The UK/US trade deal’s focus on beef is just the start, according to the Financial Times this morning, which reports the US is also eyeing a “multibillion-dollar slice of Britain’s pork, poultry, rice and seafood sectors, as it looks to expand its trade agreement with the UK”.
Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary, in London for talks on Tuesday, said these sectors were “at the front of the line” in ongoing negotiations to build on the trade deal announced last week, which gave US beef and bioethanol producers expanded access to the UK market. While she defended the safety of hormone-treated beef and chlorinated chicken, Brooke Rollins said beef producers may be prepared to ditch hormones in order to sell to the UK and stressed “only about 5 per cent” of US chicken is now washed with chlorine.
The FT also reports that the M&S hacking incident could see the retailer claim as much as £100m from its cyber insurers. M&S admitted for the first time on Tuesday that some personal customer data was stolen as part of the cyber attack that has left it unable to accept online orders for almost three weeks. The retailer told customers this “could include contact details, date of birth and online order history” but it “does not include usable card or payment details” or account passwords.
It comes as The Grocer yesterday reported that the attack is costing the retailer £43m a week in lost sales, while M&S is likely to face class action compensation claims over customer data breach. In other news, The Grocer exclusively reported late on Tuesday that Co-op stock levels are on the road to recovery after its own cyber incident, with the convenience retailer informing suppliers it is turning orders back online today.
Elsewhere, The Independent reports that Tesco has apologised for mistakenly telling shoppers they received £100 in Clubcard points. Shoppers were sent an email on Sunday afternoon, informing them that £100 in points had been added to their account. The hand-out was linked to a promotion alongside EasyJet this year where Clubcard members booking holidays using vouchers got 10,000 Clubcard points. However, the email was incorrectly sent out to shoppers who had not booked a holiday through the deal.
An in-depth report in the FT looks at the “Dubious deals, soaring prices and hubris inside Moët Hennessy’s crisis”. LVMH’s drinks business has been caught in a global downturn, with questionable management decisions said to have made things worse, the report says, with the booze giant going from generating €1bn in cash in 2019 to burning through €1.5bn last year.
The Guardian reports that big dairy companies are “turning a blind eye” to climate-damaging methane emissions, citing an assessment of the industry’s performance by Changing Markets. Animal agriculture accounts for 32% of global emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, with the breeding of cattle for milk and meat a key driver. However, an assessment of 20 major dairy and coffee shop chains – with combined revenues exceeding $420bn (£323bn), almost half the value of the estimated size of the global dairy industry – found most lack clear methane reduction targets, credible action plans or even basic transparency on emissions.
Danone came top in a league table compiled by researchers, being the only company to have a methane-specific target. The US-based company General Mills came in second place, having published a climate target but not one specific to methane. Nestlé and Arla came third, with Nestlé the only company to have explicitly supported reducing dairy consumption.
Cars and meat are major factors driving a gender gap in greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research, also reported on by The Guardian.
Men emit 26% more planet-heating pollution than women from transport and food, according to a preprint study of 15,000 people in France. The gap shrinks to 18% after controlling for socioeconomic factors such as income and education. Eating red meat and driving cars explain almost all of the 6.5-9.5% difference in pollution that remains after also accounting for men eating more calories and travelling longer distances, the researchers said. They found no gender gap from flying.
Finally, negotiations with the UK over future fishing quotas should not hold up a security deal, the European Union’s foreign policy chief has suggested. Kaja Kallas told BBC Newsnight “a few elements” of a deal were still to be agreed but “I think we are over the fish” – raising concerns that the UK may have given ground on the thorny issue of fishing rights.
Downing Street declined to give a “running commentary” on negotiations but said “discussions are ongoing and nothing is agreed yet”.
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