Tetra Pak says its 2020 sustainability report, “Enabling transformation”, marks a new stage of its approach to sustainability, encompassing the entire value chain.
The food-packaging giant uses the concept of protecting food, people and futures as the chapters of the company’s sustainability story, which it says underpins its brand promise to “protect what’s good”. Tetra Pak uses UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide its sustainability effort.
The company said it is contributing to SDGs 2 (end hunger) and 12 (responsible consumption and production), by building sustainable value chains, such as through participation in school feeding programmes for 68 million children in 56 countries, and the Dairy Hub model, which collects 389,470 litres of milk per day from smallholder farmers.
The company said it protects people by enabling its employees, promoting growth and development for all, and driving actions to ensure a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. For example, Tetra Pak has demonstrated a 14 per cent rise in women in top management and 8 per cent reduction in lost time accidents at plants.
Tetra Pak said it now uses 69 per cent of renewable energy in its operations. Last year, 50 billion Tetra Pak packages were recycled, and the company said it successfully achieved its goal to reduce carbon emissions by saving 10 million tonnes of CO2 across the value chain over the decade.
Tetra Pak Thailand has installed 3,076 solar panels at its factory in Rayong to provide 1,350 MWh of renewable electricity every year, saving over 850 tonnes of CO2. The company said it also achieved a major 10-year milestone with “The Green Roof Project for Friends in Need Volunteers Foundation” by collecting over 2,300 tons of used cartons to be turned into more than 65,000 roofing sheets for victims of natural disaster and other people in need.
Meanwhile, its “Beverage Carton Recycling Project” (BECARE) has collected over 2,300 tons of used beverage cartons, plus over 1 million sheets of recycled paper that were donated to 13 schools for the blind in Thailand. Last year, the company supported the launch of the School Milk Carton Recycling project at more than 350 Bangkok schools.
“Our joined-up approach to three of our sustainability pillars — protecting food, people and futures — also shares a common commitment to partnership,” said Bert Jan Post, managing director of Tetra Pak (Thailand) Limited. “By working together with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders we can lead the sustainability transformation and drive the most meaningful positive change.”
The Department of Health Service Support has come up with “wellness quarantine” guidelines to serve foreign customers if Thailand decides to reopen its wellness sector.
The guidelines, submitted to a sub-committee under the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), are in line with the centre’s decision in early July to allow foreigners to come to Thailand for medical and wellness tourism. CCSA said it will start by reopening the medical sector to see if the arrival of foreigners poses any problems, after which it will consider reopening spas and other wellness centres.
Since the CCSA has been satisfied with the reopening of the medical sector, the department decided to come up with guidelines to reopen the wellness sector.
Saowapa Jongkitipong, head of the international healthcare division of the Department of Health Service Support, said guidelines for wellness quarantine included the mandatory 14-day quarantine, and also required that foreign consumers of wellness services travel by prearranged vehicles with no stops on the way and that tracking devices be used to track the foreign customers. The wellness tourists will also undergo three Covid-19 tests.
Meanwhile, participating wellness centres will need to go into contracts with hospitals and will also be required to get additional certification.
Commerce Ministry discusses moves to boost trade with EU-Asean Business Council
EconSep 16. 2020Vice Commerce Minister Sansern Samalapa
By The Nation
The Commerce Ministry recently talked with the EU-Asean Business Council (EU-ABC) about the steps Thailand has taken to curb the spread of Covid-19 and how it plans to revive its economy.
In the teleconference on Tuesday (September 15), Vice Commerce Minister Sansern Samalapa said the subject of a free trade agreement with EU was also touched upon.
“With more than 50 European companies doing business in the Asean region, Thailand recognises the importance of enhancing trade relations with the European Union, facilitating trade using digital technology, promoting foreign investment, intellectual property protection, and raising the standard of local export products, especially in the agriculture and food sector,” he said.
Both sides also exchanged views on other trade matters, such as the revival of a Thai-EU FTA, progress of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and a reduction of Asean barriers on non-tax measures etc.
These talks received strong interest from the EU, with EU-ABC scheduled to hold a round of talks with trade ministers from Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore later this month. These talks will reflect future trade opportunities between Europe and Asean.
The EU-Asean Business Council was established in 2014 to promote business cooperation between the European private sector and Asean. It currently comprises European chambers of commerce from nine Asean countries and more than 30 large European multinationals covering a wide range of businesses such as automotives, electronics, medicines and medical supplies, consumer goods, finance, logistics, etc.
Banpu Power is conducting due diligence for power plants in Thailand and overseas, chief executive officer Kirana Limpaphayom said.
The move is to achieve its goal of expanding its power generation capacity to 5,300 megawatts from 2,400MW in the next five years.
Most of the targeted projects are outside Thailand, such as in China, Vietnam and the US.
Banpu is developing the 1,300MW-capacity Shanxi Lu Guang plant in China, which should start feeding power to the grid in the fourth quarter of this year.
Recently, the company also acquired a wind-power plant with 38MW capacity in Vietnam, and has shown interest in taking over four or five natural gas power plants in the US, each with a 600MW capacity.
