MACROECONOMICS
Bank of Thailand signals rate hikes after opting for hawkish pause. (Bangkok Post)
- The Bank of Thailand (BoT) kept its benchmark interest rate steady in a split decision, as it flagged mounting inflation risks, and signalled its next move may be an increase.
- The BoT’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 4-3 to keep the benchmark rate at a record low 0.5%, according to a statement. The central bank raised its inflation forecast for this year to 6.2 and expects the economy to grow 3.3%,
POULTRY INDUSTRY
Chicken Company Foster Farms Sold to Private-Equity Firm (WSJ)
- Foster Farms, a West Coast-based chicken company with $3 billion in annual revenue, has agreed to a takeover by private-equity firm Atlas Holdings and will install former Tyson Foods chief Donnie Smith as its CEO.
- Foster Farms employs about 10,000 workers and operates processing facilities in California, Washington, Louisiana, Oregon and Alabama. The company is the 10th largest U.S. chicken producer by pounds produced, according to meat-industry publication Watt Poultry USA.
- Demand for chicken has held steady for processors in recent months, despite rising prices. A tight supply of meat arising from staffing shortages at processing plants and challenges in hatcheries, coupled with high demand from restaurants and grocery stores, has sent the price of boneless, skinless breast meat higher in recent months. Boneless skinless chicken breast prices have increased 68% since the start of the year, according to the Agriculture Department.
ENERGY INDUSTRY
Qatar picks Exxon, Total, Shell, Conoco for mega-LNG expansion (Reuters)
- The $30 billion North Field expansion will boost Qatar’s LNG (liquefied natural gas) output by 64% by 2027 and help to guarantee long term supply of gas to Europe.
- The four oil majors are expected to have around 20-25% in total of the offtake of the new project- proportionally a smaller stake than their share in current projects, which ranges between 25-35%.
- The North Field Expansion (NFE) plan includes six LNG trains that will ramp up Qatar’s liquefaction capacity from 77 million tones per annum (mtpa) to 126 mtpa by 2027.
RETAIL INDUSTRY
Apple sidelines Goldman and goes in-house for new lending service (Financial Times)
- Apple Pay Later will offer loans through its new subsidiary instead of financing through a bank
- Apple is making its biggest move yet into finance by offering loans directly to consumers for its new “buy now, pay later” product, taking on a role played in its other lending services by banking partners such as Goldman Sachs.
- Big Tech’s move into the core banking business has been long feared on Wall Street after years of an uneasy alliance in areas such as mobile payments.
- The company is used to rolling out its other online services such as Apple Music, iCloud and TV+ to dozens of countries at the same time that they launch in the US or soon after.
CANABIS
Thailand to give away one million free cannabis plants to households. (CNN)
- The Thai government will distribute one million free cannabis plants to households across the nation in June to mark a new rule allowing people to grow cannabis at home, its health minister has said.
- Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced the move in a Facebook post on May 8 in which he expressed his intention for cannabis plants to be grown like “household crops.”
- The new rule, which comes into force on June 9, will allow people to grow cannabis plants at home after notifying their local government, but the plants will have to be of medical grade and used exclusively for medicinal purposes. Additionally, the cannabis cannot be used for commercial purposes without further licenses.
- The move is the latest step in Thailand’s plan to promote cannabis as a cash crop. About a third of its labor force works in agriculture, according to the World Bank.
- In a region notorious for harsh penalties towards illegal drugs, Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia in 2018 to legalize cannabis for medical research and use.