”. In Senegal, 18 children died within three months of cerebral palsy caused by lead poisoning from a battery recycling plant on the outskirts of Dakar. In addition to those 18 children, hundreds more children in the residential area were poisoned. A person cooks lead manually in the Pesarean (Indonesia). Image source: Pure Earth On the other side of California, a giant lead smelter is located in the city of Torreon (Mexico), which has a history of childhood blood poisoning in the neighborhood and stretches back half a century. Air, soil and water pollution has long been documented around small and large lead smelting and recycling plants. Doctors all know that lead can be easily inhaled or swallowed, and when it enters the bloodstream, lead dust will immediately travel from the digestive tract to the brain. On the other hand, it should be known that lead is a potent neurotoxin and at no level has ever been deemed safe. Besides causing fever and affecting the gastrointestinal tract, lead poisoning also damages intellectual development in young children even at a low dose, reduces intelligence quotient (IQ), loss of attention. , and emotional disorders. Workers disintegrate car batteries in preparation for lead recycling in Patna, India. Image source: Pure Earth Lead poisoning is also believed to be the cause of outbreaks of violent behavior in communities in the United States and around the world. The UNICEF report noted: Lead wreaks havoc on the body in a silent way. One-third of children worldwide are suffering from lead poisoning from recycled batteries and other sources. Fatty profits but a danger to human health An estimated 85% of the lead used today is in batteries, mainly used in cars. And when the battery runs out, 99% of the expired battery will be recycled to create a new battery. The recycling battery business is very lucrative, this is a money-making business. Tens of thousands of people breaking batteries and smelters around the world are looking for ways to monetize it, collecting an abundance of used batteries and turning them into brand-new products. According to the International Lead Association, in London: “More than 6 million tons of lead are collected each year. Lead batteries are the most recycled consumer product in the world, thanks to recycling they no longer have to be mined.” Because of very little regulation, in many countries around the world, small-scale operators compete with the legal battery industry. “Total half of all batteries are in the informal economy, where unregulated and often illegal recycling processes have broken battery cases, spilling lead acid and dust into the ground. Lead smelting in open-air furnaces has spewed toxic fumes and dust around residential areas,” according to a report published in June 2020 by Pure Earth and UNICEF. With the rapid development of African economies, more than 800,000 tons of lead leach out of batteries each year on the subcontinent. And the consequences for human health and the environment have already begun to emerge. Two years ago, Mr. Gottesfeld completed research showing that lead poisoning had spread to the land around battery recycling plants in crowded slums or near schools in cities such as Dar es. Salaam (Tanzania), Lagos (Nigeria) and the port of Tema (Ghana). Lead contaminated soil is excavated in Dong Mai ward (Hanoi, Vietnam). Image source: Pure Earth In addition to Africa facing serious lead poisoning problems, Southeast Asia is also facing a similar crisis. Mr. Bill Daniell (School of Public Health, University of Washington) is the lead author of a 2015 study on lead exposure around Dong Mai ward (Ha Dong district, Hanoi), where many households are engaged in recycling. battery processing. More than 100 children in Dong Mai were tested and all showed high blood lead levels of more than ¼/45 micrograms/decilit, which is nine times the safe limit in the US. In India, a study published in 2019 by Toxics Link (an NGO based in New Delhi) announced that 90% of lead batteries in India in recycling plants are in the informal sector. awake. The study mapped residential areas in major cities like New Delhi, where lead-battery recycling plants operate without any official supervision. Nguyen Thanh Hai ( According to e360.yale.edu )

Airline in crisis Lufthansa wants to get rid of state influence

Status: 15.06.2021 9.45 a.m.

The largest German airline wants to raise additional money on the capital market for its realignment. In doing so, the group is trying to reduce the federal government’s ability to influence as quickly as possible. Lufthansa has initiated its planned capital increase. According to a mandatory announcement yesterday evening, the aviation group mandated four banks to implement the measure. However, according to the announcement “The Management Board and the Supervisory Board have not yet made a decision on the scope and timing of a possible capital increase”. Companies raise capital by issuing additional shares; the shares of the existing shareholders are thus diluted. The company is now implementing the approval of the shareholders received at the general meeting in May. The airline is allowed to raise up to 5.5 billion euros in fresh capital on the capital market. According to media reports, the management initially only wants to mobilize around three billion euros in order to push ahead with the restructuring of the company.

Exclusive 06/01/2021

Billion dollar rescue package

Lufthansa also wants to reduce the influence of the state through the capital increase. Lufthansa was in dire straits due to the Corona crisis and had to be supported by Germany and its other locations with a financial framework of nine billion euros. Germany accounted for a total of 6.8 billion euros of the state rescue package for Lufthansa. However, the airline group only made use of around two billion euros of the guaranteed funds. Half of this has already been repaid with the money from new bonds, so that Lufthansa currently owes the state around one billion euros. A capital increase of three billion euros would enable the company to repay this amount earlier than previously planned. The state would then soon have to sell its block of shares, for which it paid around 300 million euros.

Group wants to drastically reduce costs

With the withdrawal of the state participation, Lufthansa would have more leeway again. Because in return for state aid, the company has to adhere to various conditions: for example, a ban on paying dividends to shareholders or distributing interest to bond owners. Bonus payments to managers are also not yet possible. So far, the plan was not to pay off the state aid until 2023. Even drastic cost savings are probably easier to implement without government influence. According to earlier information, Lufthansa wants to reduce the number of employees in Germany by another 10,000 to 100,000. To this end, Lufthansa wants to lower tariff standards, encourage employees to leave the company voluntarily, but also issue redundancies for operational reasons. The unions had already made concessions in the Corona crisis, but recently accused Lufthansa of evading tariffs.

The approval of the state fund is still pending

The federal government’s economic stabilization fund (WSF), which has a 20 percent stake in Lufthansa, is expected to participate in the capital increase – but without spending additional taxpayers’ money on it. The WSF still has to approve the plan, said Lufthansa. The Corona financial aid fund wants to participate in the capital increase with a so-called “Operation Blanche”. A shareholder sells part of his subscription rights for the new shares in order to exercise the remaining subscription rights with the proceeds. No additional tax revenue is required for this transaction. The MDAX company also announced a new profit target for 2024 in the evening. By then, experts estimate that aviation should return to pre-crisis levels. The adjusted operating margin, i.e. the ratio of operating profit to sales, should then reach at least eight percent, and the return on investment should be at least ten percent.

Supply crisis in Lebanon Queuing for a little gasoline

Status: 14.06.2021 8:41 a.m.

There is currently a shortage of fuel, electricity and medicines in Lebanon. Because the country is in a serious economic and financial crisis. Many Lebanese fear that the situation will get worse. By Anne Allmeling, ARD-Studio Cairo, currently Beirut Layali has almost reached her goal. Six or seven cars are waiting in line at the gas station in front of her. Then it’s her turn. “I don’t know how much I get, but I take as much as they give me.” Layali, who doesn’t want to give her last name, has been waiting for two hours to fill her tank with at least a few liters of gasoline. The 31-year-old works as a lecturer at a university in the center of Beirut. She needs the car on the way to work. “This is the second day I’ve tried to get gasoline. I drove all over town yesterday to find an open gas station. Then I waited four hours. When there were only four or five cars left in front of me were in the queue, it was said that there was no more gasoline. ”

Country has been in crisis for almost two years

Anyone who wants to refuel in Lebanon needs a lot of patience. Because fuel is in short supply. The country lacks the foreign exchange for imports. Lebanon has been in a serious financial and economic crisis for almost two years. The corona pandemic and the explosion in the port of Beirut a good ten months ago made the situation even worse. After its resignation, the government is only in a managerial position, but hardly able to act. In addition, there is a risk of state bankruptcy. Gasoline prices have more than tripled – but many Lebanese have no choice. “There is no public transport, no railroad. There is only private transport,” says Jihad Shehab. The 52-year-old salesman has been waiting for gasoline for his old Mercedes for an hour and a half. Because the line is moving very slowly, he got out of the car and is talking to a friend. “The situation is getting worse and worse. Nothing is progressing, neither in the government nor in the state, nothing,” he complains. Everything got out of hand. There is a dispute right in front of the gas station. A taxi driver complains: He only got twenty liters – not a full tank like the customer before him. His car has a special license plate that only a few Lebanese can afford – if they have the right connections.

FAQ 08/06/2020

Hardly any protests against the political elite

Nepotism and corruption are widespread in Lebanon. One reason why influential politicians and business people have been able to enrich themselves on a large scale in recent decades – at the expense of the state, which is now almost bankrupt. These people should be driven out of their offices, says a young woman who does not want to give her name: “Those responsible in Lebanon do not take any responsibility. The only solution would be for the people to put pressure on the state.” But if there is no uprising, the situation will not improve. Protests against the political elite are sporadic in Lebanon, however. More than half of the population is now considered poor. Most people are busy every day to ensure their survival and that of their families – like Layali. She is now number three in line – but even today she does not get any gasoline. The gas station closes before it is her turn. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. This has happened to me for the fifth time. I have to keep trying.”

Change due to the corona crisis How the pandemic is changing the way we work

Status: 13.06.2021 3:42 p.m.

Fewer new infections, many vaccinated people and the imminent end of the obligation to work from home: in many companies, the return to the office is foreseeable. How much of the pandemic’s day-to-day work will be retained? From Peter Sonnenberg, SWR How should one put it when a terrible event like a pandemic also brings welcome and sustainable changes with it? Covid-19 brought sickness and death, unemployment and poverty, limitations and loneliness. However, the pandemic also led to progress in the world of work that was not thought possible, which without the virus would not have been conceivable or would only have been possible much later. “Before the pandemic, I sat in the car for three hours on the days I had to go to the office,” says Paula Widmer. That is bad for them and the environment. The 28-year-old is Internal Communication Manager at Schott in Mainz, but she lives in Heidelberg, a hundred kilometers away. Even before Corona, she sometimes worked at home. So she didn’t have to set up an office there first. She could just stay at home and do the many international switching conferences with the foreign locations from there. For her, working from home is a gift, and she hopes that her employer will continue to give employees this opportunity. However, she would like to see her colleagues a little more often and would like a mix of home and in-office.

05/25/2021

Corona as an accelerator

That is exactly what the future will be, assures work researcher Jutta Rump. “Corona was the burning glass, the fire accelerator for the development towards virtual work and communication,” she says. Many business trips were unnecessary in the past. You can now see who can work from home without sacrificing productivity. And most people would like the empty sky, empty streets and trains anyway. Corona has interrupted the usual processes for many people – and also called them into question. “When things go well, changes are difficult, that’s why digitization went so slowly, our workplaces hardly changed – and we have had ten years of partying in which no one wanted to change anything,” says the professor for international personnel management and organizational development. It was only the “external pandemic factor” that showed what was different and what was better, explains Rump. But the researcher also predicts a partial return to old habits. “We won’t go from one extreme to the other, no more business trips, just online conferences, but maybe only half as much of everything. People want the positive out of both, a healthy amount of everything.”

04/28/2021

No need to work in new ways

But not all of them can or want to be part of this new world of work. “I also missed setting up a nice study,” says Daniel Brixius. “But I don’t have far to go to the office, and I have two small children at home. I’m better at flow at work.” The marketing manager was mostly with the company even during the pandemic. A hygiene situation has been created there for colleagues who prefer to work in the company, which makes this possible. His colleagues in production couldn’t stay at home either, for nothing has changed for them. He is happy if the workplace situation remains flexible in the future, but more so for his colleagues. He himself feels more comfortable in the office, especially when a few more colleagues come again. And they don’t even have to all have their fixed desks.

05/26/2021

Companies have to offer flexible forms of work

Work researcher Rump calls these hybrid models. Anyone who wants to remain fit for the future as a company must offer flexible forms of work and also communicate virtually. Work-life balance is becoming more and more important to employees. If you have nothing to offer, you have to give an applicant a good reason. That is why the sectors with a shortage of young talent and skilled workers are driving the transformation that has begun. “But the whole business world will change faster with Corona than it would have done without it,” says Rump. “Retailers are becoming online retailers, virtual business processes run much faster than analog processes, and e-commerce and artificial intelligence also intervene in logistics and production.”

Expect new elbow mentality

But not everything is great, she points out. The “we-feeling” in the teams suffers when colleagues hardly meet, and the solidarity that was felt for one another during the pandemic will give way to a new elbow mentality. Because before that the coffers were full, the markets were distributed. Now both the state pots are empty and the reserves of many companies have been used up. But now, it is said, is the time to invest in order to stay “up to date”. “I fear a stronger global distribution struggle for a smaller cake and therefore less consensus,” said the professor.

