Blogging the Blue Planet (Foods)

IT's The Economy, Stupid...

2008-06-28T10:50:00.002-05:00

There are many comments across the web about current economic events particularly in light of the speed at which things are happening ut the real deal are in the ranges...

Where are we going from here? One of the best is ACTION FOREX which describes the perception impact on the range in as eloquent and clear a way as I have seen.

Inflation concerns in the EU have long had interest rates rising and soon the FEDS will follow suit regardless of only one vote (from Dallas) of the Board of Governors.

We are entering a zone of stagflation. We are in a recession. Confidence indexes are all showing poorly...

But if perception is the thing, then I still hold out for this Fall starting the turn around. Maybe it is optimism in face of disaster, but it is clear that nobody has ever seen such speed in economic events and such links and complexities in the real world models.

I think there'll be plenty of swings...

Did You Know...

2008-06-23T10:34:00.002-05:00

In Madrid, Gas price is at EUROS 1.50 per liter... or $2.33 per liter.

That makes it over $8.82 per GALLON...

Some one please tell me my math is wrong here....

FOREX RANGE or Where do we Go from Here?

2008-06-22T07:27:00.002-05:00

Use this link to the following content:

EUR/USD - The range continues. What of the GBP/USD
http://www.fxstreet.com/technical/analysis-reports/fx-weekly-report/2008-06-21.html

The sender also included this note:

What Range Are We? Which Way are we Going?

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Strike Over

2008-06-16T19:50:00.001-05:00

The Strike in Spain looks to be over in one week... That's the good news... Now where are my containers?

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AEW

Impact Lessens in Spain... Only Small Companies continue Strike...

2008-06-14T06:33:00.003-05:00

While still a mess, the worse may or may not be over. French Truckers are starting their own action this next week as Spain and the 2 major Trucking Unions have reached an agreement of sorts...

Reuters reports: "The government persuaded most truckers to go back to work with promises of tax breaks but has refused to accede to demands for minimum haulage charges. (Here the FUEL SURCHARGE reached 37% for my latest Cartage Bills!)

About 6 percent of Spain's truckers are still on strike."

The Irish Speak... or at least 1, 614, 866 of them

2008-06-13T21:50:00.001-05:00

Is ratification dead ? The vote for the EU Constitution... , whoops I mean TREATY... was defeated (again) in Ireland's Referendum 53% to 47% (hard numbers:862,415 votes against and 752,451 in favour, giving a majority of 109,964 against.) ... SKY NEWS

"This is a cry for democracy, accountability and transparency to the heart of European government," said Declan Ganley, a high-tech executive who was the most prominent Irish treaty opponent. "We need them to go back to the drawing table."

Mr. Ganley, whose anti-treaty organization chartered a "battle bus" for cross-country roadshows, complained that the treaty handed too much power to a Brussels government he called undemocratic. He said Irish voters were particularly put off by the provision that the EU president be appointed, not elected.WSJ Article

Jean-Luc Dehaene, a former Belgian prime minister who was one of the leading figures involved in drafting the original constitution, said the Irish vote shouldn't be allowed to derail the treaty. "Parliament is the heart of representative democracy, not referendums," he said in a phone interview Friday.

Out of 4.1 million men women and little irish kids the difference of 110,000 voters for all Europe. It is to ponder how we move together...

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AEW

TRANSPORT STRIKE Spain ...UPDATE News on the Blue Planet...

2008-06-11T10:01:00.000-05:00

As Spain waits to have answers to the problem of higher fuel costs, and truckers slam their fists and continue to block literally all traffic in that country, let’s remember how long it took on the West Coast to untangle the work stoppage there in 2002 after only 10 days if memory serves… It took MONTHS!!!

So even if they agree today which appears unlikely (too much political posturing to be maintained!) it will already take DAYS to untangle the mess….

Soon it will be WEEKS….

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF PLACING ORDERS with us for export from this area of the world, please pass them now that we can be as close to the front of the line as possible!

