Tyson Foods to step in on shortage of pork
There was a very interesting article in the FT today about Tyson Foods, the American meat-packing giant.
It highlighted concerns that the current outbreak of African swine fever could still potentially spread outside China as the virus, which is fatal to pigs but harmless to humans, can survive for up to a year in blood, faeces and meat.
The fever has led to a cull in China of about 20% of its entire pig population – the equivalent to over 100m animals.
This has led to a sudden shortage of pork that other companies, including Tyson Foods, are hoping to fill.
Although China currently has a 62% tariff on American pork imports as part of the ongoing trade spat, you would have thought this would be a time for companies like Tyson to benefit from China’s misfortune.
Still, if African swine fever DOES spread outside China, we could see some major problems.
Ikea city-centre opening in Paris
The other thing I wanted to talk about today was Ikea’s new store opening in the centre of Paris.
As you all know, Ikea’s model thus far is to have big out-of-town stores, but this new opening heralds the latest development in its ongoing efforts to change this model to adapt to the ongoing evolution of consumer behaviour.
Similar city-centre openings are scheduled for Lyon and Nice while the company is turning parts of its out-of-town store network into distribution centres for home delivery.
Ikea is continuing to boost its online shopping business as part of a major revamp of the company. No doubt that success with this kind of store format will see rollout elsewhere.