05/19/2021

“Team spirit is more likely to arise when working in the office”

Nina Moyer does not fear that for the special glass manufacturer Schott. She is responsible for the company’s global talent management and now feels, on the alleged home stretch of the pandemic, internal joy and gratitude of the employees towards the company, which is getting through the crisis well. “But I am also convinced that we shouldn’t keep everything we’ve done in the past 18 months. In my opinion, the right spirit and team spirit is more likely to come about when working together in the office.” But you have learned a lot across all departments, says the HR manager. “Today we can make meetings much more compact and effective and realize that you don’t have to fly around the globe for every meeting, a lot goes online. After the pandemic experience, we appreciate the encounter, the togetherness in the office, much more – it used to be Of course. Never before have so many colleagues asked whether the summer party will take place again this year. ”

FAQ 01/12/2021

Mix as the best model

The labor scientist Rump also says that the mix will be the best model. As practical as home office is for many, it is even physically restrictive. You look at a monitor all day and hardly move. “Most people work more effectively at home, hardly take breaks, forget which day of the week is because every day appears the same. Who can handle it?” And with it, it also answers the question of whether employees work well in the home office or just mow the lawn. “Anyone who does not work properly in the home office has shit their employer in the office beforehand and slipped away where he could.” It is important that the new world of work is created together with the employees. Surveys have shown that there is a great desire to be able to choose – between the more conventional or the new way of working.

Inside a shopping mall in the capital Kuala Lumpur, June 1. (Photo: Reuters) The Malaysian Government’s strategy to bring the country out of the Covid-19 crisis consists of four stages and specific criteria. Accept economic damage to flatten the epidemic curve Malaysia began implementing a nationwide blockade order from June 1, after the number of daily cases exceeded 9,000 cases and put tremendous pressure on the health system. Restrictive measures will be extended until June 28. In a televised speech on June 15, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the nationwide blockade order had helped Malaysia “flatten the curve” of the epidemic and avoid falling into a tragedy. During the lockdown, the Malaysian economy suffered about one billion ringgit a day (about $243 million). Most businesses have to close, except for some essential service and economic sectors. However, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that “light will be at the end of the tunnel” when it comes to speeding up vaccinations. Yassin announced the recovery plan as the number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia continues to decline and an additional 16 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been secured to the country by the end of July. National Recovery Plan in four phases Prime Minister Yassin announced a four-stage National Recovery Plan with three specific indicators to use as a basis for deciding whether to lift restrictions and if so, when. Each phase will be implemented based on the average number of cases per day, the capacity of the public health system and the population vaccination rate. Malaysia is in phase one of this plan. The number of new Covid-19 cases in the country remains high, the public health system is in a very critical situation, the vaccination rate is low, and the nationwide movement control order is in effect. In stages, restrictions on economic activities and the social sector will be further eased. The nationwide movement control order took effect from June 11. (Photo: AP) Malaysia will move to phase two of the plan if the daily number of new cases falls below 4,000 cases per day, the vaccination rate reaches 10%, and the intensive care units operate at “moderate” capacity. If in phase one, only essential services are allowed to operate, all fields and social activities are banned, then in phase two, there will be some more economic sectors such as manufacturing industry The output is allowed to operate up to 80% capacity. However, social activities and interstate travel are still not allowed. The government wants to bring the country into phase two as early as next July. Malaysia will enter phase three when the daily number of cases falls below 2,000 cases per day, the health care system operates in a more comfortable state and at least 40% of the population receives two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine- 19. All economic sectors will be allowed to operate, except for those considered high risk such as at nightclubs, pubs, event centers, spas and beauty salons. “All economic sectors will be operating at 80% capacity, similar to the second phase. And social activities such as education and some sports activities may resume in stages,” Yassin said. He expressed hope that Malaysia will move to phase three as early as the end of August. The fourth phase will take place when the daily number of cases is less than 500 cases/day, the health system and intensive care beds operate at a safe level, at least 60% of the population is fully vaccinated. “Based on the predictions of the National Covid-19 Vaccination Plan, this transition is expected to be implemented as early as October 2021,” Prime Minister Yassin said. At that time, all economic sectors will be back to work, more social restrictions will be lifted and interstate travel and domestic travel will be resumed. To date, Malaysia has recorded more than 667,876 cases of Covid-19, of which more than 4,000 have died and nearly 594 thousand have completely recovered. Malaysia recorded more than 5,000 new cases on almost all days from May 19 to now. Currently, Malaysia ranks third in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and the Philippines, in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Crisis in the training market Where the trainees are most absent

Status: 08.06.2021 2:09 p.m.

Much fewer apprenticeships, far fewer applicants – Corona has massively thinned the training market. What alarms experts: Professions in which there is already a shortage of skilled workers are severely affected. From Philipp Reichert, SWR Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, significantly fewer training positions have been offered than before. This is shown by figures from the Federal Employment Agency SWR has evaluated. According to this, companies across Germany reported only around 430,000 apprenticeship positions from October 2020 to the end of April, i.e. after more than half of the current application year. That is around 60,000 fewer than in the same period of 2018/2019, i.e. before the pandemic. This means that by the end of April, around every eighth training position in the country was no longer offered. The number of applicants also fell significantly in the same period: from around 418,000 to 345,000 – a decrease of around 18 percent.

The healthcare and hospitality industries are particularly hard hit

Accordingly, there were particularly strong slumps in the tourism industry and in the hotel and restaurant sector. By the end of April, an average of every third apprenticeship position was no longer offered compared to 2019. But also in large occupational groups in the craft, for example in food production, the metal industry and in some technical professions, thousands fewer training positions were reported. The SWR -Data analysis shows that all federal states are affected by the development – albeit to different degrees.

Young people feel insecure

The Federal Employment Agency attributes the decline in training places and applicants primarily to the Corona crisis. “This mainly reflects the pandemic restrictions and the associated economic uncertainties,” it says SWR -Inquiry. Young people are also unsettled because personal consultations were more difficult in the pandemic and, for example, training fairs were canceled. “We also suspect that some of the young people are withdrawing from the dual training market in the current situation and switching from the outset to alternatives such as further schooling or possibly studying,” says the Federal Employment Agency. In addition to the corona crisis, changes in the labor market, for example in the automotive and supplier industry, as well as demographic change have contributed to the development.

Can the gap still be closed?

For labor market experts like Stefan Sell from the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences, the development is alarming. “These are extremely strong slumps, they are extraordinarily high.” Sell ​​therefore fears long-term consequences if fewer young people start an apprenticeship in the fall of the new training year. “Losses of this magnitude could never be made up again.” Past crises would have shown that. “Unfortunately, we have to expect that the level of apprenticeships will remain significantly lower overall than before the Corona crisis,” said Sell. From the labor market expert Sell’s point of view, it is particularly problematic that such occupational groups are also affected in which companies already need an above-average long time to fill vacancies. According to calculations by the Institute for Employment Research, for example, companies in the field of mechatronics and in some technical and health professions are looking for skilled workers for a particularly long time. “Even before Corona, we did not train enough in these professions,” says Sell.

Criticism of “small funding programs” by the government

The SWR data analysis shows: It is precisely in these occupational groups that there are now also significant drops in the number of applicants. At least one in ten applicants broke away there compared to the time before Corona. Labor market expert Sell sees the significant drop in applicants in the professions with a shortage of skilled workers extremely critical. “In some of these areas, such as the health professions, we will run into significant shortages,” said Sell. The responsible Federal Ministry of Education divided up SWR request with, you take the decline in the training market very seriously. That is why a program to secure training positions was decided last summer, which for example provides training and employment bonuses as well as grants for training and trainer remuneration. 700 million euros are earmarked for this and the coming year. Sell, however, criticizes that the program is insufficient to cushion the decline in the training market. “This is a small funding program, one should have set clearer signals.” The program was also too late and too complicated for companies.

Text | Chinese Business Strategies by Wu Su

In the Chinese food arena, Wang Shouyi’s thirteen incense and Lao Ganma are household names, and countless people have used them since childhood, and they can be called “national grandpa” and “national grandma” brands.

Both were once beautiful.

As early as 1998, the annual income of Wang Shouyi’s thirteen incense reached 400 million yuan, relying on “composite seasonings” to build a huge condiment business empire.

Laoganma is even more synonymous with hot sauce. There is no marketing, no financing, no loans, no listing, and only with unique taste and low price, the market coverage rate in all parts of the country is as high as 90%, and even exported to foreign countries. Wherever there is, there is an old godmother.”

In 2019, Laoganma’s annual sales exceeded 5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.43%, a record high.

It seems that these two national brands still have a huge consumer market, but in fact, due to domestic and foreign difficulties, their sense of existence is getting weaker and weaker.

First of all, the younger generations feel that it is too slow to make money from selling spices and hot sauces, and they can’t sit on the “cold bench”, trying to make quick money from the real estate market, but they are all killed.

Wang Taibai, the grandson of Wang Shouyi, who held tens of millions in cash at the age of 20, was the “successor” that the second-generation leader once deliberately cultivated. He hoarded dozens of properties in the UK. He did not expect to encounter the financial crisis and almost lost all of them. Property, only relying on the family to “assistance” can get through the difficulties.

Similarly, Lao Ganma Tao Huabi’s eldest son Li Guishan Nuggets Real Estate, also touched his nose.

The real estate company of which Li Guishan is the second shareholder develops a real estate, but it has been unable to accept it due to construction problems, project balance problems, etc., and is involved in a lawsuit. In addition, this company suffered serious losses. From 2013 to 2017, it had a total debt of 950 million yuan. It frequently appeared on the list of untrustworthy executors and was involved in nearly a hundred judicial cases.

In addition to the huge resource loss caused by cross-border, the hunting of copycat products has also reduced the influence of Wang Shouyi Shisanxiang and Lao Ganma.

In the field of compound seasonings, the “fifteen incense” and “eighteen incense” have sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain, and they have fought guerrilla warfare with the “genuine products”. To this day, in some cities, these “li ghosts” sell more than the “genuine products” it is good.

Lao Gan Ma was also troubled by copycats and had to apply for registration of trademarks such as “Lao Gan Da”, “Lao Gan Da”, “Lao Qian Ma” and “Lao Shi Ma”.

Outside of the cottage, the “encirclement and suppression” of competitors made it even more difficult for them to resist.

Totole, Yihai International, which provides the base material for Haidilao, and Zhongjing Food, which uses mushroom sauce to beat the world, are all accelerating their attack on the city. Wang Shouyi’s thirteen incense is particularly silent.

Lao Gan Ma was chased by Lee Kum Kee and Spice Girls, and online marketing was relatively weak. At the beginning of the year, the media compared the hot sauce data with the highest monthly sales in each brand’s flagship store. The hot sauce brand “Fan Ye” founded by singer Lin Yilun had five times more than Lao Ganma.

Unfavorable factors are superimposed, Wang Shouyi Shisanxiang and Lao Ganma no longer have the style of the former leaders, but this also forces them to think about changes, and new growth points may be bred in them.

——END——

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The Riverview Company has dug numerous wells in Arizona over the past six years. Photo: Guardian. Cynthia Beltran arrives in Sunizona, the center of Cochise County in the state of Arizona, USA in the fall of 2020. Although the area lacks potable water, Beltran can’t do anything because of financial constraints. Also due to lack of money, she accepted to manage 100 USD a week to buy water, instead of spending 15,000 USD to deepen the existing well in the new apartment. With a man with only a part-time job, Beltran soon surrendered to the $100-a-week payment and was forced to live with the help of his neighbors. “I’ve run out of options,” she said. Beltran is not the only case of the Willcox basin, which is about 5,200 square kilometers in Arizona. According to the state Department of Water Resources (ADWR), 78 wells dug between 2015 and 2019 have dried up. This number could increase to 100 in a few months. Several homes in Sunizona have been abandoned because the owners cannot afford to deepen an existing well or dig a new one. However, even with the ability to pay, there is no guarantee the drilling will be successful. Sunizona residents attribute the situation to the fact that Riverview, based in Minnesota, began digging wells with depths of 300-800 meters. They’ve been doing this since the beginning of 2015, and they’re causing the groundwater level to drop more and more. Riverview is not the first well drilling company in Sunizona, but they are the largest and deepest digging organization. Within 5 years, from January 2015 to November 2020, the number of wells in the area increased from 494 to 898. Kevin Wulf, a spokesman for Riverview, acknowledged the impact of the increase in the number of wells but believes it is not the only cause. “It is rumored that we came to dry the valley, then left. But no way, we do.” There is no question that Riverview changed the economic landscape of the Willcox Basin in just a few years. The company turned this place into an economic center thanks to the dairy farming and trading industry. They spent $38 million to buy Coronado dairy cows and bid for 2,600 hectares of land in the Kansas Settlement, north of Sunizona, on the day they started their business. To date, the company has spent about $180 million more to own more than 20,000 hectares of land, mostly agricultural land. The size of the company’s cow herd is estimated at about 150,000 cows. Sources close to Riverview say that the parent company prefers to invest in Arizona because the natural and climatic conditions are similar to the California valley where they have been successful. In addition, in this western state, there is no law regulating the amount of water pumped by each farmer household. “The Willcox Basin is the Wild West. The water there is free to use without any strings attached. As long as you have money to drill a well, you have water and no other planning or reporting,” said Kristine Uhlman, a retired hydrologist at the University of Arizona. Surrounded by five mountain ranges, the aquifer of the Willcox Basin is abundant. Before large-scale agricultural pumping started around 1940, the aquifers there had enough water to service Tucson, the nearest major city at the time, for 970 years, ADWR reports. Unlike the Southwest, the saline part of the aquifer of the Willcox Basin is only about 30 meters, and most of it is fresh water below. Uhlman says that in some areas, groundwater can be several kilometers above the surface. Because of this speculation, the Riverview Company and water-starved farmers have been descending into the valley for about a decade. However, due to lack of management, from 1940 to 2015, the groundwater level here decreased from 60 to 90 meters compared to the pre-development level. A retired ADWR official said the rate of decline increased from 0.6-1.2 meters a year before 2015 to 0.9-1.5 meters a year after 2015, when Riverview arrived. business. A water well in Arizona has risen by nearly 1 meter due to drought. Photo: AZ. According to an independent study by ADWR, Riverview drilled about 21% of the 315 new wells between January 2015 and October 2019. Specific numbers were not disclosed, but Riverview spokesman Wulf said: “Our total water usage is carefully monitored internally. We support state law that requires the measurement of all rural wells. This proposal has stalled in recent years, because of objections from other farmers.” Riverview’s claim to reduce water use causes a lot of skepticism. Two veteran local farmers, Joe Salvail and John Hart, say that while many residents have left their homes due to lack of water, Riverview has ramped up off-season planting, maintaining a two-crop-a-year rate. These factors increase the total amount of water used. In 2015, a group of farmers, ranchers, and government officials proposed the installation of meters on wells. Even so, the plan has created deep divisions within the community and the state legislature. “The leaders back then had no say. Almost no one wants to talk about it anymore,” Hart said. The prospect of Sunizona in particular and Arizona in general, in the long term, is forecasted to be bleak. According to ADWR research, if pumping levels are kept at the current level, water levels will drop by as much as 280 meters in the Kansas Settlement by 2115, compared with 1940 levels. According to the agency, most of the water remains in the strata The reservoir will be so deep that it will be almost impossible to pump up. “The reality is Riverview is drawing water from the bottom. It’s like when you suck water from a bucket, you’ll have water until it’s empty. While people with shorter straws, they get nothing.” hydrologist Uhlman commented. In addition to the state of Arizona, the US also issued an urgent notice about the risk of water shortage in the state of Nevada. The main reason, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation, is climate change causing less snow and ice to flow into lakes and rivers. In addition, hotter temperatures dry the soil, causing more river water to evaporate as it flows through the drought-stricken western United States.