The CEO said these new investment plans will become clearer next year.
He went on to say that the company does not expect this year’s revenue to be lower than last year’s earnings of Bt10.075 billion.
Investors holding Wind Energy Holding (WEH) shares came under pressure again when former WEH director Nop Narongdej said the company needed votes from 75 per cent of the shareholders to raise funds in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
Recently, WEH board of directors decided to dismiss Nop from the board and have shareholder Pradej Kitti-itsaranon take his post because the former director had failed to have WEH listed.
Nop said he would let the new director complete the job of getting the company listed, adding that it was up to the rest of the major shareholders to deal with Pradej’s default in stock payment.
Meanwhile, Kraisak Kadkum, lawyer for Golden Music (GML) which holds 37.867 per cent of WEH shares, said he will seek arbitration for Pradej to return the 14.39 million GML shares after he defaulted on share payment. GML has also terminated its contract with Pradej.
“Pradej’s move to use WEH shares for his benefit during the shareholders meeting on September 10 was unfair to GML,” the lawyer said.
To maintain its benefit, GML filed a complaint with the civil court before seeking arbitration to stop Pradej from using is voting rights on such shares until the arbitration proceedings are complete. This includes a ban on transfer, sale or acquisition of shares.
The court has yet to set a hearing date for the case.
The price of gold dropped by Bt100 per baht weight in morning trade today (September 16), the Gold Traders Association reported.
As of 9.30am, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt28,800 per baht weight and selling price Bt28,900, while gold ornaments cost Bt28,288.56 and Bt29,400, respectively.
At close yesterday, the buying price of a gold bar was Bt28,900 per baht weight and selling price Bt29,000, while gold ornaments cost Bt28,379.52 and Bt29,500, respectively.
The spot gold price moved to US$1,958 (Bt61,055) per ounce this morning after the price rose by $2.50 to $1,966.20 per ounce at yesterday’s close.
Investors are keenly following the US Federal Reserve meeting, expecting the central bank to continue easing its monetary policy.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index fell by 1.43 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 1,284.75 in the morning session today (September 16).
An analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to fluctuate between 1,275 and 1,295 points.
“Although the market gained positive sentiment after the Cabinet approved long-stay visas for foreigners visiting Thailand and a rising oil price, we expect investors to sell stocks to reduce risks following results of a US Federal Open Market Committee meeting [on Thursday] and the [September 19] political rally by students,” the analyst said.
He recommended that investors buy:
> Stocks whose third-quarter performance will improve, such as TU, Asian, Com7, CHG, PTG and PlanB.
> Stocks that benefit from the rising oil price, such as PTTEP, Top and PTTGC.
The SET Index closed at 1,286.18 yesterday, up 13.84 points, or 1.09 per cent. The volume of total transactions was Bt43.86 billion, with an index high of 1,287.04 points and a low of 1,274.62.
By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Claire Ballentine, Vildana Hajric · BUSINESS
U.S. stocks closed higher as gains in technology shares helped offset a late slide in financials. Crude oil pushed higher, while the dollar was little changed.
The S&P 500 rose for a third consecutive trading session, led by communication services, real estate and consumer discretionary shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. pushed financials into the red.
“The market’s trying to figure out what to do next, and in those times you always see volatility,” said Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer of First American Trust in Santa Ana, California, which has around $2 billion in assets under management. “We’ve been trying to figure out if this tech run is here to stay.”
In Europe, Hennes & Mauritz AB led a rally among fashion retailers after beating profit estimates. Investors in Germany unexpectedly raised their expectations for the country’s economy. The offshore yuan climbed to the highest level in a year and stocks in Shanghai advanced on evidence that China is accelerating out of the virus slump.
Investors are awaiting the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting Wednesday to gauge the outlook for markets following a slide of about 2% in global stocks this month. The Fed is expected to maintain its dovish stance after earlier saying it will shift to a more relaxed approach on inflation. Central bank largesse is shoring up sentiment in the face of risks from the pandemic, the U.S. presidential election and the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index increased 0.5% to 3,401.13 as of 4:02 p.m. EDT, the highest in more than a week.
The Dow Jones industrial average was little changed at 27,994.42, the highest in more than a week.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.2% to 11,190.32, the highest in more than a week.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.7% to 370.96, the highest in almost two weeks.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,165.42, the lowest in more than a week.
The euro dipped 0.2% to $1.1845, the first retreat in a week.
The Japanese yen appreciated 0.3% to 105.46 per dollar, the strongest in more than two weeks.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasurys increased one basis point to 0.68%.
Germany’s 10-year yield climbed less than one basis point to -0.48%.
Britain’s 10-year yield gained two basis points to 0.217%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.8% to $38.29 a barrel, the highest in more than a week.
By The Washington Post · David J. Lynch · NATIONAL, BUSINESS, US-GLOBAL-MARKETS President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy drew strong pushback on two fronts Tuesday, as the World Trade Organization sided with China in a legal challenge to U.S. tariffs and Canadian threats of retaliation led the United States to abandon plans for a fresh set of import taxes.