In other news recently posted on our NEWS Site is that the US $$ finally received some Bush Administration support following Bernanke’s comments (basically that the US $ rate was undervalued) and we may have reached the new trading range of 1.52 to 1.55 !! (?)

Spain’s Spring weather outlook is leading forecasters to optimistic predictions for the upcoming crop (harvest in Early Fall 2008?)… Of course this does not include the outlook for QUEENS…and it is clearly so early that anything can happen… Just like everything else on the Blue Planet…

Thank you as always for your business.

Best regards,

Andy

Blue Planet Foods, ltd.

' 630.428.2210

For Gift Ideas visit our Retail Internet Store at:

www.AJGourmetFoods.net

For Product News & Reports visit our website Blog at:

www.NewsontheBluePlanet.com

Good News Coming about Transport Actions in Spain?

2008-06-10T21:09:00.003-05:00

Will it pass? Pun intended.

We can ill afford this... For sure there is deep frustration and now, point is well taken, but on with it... towards real solutions.

STRIKES BLOCK ROADS IN SPAIN

2008-06-09T09:50:00.001-05:00

June 9, 2008

European Truckers Strike

Truckers in Spain, France and Portugal have stepped up protests against rising fuel prices causing mayhem on highways.

Lines of traffic are backed up around major cities and on the French-Spanish border as French fishermen in Mediterranean ports ended their three-week strike over the cost of fuel.

Spain's second largest hauliers' union Fenadismer, which claims to represent 70,000 out of Spain's 380,000 truck drivers, has launched an open ended strike.

Trucks have jammed several main highways including at the frontier with France, according to traffic officials who also reported massive snarls in Madrid and Valencia.

A Spanish truckers' group called the Platform for the Defence of the Transport Sector, who say they speak for 50,000 truckers, walked off the job last week and have threatened to disrupt the opening this weekend of the World Expo in Zaragosa.

Spanish trucker representatives were to have talks with the government on Monday (local time).

French truckers struggling with high fuel costs staged fresh protests near the Spanish border and in the country's south-west.

Several trucks from the southern city of Perpignan disrupted traffic at border posts, preventing trucks from crossing and causing a traffic jam about 10 kilometres long on both sides of the border. Private cars were allowed through.

Protestors branded banners which read: "Trucker Unemployed," and "It's the end of our profession."

Some 200 trucks are to converge on the four main motorways leading into Bordeaux for another protest, says Jean-Pierre Morlin, president of the European trucking organisation for the Aquitaine region.

He says the truckers are "demanding immediate measures" to counter the impact of high fuel prices.

About 30 kilometres of traffic jams have been reported in and around Bordeaux on Monday morning.

Portuguese truckers have threatened to "paralyse" the country.

According to police, trucks parked at petrol pumps were stoned overnight or while they were on the road after the strike started at midnight.

The strikers blocked entrances to several factories. According to industry figures, there are some 40,000 truckers in the country serving an estimated 5,000 firms.

Courtesy of ABC News.

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AEW

Sorry for the Politics but...

2008-06-09T09:26:00.000-05:00

TRANSPORT PROBLEMS OUT OF SPAIN

2008-06-07T08:05:00.001-05:00

MADRID (Thomson Financial) - Spanish truck drivers began a national strike on Friday to protest rising fuel prices, joining the country's fishermen, which began industrial action May 30.

Spokesman for the organizing group, 'Platform for Defence of the Merchandise Transportation Sector,' Antonio Llano, told Thomson Financial News that the strike is indefinite and could eventually involve up to 300,000 vehicles across Spain.

Spain's National Transport Association Federation, Fenadismer, has also called for a transport strike starting on Sunday at midnight.

In a statement on Fenadismer's web site, it said 'after a meeting Friday with the Public Works Ministry, the government has failed to offer emergency measures against the sector crisis. The National Transport Strike will begin Sunday.'

The group's general manager will hold meetings with the Economy and Labour Ministries on Monday, it added.