Musk cows in Greenland. Photo: Caff The habitat of animals in the Arctic has an area of ​​​​about 7 million square kilometers with an extremely cold, dry climate, strong winds in each season. The species living in this environment have adapted to survive and thrive in the harsh environment. But the climate crisis has taken a toll on their survival, according to the report on Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity, published by the Arctic Flora Conservation Working Group (Caff. ) belongs to AC. “Climate change is a major driver of change in terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic and is likely to increase the magnitude of the impact, multidimensional, and unpredictable,” the report said. above said. The temperature in the Arctic is increasing at twice the rate of the rest of the world. This situation leads to extreme weather events that cause southern species to move north and spread pathogens among species inhabiting the area. During the AC ministerial meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland on Thursday, a report assessing the status and development trends of Arctic species was released for the first time, following a five-year assessment. Caff’s 2017 on Marine Biodiversity. This report draws on decades of biodiversity monitoring in the area to provide an overview of the changes that have occurred here. In some parts of the Arctic, the number of important pollinating flies has decreased by 80% between 1996 and 2014. Photo: Caff At the Zackenberg research station in northeastern Greenland, scientists have found that important species such as pollinators have reduced their populations by 80% between 1996–2014. This data reflects the disparity between the timing of flowering of plants and pollinator activity caused by climate. The researchers also found that more than 50% of the 88 species of seabirds surveyed had declined in number, and up to 20% of the species were severely reduced. “On the Arctic tundra, seabirds are the most diverse group of birds,” said Paul Allen Smith, biologist and avian expert who contributed to the report. It is also estimated based on different climate scenarios that 80% of seabird species living in the high Arctic could also lose most of their habitat and breeding grounds in the next 50 years. Photo: Caff With reindeer herds migrating from Russia to Alaska, Ms. Christine Cuyler, an expert and consultant of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, said: “The number of reindeer individuals is always fluctuating, changing irregularly and there is a change in the number of reindeer individuals. abundance cycle”. “But in some cases, the amplitude of the fluctuation is tending to increase. Now, we are seeing fluctuations in the number of these species falling beyond historical records,” Ms. Cuyler pointed out. The majority of forest reindeer populations and species migrating to the Arctic tundra have declined in recent years. The Bathurst reindeer herd alone, which stretches from Canada’s Northwest Territories to Nunavut, has declined by 98% between 1986 and 2018. Ms. Cuyler said a number of factors that make this animal unable to survive the winter could be responsible for this decline, including the depletion of the main food source, snowfall, insects. pest infestation,… Rising temperatures in the Arctic also cause new pathogens to emerge that adversely affect the health of some species. In 2012, an outbreak of erysipelas, a bacterial infection that affects the skin, killed about 150 musk cows on Banks Island. “Bacteria are present all over the world, but when it comes to the Arctic, it’s completely unusual,” Cuyler said. “It usually won’t work in areas with low temperatures, cold climates. Things are changing as the Arctic is warming.” Furthermore, due to global warming climate change, mammal species are moving north. It is likely that the condition will become a source of parasites and new diseases, directly affecting species living in the area. The report also shows some facts about species that migrate to the Arctic, such as: red foxes compete with and even kill arctic foxes for lairs. In Alaska, brown bears are also competing for muskox habitat. “What’s happening is completely different from before and it’s devastating,” Cuyler said. As species move north, terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic will increasingly shrink. “Extreme weather events – wildfires or devastating insects – will have systemic consequences for many years in the Arctic,” said Niels Martin Schmidt, a researcher at Aarhus University and also a researcher at Aarhus University. participants reported, emphasized. Sapphire According to The Guardian

The global chip shortage could last until 2023. (Source: Nikkei) Came in by surprise The Covid-19 pandemic was the first to cause the global economy to fall into recession last year, disrupting supply chains and changing consumer shopping patterns. So, to cope with the pandemic, automakers are forced to cut chip orders in 2020, while chip manufacturing companies also reduce production activities. But the rapid recovery and mis-predictions of car buyer demand have caused automakers to rush to place orders in large quantities. Meanwhile, the supply of semiconductor chips is not enough. In addition, the US government’s sanctions on Chinese technology corporations, plus consumers who bought many laptops, game consoles and other electronic products during the pandemic led to Inventory is getting smaller and smaller. Although computer chips are not very complicated or expensive, they are an integral part of making electronic devices and household items. Shortages are getting worse, spreading from the car industry to the consumer electronics market. Estimates by the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association say about 75% of global manufacturing capacity is in East Asia, led by TSMC (Taiwan) and Samsung (Korea). U.S. semiconductor companies account for 47 percent of global chip sales, but only 12 percent of global output is produced here. The shortfall is due to Asian companies investing too little in 8-inch chip factories. These companies have struggled to ramp up production as demand for 5G phones and laptops grew faster than expected. Qualcomm Inc, Samsung’s smartphone chip maker, is one of the major chipmakers struggling to keep up with consumer demand. Apple’s main supplier Foxconn also warned about the lack of chips affecting the supply chain for customers. Widespread impact The chip crisis hit the car industry first, especially on the productivity and sales of big companies like General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen. According to market research firm IHS Markit, the shortage of electronic chips affected the production process of 1.3 million cars and trucks worldwide in the first quarter of 2021. The company’s report also shows that the Renesas chip plant fire in Japan in March, as well as disruption to chip factories due to severe winter weather in Texas, will cause shortages. becomes serious. Last month, the British mini-car maker said it had suspended production lines for three days because of chip shortages. Recently, Ford also warned that the number of products is at risk of falling to 1.1 million vehicles this year. At the end of last year, the impact of the chip shortage crisis spread to consumer electronics. Last month, Apple’s financials indicated that the company would suffer losses of between three and four billion dollars in the first two quarters of the year, with the biggest impact on Mac and iPad products. Recently, Chinese technology giant Xiaomi increased the prices of some TV models, citing the fact that the price of key components increased higher than before. Meanwhile, two electronics groups Samsung of Korea and Sony of Japan also simultaneously increased product prices. In addition, the crisis has begun to affect China’s home appliance manufacturing sector. The world’s largest maker of home appliances, Midea Group, said the price of chips used to make home appliances would soar if the global chip shortage persists. The biggest impact from the chip crisis is still consumers. While demand for consumer electronics and automotive items tends to be quite price-sensitive, a reduced supply can increase the price of affected items by 1-3%. This could temporarily boost inflation later this year. Chip pressure has pushed up car prices in the US. New prices averaged $37,200 in the first quarter, up 8.4% year-over-year. Meanwhile, production disruptions due to chip shortages will continue. CEO of chip maker Infineon (Germany) Reinhard Ploss estimated that it will take about two years for chip supply and demand to be balanced. THIUY VUY (according to SCMP/Reuters)

If the prediction is correct, mid- and high-end phones will be equipped with OLED screens, while LCD screens will be for more affordable models. The advantage of OLED screens is improved color reproduction and contrast, as well as the depth of dark areas. In addition, the LEDs are small in size, so they are also more suitable for a thin phone case, while saving more energy. The two technology firms from Korea have a plan to cooperate in the field of OLED screens, in which Samsung will buy OLED panels from LG to equip its products. Photo: The Wired. However, some are concerned that the switch to OLED technology will increase the cost of smartphones. Therefore, to reduce costs, technology firms will have to think of many different ways to cut production and installation costs, in which the use of low-quality screens is one solution. In addition, some recent sources also said that two Korean technology giants, Samsung and LG, will soon announce a cooperation in the production of OLED panels. Specifically, Samsung will for the first time in history buy OLED panels from LG to fit into its upcoming smart TV models. As expected, Samsung will probably buy about 4 million OLED panels from LG in 2022. In addition, it also plans to buy OLED screens from BOE, a Chinese technology equipment manufacturer, to equip some mid-range phones like Galaxy M.

“I’m really surprised! VinSmart has entered the top 3 brands in Vietnam, and the top 20 in Asia by the end of 2020. They still have many opportunities in the near future when 5G networks are more popular in Asian countries. Asia, Africa, with cheaper usage,” said Neil Mawston, global head of telecommunications at research firm Strategy Analytics. Zing . VinSmart’s smartphone production may be hampered by a global chip shortage. When asked if a reason for the decision could be found, Mr. Mawston suggested that the global chip crisis could be a factor. Not just a single name, this crisis is making many smartphone manufacturers difficult. Many firms face difficulties in the global crisis hoảng “In terms of sales volume, VinSmart is still a small smartphone company in terms of scale. I think small firms are suffering the most because of the chip shortage crisis,” said Anshel Sag, an analyst at the company. Moor Insights & Strategy shared with Zing. The crisis of the semiconductor industry began with the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. At that time, manufacturers thought that user demand would also decrease. However, the truth is the opposite. Due to long-term stay at home, people buy more technology. They buy more powerful computers, bigger screens to work from home. Children can buy new laptops to study at home. TVs, game consoles, and home appliances all increased sales. Chip companies like TSMC are working at more than 100% capacity to reduce the impact of the chip industry crisis. Photo: Reuters. The pandemic has turned into a month-long shopping festival. Therefore, the demand for chips also increased sharply. In the world, there are only a few outsourcing companies possessing modern technology to provide chips for smartphones. When every industry wants to increase production, the supply cannot meet. “Small firms are at a disadvantage because their scale is not large enough, leading to very thin profit margins. In the smartphone industry, scale is very important. It takes a lot of smartphones to be able to negotiate flexible prices. good conditions,” said Mr. Sag when asked about the difficulties of small smartphone manufacturers. In the first quarter financial report published at the end of April, Apple CEO Tim Cook also warned about chip shortages. The head of Apple said that it was not the demand that fell, but the lack of chip supply was the company’s biggest concern in the second quarter. Apple CEO also acknowledged that the company may face difficulties in the near future because of chip shortages. Photo: Cnet. “We think there will be a problem with supply. The chip shortage will mainly affect iPads and Macs. We also control our demand fairly well, but cannot comment on demand from vendors. different,” the Apple CEO told investors. Haven’t found a solution yet Currently, the smartphone market is only a game of a few big companies. One-time names like Sony accepted to downsize, selling only 400,000 units in the first quarter as they tried to keep the Xperia brand for a while. The chip crisis will make it even more difficult for small-scale smartphone companies in the near future. VinSmart has entered the top 3 brands in Vietnam, and the top 20 in Asia by the end of 2020. They also have many opportunities in the near future when 5G networks are more popular in Asian and African countries, with fees. cheaper to use. – Neil Mawston, Global Head of Telecommunications at research firm Strategy Analytics “When producing on a small scale, these companies will be the first affected by the lack of supply, increasing prices. It should also be remembered that suppliers still prioritize serving large, most important customers. theirs,” commented Mr. Anshel Sag. According to Neil Mawston, in addition to the main processor, another component, the screen, also increased in price by about 15%. This is also a consequence of the chip crisis, because every screen on a smartphone must have a control chip. “The pandemic, social distancing, and competition for supplies with other products such as tablets, laptops and electric vehicles have put the smartphone component supply chain in the most stressful state in years.” Mr. Neil Mawston shared. In a recent interview, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said that the chip shortage could last until the end of 2021. Therefore, difficulties are still ahead for many companies producing technology products. Cars are the manufacturing sector hardest hit by chip shortages. Technology manufacturers may also be affected in the near future. Photo: Automotive News. When asked more about VinSmart, Mr. Neil Mawston said that he was surprised because Vsmart smartphones have a certain market share in the domestic market. This analyst believes that this is one of the big advantages to be able to expand into the regional market. “Every major smartphone maker uses the domestic market as a platform to go regional or global. Apple’s iPhone was successful in the US and then expanded to other countries. The story is similar to Huawei in China. Korea, and Samsung in Korea. VinSmart is also open to growth in Southeast Asia. Therefore, we find it difficult to understand when they decide to stop producing smartphones, especially when the opportunity for 5G is very close, “Mr. Mawston said.

