Amazon adds 12 planes to its growing air-cargo fleet that's encroaching on FedEx and UPS
Amazon is adding 12 new planes to its cargo fleet.That brings it to 81 total planes. Industry watchers believe that Amazon is on track to challenge the US Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx, slashing a total of $100 billion from the companies' top line.Still, Amazon will have to spend about $120 billion to catch up to those companies' transportation networks.
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US bars passenger flights from China
The US is barring passenger flights from China from 16 June, in the latest sign of tensions between the two economic giants.
The Department of Transportation said it is punishing Beijing for refusing to let US airlines resume flights to China as its pandemic subsides.
If the order goes forward, it will hurt travel, trade and other exchange between the two countries, said Daniel Kliman, director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
Source: BBC news
Picture: Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Coronavirus: Australia set for first recession in three decades
Australia is set for its first recession in 29 years as the country feels the impact of the virus pandemic.
Official figures show that the economy shrank by 0.3% in the first three months of the year, amid bushfires and the early stages of the outbreak.
Economists expect data for the current quarter to confirm that the shutdowns have pushed the country into recession.It comes even after the government and central bank stepped up measures to support the economy.
The latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures highlight that the economy was struggling from a devastating bushfire season, a slowdown in tourism and weak domestic demand even before the virus-related restrictions started.
"The Australian economy is going through a very difficult period and is experiencing the biggest economic contraction since the 1930s."
The Australian government has also pledged hundreds of billions dollars to help support businesses and individuals and has signalled that more stimulus measures would be announced soon.
Source: BBC news
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Grocery shopping online in China booms, even after stores reopen
Grocery shopping online is poised for explosive growth in China, with more than half consumers saying they are buying more online even after stores reopen.
According to research by GlobalData, consumers in the region got used to purchasing online during the Covid-19 lockdown and the habit has stuck.
The data shows 56 per cent of Chinese consumers are now grocery shopping online more frequently than before the pandemic hit.
“The impact of Covid-19 will leave a permanent mark on how we shop for groceries,” said Globaldata retail analyst Thomas Brereton, “with demand for home fulfilment soaring around the world as consumers follow the ‘stay at home’ message from many governments.
With a population of 1.4 billion, the potential value growth in the Chinese online grocery market is phenomenal.”
Chinese food delivery service Meituan – founded in 2010 – is an example of the trend, recently hitting a US$100 billion valuation.
Source: insidefmcg
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China Allows Street Vendors to Spur Struggling Economy
China has loosened restrictions for small vendors to benefit small businesses struggling after the Covid-19 outbreak.
China's 26 cities including Shanghai are encouraging the growth of street vendors in an attempt to ease unemployment rates and weak demand following the Covid-19 lockdown.
The city government of Shanghai announced Wednesday it will host the first Shanghai Nightlife Festival from June 6 to June 30. Earlier, the city issued directive welcoming small business owners to set up street stalls to sell their products, according to the Shanghai Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau.
"Shanghai will support the development of new consumer formats," the government authority said in a statement.
Shanghai is not the first city to ease controls over street vendors. Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province, announced a friendly policy to small vendors on March 14, allowing them to set up temporary stalls in non-commercial areas. As of May 28, the city reported additional 2,230 temporary road stall areas and filled more than 100,000 job positions.
Hefei, the largest city of Anhui Province, added 37 street vending areas and saw a significant increase in temporary watermelon stalls, breakfast carts, newsstands, etc. The government of Xi'an city in Shaanxi Province, one of the oldest cities in China, said it plans to set up 100 markets to sell vegetables, 100 market to offer barbecue services, and 100 food vendors this year.
The term "stall economy" was hot on the list of trending topics on China's Twitter - Weibo, with over 630 million views as of Wednesday. The stall economy relieves employment pressure to a certain extent and drives the development of the service industry.
Premier Li Keqiang said on June 1 that the Chinese government will provide more support for street stalls and small businesses as they are the growth engines of China's economy when he visited Yantai in East China's Shandong province.
Following Li's suggestion, technology giants collaborated with local governments to roll out policies to help small business owners.
Shares in Shanghai-listed Zhejiang China Commodities City Group Co. Ltd., a small commodities wholesale market operator, jumped to a 10% daily limit, closing at 5.06 yuan (73 cents) per share on Thursday. The stock price of Maoye Commercial Co. also soared 10% for three days. The company is engaged in the retail of general merchandise.
The unemployment issue was brought up by Premier Li during the annual Two Sessions meeting last month. The world's second-largest economy suffered from the urban unemployment rate rose to a near-historic high of 6% in April, up from 5.9% in March, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in May.
"The government tried to add 9 million new positions in the urban area," Li said last month to the press.
China has over 600 million people with their monthly income below $140 and their livelihood was further worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, Li added.
New Zealand's government could ease coronavirus restrictions as early as next week
Adern told a press conference that New Zealand was "ahead of schedule." The country has not reported any new cases for 11 days in a row.
She said that, while previous advice modeling had assumed there would be a "persistent and potentially longer tail of cases" as the country moved to "level two," risking further spread, so far a tail or spike in cases had not occurred.
New Zealand's cabinet will review the alert level settings earlier than planned, on June 8, Ardern said, adding "if and only if there are no further unexpected cases over the coming days, then we could be in a position to move to alert level one that week."
New Zealand has had 1,504 confirmed cases and 22 deaths.
Source: CNN
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