“With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation. The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant sows, one by one, that would cause them to abort their baby pigs.
“Van Beek and other farmers say they have no choice but to cull livestock as they run short on space to house their animals or money to feed them, or both. The world’s biggest meat companies – including Smithfield Foods, Cargill, JBS USA and Tyson Foods – have halted operations at about 20 slaughterhouses and processing plants in North America since April as workers fall ill, stoking global fears of a meat shortage.
“Van Beek’s piglets are victims of a sprawling food-industry crisis that began with the mass closure of restaurants – upending that sector’s supply chain, overwhelming storage and forcing farmers and processors to destroy everything from milk to salad greens to animals. Processors geared up to serve the food-service industry can’t immediately switch to supplying grocery stores.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/27/piglets-aborted-chickens-gassed-as-pandemic-slams-meat-sector.html
“Trucking is supposed to be a recession-proof industry. But the coronavirus pandemic, and the economic downturn that is accompanying it, is rewriting the rules.
“According to DAT Freight & Analytics, the largest online freight marketplace in North America, despite a brief bump in March, the number of loads available for truckers has plummeted 32.5 percent since January.”
“As the world confronts a historic pandemic, astounding scenes unfold across America…
“While it may be easy to dismiss these protests as a fringe movement, they expose a dark truth: Unlike other industrialized countries, America’s middle class has been decimated over the last forty years.”
“Kevin Hassett, a senior economic advisor to President Trump, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Monday that the U.S. is likely to experience a GDP decline of between 20% and 30% in the second quarter.
“Hassett said the decline, driven by the coronavirus pandemic, will be the “worst since the Great Depression.”“
“Just 112 of 50,000 applicants have taken up roles picking fruit and vegetables on British farms after they discovered the rigours of working in the fields.
“The majority of those who responded to calls to join Britain’s Land Army and help harvest crops have now dropped out despite thousands of initial applications.”
https://internewscast.com/britains-land-army-goes-awol/
“In the past few weeks, Italy, Spain and France had pushed for grants to be funded through the EU, while Germany, Austria, Finland and the Netherlands insisted only loans should be financed.
“The national disagreements were so profound that, before the conference, it was decided that there would be no joint statement afterwards, as this would require the approval of all 27 EU member states. Instead, a statement was issued by European Council president Charles Michel.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/04/27/the-italian-crisis-is-only-just-beginning/
“More than 30m workers in Europe’s five biggest economies have applied to have their wages paid by the state via short-term leave schemes designed to stop unemployment skyrocketing in the coronavirus crisis…
“…higher than the 26m people who have filed for unemployment benefits in the US…”
http://archive.vn/3ttWP#selection-1843.0-1869.10
“There is evidence that without desperate intervention, the world would be about to face defaults on a true Depression-era scale.
“And Jim Reid, the Deutsche Bank investment strategist who has overseen this mammoth project since inception, makes clear that this could turn out to be a Faustian bargain.”
“India’s credit markets were jolted late last week when a major money manager halted withdrawals from mutual funds, adding to a worrying string of superlatives that have been piling up since well before the coronavirus pandemic.
“Franklin Templeton’s decision to wind up $4.1 billion of Indian debt funds was the biggest-ever forced closure of funds in the country.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/contagion-risks-build-india-credit-210000589.html
“From Jakarta to Wellington, policy makers are challenging taboos and creeping closer toward the monetization of government debt, breaking new ground after the U.S. and Europe took the lead in crisis management a decade ago.”
“… the expanded purchases of corporate debt and equities are real, and a major problem. The BOJ already owns an outsize portion of listed equity in Japan via the decade-old ETF purchase program, and we warned last month that this distorts prices by encouraging investors to bet on the central bank rather than corporate managers or the economy.
“Now the central bank plans to gobble up the corporate debt market, too.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-central-bank-that-ate-japan-11588026341
“Foreign investors are now withdrawing capital from emerging markets and returning it to the rich world in search of a safe haven.
“As a result, countries such as South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria are seeing their currencies plummet in value—making it difficult, if not impossible, for them to service foreign loans…
“By continuing to demand interest payments on the loans, China will force poor nations to choose between servicing debts and importing essential goods such as food and medical supplies.”
“The outlook for Brazil’s economy continues to deteriorate, a series of surveys on Monday showed, as economists at global bank Citi slashed its 2020 forecast and predicted “the worst annual contraction ever” this year.”
“While everyone is understandably watching the meltdown in the crude oil market, the global market for natural gas is also cratering. At least 20 cargoes of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been cancelled by buyers in Asia and Europe, according to Reuters.”
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/The-LNG-Market-Is-Imploding.html
“Oil prices fell further on Tuesday, adding to huge declines in the previous session, as worries about limited storage capacity for crude led the biggest oil exchange-traded fund (ETF) to unexpectedly begin selling all its holdings of the most active contract.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/oil-pressure-storage-space-tighter-200428012223591.html
“South Korea, the country with the fourth-largest commercial storage capacity in Asia, has just run out of room to store more oil, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Monday, as available storage capacity everywhere in the world in shrinking fast amid the demand collapse.”
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/South-Korea-Has-Run-Out-Of-Oil-Storage.html
“Azerbaijan’s central bank took four of the country’s top banks into temporary administration, and has reduced capital requirements for others…
“…as the country’s financial system comes under increasing strain from falling oil prices.”
https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijans-banks-showing-signs-of-strain
“Iraq is witnessing an unprecedented financial crisis sparked by the collapse in the price of oil, which is the country’s main source of income and accounts to 90 percent of its revenues.
“Employees and pensioners have been gripped by fears that the government will be unable to pay their salaries for the coming months.”
“The historic crash in oil prices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is reverberating across the Middle East as crude-dependent countries scramble to offset losses from a key source of state revenue…
“…and all this at a time when several of them already face explosive social unrest.”
“Scores of workers at a construction site that includes a refinery being built by Africa’s richest man rioted on Monday against lockdown measures in Nigeria’s megacity Lagos, police said…
“Workers across the city of 20 million, where many live in poverty, have complained that the restrictions have cut them off from vital income.”
https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2020/04/588042/nigerian-workers-riot-over-covid-19-lockdown
“The cratering oil market has tipped yet another energy company into bankruptcy.
“Diamond Offshore (DO), which was posting losses even before the current plunge in oil prices, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday.”
“Commodity trading has largely escaped the scrutiny of financial regulators…
“The scale of traders’ financial activities, their interconnectedness with financial markets and their pivotal position in global supply chains mean that the collapse of one company could arguably cause serious commodity market disruption with knock-on effects for financial markets globally.”
http://archive.vn/svmdt#selection-1911.0-1911.291
“…the world economy has more to fear from deflation.
“The collapse in oil prices to unprecedentedly low and briefly negative levels in the US last week shows why deflation is the greater worry. Demand for new goods has fallen even further than the drops in supply, putting pressure on prices.”
http://archive.vn/DeHoL#selection-1835.425-1847.213
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