Colonial Pipeline’s Dorsey hub in Maryland, USA. Photo: Reuters The difficulty in fuel supply has raised concerns that gasoline prices at pumping stations will escalate during the peak summer travel season. Colonial Pipeline said the company is trying to resume operations this weekend after its fuel pipeline system was paralyzed since May 7 after being hit by a cyber attack. The shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline’s fuel pipeline system shut down nearly half of the US East Coast’s fuel supply. The US Energy Administration on May 10 called for mandatory cybersecurity standards for fuel pipeline operators and operators. “Incentivizing the voluntary application of standards to pipelines is inadequate,” said US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Glick. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has accused a cybercriminal group called “DarkSide” of causing a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline. Reuters news agency quoted cybersecurity experts as saying that DarkSide is based in Russia or Eastern Europe, so the gang usually avoids targeting computers that use the languages ​​of the former Soviet republics. However, US President Joe Biden on May 10 expressed he did not believe that the Russian government was behind the cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline. “So far there is no evidence based on our intelligence that Russia is involved,” Biden said. A statement titled DarkSide group on May 10 stated: “Our goal is to make money and not create problems for society.” Ransomware attack is a type of malware designed to disable computers by encrypting data and blackmailing victims if they want to regain system access. It is not clear what price the hackers offered for Colonial Pipeline, and the company has not commented on the matter. Fuel demand in the southeastern United States has increased sharply in recent days as consumers fear fuel shortages. The Southeastern region of the United States has long depended mainly on the supply of fuel flowing through the Colonial Pipeline’s pipeline system. The average national gasoline price rose 6 cents to $2.96 a gallon last week, the highest since May 2018 and close to a peak set in 2014, the American Automobile Association said. also warned of speculation about fuel hoarding as the supply continued to decrease. Katina Willey, a resident of Florida on May 10, said she had to go to 5 gas stations to buy gas. “Consumers have to wait in long lines at three of the five gas stations I go to,” added Katina Willey. Many other car owners said they were also looking to refill their gas tanks out of fear that the fuel situation could worsen. If the Colonial Pipeline’s pipeline disruptions continue, fuel suppliers may be able to force fuel transportation by trucks and trains to partially ease the fuel shortage. The US Department of Transportation on May 9 lifted travel restrictions for fuel truck drivers in 17 states affected by supply disruptions.

Today, chips are in everything from game consoles and toothbrushes to washing machines and alarm clocks. However, the world is facing a serious chip crisis, showing no signs of stopping. Glenn O’Donnell, vice president of research at consulting firm Forrester, believes the situation will last until 2023 due to high demand and continued supply stress. He forecast personal computer demand will decline slightly next year, while data centers will buy more chips. According to him, combined with the growth in cloud computing and mining, the demand for chips is going to explode. According to Patrick Armstrong, IT director of Plurimi Investment Managers, the chip crisis could last 18 months. There are too many products that require chips such as cars, phones, IoT… All connected to the Internet. The car industry is affected more than any other sector. Earlier this month, the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC said it could catch up with car demand in June. But Mr. Armstrong said that was too ambitious. Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen all stressed they had production bottlenecks and couldn’t buy enough chips needed to build cars. Research firm Gartner predicts the chip crisis will continue until 2021, not to mention chip prices also increase. Analyst Alan Priestley said the situation could improve for some sectors in the next six months, but there could also be a “chain effect” into 2022. The semiconductor industry is doing everything to increase productivity but need time. In fact, Intel announced to spend $ 20 billion for two new chip factories in Arizona, USA. According to Mr. Priestley, it will take two to three years for these plants to operate but it will meet future demand. Reinhard Ploss, CEO of German chip maker Infineon, said last week that it “clearly takes time” until supply and demand balance. According to Wenzhe Zhao, Credit Suisse’s director of global economics and strategy, the recent chip crisis has encouraged inventory stockpiling in the supply chain, leading to a widening supply-demand gap. Not much can be done to solve the current situation, he said, except to adjust orders, production schedules and prices. Du Lam (According to CNBC)

In the remote Indian village of Chogath, Jeetu, a local pharmacist, has become the only source of medical assistance for people with Covid-19. The second wave of Covid-19 in India has devastated major cities and parts of this country. The hospitals have run out of oxygen and medicine. Jeetu, local pharmacist and volunteer doctor in Chogath village. Photo: CNN But in rural states and remote villages, the workforce of doctors and clinics is even scarcer. The people here have to fight the epidemic on their own without receiving any medical care. Chogath is a farming community in the western state of Gujarat. It is home to about 7,400 people, according to the 2011 census. Earlier this week, Mr. Jeetu said that there were about 500-600 cases of Covid-19 in Chogath village. Villagers also reported a sudden increase in the number of people dying from the disease. However, there were not any doctors or medical staff in the village. Meanwhile, the nearest city is more than an hour’s drive from the village. There are clinics in a number of neighboring towns, but these also run out of beds and other necessary medical equipment. As the number of illnesses and deaths in Chogath village spiked, Mr. Jeetu took on the role of a doctor. With his experience as a pharmacist, Mr. Jeetu prescribes medicine and supplies oxygen to the patients in the village. “No one is here, there is no medical center, no doctors, no nurses. There are no medical facilities in this village. So I settled in the way I saw fit, ”Mr. Jeetu said. India is facing a severe Covid-19 crisis that takes place everywhere, from the capital New Delhi to the smallest villages and towns. The second wave of Covid-19 has made millions of people in India sick in the past month and thousands dying every day. With more than 23 million cases of Covid-19, India is now the second most affected country in the world after the US epidemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In Chogath, the lack of medical resources forced people to travel to surrounding towns in hopes of finding hospital beds. Dinesh Makwana, a resident of the village of Chogath, said he tried to put his father with Covid-19 into four different hospitals in the neighboring towns, but there were no vacancies. He had no choice but to bring his father, who had been diagnosed with a serious illness, back home. “All villagers are afraid” “We were shocked by the second wave of Covid-19. The whole village was very shocked, everyone was scared, ”Mr. Makwana said. Makwana says that many people in the village died from Covid-19. “I am very scared. I worry my father will die, ”he said. Makwana tried to send her father with Covid-19 to four different hospitals in the neighboring towns, but all had no vacancies. Photo: CNN Jeetu has provided some medicine to help stabilize Makwana’s father. However, the Makwana family’s troubles are not over as his sister and mother are also sick. “I am very worried about my family. If I die my family will be broken. I’m not afraid of death, I’m just worried about my wife, ”said Makwana’s father, Jivraj. Girjashankar, 70, a resident of Chogath, helped families in the village cremate deceased loved ones. He cut wood from the forests and loaded it on tractors and drove it back to the village, preparing for cremation for the deceased. Mr. Girjashankar said that each year about 30 people in Chogath village died, but only in the past month they cremated 90 bodies. The Indian government attempted to cope with the Covid-19 crisis by sending oxygen supplies to various states and distributing aid from abroad. However, the scarcity of medical supplies means most aid will go to the most populous and most affected states. Therefore, small villages like Chogath have to fight the pandemic on their own. “We don’t have doctors. We have no way to get to the bigger hospitals, ”said Girjashankar. Jeetu said he was “very angry” at the fact that people here do not receive medical care and lack of help from the authorities. “What can I do by myself? We don’t have a solution, the people here are very poor, ”said Mr. Jeetu. The villagers of Chogath had no choice but to wait for help. “All the people in the village are scared. It has been 15-20 days no one left the house. Everyone feels scared, ”Makwana said.

With the record-high new Covid-19 cases, a nation of 1.3 billion people needs huge amounts of medical oxygen every day to cater to the treatment of its patients. This has caused a boom in the black market oxygen trade, where only the very rich can afford it, and families desperately looking for oxygen for loved ones with Covid-19 are susceptible to scams. “On the black market, an oxygen tank, which costs between $ 81 and $ 135 depending on size, is currently being pushed up to $ 812 to $ 1,354. This condition is an indirect cause of the death of patients who have no relationship or money, ”said Divyansh Pandey (25 years old) volunteer in the state of Uttar Pradesh, said. Medical oxygen in India has become an expensive commodity due to the soaring cases of Covid-19. Photo: Getty. The average price of a medical oxygen on the black market, about $ 1,080, is higher than the average monthly income of 1% of the country’s richest people. Conventional drugs, which cost $ 67, are now pushed up to $ 810. Pandey has helped dozens of Covid-19 patients find hospital beds, medical oxygen, oxygen generators and essential medicines. Pandey said he was forced to consider the supply from the black market after repeatedly failing to find and buy the items at the original prices. “The saddest thing is that the black market is openly open and hoarders casually sell it on social media. Non-governmental organizations and official sources often distribute these items for free or sell at original prices, but in small quantities and often out of stock quickly, sometimes within an hour. ” Crisis India currently records more than 20 million cases of SARS-CoV-2, more than 220,000 deaths. Experts say the reason for this dire number is the lack of beds and medicine. “When demand is too much and supply is insufficient, we are forced to sell imported oxygen generators for 10 times the price,” said an anonymous supplier at the Delhi black market. According to data submitted by the Indian government to the Supreme Court, the country has three times more medical oxygen than it needs in 12 states, with about 16,000 tons of liquid oxygen to meet the estimated demand of 4,880. tons last week. However, activists point out that the system only monitors hospital resources, not those needed by Covid-19 patients in home isolation. Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that oxygen production has increased 60% to address the crisis, volunteers and suppliers pointed out that problems such as transportation and logistics could hinder the arrival of oxygen cylinders. people’s hands. The price of medical oxygen in the black market has been pushed up many times because of the high demand. Photo: AFP. The lack of oxygen has even made many Indians recklessly experiment with making oxygen at home. At the end of April, many YouTubers posted videos showing people how to make oxygen using easy-to-find sources, available at home. Many of these are new high school students. “We created oxygen in the lab before using electrolysis and easy-to-find chemicals like potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide,” said Kirtharth Tiwari (16), whose video received more than 50,000 views. . Then, Tiwari also made the next video instructing people how to filter oxygen to use, avoiding the risk of an exothermic reaction by using a cold storage bag. “Two people reached out and said that following my instructions worked,” said Rahul Soni, another YouTuber with more than 300,000 video views. However, experts warn against doing such experiments at home because it can lead to dangerous explosions. YouTube has removed both videos for violation of community guidelines. Last week, the Delhi High Court ordered the state government to cut back to stop the proliferation of a “black oxygen” market. However, the situation is still developing complicatedly.

COVID-19 patients must share a bed at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital, New Delhi, India. Photo: Reuters Are there oxygen scarcity in hospitals? The current emergency scarcity is not because India has run out of oxygen. The main problem is that the oxygen does not get to the hospital in time. The delay was due to the very remote location of the oxygen production facilities, the large redistribution network and partly due to the government’s “bad scheme”. Over the course of the past week, several hospitals in the capital New Delhi, which are incapable of meeting a large demand for oxygen, have called for an urgent supply of oxygen. However, at the same time, the epidemic situation in the neighboring New Delhi states such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana was also very bad, the number of hospitalized patients was overloaded, making factories have to give priority to meeting demand. local bridge. Therefore, hospitals in the capital have to order factories further from the industrial zones in the east of India. Why is the oxygen delivery delayed? Industrial oxygen production plants that serve the Indian capital are located in seven different states. Some factories are more than 1,000 kilometers from New Delhi. A vehicle transports oxygen outside an oxygen plant in Ghaziabad, a suburb of New Delhi, India. Photo: Reuters Due to the flammable nature of this material, all shipments of liquefied oxygen must be transported in special storage tanks, with detailed transportation plans to ensure timely deliveries, the source bear the name said. Over the past few days, as the interstate medical oxygen scramble in India worsens, some local authorities have disrupted the oxygen delivery to meet their local needs. before. As a result, Delhi received only 177 tons of pure oxygen on April 21, instead of 378 tons as allocated. However, some local sources said that hospitals in New Delhi have ordered without including the time to transport oxygen across many states by land. “It won’t happen if states plan and order two to three weeks earlier,” the source said. The Delhi government also did not respond to the plan to buy oxygen. Does India have enough oxygen production capacity? Medical personnel check oxygen tanks at a temporary quarantine facility in New Delhi. Photo: Bloomberg India’s daily production capacity can amount to at least 7,100 tons of oxygen, including for industrial purposes. This is enough to meet current demand. This week, the Government of India has decided to allocate 6,822 tons of liquid oxygen per day to the 20 states most affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. This is larger than the total demand of the localities with 6,785 tons, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Office said. On April 12, the amount of oxygen required by the health sector was only about 3,842 tons, just over half of the allotted oxygen, when the cases had not yet risen sharply. According to the Office of the Prime Minister of India, the oxygen capacity of India has increased by 3,300 tons in just a few days thanks to the shift of production of steel mills and industrial units to the medical sector. What will India do to deal with the oxygen crisis? Relatives funnel a victim who died of COVID-19 in a cemetery in New Delhi. Photo: Reuters. The government has mobilized Indian cargo ships to transport oxygen tanks from the factory to locations in most urgent need. In partnership with industrial gas corporation Linde India (LIND.NS) and many other companies, India is also using Air Force cargo jets to deliver empty tanks to production plants. Then, these tanks are refilled again and returned by road. In addition, the Indian armed forces are importing 23 mobile oxygen production machines from Germany to prepare for a worse situation. Many other industries are also reported to be supporting pure oxygen in hospitals. India’s multidisciplinary Tata group has imported 24 specialized containers for the transportation of liquid oxygen. An employee dismantles the oxygen tank from the car down to feed it into an oxygen pump plant. Photo: Reuters The government also issued an order to convert argon and nitrogen storage tanks for medical oxygen transportation. However, experts predict that India will face an increasing trend of daily cases in the next few weeks. Therefore, the country will have to increase production and distribution of these special types of medical supplies in the coming days.

