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Strained Meat Supplies; Coty's Inventory Makeover; Betting Big on Resale
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A JBS meat processing plant in Plainwell, Michigan. PHOTO: JEFF KOWALSKY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS/GETTY IMAGES
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Today's newsletter was written by WSJ Logistics Report's Jennifer Smith.
The cyberattack on meatpacker JBS is rippling across food supply chains and driving up prices in an already strained market. The ransomware attack on U.S. operations also affected production in Canada and Australia, the WSJ’s Jesse Newman and Jacob Bunge report, delivering another blow to regional meat industries that have weathered disruptions from drought to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prices continued to climb even as the meatpacker restarted plant operations Wednesday, with prices for some beef cuts up by $5.60 to $340.16 per hundred pounds, the biggest increase in at least a month. Food distributors are racing to line up alternative deliveries of beef, pork and chicken and might ration shipments to customers
if supplies tighten further in the coming days. U.S. regulators are asking major meat processors to add capacity where possible while cattle producers wait to learn if they will be able to deliver animals to JBS plants as planned.
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PHOTO: JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Coty is giving itself a supply chain makeover. The cosmetics company is scaling back inventory, whittling down its product portfolio and taking a hard look at manufacturing efficiency, CFO Journal’s Nina Trentmann writes, in a bid to reverse its declining fortunes. Coty has struggled to boost sales since buying a raft of drugstore beauty brands from Procter & Gamble in 2016. But expansive product lines are far out of fashion. Finance chief Laurent Mercier is hunting for $600 million in savings over three years, dumping items that don’t sell frequently and making plans to close a German manufacturing plant. The company is pushing to improve forecasting, including deploying
artificial intelligence, so it doesn’t make more product than is needed. Coty’s quarterly net revenue fell 3.3% from the previous year, but there are signs of improvement. Gross margin was up to 61.9% compared to 56.6% in the prior-year quarter.
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“It’s not just JBS that’s impacted by this, it goes right back to the farm gate.”
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— David Littleproud, Australia’s agriculture minister.
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PHOTO: DOLLY FAIBYSHEV FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Etsy is betting big on fashion resale as a post-pandemic second act. The online marketplace is splashing out with a $1.63 billion deal to buy resale darling Depop, the WSJ’s Charity L. Scott and Colin Kellaher report, a move that gives Etsy access to a younger, fashion-conscious audience as consumers emerge from pandemic lockdowns. The acquisition is a fresh sign that companies are jockeying for position in a post-pandemic economy after big changes over the past year. Demand for face masks drove Etsy’s sales to new highs while
supply-chain constraints hampered some traditional competitors. Depop also logged big numbers during the pandemic and comes with a user base where 75% of sellers are also buyers. The U.S. secondhand market is projected to grow to $64 billion in 2024. Traditional retailers like Gap and Macy’s are also getting into the game through partnerships with Depop rival ThredUp.
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1.69 Billion
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Metric tons of commodities shipped on dry-bulk vessels in the first four months of the year, up 6.1% from the year-ago period but down from 1.72 billion metric tons over the same span in 2019, according to Bimco.
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Consumer prices across the world’s major economies rose at the fastest pace in more than 12 years during April. (WSJ)
U.S. factory activity rose sharply in May while a measure of supplier delivery times showed deliveries at their slowest since the 1970s. (WSJ)
The Fed says U.S. economic activity picked up in the spring despite supply-chain disruptions. (WSJ)
Tony Xu, CEO of meal-delivery company Doordash, last year received one of the biggest compensation packages ever awarded to a corporate leader. (WSJ)
Brazil’s economy grew 1.2% in the first quarter, boosted by agricultural exports. (WSJ)
Developed nations are locking in deals for Covid-19 vaccines that will further the divide between rich and poor countries. (WSJ)
The U.S. will impose tariffs on the U.K. and other countries in response to digital-services taxes on American technology companies, but suspend implementation. (WSJ)
Amazon’s annual Prime Day shopping extravaganza will return to midyear. (WSJ)
Tyson Foods replaced its chief executive officer as the meat producer grapples with fallout from Covid-19. (WSJ)
The fire-ravaged container ship X-Press Pearl sank in the waters off Sri Lanka, creating what could be an ecological disaster. (BBC)
Apple has expanded its supply chain in China, with factories there now outnumbering suppliers in Taiwan. (Nikkei Asia)
U.S. ports are rolling out coronavirus vaccines for thousands of mostly foreign seafarers working on cargo ships. (Bloomberg)
Maersk Line chief Søren Skou is calling for a levy of at least $150-per-ton on carbon emissions from traditional bunker fuel. (ShippingWatch)
Xeneta says container shipping prices from Europe to the U.S. have nearly doubled since the end of March. (The Loadstar)
Some container lines have diverted services from China’s Yantian port as the Shenzhen gateway works to clear a large backlog. (The Loadstar)
Energy firms Ørsted and Eversource will charter a new Jones Act-compliant vessel for the construction of two wind farms off the U.S. Northeast coast. (Lloyd’s List)
Union Pacific is raising its intermodal surcharge from congested California facilities for the second time this year. (Journal of Commerce)
Deutsche Post’s DHL Supply Chain unit is adding up to 2,000 robots from Locus Robotics across its global warehouse operations. (Dow Jones Newswires)
Shippo raised a $50 million funding round that values the shipping software startup at $1 billion. (Biz Journals)
Business buyers are facing a shortage of new private jets. (Financial Times)
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