Similar strikes have also been organized across Europe.

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AEW

Juan Cole... American Patriot.

2008-06-06T08:32:00.001-05:00

This from today's INFORMED COMMENT. The long term impact of any pact that ignores realities in the world are destined to make our lives (both Business and Personal) much more difficult.... Watch this news tidbit carefully!

Informed Comment

Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Friday, June 06, 2008

Bush Blackmailing al-Maliki with $50 Bn. in US Fed

The intrepid Patrick Cockburn reveals that the White House is more or less blackmailing the Iraqi government into signing a security pact with George W. Bush. At stake is $50 bn. of Iraqi money held in the US Federal Reserve, at least $20 bn. of which could be lost to Iraq if the government of Nuri al-Maliki declines to sign on the dotted line. Cockburn also reveals that the Iraqis wanted to diversify their receipts from oil sales away from dollar holdings into euros, and that the Americans vetoed the move. Bush wants 50 bases in Iraq and the prerogative of the US military to act unilaterally and with impunity inside the country.

Although the Bush administration is playing hardball to get this wideranging set of commitments from Iraq before July 31, and although Iraqis are eager to escape Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which limits their government's sovereignty, the negotiations may collapse in the face of widespread opposition to the baldly neocolonial terms sought by Washington. Even remaining under the UN Security Council, under Chapter 7, may be preferable to Baghdad. There were large demonstrations against the security agreement, barely covered by the US press, last Friday, and Iraqi religious and political leaders are coalescing against it. Postcolonial states of the Arab world, which only attained real independence from Britain and France with great difficulty and in living memory, are touchy about being seen as kowtowing to imperial demands. The Shah's government was overthrown in 1979 by huge crowds and a wide cross section of the public precisely on these grounds.

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AEW

Olive Oil NEws

2008-06-06T07:06:00.002-05:00

SOS looks to be very interested in Bertolli. This and other news from the world of Olive Oil... at the link in the title.

Also, early news on the prospects for olives and oils next season: Looks like with the solid rains this spring, we look good to have an even larger crop in Spain than last year.

Dollar Rebound a Bit Early?

2008-06-03T10:46:00.001-05:00

Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke has finally said it... The Weak US Dollar can't last long now... Where will be the new limits? More later.

Africanization of Southeastern Spain

2008-06-02T15:04:00.003-05:00

"Politicians think in four-year blocks" said Raquél Montón, a climate specialist at Greenpeace in Madrid. That is the bane of all our democracies. And the results, be they in the USA's west or the Province of Murcia in the South East of Spain are apparent.

The Global Food Production & Distribution systems are under stress like never before. We've talked about prices but laid out in this article Elisabeth Rosenthal in the International Herald Tribune is a painful reminder that if we do not take steps, the future is really going to be bleak.

The problem remains that those who think themselves to be "entitled" are screwing the rest of us...

Kashmiri Saffron

2008-06-02T07:08:00.002-05:00

In Kashmir, arguably the world's most famous source of quality saffron is near extinction. See this article for more details. Iran may not have nasty nuclear intentions, but they are keen on controlling the world saffron market!

Saffron prices, meanwhile, in US $ terms continue to rise. I do not think that there will be any relief with the new season late this summer. All our sources indicate a continued crisis into next year with more increases expected.

Trucking Fuel Surcharges... How high is up?

2008-06-01T07:56:00.001-05:00

If they get to 100 % then do we still call it a SURCHARGE? My latest Trucking Bills came in with over 35% Fuel Surcharges added to the base cost... Wish I could do that?

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AEW

EURUSD DROP or IS SUMMER HERE YET?

2008-05-31T13:17:00.001-05:00

Long Term Forex Analysis

EURUSD dropped sharply from 1.5818

Sat, May 31 2008, 01:52 GMT
by Franco Shao

ForexCycle.com

EURUSD dropped sharply from 1.5818 and formed a cycle top on daily chart. The fall from 1.5818 could possibly be resumption of the long term down trend. Further pullback to test 1.5284 previous low support is expected after consolidation. Initial resistance is at 1.5818, only rise above this level will indicate lengthier correction to the down trend is under way, and delay the resumption of the down trend.