“I promise to take them home,” said Rommel, the man’s voice distorted behind the two masks he wore on his face. Mr. Rommel finally broke his promise. Just three days later, Rommel’s brother Juan Carlos, 52 years old, died waiting for his turn to be used in the active treatment room at Rebagliati hospital in the capital Lima. The very next day, Rommel’s 80-year-old mother died of encephalitis, a symptom the doctor said was Covid-19. Four days after the mother’s death, Rommel’s father also passed away. “The pain is really so great, I cannot face this truth,” Mr. Rommel could not hide his agony. Massacre in South America On April 18, Peru experienced the deadliest day since the pandemic broke out with 433 patients dying of Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 57,000. New strains, the most serious of which are strain P1, are pushing Peru into the next wave of epidemics, the country’s authorities warned. And Peru is no exception in South America. Latin American countries are in despair when the P1 strain spreads faster than ever, making the epidemic situation worse and worse. New cases and deaths rose again in Argentina, Boliva, Peru, Venezueala and Uruguay, with the P1 strain being thought to be the cause behind the new epidemic wave. Hospitals in many South American cities are overcrowded due to too many patients with Covid-19. Photo: AP. “The Brazilian sea of ​​strains has infiltrated nearly every corner of the region,” warned Peruvian Health Minister Osscar Ugarte. Peru, one of the most serious outbreaks in the world, is now entering the deadliest phase of the pandemic. Ester Sabino, a Brazilian scientist tracking the spread of the P1 strain, said genetic analysis confirmed the P1 strain appeared from the city of Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazon in the second half of November 2020. In just a few weeks, Manaus gained worldwide fame after city hospitals were overwhelmed by a surge in patients. The P1 strain knocked out the medical system at the places it passed, depleting the oxygen stores, causing many patients to die from not receiving timely treatment. “What we are witnessing is a massacre,” said a health worker at Manaus. Sabino initially hoped the Brazilian epidemic, along with the spread of the P1 strain, could be under control by 2021 when the vaccine begins to be widely distributed. But the Brazilian authorities failed. The spread of the P1 strain is now completely out of control. In Araraquara, a city south of Sao Paulo, a blockade was issued after the outbreak of P1 positive cases. Across Brazil, hospitals are overflowing with Covid-19 patients, many of them in their youths, in contrast to what happened in the early onset of the epidemic. The number of deaths in Brazil doubled in just three months, from 195,000 in early January to more than 384,000 as of April 23. “This strain not only spread much more strongly, it also significantly reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine, increasing the rate of re-infection,” said Antonio Quispe, a Peruvian epidemiologist. Quispe described the P1 strain spreading “quickly and brutally”, bringing a bad nightmare to South America. Incubator of dangerous strains Fearing new strains with vaccine resistance, governments of some countries have tightened traffic control and closed borders with South America. Recently, France has banned all flights from Brazil, French Prime Minister Jean Castex explained that Brazil is experiencing a “terrible” epidemic. “Europe has the right to fear what is happening in Brazil. The more the virus spreads, the more new strains appear. The situation is now extremely, extremely serious,” said Marcos Boulos, infectious disease expert. from the University of Sao Paulo, said. South American countries, where the epidemic is spreading out of control, provide ideal environments for the incubation of new virus strains, Boulos warned. Mr. Boulos’s judgment was correct in India. Variant B.1.617 – Indian variant – is the product of the superinfection in the South Asian country. Last week, India has twice set a world record for corona virus cases on April 22-23. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened the health crisis to a “hurricane” that swept across the country. Scientist Miguel Nicolelis criticizes President Jair Bolsonaro’s erroneous strategy that has turned Brazil, South America’s most populous nation, into a global corona virus threat. The coffin carrying the body of the deceased Covid-19 patient is taken to a cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. Photo: AFP. “Brazil is now like an incubator, creating all kinds of strains of the virus,” said Nicolelis. While some mutations can weaken the virus, others have the potential to make the virus spread more aggressively, or increase their virulence, the scientist warns. Scientists also rang alarm bells about the epidemic situation in India’s 1.3 billion population. “Change can happen even faster there. India is paving the way for the advent of countless mutations. It’s a terrifying prospect,” warned Nicoleles. “Countries like Brazil and India cannot be spurned or abandoned. They need help, because disease is not a problem for any country, it is a worldwide problem,” said Nicolelis. . In Lima, Mr. Rommel still does not know what type of virus has killed three of his relatives. Even so, the man understands the scale of the disaster engulfing the country, where more than 57,000 people have died from Covid-19. “There are 30 patients waiting in line for each intensive care bed, and they prioritize young patients,” which was what the doctor told Rommel when he took his brother Joan Carlos to the hospital at the end of the month. 3. After being admitted to the hospital, Rommel’s brother never got a chance to leave the emergency room. He died only 3 days after pneumonia and pneumothorax. “The plague here is like a war where people are dying because they can’t find a hospital bed,” Rommel said sourly. India ‘broke the game’ in the second wave of Covid-19 India is being devastated by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In just 24 hours, the number of deaths due to the country’s pandemic reached 2,000 people and more than 300,000 new cases.

A day earlier, eight similar aircraft departed from New Delhi and landed in London just hours before the UK officially put India on the “red list”. India is facing the second wave of epidemics, such as a “tsunami” with tremendous devastation. In the past 5 consecutive days, the number of new Covid-19 infections is over 300,000 cases / day. India broke down in the midst of the Covid-19 “tsunami”. Photo: QZ. The number of sick and fatalities is so great that hospitals, morgue and cremation grounds are overloaded. Severe medical oxygen scarcity has caused many patients to share a ventilator, some of whom do not survive right in front of the hospital. According to the Fortune India The epidemic has become so serious that the super-rich – those who have never been affected by poverty or natural disasters – are no longer safe. Running abroad on expensive private flights is considered the most likely option. And if they get stuck because flights have been halted and the borders closed, many people have come to realize that in the midst of this dire Covid-19 crisis, money is not going to help them buy the same perks as before. When money can’t buy oxygen Talking about the fleeing of the super-rich in recent days, journalist and historian Hindol Sengupta relates to deeper problems in Indian society: rich and poor disparities and rich people are only worried about it. live by yourself. “The long-standing bad habit in India is just to keep your house clean, you can dump trash right in front of the door. The moment the junk was out there, it was someone else’s problem. Who cares about the poor having to deal with its consequences when the well-off can still hide in their homes? ”Mr. Sengupta said. Over the years, the rich are getting richer, but their social progress and development have declined. Instead of campaigning to improve public services that serve all, the Indian elite and the middle class have found an easier way: spending money to buy private services. The Covid-19 wave left hospitals in India exhausted and depleted of oxygen. Photo: AFP. “Regardless of what happens to the rest of the country, they are comfortable with their own perks.” No matter what a crisis is, electricity, water, roads or air pollution, rich people just need to splash money. If the pollution is severe, they buy air filters at home and in the office. The city is insecure, they can hire a 24/7 private security guard. The health system is poor, they seek private doctors or quickly go abroad for treatment … “The Indian rich do not understand that not privatizing everything, a stable society, which ensures the most basic things such as health and education for everyone, is the foundation for development. sustainable, ”said Mr. Sengupta. Time of salvation The ongoing “Tsunami” of Covid-19 is said to be a landmark. Now, even the most expensive and exclusive hospitals run out of something as basic as oxygen. The elite gradually realized they could no longer spend money to get out of this crisis and had nowhere to fly to because most countries such as Canada, UAE, Thailand, Maldives, UK are in turn. processing tourists from India. The Indian super-rich flee abroad on private planes. Photo: Shutterstock. The scholar Abhinav Prakash argues that this is a time when Indians become more deeply aware of inequality in society and towards specific solutions. “Health insurance cannot help in a health crisis without infrastructure. No matter how expensive your health insurance is, it doesn’t make any sense if the hospital runs out of bed, lacks equipment, runs out of oxygen, “Prakash said. India, and most importantly, a growing rich middle class need to realize that public services are the backbone of a united society. “You can throw trash outside, but the stench of trash still gets into your closed doors and windows. It will make you suffocate. Big change comes from times like now. If the rich and relatively wealthy in India realize that their future is tied to a better public service system, it may be the time to save the country, ”wrote journalist Sengupta.

India is facing the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the world in recent weeks. An ambulance carrying patients queued for admission to the state Covid-19 hospital in Ahmedabad City, Gujarat state, April 22. (Photo: AP) Medical staff assist in bringing patients of Covid-19 into hospital in Ahmedabad City. (Photo: AP) Last Friday, hospitals in the capital New Delhi signaled for help to the government when the supply of oxygen was only enough to use for a few hours. (Photo: AP) India’s hospital system falls into a shortage of hospital beds and medical oxygen when there are hundreds of thousands of new infections every day. This South Asian country can produce at least 7,100 tons of oxygen / day, including the amount of oxygen for industry. In theory, with the above mentioned output, India could meet the current oxygen demand. The main problem is that medical oxygen is not delivered in time to the hospital to save the patient. This delay stemmed from the location of the production units and distribution systems. (Photo: AP) Medical staff removed the patient from the scene of the fire at Vijay Vallabh Hospital for Covid-19 treatment in Virar, near Mumbai, April 23. Thirteen patients died from the incident. (Photo: AP) People queue for medical oxygen refills in New Delhi. On April 21, at least 24 people with Covid-19 disease in western India died after running out of oxygen supplies supplied to their breathing apparatus. (Photo: AP) To address the serious shortage of medical oxygen, the Indian government has mobilized the country’s railway industry to organize high-speed trains that carry oxygen from steel mills to areas where the epidemiology is most critical. Over the past 24 hours, these special trains have transported nearly 150 tons of oxygen. (Photo: AP) The government also uses Indian Air Force cargo planes to transport empty containers to production centers. After being filled with oxygen, the tank will be transported to localities by road. The Indian armed forces are importing 23 German oxygen-producing mobile devices. In addition, the government has ordered the conversion of argon and nitrogen storage tanks into oxygen tanks. According to experts, in the coming days, the number of cases in India will continue to increase strongly, the country will have to solve two problems of oxygen production and distribution simultaneously. (Photo: Xinhua) According to the latest statistics, the state of Maharashtra accounts for 27% of India’s 2.5 million Covid-19 cases that have not been cured and 33% of India’s more than 190,000 deaths. Mumbai City plans to build 16 facilities in 12 hospitals in the area to produce oxygen from the air. It is estimated that this plan will require a cost of 12 million USD. (Photo: AP) Residents wait for the Covid-19 vaccine at an immunization center in Mumbai, April 24. According to experts, along with increasing supplies of medical oxygen, drugs and other medical supplies, boosting Covid-19 vaccination will help India get out of the current dangerous wave. India has the strength of one of the most vaccine-producing countries in the world. According to the ANI news agency, India will start the third phase of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign on May 1, with all 18 years of age and older. Residents can register for the vaccination from April 28. According to India’s Health Ministry data released yesterday, the country has injected 138,379,832 million doses of vaccine since the start of vaccination on January 16. (Photo: AP)