The pair of developments – coupled with the release earlier this month of data showing the trade deficit at its worst point in 12 years – reflected the incomplete state of the president’s promised globalization overhaul seven weeks before he faces voters.
A three-member WTO panel struck at the core of Trump’s trade war on China, ruling that the tariffs he imposed more than two years ago on $234 billion worth of Chinese goods ran afoul of U.S. commitments under global trading rules.
The ruling will have no immediate impact on U.S. customs officials’ ability to collect the levies from American importers, but it represents a diplomatic dent in the president’s trade offensive.
Several hours later, the administration said it was abandoning a tariff on aluminum from Canada that the president had imposed just last month, settling instead for making public its expectation that imports will decline. The move came hours before Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, who had vowed a “dollar for dollar” response, was expected to announce retaliatory tariffs on American products.
“Both actions reflect the iron law of trade retaliation. When the U.S. imposes import taxes on foreign goods, other countries will hit back,” said John Veroneau, a partner at Covington & Burling and a former U.S. trade negotiator in the administration of President George W. Bush.
That view has not always been accepted by senior Trump administration figures. In 2018, Peter Navarro, one of the president’s closest trade advisers, insisted that U.S. trading partners would not respond if the president made their products more expensive for American buyers.
“I don’t believe any country is going to retaliate for the simple reason that we are the most lucrative and biggest market in the world,” Navarro told Fox Business. “They know they’re cheating us, and all we’re doing is standing up for ourselves.”
The administration had argued before the WTO that its tariffs were needed to curb years of trade cheating by China. But in a 66-page report, the panel rejected that claim.
“The United States has not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures” are justified, the panel concluded.
Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, issued a statement criticizing the decision, saying it showed that the WTO was unable to prevent Chinese policies from distorting global trade and harming the U.S. economy. The president imposed the tariffs on Chinese goods following an investigation by Lighthizer’s office that concluded China routinely engaged in unfair trade practices, including compelling foreign firms to transfer technology secrets and violating intellectual property safeguards.
“Although the panel did not dispute the extensive evidence submitted by the United States of intellectual property theft by China, its decision shows that the WTO provides no remedy for such misconduct. The United States must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices, and the Trump Administration will not let China use the WTO to take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers, and ranchers,” Lighthizer said.
In a separate announcement, Lighthizer said the administration was dropping a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminum, which took effect Aug. 16.
The U.S. move followed consultations with the Canadian government and came as Canadian officials were preparing to unveil retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Lighthizer said the United States had scrapped its tariff plans based on “expectations” that Canadian shipments of the industrial metal would decline by 50% from levels during the first half of this year, and he released specific permissible monthly totals for imports in each of the next four months.
The United States reserves the right to reimpose the import levies if imports exceed 105% of those levels, though Lighthizer’s statement effectively postpones any resumption of the tariff fight until after the election.
Freeland bluntly described the U.S. decision as a “unilateral” one and reiterated that Canada would strike back against any future threats.
“This is not a negotiated deal between Canada and the United States,” she told reporters. “We have not agreed to anything. We have not negotiated an agreement with the United States on quotas.”
The United States first imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum in 2018, citing the threat to national security from a reliance upon foreign suppliers. The president exempted Canada and Mexico from the levies the following year when a new North American trade pact was completed.
When Trump announced last month that he was reimposing the aluminum tariffs, citing an import surge, Canadian officials said they would retaliate against $3.6 billion in U.S. goods, including bicycles, washing machines and refrigerators.
The items were “explicitly targeted at products that were politically sensitive” and made in swing-state factories, according to Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, a trade consultancy.
The on-again, off-again nature of the president’s tariffs has confounded American businesses, leaving many uncertain of their raw material costs from one month to the next. The Aluminum Association, an industry group, endorsed the decision to drop the tariffs, which it called “disruptive and unnecessary.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which often has been critical of the administration’s tariff diplomacy, also welcomed the move.
“What American manufacturers need now is certainty that these tariffs won’t make another reappearance. Setting aside these threats once and for all will allow American job creators to focus on economic recovery,” said Myron Brilliant, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber.
In the case of the China tariffs,the WTO ruling could eventually authorize China to impose higher tariffs on a range of U.S. products. But the United States can effectively stall any further action by appealing Tuesday’s ruling. The administration has blocked for months the appointment of new members to the WTO’s appellate body, leaving the organization unable to fulfill its assigned role of adjudicating trade spats. The panel acknowledged its ruling comes amid “unprecedented global trade tensions.”
The Revenue Department is uncertain if it will meet the revenue collection target in 2021 fiscal year, director general Ekniti Nitithanprapas said.
He added that the existing target is based on the assumption that next year’s economic growth will be between 4 and 5 per cent.
However, he said, the department will have to wait for a new estimate from the Fiscal Policy Office due to a change in Thailand’s economic situation.
The outcome of total revenue collection for 2020 fiscal year, which ends this month, is pending the outcome of corporate tax submission in the first half of this year.
Revenue collection in August exceeded the target by Bt30 billion because the tax payment period had been extended from March to August, and not because the economy was improving.
Vice Commerce Minister Sansern Samalapa 
President Trump 
