Supermarket retailer Coles is using its market dominance to destabilise the whole of Australia’s food and grocery supply chain by cutting prices on essential daily items, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) said today (February 3).

AFGC highlighted that Coles’ “Down, Down” campaign to heavily discount staple foods like bread and dairy products was designed to increase traffic in Coles supermarkets without considering the long-term, flow-on effects to farmers, industry and consumers. AFGC Chief Executive Kate Carnell said Coles’ claim that their price cutting won’t affect farmers or food and grocery manufacturers was misleading.

“At the end of the day, this price blitz produces a new floor price on staple products – Coles is using its market dominance to destabilise the marketplace, triggering other major retailers to match prices to maintain their market share,” Ms Carnell said.

Source: http://www.afgc.org.au/media-releases/546-coles-food-price-blitz-pulls-industry-down-down.html

The International Fur Trade Federation is delighted to launch its new Trends and Forecasting section on IFTF.com created in collaboration with trend consultants, EMC. On the IFTF Trends page you will find up to the minute information about fashion, lifestyle, consumer, celebrity and social trends but also insight into the innovators who form these future trends.

Under Fur fashion right now the three major trends are Forager, Cosmetique and Keepsake. For each of the trends you will find details on the supporting mood and colour, influences, fur and fabric swatches, styling guidance and catwalk analysis. Each trend analysis can be downloaded in a pdf format.

Source: http://www.iftf.com/#/press-releases/159/

Arlington – The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) today welcomed action by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to extend the stay on the testing and certification requirements for lead content as set forth in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008. The stay, extended by a four to one vote of the CPSC commissioners, continues to be in force until December 31, 2011. It does not affect the
underlying lead standard, which is already in force.

“This announcement to extend temporarily the stay of testing and certification for lead content provides some relief for many in the U.S. apparel and footwear industry,” said AAFA President and CEO Kevin M. Burke. “We will use this window of opportunity to continue working diligently with the CPSC and congressional stakeholders and seek out commonsense and risk-based reforms to this well-intended but flawed legislation. We are pleased that the Commissioners voted to extend the stay beyond the CPSC staff recommendation. However, we remain concerned that this period of time may not provide the CPSC with enough time to complete pending rule makings or for the industry to learn and incorporate those new rules.”

Source: https://www.apparelandfootwear.org

In the end of 2010 ALROSA has won the auction spent by Rosnedra (State regulator of the usage of natural resources in Russia) for the developing diamond deposits located in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia: alluvial deposits “Ruchey Gusiny”, “Ebelyakh” and diamond pipe “Dalnyaya”; after finishing formalization of the Government permits, ALROSA will start developing these deposits.

The total reserves of the diamond deposits are 42 mln ct, the average price per carat – more than 70 US$, and diamond deposits are located within ALROSA’s existing production facilities, developing of the deposits will not require significant CAPEX and will encourage further stability of ALROSA’s production.

Source: http://www.gjepc.org/news/view.aspx?NewsId=8010

The services sector slowed further in January with the latest Australian Industry Group/Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index (Australian PSI) falling 0.9 points to 45.5, remaining below the 50 points levels separating expansion from contraction. The weakness was evident in both the sales and employment sub-indices and particularly noticeable in the new orders sub-index which fell sharply to a disappointing level of 39.7.

Accommodation, cafes, & restaurants, transport & storage and health & community services were the only sub-sectors to expand in the month. Activity contracted most noticeably during January in the retail trade, wholesale trade, communication, finance & insurance and personal & recreational services sub-sectors.

Australian Industry Group Chief Executive, Heather Ridout, said: “The services sector had a sluggish start to the year with interest rate sensitive households and businesses lacking confidence and remaining hesitant to spend. As well, the full impact of the flooding is yet to unfold.

“The very sharp fall in the new orders sub-index is of real concern. The poor outlook for new orders points to the possibility of the weakness in the sector that was evident for much of last year continuing over coming months,” Mrs Ridout said.

Source: http://www.aigroup.com.au/

Manufacturing had a soft start to 2011 with the January Australian Industry Group - PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI®) relatively unchanged at 46.7 points, up 0.4 points and remaining below the critical 50 point level for the fifth consecutive month (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity).

Manufacturers remained cautious in the month, driving down inventories (with the inventories sub-index down 11.4 points) rather than ordering new stock. New orders fell in seven of the 12 sub-sectors. Falls were most marked in the construction materials; paper, printing & publishing and fabricated metals sub-sectors. In contrast, the chemicals, petroleum & coal; transport equipment; and machinery & equipment sub-sectors benefitted from strong post-Christmas orders.

Australian Industry Group Chief Executive, Heather Ridout, said: “The continuing subdued performance of the manufacturing sector reflects the complex nature of the Australian economy; consumers and businesses are cautious and there is a structural squeeze on the sector arising from the resources boom and related strength of the dollar. The immediate outlook is not encouraging with the forward-looking new orders sub-index falling for the fifth month in a row in January.

Source: http://www.aigroup.com.au

Victoria’s tourism operators should be able to log onto a central, ‘one-stop shop’ website to lodge all compliance certificates needed to carry out their business so the industry can continue to grow, says the industry’s peak body.

The Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) says a central website, similar to the one that is currently used in the plumbing industry, would save tourism operators time and money by allowing them to lodge applications for permits and other compliance documents in one spot, rather than having to visit the websites of numerous government departments and agencies as well as, often multiple, local governments.

VTIC Chairman Jeremy Johnson says the central website forms part of the Council’s submission to the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission’s review into red tape in the tourism industry.

Source: http://www.vecci.org.au/news/Pages/%E2%80%98One-stop_shop%E2%80%99_to_help_reduce_red_tape_burden_on_tourism_industry.aspx

WASHINGTON, D.C. - National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Relations Aric Newhouse issued a statement following the Senate’s vote to repeal the expanded reporting requirements under Section 9006 of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act:

“Manufacturers are pleased that the Senate has wisely lifted one of the many regulatory and policy burdens from their backs with tonight’s vote to repeal section 1099.

Source: http://www.nam.org/Communications/Articles/2011/01/Article.aspx

The Australian Made, Australian Grown Campaign (AMAG) reiterates its call for tougher food labelling laws, following the release of the Final Report of the Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy.

While welcoming the panel’s three country-of-origin labelling recommendations, AMAG Chief Executive, Ian Harrison, insists they need to be extended even further so consumers are given clear and consistent information to make informed choices with.

“The term `Made in Australia’ should not be allowed to be used in a qualified claim such as `Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’ as shoppers find this confusing. Food products which don’t meet the full criteria set out in the Australian Consumer Law should be labelled with an alternative claim, for example packaged in’ or `blended in’,” Mr Harrison says.

Source: http://www.australianmade.com.au/blewett-report-needed-to-go-further/

“Elizabeth (Betsy) Anderson, Executive Vice President Legal and General Counsel, was recently elected to the Food and Drug Law Institute’s (FDLI) Board of Directors. Betsy’s past FDLI experience includes three years on the Food and Drug Law Journal’s advisory board and contributions to numerous chapters of text including “FDA Regulation of Personal Care Products,” Nanotechnology & FDA-Regulated Products: The Essential Guide (2009) and “The Cosmetic Regulatory Process,” A Practical Guide to Food and Drug Law and Regulation, Third Edition (2008).

“Founded in 1949, FDLI is a non-profit organization that provides a marketplace for discussing food and drug law issues through conferences, publications and member interaction. FDLI’s scope includes food, drugs, animal drugs, biologics, cosmetics, diagnostics, dietary supplements, medical devices and tobacco.”

Source: http://www.personalcarecouncil.org/newsroom/20110201