Empty oxygen tanks were transported to production plants by Indian Air Force C-17 and IL-76 transports. (Photo: ANI) By all means, day and night, the Government of India is working hard to produce and transport as much medical oxygen as possible to areas severely affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, including the capital New Delhi and the states in the West and South. The country’s Supreme Court even allowed the operation of a copper production complex in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has been suspended, only for the purpose of bringing back an industrial oxygen production plant located there. production to meet current urgent needs. However, severe shortages and even depletion of oxygen still occur in hotspots of disease. So the reason is why? A cargo train transports liquid oxygen vehicles from Visakhapatnam city, Andhra Pradesh state to Maharashtra state – India’s largest Covid-19 epidemic zone. (Photo: ANI) Hospital has depleted medical oxygen? The current emergency scarcity is not that Indian hospitals have run out of oxygen. Is that oxygen being delivered to these locations in time? The delay in delivering this product originated from the location of the manufacturing plant. In the capital New Delhi, for example, over the past week, many hospitals that do not have the capacity to meet their own medical oxygen needs have struggled to find emergency supplies. However, at the same time, the epidemic situation in neighboring New Delhi such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana also progressed too badly. local demand in advance. As a result, hospitals in New Delhi have to place orders from factories further away in industrial zones in eastern India. Oxygen storage tanks in a hospital warehouse in New Delhi. (Photo: ANI) New problem arises again Industrial oxygen production plants serving the Indian capital are located in seven different states. Some factories are more than 1,000 kilometers from New Delhi. Due to the flammable nature of this material, all liquefied oxygen shipments must be transported in special storage tanks, with detailed shipping plans to ensure on-time delivery. And over the past few days, when the demand for medical oxygen in India has peaked, localities have acted to make it difficult to transport oxygen to meet the local demand first. Because of these moves, New Delhi received only 177 tons of pure oxygen on April 21, instead of 378 tons as allocated. However, some local sources claim that hospitals in New Delhi have made it difficult for themselves to order goods without taking into account the time it takes to transport oxygen across many states by road. “The problem did not arise if they calculated and ordered from 2-3 weeks ago.” This source told the Economic Times. The New Delhi government also did not respond to questions about the planning. A Covid-19 patient had to breathe oxygen while waiting to be placed in a hospital bed at LNJP Hospital, New Delhi. (Photo: ANI) India has enough capacity to produce oxygen for medical purposes India’s daily oxygen production capacity can amount to as little as 7,100 tons, including for industrial purposes. This amount is sufficient to meet the current demand. This week, the Government of India decided to allocate 6,822 tons of liquid oxygen per day to the 20 states most affected by Covid-19. This amount is larger than the total demand of these localities, which is 6,785 tons. Thus, the demand for oxygen for health care in India has nearly doubled in just one week. On April 12, the amount of oxygen required by the health sector was only about 3,842 tons. According to the Office of the Prime Minister of India, India’s oxygen capacity has increased by 3,300 tons in just a few days by shifting resources for steel production and industry to the medical sector. All of which are intended to serve Covid-19 patients The logistics of transporting oxygen is a priority at the moment. The Indian government has mobilized freight trains to move liquid oxygen tanks from the factory to localities in urgent need. The country uses Air Force cargo jets to transfer empty tanks to the factory. Then these oxygen tanks are refilled again and returned by road. In addition, the Indian military is importing 23 mobile oxygen production machines from Germany to prepare for the worse situation. Many industries are also reported to be supporting pure oxygen in hospitals. Tata multidisciplinary corporation of India has imported 24 specialized containers to transport liquid oxygen. The government has also ordered the conversion of argon and nitrogen storage tanks for medical oxygen transport. However, according to experts, with the increasing rate of SARS-CoV-2 virus infections as in the past days with more than 300,000 people per day, the demand for oxygen for medical purposes will continue to escalate. India needs to prepare to increase production and distribution of this particular type of medical supplies in the coming days.

Illustration. Bkav Technology Group Chairman, in the information just shared on his personal page, said that before the “chip crisis” taking place around the world, Bkav had to collect and only collect a batch of 8,000 parts for AI View camera. Mr. Quang said that the world is having a dual-chip semiconductor crisis – Bkav Chairman acknowledges that he is an electronics manufacturer and an insider. According to Mr. Nguyen Tu Quang, the reason for saying that the double crisis is for two reasons at the same time leading to the scarcity. First, due to the trade war between the US and China, Huawei was punished. To survive, they (Huawei – PV) had to buy enough chips to use for two years, sources from Bkav’s partners said such data. Also because of the trade war, other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi and Oppo reserve the possibility of being punished as with Huawei, so they also try to collect chips. Other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Oppo have been able to be punished like with Huawei, so they also try to collect chips. The second reason, according to Mr. Quang, the Covid-19 epidemic caused a social stagnation. Therefore, at the beginning of service manufacturers forecast low yields. They failed to anticipate the worldwide trends in work, study, distance conferencing, and home electronic entertainment. This led to a sudden increase in demand for computers and game consoles. The supply chain of the technology industry is very specialized in specialized assignment, emphasized Bkav Chairman. Accordingly, in terms of chips, almost all major chip design companies such as Qualcomm, MTK, and more recently Intel have hired TSMC or Samsung to mint chips for them. These two companies account for 81% of the world chip casting market and cannot increase production capacity immediately. Mr. Quang also said that Bkav is an original manufacturer, working directly with chip suppliers such as Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, SKHynix. The Bkav leader shared that, with the most recent quotation from chip manufacturers to Bkav, many components have Standard Lead time, also known as standard delivery time, up to an unreasonable level of 10 months. Therefore, in order to overcome this situation, technology product manufacturers such as Bkav have had to gather products, make efforts to find around the world for partners to change their business plans and thus they have redundant lots. Event link is not used anymore “This purchase and sale is very bustling and there is a phenomenon of buying and selling”, said Bkav Chairman Nguyen Tu Quang. Specifically, last week, according to Mr. Quang, Bkav’s international purchasing team collected a batch of 8,000 components for AI View cameras. Mr. Quang said that this will take place every day and for a long time, possibly until next year, with all manufacturers of technology products around the world.

News from the Financial Association (Shanghai, edited by Xiaoxiang), Intel Corp. CEO Pat Gelsinger (Pat Gelsinger) said on Thursday that global chip supply shortages may continue for another two years. Prior to this, the US semiconductor giant’s latest earnings performance was unsatisfactory.

Kissinger said, The tight supply that has affected certain areas of the global economy for several months will continue until more production capacity comes online to meet the chip demand for all kinds of commodities, from automobiles to electronic products.

“It will take a while before more production capacity is invested, just like building a new factory,” he said in an interview.

The new CEO of Intel, who took office only in February of this year, proposed an ambitious strategy this month: In addition to manufacturing semiconductors to meet its own needs, Intel will also become a major chip foundry. The plan includes spending commitments to spend $20 billion to build two new semiconductor factories in Arizona.

Kissinger said, “This year is a crucial year for Intel.”

Earlier this month, the White House met with executives from the chip and other industries to negotiate what actions should be taken to solve the core shortage problem and strengthen the US chip manufacturing industry. US President Biden had previously promised to solve the problem of chip shortages. In his huge infrastructure spending plan, 50 billion US dollars will be used in the semiconductor industry.

Intel may benefit from bipartisan support for American chip companies, for example, it is bidding for a Pentagon contract.

Of course, Intel’s desire to become a chip foundry is obviously not completely barrier-free. The company has tried to enter this market before, but it did not go smoothly. Intel’s main competitors in the chip industry, TSMC and Samsung, are preparing to expand their business through tens of billions of dollars in spending plans. TSMC last week increased its capital expenditure plan for this year to US$30 billion, while Samsung plans to invest US$116 billion by 2030 to diversify its chip production.

Intel’s traditional position is also currently facing challenges. Nvidia surpassed Intel last year to become the most valuable chip company in the United States. Nvidia also said this month that it will start selling CPUs for data centers. For a long time, this market has been dominated by Intel.

Intel’s financial report data released on Thursday showed that revenue in the first quarter fell 1% to US$19.7 billion, and net profit fell 41% to US$3.4 billion, dragged down by a legal settlement fee. Excluding the memory business and other items to be sold, revenue for the quarter was US$18.6 billion and net profit was US$5.7 billion. Intel shares fell 2.11% in after-hours trading.

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Somali Government soldiers patrol the streets of Mogadishu. (Photo: AFP / VNA) Security Council United Nations On April 23, (UN Security Council) passed a statement calling on factions in Somalia to end the violence and immediately return to dialogue in the spirit of considering this as an urgent matter and not setting conditions. This move shows that the Security Council is very concerned about the crisis situation in Somalia. In the release released, members Security Council All expressed concern about the continued political stalemate here and disagreement among leaders of this country over the issue of electoral patterns. Before that, on March 31st, after the emergency meeting, the Security Council was call upon Somali government please resolve the issues related to the electoral process. The legitimate administration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, more commonly known as Farmajo, has caused controversy since February when his term ended with a new presidential election still not being conducted. By early April, a bill to extend his presidency by two years was introduced, bypassing the Senate after it was passed by the House of Representatives. Government opposition parties have voiced their opposition because it is an unconstitutional act to cling to power and the bill itself has been criticized by the international community. Somalia’s president and leaders of the five semi-autonomous states in the country last September reached an agreement that paved the way for presidential and parliamentary elections in late 2020 and early 2021 but This plan was broken by controversy surrounding the voting process and since then many rounds of negotiations have not been held to resolve this deadlock issue.

By Daniel Hechler, ARD studio Cairo Hind Mouawad is most affected when people come to her who have never asked for money from others in their life. A single father from Beirut, for example, who no longer has a job and does not know how to feed his three children. Often times they can’t go to school because they have to take odd jobs. Still, they don’t have enough money to pay the rent for their run-down apartment on the outskirts of the city. You are threatened with homelessness. With her small organization “Volunteers together”, Mouawad likes to help, whenever she can, and she listens to people’s stories. “What you do is actually the responsibility of the state,” her father tells her after an odyssey through government agencies without any success. He doesn’t want to give his name. She knows how difficult it is for many to accept her help at all. “So many people have lost their pride and are broken,” says the 49-year-old Lebanese woman.

Hind Mouawad’s initiative helps those in need wherever it can.

Meals in Ramadan unaffordable

She now provides more than 600 families with “Volunteers Together” every month. Every day there are more. Your team distributes food, medicines, blankets and clothing. The resources are limited, the willingness to donate is declining, and your mission is becoming more and more difficult. “This work gives me a lot of confidence,” says Mouawad. “Even on days when I couldn’t achieve much, at least I can tell myself I tried.” 25 volunteers now help free of charge, most of them are students. Her four children are also involved. In Ramadan they have even more to do than usual. Especially at this time of contemplation and solidarity, Mouawad wants to help alleviate the worst hardship, give families their dignity, and give hope for a new beginning. The common meal after a day of fasting costs on average about three times as much today as it was in 2018. For many, unaffordable.

Half of the population below the poverty line

According to the World Bank, food is not as expensive in any other Middle Eastern country as it is in Lebanon. The prices for some drugs have quadrupled since 2018. This is also due to the fact that most of the goods are imported, but the national currency has collapsed. More than half of the population now lives below the poverty line. “There is no future for young people in this country,” says Ali, a bus driver with two daughters. “There is no future for anyone at all. Anyone who can leave the country leaves it.”

“We are all beggars,” it says on the wall of a building in Beirut – in front of it a woman with a child is sitting on the street, begging. Image: dpa The country’s worst economic crisis is homemade: the result of corruption and mismanagement by greedy elites. These have enriched themselves over decades, accumulating mountains of debt. Now the state is bankrupt and the banks are shaky. The established parties have not been able to agree on a new government for months. Power proportionality of the ruling cliques still takes precedence over the common good. The electrical engineer Samir Haddad fears for his fatherland: “I ask God to protect us, to influence our rulers, that they act conscientiously, protect our children. I pray every morning.” The central bank should run out of currencies by the end of May. Then the state can no longer pay subsidies on basic foods and medicines. There is a threat of famine. “They humiliated the people, let them fall,” says Hind Mouawad. “We’re so mad at her.”

“We are there for everyone”

Mouawad himself comes from a wealthy family, is privileged and is fully aware of this. She belongs to the ten percent of the population who own 70 percent of the wealth. In 2003 she founded her organization to help people in acute need. It wants to make at least a small contribution to reducing the enormous social gap. Over the years she has built up a network of donors at home and abroad who trust her. She and her helpers buy the goods where they are cheapest, pack food parcels from them in a warehouse, distribute them on site or bring them to families on the outskirts of Beirut. New challenges await every day: “Sometimes sick people have to be brought to the clinic, students need money for their education, parents need money for their children’s school,” she explains. Religious affiliation is irrelevant for the Christian: “We are there for everyone!” She knows all too well that her work will not solve the Lebanon crisis. But at least she doesn’t just want to watch the decline of her country, but at least make a small contribution to alleviating the misery – to hold the country together in the vague hope that Lebanon will eventually improve again.

From David Zajonz, WDR Business cheers from companies are rather rare these days. The Cologne-based Rewe Group was able to announce it today. The retail company recorded a 20 percent increase in sales in the Corona year 2020 compared to the previous year. Part of this goes back to the takeover of the wholesaler Lekkerland, but Rewe posted double-digit growth in the supermarket business alone in Germany.

A lot of sales apart from groceries

Industry-wide, the German trade association speaks of an eight percent increase in sales in the grocery trade, while clothing stores, for example, have to accept dramatic losses. The supermarkets benefit from the fact that other retailers have to close their shops temporarily, says Gerrit Heinemann, retail expert at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences: “In food retailing, depending on the retailer, ten to 50 percent of sales are made with products that are not groceries.”

“A little unfair”

In the large Rewe centers, for example, customers can buy many everyday products, from frying pans to shoes. While kitchen outfitters or shoe stores went into lockdown, the Rewe stores were allowed to remain open during the pandemic. That is actually “a bit unfair,” says Rewe CEO Lionel Souque: “If I were a textile chain, I wouldn’t understand either.” Rewe itself only benefited slightly from this, because many smaller branches do not offer such a wide range of products. Nevertheless, the effect is noticeable. Souque confirms that the large Rewe centers have developed better than the classic supermarkets during the pandemic.

“Home office effect” for online deliveries

In addition, the food trade has also benefited from the closure of the catering trade, says trade expert Gerrit Heinemann: “People have increasingly bought food and drinks in the supermarket.” In addition, there is the “home office effect”. Those who work at home have to buy more in the supermarket: “Just toilet paper”. Another big trend is the booming grocery delivery business. Consumers are still far more likely to have books sent home than potatoes. But the Corona year led to a “dam break”, says retail expert Heinemann, and the proportion of groceries bought online has grown significantly: “However, it has come from a very low level – to just over one percent of the entire market.” The food deliveries are – at least for Rewe – a losing business: “We continue to lose money, but you don’t have to see that negatively,” says CEO Souque: “We see it as an investment in the future.”

Competition grows

The hope for further growth in online trading is causing more and more players to pour into the market. “Instant delivery services” like Gorilla and Flink in some large cities promise food deliveries within ten minutes of ordering. However, retail expert Heinemann believes that it is almost impossible for delivery services in Germany to work profitably: “The margins in the food retail sector are very low.” Consumers are used to low prices because of the many discounters. This means that the high delivery costs for the dealers are hardly manageable. In fact, it is difficult “when customers order three cases of cola on offer on the fourth floor,” admits Rewe boss Souque. On the other hand, the corona pandemic brought many new customers to food suppliers. So the cake is growing, and players both old and new want their share of it. Industry expert Heinemann says that he does not believe that the online share in the food sector will rise over ten percent of total sales in the next few years: “But even then, food would be one of the largest online product groups.” Supermarket chains and start-ups will probably continue to fight for online customers despite all the difficulties.

In an international comparison, according to a new study, the German car manufacturers have survived the corona crisis best so far. This is the result of a study by the consulting firm EY, which was published before the start of the auto show in Shanghai today. Accordingly, Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW, with a combined decline in sales of ten percent, a drop in sales of 14 percent and a decrease in operating profit of 26 percent, fared significantly better on average than large manufacturers from other nations. Across the industry, the total sales of the 17 largest manufacturers worldwide fell by 13 percent in the previous year, according to the EY study. The car sales went down by 16 percent, the operating result by as much as 37 percent. The French brands were hit particularly hard. According to the study, only four companies had a positive profit development: Tesla, Daimler, General Motors and Kia.

China supports the industry

It is above all the flourishing business in China that saved the balance sheets of Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler. In 2020, more than every third new car (39.4 percent) was handed over to a Chinese customer. If you look at all 17 of the world’s largest car companies, the total sales of cars from these manufacturers in China only fell by four percent. In the US, the decline was 14 percent, in Western Europe, sales fell by 25 percent . Constantin M. Gall, Head of Automotive & Transportation at EY, explains: “While some companies got deeply into the red, others came through the crisis comparatively well, largely due to their regional sales focus, but also very much because of their current product portfolio is driven. ” “Companies with a large share in China benefited from the relatively stable development on the Chinese sales market. Those who are primarily active in Europe, on the other hand, had to accept massive losses,” said EY auto expert Peter Fuß.

Fair open to visitors

This also explains the great importance of the auto show that is now starting in Shanghai. Around 1000 exhibitors will present their products to hundreds of thousands of visitors in more than twelve halls by April 28th.

If you want to visit the fair in person, you have to show a negative corona test. In addition, visitors have to have their body temperature measured and use a mobile phone app to prove that they have not been in risk areas.

Praise for German automakers

The big topics of the fair are e-mobility and connectivity. And it is precisely in these areas that industry observers attest that the German representatives now have a good market position after a mixed start. They are now faster, more determined, said the German management consultant Peter Hage from the Beijing-based Districom Group. “The Volkswagen Group has done a very good job with the electric cars,” said the director of the Center for Automotive Research, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. “The China strategy at VW-Audi-Porsche-Skoda is right.” Mercedes also started “lively” with new models in Shanghai. “Only BMW has been very hesitant in the past,” said Dudenhöffer. That is about to change: the German carmaker wants to generate a quarter of its sales with the sale of electric cars by 2025. This was announced by BMW China boss Jochen Goller in the run-up to the Shanghai Auto Show. Last year the share was around four percent.

From Lucretia Gather, SWR “One two Three …!” The three-year-old Elian jumps again and again from the edge of the pool into his mother’s arms, turns a short lap in the water with his armbands and gets out again, ready for the next jump. His parents and a family friend rented a swimming school “Flip” in Meisenheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, and a whole indoor pool for themselves for two hours. “It’s really great,” says Elian’s mother Nina Köberlein-Bareiß, “not exactly cheap, but we’ll just take a break.” The water fun costs 75 euros per hour.

Pumps have to keep running

The swimming pool is operated by Stefan Nerbas, and in addition to the one in Meisenheim, he also runs a second one in Bad Kreuznach. Both are owned by the Kreuznach Diakonie Foundation. The pools have been empty for months, only water therapy for people with disabilities is still offered here from time to time. But the fixed costs remain. Nerbas calculates that the maintenance of a bathroom alone costs 10,000 euros per month. The water must be kept clean, the technology must continue to run. “I can’t just switch off the pumps,” says Nerbas.

By renting the swimming pool by the hour, pool operator Stefan Nerbas wants to pour some money into the empty cash register. Image: Lucretia Gather / SWR

Grant business swimming pool

According to the “Bäderatlas” published by the German Society for Bathing in Germany, there are around 9,000 swimming pools and public bathing areas. The majority of them, around 6,000, are run by municipalities. Sports economist Lutz Thieme from the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences is leading a federally funded research project that is collecting reliable data on pools in Germany for the first time. Almost every bathroom that is operated privately is dependent on municipal subsidies, according to the expert. “There are perhaps a handful of private investors in Germany who manage to operate a bathroom at break even,” says Thieme. Sooner or later, the high maintenance costs will bring every investor to their knees, and subsidies from cities or municipalities will be necessary. Thieme fears that the Corona crisis will further worsen the situation of bathroom operators in Germany. Because if the financial strength of the municipalities decreases, they are forced to make savings. Since the field of sport is not one of their compulsory tasks, the red pencil is often applied precisely there, says the sports economist. “And what’s most expensive in sports? The swimming pools.”

Many closings feared

Christian Mankel from the German Society for Bathing also predicts that many pools that are dependent on municipal subsidies could get into trouble. He fears that the direct and indirect consequences of the corona pandemic could lead to a large number of pool closures in the coming years. Mankel calls for an open perspective and would also like the municipalities to acknowledge that baths are an indispensable part of public services and that they are financed.

Many bankruptcies among sauna operators

Sauna operators are also suffering from the corona pandemic. The managing director of the German Sauna Association, Martin Niederstein, says: “We fear that a large number of the smaller, private sauna businesses will have to close permanently.” 45 percent of public sauna baths in Germany are run by the municipality, more than half are privately owned. The challenges in this sector are similar to those in the baths: Due to the personnel and energy-intensive cost structure, it is particularly difficult to run an economically successful sauna business without municipal subsidies. Well-known operators should have already closed due to insolvency. The second lockdown, which has lasted since November 2nd, falls in the middle of the main sauna season. Despite government economic aid, the financial reserves of many saunas have been exhausted. If they are allowed to reopen, it will be difficult to compensate for the loss of income in the summer. The bathing and sauna landscape in Germany will probably be thinned out after the Corona crisis. There are enough people willing to swim: The swimming pool rental in Meisenheim is well received. Operator Nerbas says he was surprised by the huge interest himself. “We put the call on the Internet and within 24 hours the whole of April was booked out.”

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the savings rate in Germany rose to a record level of 16.3 percent last year. This means that the Germans save more than 16 euros for every 100 euros of their disposable income. According to the statistics office, private households would not have spent their disposable income in 2020 to the usual extent. The government measures to contain the corona pandemic and the adapted behavior of the population to protect against infection with the corona virus would have led to this. As a result, consumer spending by private households fell by 5.4 percent last year compared to 2019. The savings rate increased by 5.4 percent compared to 2019.

Financial wealth reaches record level

Those who save have more money. According to data from the Bundesbank, the financial assets of private households reached the enormous sum of almost 7 trillion euros at the end of 2020. In the previous quarter, the assets were still 211 billion euros lower. The amount consists of cash, securities, bank deposits as well as claims against insurance companies and shares in investment funds. The Bundesbank’s data does not reveal how the enormous wealth is distributed among the citizens. However, the central bankers already know how the increase is made up. “In particular, behind the increase in financial assets were the increase in cash and deposits totaling 74 billion euros and the valuation gains on shares and other equity securities amounting to 61 billion euros,” said the Bundesbank. This means that at least the Germans who directly or indirectly own shares will also benefit from the current bull market on the stock market. Only today did the Dax hit another record high .

The number of shareholders is also increasing

In the meantime, the hunt for records on the international and national stock exchanges has also reached a broader public. According to the Bundesbank, savers, who are actually considered to be rather shy of the stock market, are increasingly investing in stocks or funds. “Private households remained very active on the capital market in the fourth quarter.” In the period from October to the end of December 2020, private households bought shares and investment fund shares totaling 21 billion euros. According to the Deutsches Aktieninstitut (DAI), the number of shareholders in Germany has climbed to the highest level in almost 20 years in 2020. Accordingly, 12.35 million people owned shares in companies or equity funds – almost 2.7 million more than a year earlier. The number was last higher in 2001 at almost 12.9 million.

Cash and deposits preferred

Nonetheless, stocks and funds still only make up a small part of the total financial assets of private households: at the end of last year, according to the Bundesbank figures, almost 805 billion euros were in stocks and other equity rights. In the case of investment funds, it was around 735 billion euros. Much of the wealth is still in cash and bank deposits, which hardly yield anything because of the slack interest rates . However, the argument of many savers is that they can be accessed quickly when needed. The volume of cash and bank deposits totaled around 2809 billion euros at the end of last year. Insurance and other pension products are still popular. At the end of December, their holdings totaled almost 2,458 billion euros.

The container crisis is re-emerging, and the cost is passed on to consumers?

It’s the season of shipping contract signing again. Most large retailers and manufacturers will sign annual agreements with shipping companies to lock in their container freight rates. However, signing the shipping contract for the next 12 months at the current shipping price can be said to be a lot of work. The import and export companies complained repeatedly.

From China to the West Coast of the United States to European ports, container prices have been hovering near record highs for several months.

It is understood that the Freightos Baltic Daily Indices (Freightos Baltic Daily Indices) recently hit a record high again. According to George Griffiths of S&P Global Platts’ global container freight pricing team, on the major global trade routes connecting Asia and North America, the contract price of a 40-foot container has been around US$2,500 to US$3,000 in recent weeks. , An increase of 25% to 50% from a year ago.

In the United States and other parts of the world, shipping usually has two peak seasons each year, including Christmas purchases before the Spring Festival holiday and late summer. The transition period between these two peak seasons can clear the previous container cargo backlog, but due to the Suez in March The congestion of the canal has worsened the backlog of container cargo.

Due to the shortage of containers and skyrocketing shipping prices, many foreign trade companies have been affected, and many companies even count it as a cost, which is borne by consumers.

An industry insider said: “The freight rates of the two main international container routes from Shanghai to Rotterdam and Shanghai to Los Angeles remain high. Merchants have begun to sign a one-year freight contract and put the freight into the cost.” Obviously, the freight rate has skyrocketed, and the company may be affected. These additional costs will eventually be passed on to consumers, especially smaller companies are more susceptible to the impact of freight and price increases.

It is understood that due to the impact of freight and raw materials, many companies have adjusted their commodity prices one after another, and some companies have raised commodity prices four times before and after. A person in charge of a foreign trade company said bluntly: “Price increases are inevitable, and once goods are piled up in containers or ports, the prices will increase more. However, fortunately, all competition is on the same ship.”

Previously, the world’s three largest shipping companies, ONE, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, have informed shippers that the chaotic situation of container trade is expected to wait until the second half of the year to return to normal.

On April 13, the State Council Information Office held a press conference. Due to the impact of the relevant international epidemic, the transportation market, especially the shipping market, saw a sharp rise in transportation prices and the shortage of international shipping containers.

In response to issues such as “difficult to find a box”, Li Kuiwen, a spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs and Director of the Statistical Analysis Department, responded at the press conference that the General Administration of Customs is closely monitoring the latest changes in the international transportation market in conjunction with relevant departments such as transportation. In terms of creating a business environment, in conjunction with relevant departments, we are continuing to work hard to promote the healthy development of foreign trade.

Air freight increases again, Apple’s Huawei chartered flight is wrong?

While the shipping situation is not optimistic, air freight also adds to the congestion for sellers. An Amazon seller said that the three UPS tickets that he issued at the beginning of the month are still blocked in Hong Kong, and the explanation given by the freight forwarder is that Apple and Huawei chartered flights and vaccines, resulting in fewer and fewer flights. In addition, the price of air freight has been constantly increasing. rise.

The seller raised a question. If it is for vaccine transportation, it is understandable. Those brands have not released new products. Why do they have chartered flights? Many sellers said that this should be an excuse for freight forwarders. The so-called “brand charter” had a similar excuse as early as October last year. It should be that orders are still being queued, but the recent air freight prices are really shocking.

Earlier, due to the blockage of the Suez Canal, many sellers’ bulky goods such as bicycles and treadmills have also begun to board the plane. Many sellers bluntly say that it is better to spend more money than to wait. If you have to wait that long, it will be a drain on the company.

I learned from the freight forwarding office that the United States has recently increased the price of air delivery very severely. The price of one flight has been increased three times. The price list has just been sent out, and it didn’t take long to notify the price increase.

Not only that, the recent Amazon FBA listing speed has made sellers complain. A forwarder issued a notice and received a DPD notice. Due to the recent adjustment of the Amazon Amm warehouse’s warehousing plan, the goods currently sent to the warehouse are likely to be delayed and slow to sign. Remind sellers and friends to avoid sending to Amazon Amm warehouse (Spedition AmmHamburger Str. 99, 90451 Nürnberg, Germany). Recently, sellers and friends who have sent to the warehouse should pay more attention, prepare in advance, and pay more attention to the information in the warehouse.

In addition, several freight forwarders have learned that not only the prices of sea and air transportation have risen, but the prices of railway channels have also increased. According to the freight forwarder, the information obtained by their company’s inquiry is that the railway to Rotterdam has risen to 11,000 US dollars, which is three times the amount before the epidemic, and the position is extremely tight. “At present, the freight rates of Eurokey Port and West Coast Port are almost twice the highest rates I have seen in the past 20 years in the industry.”

Source: Hugo Net

Can the China-Europe Express train continue to “fire”?Analysis on the development prospects of China-Europe Express

China Railway Express

By Thomas Pösl, BR Border controls and tough lockdowns in Europe: 2020 began with a burden for logistics groups. The drastic drop in consumption quickly spread to the forwarding, transport and logistics sector, said Frank Huster, General Manager of the Federal Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics, DSLV. After the initial shock, however, things went up rapidly. Losses and slumps that companies experienced a year ago were more than overcompensated just a few months later, according to Huster. Example: the logistics company Dachser in the Allgäu. The Kempten-based company also went up economically in the second half of the year.

Dachser’s sales almost constant in the corona year

The Bavarian family company Dachser with 30,000 employees worldwide has adapted to the situation and has largely been able to avert economic damage. At the annual press conference – it is already the second that has to be held purely virtually – CEO Burkhard Eling now presented figures. According to Eling, sales fell by just under one percent to 5.6 billion euros. He is very satisfied with this: “It was a demanding and extraordinary year in every respect, which was shaped by the corona pandemic and its effects on the international supply chains.” Eling, who has been CEO of Dachser since this year, speaks of “overall positive indicators”.

Air and sea freight are the profit makers

In the corona year 2020, logisticians initially felt the pain of the production stops in industry. Because, among other things, the production lines at the car manufacturers were at a standstill, many trucks also stayed at the loading yards. According to Dachser, however, air and sea freight later turned out to be profitable. According to CEO Eling, the company was able to increase sales by 5.2 percent to 1.2 billion euros. Dachser also recorded an increase of almost two percent in the area of ​​food logistics. The annual turnover here is 982 million euros. The Allgäu family company does not provide any information on the profits.

Logistician facing “Herculean task”

The effects of Corona remain a constant burden for logisticians like Dachser. According to the Allgäu company, the signs point to growth. The Federal Association of Freight Forwarders also expects an increase this year compared to 2020, according to DSLV General Manager Huster. Because of the pandemic, a forecast is still difficult. According to Huster, the German logisticians have proven their efficiency in the pandemic. With the overcoming of the Corona crisis, the switch to alternative drives and a continuing shortage of skilled workers, the logistics industry now has three Herculean tasks to cope with at the same time. In the long term, investments should fuel sales. The Allgäu logistics company Dachser will also take money into their hands, it said. This year, 190 million euros are to flow into the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence, among other things. For example, incoming goods shipments should be better predicted. In the end, that saves costs again.

This is also a very remarkable match because it will be a confrontation between defending champions Viettel – the team is temporarily ranked second with 19 points, 3 points behind HA.GL – is extremely hungry to win when meeting. Than Quang Ninh (18đ) – The team is right behind him, less than 1 point. Although they have just lost to Hanoi in the previous round (the main cause of internal problems), the Coal team still has the potential to cause difficulties for Viettel, once their main players are providing “mental doping” (to reduce the problem of being owed salaries, bonuses, pensions …). The key problem lies here: Does the away team have a satisfactory solution to that problem or not? Because even when Than Quang Ninh is in the most energetic state, Viettel is still considered to be better in terms of both the force and the advantage of playing at home.

Viettel has a triumphant song before Than QN in the earliest match of round 10 on April 16

The next 3 matches take place on Saturday (April 17).

At Vinh Stadium, the “Nghe Tinh derby” between SLNA (10d) and Hong Linh Ha Tinh (7d) is also the debut of new head coach Nguyen Thanh Cong – a son of Nghe, matured in SLNA shirt and is the biological son of once famous coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh (who has the greatest merit in training generations of SLNA players) – in the away shirt. Of course, in professional football, the story of the “origin” of the coaches or players is for reference only, just as the “SLNA veterans” played very well in Viettel’s shirt to beat the team. the shadow of my homeland right in Vinh citadel 4 rounds ago. A 2-0 victory over B.BD in the last round with the shining form of the pillars, especially “assassin” Phan Van Duc, helped SLNA temporarily escape from the bottom group of the group. But if they want to be more “sure”, they need to win all 3 points in a match rated on this upper door.

In Quy Nhon, the showdown between rookie Topenland Binh Dinh (VND 12) and East Asia Thanh Hoa (VND 11) is expected to be very attractive and balanced. They are sticking closely to each other on the summary board and also hope to reach the top 6 if they play well and achieve optimal results in the remaining 4 matches. Therefore, the results of this match will not only directly affect that ability but more than that, only the team that wins all 3 points will have the chance. The results are very encouraging in the last 3 matches (2 wins, 1 draw) has helped teachers and coaches Petrovic regain their confidence and with a strong attacking style, they will aim for another victory even though they have to be a guest. this match.

The last match of the day between Saigon FC (VND 9) and Hai Phong (VND 10) at the Thong Nhat Stadium has a different meaning, because both are desperate to get favorable results, at least to ensure the possibility. ability to stay relegated. The precious victory (against HL.HT) after a series of 5 consecutive defeats is a good signal for Coach Phung Thanh Phuong and his students. But on the other side, Hai Phong also ended the series of 4 defeats with an encouraging draw against strong opponent SHB.DN. In that context, it is difficult to judge which team can win this match, although theoretically, the advantage seems to be in favor of Saigon when they play at home.

SLNA will welcome Ha Tinh at home round 10

The remaining 3 matches take place on Sunday (April 18).

At Go Dau Stadium, a Binh Duong Becamex (13d) had to suddenly say goodbye to coach Phan Thanh Hung (due to his health condition), who was in a rather unstable situation. Although still in 6th place, but they are only over 2 teams behind with only 1 point and can completely fall to the next group if they do not win the match against SHB Da Nang (VND 16) this round. Meanwhile, SHB.DN has temporarily left the top 3, but the strength of teachers and teachers Le Huynh Duc is still very respectable thanks to the uniformity between the lines. The “gunfight” between two midfielders – player Tien Linh (B.BD) and Duc Chinh (SHB.DN) in this match is also very remarkable. A match “balance, equivalent”, do not know “which cat bite”.

HAGL welcoming Hanoi is the most awaited match in the 10th round at Pleiku

As mentioned above, the Pleiku yard in this round will be the focus of attention. There, a Hoang Anh Gia Lai (22nd) of elected Duc who is flying high will be hindered by a Hanoi FC of elected Hien who has not yet escaped the crisis? The history of confrontation in recent seasons is in favor of the visitors, when it has been 3 and a half years, they have not yet lost when they met HA.GL in the arenas. Even at the V.League last season, the total score was… 0-7 in favor of Hanoi. But under the guidance of coach Kiatisak, HA.GL is very different from themselves, with a firmer style, rich in teamwork and promoting the capabilities of each player better. Hanoi FC is facing many difficulties, has just broken up with coach Chu Dinh Nghiem (temporarily replaced by coach Hoang Van Phuc) and will most likely continue to have a new coach. In that context, what better opportunity for HA.GL to do a sweet “debt collection”, especially when they play at home? On the other side, although Quang Hai and his teammates had a strong victory in the previous round, but it was a match that Than Quang Ninh was completely underpowered, so they could only prove their strength if they could. score in this match.

The last match of the 10th round took place at Thien Truong Stadium, where Nam Dinh (12d), the team lost 2 consecutive matches with a close score on away field of B.BD and HA.GL, welcoming HCMC ( 10d) – an opponent with quite good results in the last 2 rounds (won heavily SLNA and drew at Thanh Hoa). Of course, Nam Dinh will once again expect great resources when playing at his “holy land” to aim for 3 points, while Polking’s teachers and coaches also want to be able to maintain a stable state. to have points to return to the rear after this match.

An old phosphorus mine in Florida.

According to information from the BBC, China uses rare earths as a trump card in the trade war with the US. China has signaled that it could limit exports of rare earth minerals to the US as the trade conflict between the two countries escalates.

By far, China is the largest producer of raw materials vital to many US industries including high-growth industries such as electric vehicles and wind turbine manufacturing. The US Geological Survey has determined these minerals are very important to the economy and defense of this country.

Restricting exports to the US, if implemented, could have a major impact on major US industries worth trillions of dollars that rely on rare earth minerals.

Rare earths are a valuable resource that plays an important role in the industry.

Rare earth is a group of 17 elements used in many fields, including renewable energy technology, oil refining, electronics, … Called “rare” because they are difficult to exploit. This raw material is believed to be in the Earth’s crust. There are very few places in the world that exploit or produce rare earths because rare earth exploitation is both difficult and potentially harmful to the environment.

Rare earth exploitation is very difficult and poses a risk to the environment.

Currently, Chinese mines account for about 70% of global rare earth production. Myanmar, Australia, the US and some other countries only exploit a small amount, accounting for the remaining 30%.

According to US government data, about 80% of imported rare earths come from China. Estonia, France and Japan also supply treated rare earths to the US, but the original ore is from China.

The US mines rare earths and sends ore to China for processing, but China has imposed a 25% import tax. Consequently, the United States considered developing its own rare earth refining industry.

Information from the New York Times and Bloomberg said that the US is seeing the potential to exploit rare earth from old phosphorus mines in Florida. The process of handling leaked waste here helps to protect the environment and is an opportunity to reduce dependence on rare earths from China.

China is holding back most of the world’s rare earth supply.

A sewage leak at an old phosphorus mine in Florida prompted authorities to issue an evacuation order and declare a state of emergency near the Tampa area amid a potential collapse of the mine’s radioactive waste. Cleaning up the forgotten giant pile of phosphorus scattered in Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States could help resolve America’s dependence on important imported raw materials, while eliminating Threats of environmental disaster are lurking in the local people.

Phosphorus is a byproduct of the production of fertilizers from phosphate rock. For every ton of organic phosphoric acid produced, more than five tons of phosphorus are produced. This waste is worthless in its raw form due to the concentration of uranium, radium and other heavy metals making it radioactive toxic, unable to be used as soil amendment or building material.

According to the study, there is a large amount of rare earths and radioactive metals present in phosphorus piles in Florida. However, those are not the only scarce metals that can be found in phosphorus ores. Rare earths are a collection of elements that are important for high-tech applications such as magnets and lasers. A 2017 analysis by the US-China research group showed that rare earths are present at a rate of about 0.2% in a waste pile of about 1 billion tons in Florida, equivalent to two million tons of rare earths, enough to cover global demand for a decade.

Many laboratory studies have been done to look at phosphorus recycling processes. However, prices for phosphorus, rare earths and uranium have been mostly curbed in recent years to limit the commercial appeal of phosphorus recycling around the world.

Every year, the US government spends a substantial amount of money monitoring and managing risks at the old phosphorus mine in Florida. The US plans to spend about $ 111 billion to clean water pipes and water infrastructure.

Under the Donald Trump administration last year, the US environmental protection agency authorized the use of raw phosphorus as road construction materials. However, the cost of waste treatment here is so high that investors are still afraid.

The US government has to spend a lot of money on the treatment of the phosphorus mine in Florida.

Huge open-pit ponds the size of the entire city block, filled with toxic wastewater, and underneath there is a lot of radioactive waste.

Recently, local officials allowed residents to return home after an urgent effort to pump millions of gallons of water out of ponds and into inland waterways. The environmental impacts of releasing large amounts of polluted water have not been evaluated. But in the past week, the “ghost” of a great cataclysm caused the government to evacuate hundreds of households from the dangerous area.

Researchers fear that, when giant puddles collapsed, radioactive waste will leak, it will lead to unpredictable dangers. The environment will be affected by the emergency discharge of polluted water, which contains many substances that can cause harmful algae to bloom and kill fish.

Wastewater in the area near Wilmington in North Carolina.

Florida is considered the largest producer of phosphorus in the world, accounting for about 80% of phosphorus mining in the US – where the exploitation and consumption of about 23 million tons of phosphorus per year.

When coal-fired power plants generate electricity, they leave hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic sediment known as coal ash, mixed with water and dumped into ponds within the plant.

Across the United States there are more than 700 landfills and large bodies of water still store coal ash discharged from coal-fired power plants. Under the Obama administration, there were regulations to close coal ash ponds in 2018. Currently, the North Carolina region authorities also began requiring power companies to dig coal ash ponds under the new law. state, also requiring the closure of all coal ash ponds by 2029./.