US planemaker Boeing has upgraded its long-term demand forecasts on the expectation that domestic travel will recover to pre-Covid crisis levels in 2022 and international flying will rebound in 2024.
The aerospace giant expects 43,610 commercial jet deliveries over the next 20 years, worth $7.2 trillion. That’s an increase of 500 units from the 43,110 projected a year ago. In its shorter 10-year view, which is more sensitive to the severe fallout for airlines from the coronavirus pandemic, Boeing sees 19,330 deliveries, up from last year’s forecast of 18,350.
“One of the strongest reasons for confidence is how quickly we have seen a bounce-back in domestic travel in the last 12 months,” said Marc Allen, Boeing’s chief strategy officer. Over the next decade, Boeing sees demand for $9 trillion of goods and services in all of the markets it operates.
The forecast for defense and space sectors is flat at $2.6 trillion. The company slightly increased its 20-year forecast for deliveries of twin-aisle models like its 787 Dreamliner to 7,670 jets. The segment remains the hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, with analysts still seeing uncertainty due to new Covid-19 variants.
As for medium-haul single-aisle jets, like the 737 MAX, Boeing sees 32,660 deliveries over the next 20 years, up from the previous 32,270.The company cut its 20-year forecast for freighter demand to 890 jets from the 930 it projected a year ago.
Six top managers of Chinese real estate major Evergrande had redeemed some of its investment products in advance earlier this year, the company said on Saturday, a day after it admitted to a risk of going bankrupt.
Earlier this week, Evergrande said it was under “tremendous pressure” and may not be able to meet its crippling debt obligations.
The executives, who haven’t been named, made early redemptions of 12 investment products between May 1 and September 7, the heavily indebted property group said in a statement, providing no details on the nature of the products.
“Regarding the early redemption of Evergrande wealth investment products by some managers, the group company views the matter seriously,” the corporation said.
The group also warned of severe penalties in case the redeemed funds are not returned within a certain time frame.
Evergrande, China’s second-largest real estate developer by sales, is facing a mounting liquidity crisis, forcing it to raise extra funds to pay lenders and suppliers. The company’s debts have reportedly ballooned to more than $300 billion.
Evergrande’s case is the embodiment of China’s freewheeling epoch of borrowing and building. Uncertainty over the developer’s ability to meet its funding obligations, which is reportedly equal to 2% of China’s gross domestic product, has triggered market turbulence.
The corporation has been hit by ratings downgrades, with both S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings warning of the risk of default. The company’s shares have plunged nearly 80% so far this year, with trading of its bonds repeatedly halted by Chinese stock exchanges in recent weeks.
Algeria has allowed Russian grain imports for the first time in more than five years. The first shipment of 30,000 tons of wheat is on its way to the North African nation.
According to Russian watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, a second ship is currently being loaded in the Black Sea port of Taman, and will set sail in the near future.
The world’s largest wheat exporter has been lobbying for access to the Algerian market, and is planning to send two vessels with a total of 60,000 tons of wheat in September.
The shipments mark the first major supply of Russian wheat to Algeria since 2016, excluding a cargo of 28,500 tons shipped in June.
The Russian agriculture safety watchdog also said that Algeria’s export potential exceeds seven million tons.
“The quality characteristics of the grain, which fully meet the country’s requirements for imported products, were confirmed by specialists,” the regulator added.
Russian wheat producers had no access to Algeria, the world’s sixth-biggest wheat importer, until October last year. Back then, the North African country eased the sanitary terms regarding grains, which made it possible to offer wheat from the Black Sea with higher protein.
In total, Russia exported 79,000 tons of grain and its processed products to Algeria in the agricultural year 2020-2021. The shipments included wheat, chickpeas, flax seeds, oat and buckwheat flakes, and millet.
British meat processors have become the latest casualty of the growing energy crisis that threatens to result in a dire shortage of carbon dioxide gas, which is widely used throughout the food and drinks industry.
Carbon dioxide is a by-product of fertiliser production that is used to stun animals before slaughter as well as for the packaging process that prolongs the shelf life of all meat, and in fizzy drinks and beer.
However, soaring gas prices have brought about a slowdown at some chemical factories in Europe that produce fertiliser, with a major US producer being forced to halt operations at two manufacturing complexes in the UK for an uncertain period of time.
“This crisis highlights the fact that the British food supply chain is at the mercy of a small number of major fertiliser producers – four or five companies – spread across northern Europe. We rely on a by-product from their production process to keep Britain’s food chain moving,” Nick Allen, the chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) told the BBC after emergency talks with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
According to British Poultry Council chief executive Richard Griffiths, some 20 million birds per week are slaughtered, but abattoirs are running out of carbon dioxide.
“If CO2 supplies become tighter and more unpredictable then supply chains will have to slow down. Ultimately, no CO2 means no throughput,” Griffiths said, highlighting that the sector is already facing mounting labour shortages.
Moreover, the Cucumber Growers Association has expressed deep concerns over the effect that high prices of natural gas are having on crops.
Gas is commonly used in the heating of greenhouses and, along with carbon dioxide, “are both critical factors in growing and achieving the yields required to survive in the modern industry”, the association said.
The British food industry has been fighting for full shelves and stocked menus over the past months amid a lack of workers that is partially attributed to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. Meat processors, in particular, have reportedly been facing a shortage of lorry drivers as well as recruitment problems at abattoirs.
Some food shops across the country have been low on such items as bacon, milk and bread. Meanwhile, McDonalds has said it ran out of milkshakes last month, and other farmers warning of a backlog of pigs due to the labour shortfall.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler assured the Senate that the regulator is working overtime to create a set of rules to take control of the volatile cryptocurrency markets.
Democrats and Republicans are united in their stance that the government needs to act in order to protect investors.
Boom Bust co-host Christy Ai is joined by Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute to explore when and how the US government plans to regulate the world of crypto.
