Aurelia Butler

CHICAGO/PARIS (Reuters) – Severe outbreaks of bird flu in the United States and France are tightening global egg supplies and raising prices for the food staple as the war in Ukraine disrupts shipments to Europe and the Middle East.Higher prices are particularly painful for consumers who rely on eggs as a low-cost source of protein and substitute for more expensive meat. Demand jumps around the Easter and Passover holidays in the United States and Europe as families use eggs to bake and dye Easter eggs.Bird flu has wiped out more than 19 million egg-laying chickens on commercial U.S. farms this year in the worst outbreak since 2015, eliminating about 6% of the country’s flock, according to Reuters calculations of federal and state government data. France, meanwhile, is suffering its worst outbreak ever in which about 8% of egg-laying hens have been culled.When poultry are infected, entire flocks are culled to contain the disease, which is often spread by wild birds. The deadly virus and war are the latest challenges for egg suppliers also grappling with labor shortages and high costs for energy and grain used for animal feed.Higher egg prices eat into profits for bakeries and food companies grappling with increased costs for flour and other goods. World food prices jumped nearly 13% in March to a new record high as the war in Ukraine, a major exporter of wheat and corn, pushed up grain prices, the U.N. food agency said.Egg prices are expected to stay elevated, producers said, as it will take months to resume operations on infected farms. Infections also hamper work at facilities that process shell eggs into products like dried eggs and liquid eggs used in food items such as cake and pancake mixes and egg sandwiches.    “The product industry is in a general panic,” said Marcus Rust, chief executive of Rose Acre Farms, the second-largest U.S. egg producer. The company lost about 1.5 million egg-laying chickens at an Iowa farm infected by bird flu, which also sidelined a processing plant, he said.’EVERYBODY IS RUNNING SHORT’Iowa, the top U.S. egg-producing state, has suffered badly with the culling of two flocks that each contained more than 5 million laying chickens. On Wednesday, Nebraska said a flock of more than 1.7 million laying hens would be culled. The sheer size of such poultry operations accelerated the impact on the U.S. food industry, compared to Europe where farms are smaller.Wholesale prices for large eggs in the U.S. Midwest topped $3 per dozen in March and reached the second-highest level ever, up nearly 200% from a year earlier on the spot market, data firm Urner Barry said. Prices remained below the record of $3.09 per dozen set at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Egg products like liquid whole eggs are at record highs, though, Urner Barry said. In France, wholesale shell egg prices have climbed 69% from last year, French farm office FranceAgriMer said. As a result, consumers could see higher prices for food products made with eggs.”When you produce mayonnaise, it is quite complicated when egg prices surge,” said Jean-Philippe Puig, chief executive of French agri-food group Avril, which owns sauce maker Lesieur. “You must turn to supermarkets and convince them to accept a price rise.”The United States increased egg imports from countries including France, Italy and Spain to boost supplies after its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu in 2015, according to U.S. government data. Imports are a less viable option now because of outbreaks in Europe, analysts said.”It is very much turning into a global issue in terms of the overall shortage,” said Karyn Rispoli, Urner Barry egg market reporter. “Unfortunately now everybody is running short on supply.”WAR REDIRECTS DEMANDThe outbreak of war, not just disease, is disrupting supply chains for Middle East buyers.Santosh Kumar, who imports eggs for Farzana Trading in the United Arab Emirates, said he is not aware of shipments from Ukraine into the UAE for the past two weeks. Farzana is importing eggs from Turkey instead, he said. Ukraine produced 14.1 billion eggs in 2021, data from Ukraine’s state statistics service shows. A year earlier, production reached 16.2 billion eggs, more than the 15.7 billion produced in France, the EU’s largest egg producer, according to French egg industry group CNPO.Ukraine has in recent years been the EU’s main egg supplier, accounting for about half of the imports, ahead of the United States.Middle Eastern countries that bought Ukrainian eggs before the war are attempting to find replacement supplies in Europe, said Loic Coulombel, CNPO vice president.”There is a bird flu problem in France but also throughout Europe,” he said. “The is no other European country that would have a large volume to compensate for the shortfall.”French food manufacturers will likely reduce output of some processed goods or adjust their recipes to cope with high egg prices, said Coulombel, who produces about 1 million eggs in France’s Brittany and Normandy regions. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Liz Rehberg, owner of cake and pastry shop The Bakery, said the price for 15 dozen eggs climbed to $45 from $26 in recent weeks. She is considering whether to raise prices or reduce the sizes of her baked goods.    “You’re just ordering it because you need eggs,” Rehberg said. “Then you look at the price and you go, ‘Oh my God.'” More

Salameh is facing investigations in Lebanon and five European countries into the alleged embezzlement of some $330 million in public funds with the help of his brother, Raja, charges they have both denied.”I have already informed the Swiss justice (authorities) that I am ready to go,” he told Swiss broadcaster SRF’s investigative Rundschau programme in an interview from Beirut aired late on Wednesday.”Because they asked the question in February 2020 whether they can (interview) me in Lebanon or in Switzerland. I said I am ready to go to Switzerland…I am waiting for them to call for me.”The Swiss attorney general’s office said last year it had requested legal assistance from Lebanon in the context of a probe into aggravated money laundering and possible embezzlement tied to the Lebanese central bank.Lebanon’s public prosecutor last year questioned Salameh based on that request.Salameh estimated his personal fortune at around $150 million, which have grown from $23 million in 1993 – before he became head of the central bank – thanks to investments.Asked about properties he owned in Switzerland via proxy companies, including a building in the Lake Geneva town of Morges, Salameh said he had never seen it.He had used professional investment advisers and bank loans to buy property, he said, adding: “I don’t see where is the crime in that.” Europe’s criminal justice coordination body said in March that 120 million euros ($131 million) of Lebanese assets had been frozen in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco and Belgium linked to an embezzlement investigation. German prosecutors said the move was tied to probes into Salameh.($1 = 0.9164 euros) More

VIENNA (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chancellor Karl Nehammer during their meeting this week that Austria’s supply of gas can continue to be paid for in euros, Nehammer was quoted as saying by Austrian news agency APA.Moscow has warned Europe it risks having gas supplies cut unless it pays in roubles as he seeks retaliation over Western sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin describes as a “special military operation”.Nehammer said he held “very direct, open and tough” talks with Putin near Moscow on Monday about the invasion of Ukraine. But the Austrian leader had not publicly mentioned any discussion of Austria’s security of gas supply.Austria gets 80% of its natural gas from Russia and opposes an immediate European Union gas embargo on Moscow, arguing it is not possible to suddenly switch to alternative suppliers.Putin said “that the gas supply is secured, that Russia will deliver the contractually agreed quantities and that payments can continue to be made in euros”, APA quoted Nehammer as saying in a joint interview on Wednesday with German news agency DPA.The European Commission has said those with contracts requiring payment in euros or dollars should stick to that, which Nehammer has said Austria will do. At the same time, Russia appears to have opened a door to continued payment in euros.Two weeks ago Moscow decreed foreign buyers of Russian gas would have to open rouble accounts in state-run Gazprombank, which is not under the same crippling sanctions as many other Russian banks, or risk being cut off.European gas buyers could therefore deposit payments in euros and let Gazprombank buy roubles on their behalf – a work-around that Austria has said appears to make continued payment in euros possible.Nehammer repeated his opposition to an embargo in Wednesday’s interview, which quoted him as saying it “would mean that both (Austrian) industry and households would suffer serious harm from the non-delivery of that gas”. More

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s economic growth is likely to slow to 5.0% in 2022 amid renewed COVID-19 outbreaks and a weakening global recovery, a Reuters poll showed, raising pressure on the central bank to ease policy further.The forecast growth for 2022 would be lower than the 5.2% analysts tipped in a Reuters poll in January, suggesting the government faces an uphill battle in hitting this year’s target of around 5.5%. Growth is then forecast to pick up to 5.2% in 2023.Gross domestic product (GDP) likely grew 4.4% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to the median forecasts of 41 economists polled by Reuters, outpacing the fourth-quarter’s 4.0% due to a solid start in the first two months.Analysts believe March activity could take a blow from China’s efforts to contain its biggest COVID outbreak since the coronavirus was first discovered in the city of Wuhan in late 2019.”March activity data is likely to have seen a notable deterioration, but that would just be the tip of the iceberg as the economically damaging lockdowns only started in mid-March,” analysts at Societe Generale (OTC:SCGLY) said in a note.”However, real GDP growth might avoid falling below 4%, thanks to the infrastructure push, the reporting methods and the surprisingly strong data seen in January and February.”On a quarterly basis, growth is forecast to fall to 0.6% in the first quarter from 1.6% in October-December, the poll showed.The government is due to release first-quarter GDP data, along with March activity data, on April 18, at 0200 GMT.GDP expanded 8.1% in 2021, its best showing in a decade, but momentum cooled markedly over the course of last year, weighed by debt problems in the property market and anti-virus measures that hit consumer confidence and spending.Last year, policymakers focused on curbing property and debt risks, which exacerbated the economic slowdown.MORE EASING ON CARDSThe government has unveiled more fiscal stimulus this year, including stepping up local bond issuance to fund infrastructure projects, and cutting taxes for businesses.China will use timely cuts in banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR) and other policy tools to support the economy, the cabinet said on Wednesday, as headwinds increase amid outbreaks of COVID-19.The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is likely to cut the RRR – the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves – by 50 basis points (bps) in the second quarter of 2022, according to the poll.Citi economists expect a 50-basis point cut to be announced as early as Friday, releasing over 1.2 trillion yuan ($188.52 billion) in liquidity, they said in a note, adding the move could reduce the chance for an imminent medium-term lending facility rate cut, but the loan prime rate (LPR) could still be trimmed on April 20.Analysts expect the PBOC to cut the one-year LPR, the benchmark lending rate, by 10 basis points in the second quarter, the poll showed.The PBOC last cut the one-year LPR by 10 basis points in January and last cut the RRR by 50 basis points in December.Consumer inflation is expected quicken to 2.2% in 2022 from 0.9% in 2021, before picking up to 2.3% in 2023, the poll showed.(For other stories from the Reuters global long-term economic outlook polls package:)($1 = 6.3653 Chinese yuan) (Polling by Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan, Arsh Mogre, Devayani Sathyan in Bengaluru and Jing Wang in Shanghai; Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Sam Holmes) More

The tweak could come at the central bank’s policy meeting this month, Muguruma wrote in a research note, having initially expected the tweak to be made in July.The projection by Muguruma, a prominent BOJ watcher who has closely tracked its policy for years, comes despite reassurances by Governor Haruhiko Kuroda that the BOJ is in no rush to follow in the footsteps of other central banks in withdrawing stimulus.Under the current guidance, the BOJ says it “won’t hesitate to take additional easing steps,” and expects short- and long-term policy interest rates to “remain at their present or lower levels.”The central bank will likely change the guidance to say it will “maintain short- and long-term rates at current levels for the time being,” Muguruma said.The tweak could help slow the pace of yen declines by making the BOJ’s policy outlook appear somewhat less dovish than before, she said.”With the yen sliding to 20-year lows against the dollar, there’s no need to stick to a guidance that eyes a possible deepening of negative interest rates,” Muguruma said.Under a policy dubbed yield curve control, the BOJ pledges to guide short-term rates at -0.1% and cap the 10-year bond yield around 0% to support growth through low borrowing costs.With inflation still subdued and the economy weak, the BOJ has repeatedly said it will keep monetary policy ultra-low. The Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike plans has widened the interest rate differential, pushing the yen to a two-decade low against the dollar.The BOJ next meets for a policy meeting on April 27-28. More

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s commerce ministry hopes the United States will remove tariffs on Chinese goods and stop cracking down on Chinese firms as soon as possible, ministry spokersperson Shu Jueting told regular news conference on Thursday.A stable and healthy bilateral trade relations will help stabilize global supply chains and the global economic recovery, Shu said after a U.S.-China Business Council report said China is still an important export destination for the United States. More