For long term analysis, EURUSD broke below 1.5342 long term key support and is now in down trend. Deeper decline to 1.5000 area to reach the next cycle bottom on weekly chart is expected after correction.

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AEW

FDA Delays Inspections

2008-05-30T15:28:00.002-05:00

USDA physically checks everything that is within their legal authority. Every shipment of our ripe olives... Does this mean we are safer? Not necessarily.

US FDA is delaying their efforts... They are responsible for so much more. Can they possibly do better than what they are doing or are they going to cost us in time and $$ so much that only the mega giants will be able to import? That'll be a sad day and competition will be nil.

Know Thy Seller and

2008-05-27T07:41:00.002-05:00

know thy buyer too! Seems that major corporations (as they have the deepest pockets) are hunting for labs that tell them what they want to hear when testing food products and not what the results may show!

The Chicago Tribune Article by Stephen Hedges reports that private labs don't always tell the FDA when tests show that imported food may be contaminated.

I do not know why I am surprised. The Free Market is free to trick the consumer even at their health expense (see Tobacco Industry over the years). Read this and Buyer Beware !!??

MEMORIAL DAY

2008-05-26T13:14:00.001-05:00

Please do not wish me a Happy Memorial Day.

Sure, have a picnic, but take real time to remember what we have done to our soldiers, sailors, and marines. Look to the irrevocable sacrifice they make on our behalf (all of us, all of us) as they try to do the right thing. Every soldier knows that they risk life and limb. Everyone of them. And they choose to go.

But it is our responsibility to get the proper information, the real, uncensored, profoundly complicated news to make proper decisions when we in society ask the ultimate sacrifice of these incredible heroes. And yet we get our news in trickles and do too little to educate ourselves though we have strong opinions... and we vote...

Make INFORMED COMMENTS. Make thoughtful decisions.... and honor the men and women this day.

BUT DO NOT WISH ME OR OTHERS A HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY. It is a start of your understanding of the tremendous responsibility we have to these heroes who still live and act in heroic ways on our behalf around the world. Hopefully soon out of our mess in Iraq and unified again with the entire Blue Planet.

To all veterans and active military, thank you all for your service.

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AEW

Olive Sizing Chart

2008-05-12T09:29:00.003-05:00

Or how big is that olive? Here's a chart...

Where are those Olives From:

2008-05-11T16:38:00.003-05:00

We are often asked the above. Here it is ... Look and it is provided... Free consulting on this site...

Or you get what you pay for....

BTW...

Now, in light of the Mortgage, oh wait... now the so-called "Credit Crisis", doesn't anybody have the courage anymore to say, "Hey, Boss. That's a lousy idea"?

Loaning out using pyramid schemes, unsigned and unchecked loan apps, without a clue as to the details leads to very bad things... Where'd common sense go?

For those who have asked this information. Thanks for being interested enough.

Anchovies... Good for you & the seas!

2008-05-02T07:45:00.003-05:00

Here is an interesting article addressing one of the many reasons why fish stocks are becoming depleted... And a plea to eat smaller fish that feed on the bottom of the sea beds as the best way to Omega 3 as well as good health and good eating from the Globe and Mail in Canada...

My favorite new meal is decribed here: "And though Mr. Grescoe's usual weeknight dinners - anchovies on buttered toast with scrambled eggs - might elicit a smirk from harried North American mothers attempting to plan kid-friendly suppers, he insists that anchovy filets canned in olive oil are plain enough for even the fussiest eaters. (The oily fish are also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are said to promote brain development, especially among children.)"

Spain Lifts Sunflower Warning - Olive Oil Impact

2008-05-02T07:34:00.003-05:00

The recent alert on Sunflower oil in Spain has caused the price of Olive Oil to rise in recent days. Here's the article in the link (title) above.