Bloomberg When coronavirus outbreaks forced shutdowns at America’s giant meat plants, it quickly created a bottleneck: Farmers had nowhere to sell their animals, while consumers faced shortages and surging prices. New, smaller slaughterhouses could be the antidote to industry concentration, but it’s no quick fix. Opening a slaughterhouse has plenty of hurdles. The facilities — where animals are killed, butchered ...

Bloomberg Vertical agriculture company Plenty Inc. has an unusual selling point: Its crops of arugula, kale and microgreens are grown in an indoor farm run by robots. That hasn’t always been a winning proposition. Two years ago, the company had to scale back an ambitious international expansion plan, realising it wasn’t ready to bear the cost of pricey new markets ...

Bloomberg When news broke last month that Amazon.com Inc. was interested in buying Zoox Inc., observers assumed the e-commerce giant was looking to automate its delivery fleet. After all, Amazon already invested in an electric truck maker and is a major buyer of everything from planes to diesel vehicles. But in a statement confirming its acquisition of the autonomous vehicle ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. said it will close its physical store locations permanently but will continue to invest in a digital storefront that, along with third-party retailers, has driven sales of products such as the Xbox game player and Surface tablets. The move will result in a pretax charge of about $450 million, or 5 cents a share, in the current ...

Bloomberg Consumers around the world will soon be able to know intricate life details of salmon they eat with a new blockchain initiative from top exporter Norway. The Norwegian Seafood Association has partnered with International Business Machines Corp. and technology provider Atea ASA to gather data on how salmon is bred, stored and shipped, information that consumers will eventually access ...

Bloomberg Oil extended declines after swelling US crude stockpiles and a surge in coronavirus cases across the nation raised concerns about demand in the world’s largest economy. Futures in New York slipped 2.3% towards $37 a barrel, after the biggest fall in almost two weeks in the previous session. The fear of new lockdowns sent US gasoline futures tumbling by ...

Bloomberg India plans to impose stringent quality control measures and higher tariffs on imports from China, people with the knowledge of the matter said, as a military standoff between the neighbours threaten economic ties. The state-run Bureau of Indian Standards is finalising tougher norms for at least 370 products to ensure items that can be locally produced aren’t imported, the ...

BUCHAREST / WAM The UAE Ambassador to Romania, Dr Ahmed Abdullah Saeed Al Matroushi, has met with Romanian State Secretary for Global Affairs and Diplomatic Strategies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cornel Feruta, and discussed enhancing relations between the two countries. During the meeting, which was held at the ministry’s premises in Bucharest, the two sides explored means of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates announced the completion of the National Disinfection Programme. Dr Saif Dhaheri, the Spokesperson of the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority announced the completion of the National Disinfection Programme nationwide. “Children below 12 in age are now allowed to enter commercial centres and restaurants across the emirates,” he said. However, public ...

Dubai / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has stressed that the UAE’s world-class infrastructure, robust economy, and resilience in the face of challenges give it the ability to rapidly achieve its strategic goals and aspirations for progress and prosperity. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin ...