BRAZIL RETAILING

AMERICAS: Brazilian retail market is attractive to global retailers.

Spending by Brazilian consumers is large and growing. The country is already the 3rd largest global market for soft drinks, the 4th largest for chocolate and cosmetics and personal care products and the 5th largest for beer. The size and potential of the Brazilian market has attracted foreign financial and strategic investors

In the food retailing sector Carrefour, Makro and Wal-Mart (via the acquisitions of Sonae and Bompreço) are all significant players.

Credit expansion has been a contributory factor in the growth of non-food retailing.

E-commerce grew 32% in 2005 albeit from a low base.

CHINA FOOD

ASIA: The growth in processed food consumption in China is driven by the urban population.

The Chinese processed food market is estimated to account for nearly 5.7% of the global total. Up to 30% of the food consumed in certain urban areas is processed.

The growth in income, which is driving these changes, is evidenced by the fact that approximately 88% of urban households now own a refrigerator. The figure for rural areas is 16% which suggests that it will be many years before the consumption of processed foods reaches significant levels amongst this demographic.

UK PHARMACEUTICALS

EUROPE: ABPI takes issue with NICE recommendations.

The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) is taking issue with the process by which the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) reaches its recommendations. NICE is, inter alia, responsible for evaluating new and existing treatments for use within the UK's National Health Service.

NICE state that they base their recommendations on both clinical evidence (how well the medicine or treatment works) and economic evidence (how well the medicine or treatment works in relation to how much it costs the NHS). The ABPI believes that NICE is applying arbitrary thresholds of 'cost-effectiveness' and, where there is uncertainty in the process, patients are often denied the benefit of doubt.

DAIRY PRODUCTS

AMERICAS: The US dairy trade deficit widens to more than $1 billion.

US dairy imports and exports rose to record levels in 2005 whilst the trade deficit widened to more than $1bn. The growth in exports was driven by strong global demand for skimmed milk products; the US was the only significant exporter with surplus stocks. The value of cheese imported increased 3.7% to $1,006m, more than three-quarters of which originated in Europe. The growth in artisanal cheese making, especially in key dairy states such as Wisconsin, is further evidence of growing demand for quality products in this sector.

JAPANESE RETAILING

ASIA: Ageing population will impact the structure of Japanese retailing.

The Nomura Research Institute recently reported that the Japanese retail industry was approaching its fifth significant 'turning point' since the Meiji restoration. This will be instigated, inter alia, by demographic factors ( ageing population, declining birthrate), polarising incomes and planning reform. It was found that the 'seniors' market is less inclined to travel to shop for specialist and luxury items and is more attracted to the concepts of leisure pursuits and safety. The neighbourhood shopping centre was identified as a key beneficiary.

MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS

EUROPE: UK public sector expenditure on management consultants continues to grow.

The UK Management Consultancy Association has published figures showing that public sector expenditure on management consultants increased by 23% in 2005 to £2.2bn. The wider drive to contract out services by local and central government and their agencies has been estimated to lead to an outsourcing market that will be worth £64bn by 2009. This is, however, not a risk free environment; Accenture recently quit the controversial NHS IT modernisation project and, in the process, made a provision of £240m against potential losses.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

ASIA: The Chinese beer market is huge but far from homogeneous.

China became the largest beer market by volume in 2003 and is expected to show future growth of c.10% per annum; per capita consumption is, however, still low compared to that in Europe and the USA. InBev have forecast that "In the coming 10 years, half of the world's demand for beer will come from China."

It is important to note that the Chinese market is not national but an aggregation of local markets with specific regional variations and preferences. This is reflected in the dominance of local brewers some of whom are protected by anti-competitive legislation preventing the sale of non-locally brewed beers.

Although the vast majority of global players are represented, primarily through production and distribution joint-ventures, premium international brands represent only 3% of the market.

INSURANCE

EUROPE: MiFID offers both opportunities and burdens.

The Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), to be implemented in November 2007, aims to create a single market for financial services in Europe. Amongst its myriad aims are the creation of genuinely competitive and consistently well regulated markets for financial services throughout the EU.

Although implementation raises significant IT and Compliance burdens it will be important to focus equally on the business opportunities that are offered.

The EU Commission and national regulators envisage that most benefit will accrue to the prime movers. The predicted advantages are the ability to distribute products into other national markets and the uniform regulatory landscape and its concomitant reduction in the costs and difficulties of doing business in non-native markets. However, there is a feeling that it will be hard for retail-focussed institutions to gain significant advantages in the short-term as existing distribution channels will continue to predominate.

M&A ACTIVITY

BRIC: BRIC corporations to significantly increase their impact on global M&A activity

In a PwC study of 1,410 CEOs released earlier this year, nearly 71% indicated that they planned to expand operations in BRIC countries over the next three years.

What is becoming very evident is the increase in high-profile cross-border acquisitions by BRIC domiciled corporations.

In December 2004 Lenovo (China) announced the $1.75bn acquisition of IBM's PC division. Two other significant Chinese acquisitions of US entities failed - CNOOC's offer for Unocal and Haier's offer for Maytag.

Aecelor attempted a white-knight merger with Russian steelmaker Severstal to fend-off the attentions of Mittal Steel. Severstal, together with fellow Russian steelmaker Evraz, Brazil's CSN and Gerdau and Tata Steel of India have all been proposed as potential acquirers of Anglo-Dutch Corus.

The board of Canadian Inco recently recommended that shareholders accept the $17bn offer from Brazilian Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.

These are by no means the only deals, successful or otherwise, to have emerged and I would suggest that it is a phenomenon that will have an increasing impact on global M&A statistics.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

AMERICAS: Enduring popularity of cocktails drives growth in super-premium spirits

Figures released by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States show that imports of whiskey and vodka rose year-on-year to June 2006 by 22.4% and 14.9% respectively by value whereas imports of rum declined by 0.7% and brandy and gin imports were virtually static showing increases of 1.1% and 1.8%.

Figures for exports are equally varied with whiskey up 21.7%, rum up 120.6%, brandy up 27.7%, vodka up 78.6% and gin down 13.1%.

The enduring popularity of the cocktail drove the 23% growth in sales of super-premium spirits in 2005.

INSURANCE

ASIA: Rise in middle-class prosperity drives growth in the Chinese insurance market

Growth in the Chinese insurance market will be driven by the growth in the middle-class - those who are sufficiently prosperous to take a long-term view of their own financial security.

Although the insurance industry is by definition about risk, this inherent risk is exacerbated when entering developing markets with huge potential such as China. Specific issues are the difficulty in recruiting experienced local staff, the sheer size of the country which creates problems in providing national coverage, the regulatory and corporate governance environment and low interest rates leading to paltry returns on fixed-income investments

MEDIA

EUROPE: Changing trends in communications consumption and the potential impact of convergence emerge in Ofcom's Communications Market report.

On 10 August 2006 the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the UK's communications industry regulator, published their third annual Communications Market report.

Total retail revenue in the UK communications sector in 2005 increased 5% to £50bn whilst average household spend on communications rose by less than 1% to £87.67 per month; mobile communications was the largest component, representing 35% of total spend. The proportion of household expenditure spent on communications service fell for the first time in 5 years from 4.63% in 2004 to 4.60% in 2005 due in the most part to falling pric

Media coverage of the report has focused on the evidence relating to the divergent consumption patterns of the key 16-24 year age group who spend on average 21 minutes more time online per week, send 42 more SMS text messages, but spend over seven hours less time watching television than the average for the population as a whole. The Simultaneous Media Usage Survey (SIMM), conducted by BIGresearch in October 2003 for the American Press Institute noted similar trends in the US when they observed that for "simultaneous online users, TV viewing is down 8.8% among 18 to 24 year-olds and down 12.2% among 25 to 34 year-olds in favor of video games."

The emergence of converged services has continued into 2006 with the bundling of fixed-line and broadband offerings predominant alongside internet television, television to mobile and internet telephony.

INSURANCE

AMERICAS: Market liberalisation drives Latin American premium growth

Total insurance premium income is growing at a faster rate than the economy as a whole in Latin America. One of the reasons suggested for this dynamism is market liberalisation and consequent growth in competition from subsidiaries of overseas companies. For example the market share by premium of foreign controlled insurance companies in Mexico grew from 0% to over 50% between 1993 and early 2005.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY

ASIA: Asia Pacific demand set to dominate aircraft market

Boeing have predicted that whilst global GDP growth will average 3.9% over the next 20 years, demand for air passenger and freight traffic will rise by 4.9% and 6.1% respectively. Passenger traffic within the Asia-Pacific region (excluding the domestic market in China) is estimated to rise by 5.4% and the figure for China itself is 8.8%. The region is forecast to represent 36% of the implied demand for 27,200 new passenger aircraft by the year 2025.

FOOD & DRINKS

EUROPE: Traditional eating habits aid the French in war against obesity

French eating habits, which have changed far less than is the case in the UK or USA, are still very closely linked to their national heritage of eating good food for pleasure. About 75% still eat meals prepared at home, virtually the same percentage of families eat their meals together around the table. Portion sizes are smaller and snacking is far less prevalent. The resultant balanced diet may help explain why obesity is less of a problem than in the Anglo-Saxon nations.

The French and Germans are also consuming less alcohol whereas the figure for the UK continues to rise.

COSMETICS & TOILETRIES

AMERICAS: US COSMETICS FOR BABY BOOMERS?

The baby-boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964 (although definitions vary), are an economically powerful force in the US. The nearly 80 million Americans in this demographic are forecast to spend $3 trillion in 2007. Their impact can be demonstrated by the fact that the market for anti-aging skin-care products, which on average cost 2.5 times more than other premier brands, is growing at 33% per annum in comparison with 4% growth in the market for regular skin-care products. Revlon have created a distinct new brand to cater to this market. This growth is being sustained by celebrity endorsement - L'Oreal has recently hired Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton, both in their 60s, to advertise their products in this sector.

MEDIA

EUROPE: UK MEDIA TARGETING LOCAL MARKETS

In a speech to the UK Newspaper Society's Home Truths conference Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, highlighted the importance of local media to individual decision making. He stated that most decisions that individuals make that are relevant to their lives are made within a radius of 15 to 30 miles of the home. He argued that ITV's acquisition of Friends Reunited and the creation of Local Google were examples of the recognition by national and international media companies of the importance of the need of advertisers to target consumers at the local level. In a speech to the same conference Tim Bowdler, CEO of Johnston Press, argued that the growing diversity of media delivery channels increases the difficulty for advertisers in targeting specific groups at a national level. He stated that the local media sector had enhanced their reach by investing in digital outlets. Over 600 websites, the vast majority associated with print media, had been developed to enhance the ability of advertisers to target specific communities.

TELECOMS

GLOBAL ICT: Developing markets encouraged to work with Private Sector

It took 113 years from the invention of the telephone for it to achieve 10% global penetration, the comparative figure for mobile telephony is 15 years whilst internet usage achieved the 10% figure only 12 years after the invention of the WWW. These bald figures can disguise great disparity across the digital divide even within continents. The World Bank has noted that worldwide internet use quadrupled between 2000 and 2005. But while developed nations have more than 300 secure internet servers per one million people, developing nations have fewer than two. Canada has more secure servers than all the developing countries combined.

The Bank urges developing countries to work in partnership with the private sector to extend the reach and use of ICT there is also a need to break down existing monopolies in developing countries.

AUTOMOTIVE

ASIA: Politics and New Designs alter the face of the Asia Pacific Automotive markets.

The long term impact of the arrest and indictment of Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong Koo is yet to be determined. He has been accused of creating slush funds to pay politicians and officials for business favours. The groundbreaking for two new overseas plants subsidiary Kia's in the US and Hyundai' in the Czech Republic have already been postponed. However, work on the joint venture engine factory in China, Beijing Hyundai, started as scheduled on May 16.

Mahindra & Mahindra, a leading Indian vehicle manufacturer, reported a 23% rise in net sales to Rs83.26bn for the year ended 31 March 2006. The company will launch the Logan, in association with Renault, in the first half of 2007.

Honda have announced that they are developing an entirely new compact car to be targeted primarily at the Indian market. Tata, General Motors, Fiat and Toyota are also developing new models for this sector which accounts for 75% of the Indian market.

The Chinese government, concerned about over capacity in the automotive industry, is reported to now require companies to prove that consumer demand justifies additional investment before giving approval

FINANCIAL SERVICES

EUROPE: Insurance markets grow in Central and Eastern Europe, as social welfare is transferred into private hands

Markets for life, disability and health insurance products are growing quickly in Central and Eastern Europe, as more responsibility for social welfare is transferred into private hands.

Accession to the EU of eight eastern and central European countries has contributed to the removal of the political, regulatory and cultural obstacles to cross border mergers in the financial services industry. Additionally conversion to IFRS reporting will help to introduce a level of transparency that has not historically existed. Consequently it is safe to suggest that central and eastern European financial services companies will continue to be affected by the growth in consolidation, driven by cross border mergers, in the sector. Between 1996 and 2004 the share of financial assets in central and eastern Europe owned by foreign banks tripled to 66%.

In Russia there is considerable un met demand for retail banking services. Until 2003, for example, there was no legal framework governing the securing of loans against property. There is now considerable scope for large and rapid growth in the provision of mortgage lending. There are endemic problems in operating in the Russian market but overseas institutions may have one advantage by virtue of their foreignness, there is a saying in Moscow that ''only foreigners will trust a Russian, other Russians don't.''

AUTOMOTIVE

AMERICAS: Positive News for Latin America Automotive Markets

Positive news from the region as both Argentina and Brazil report strong growth in vehicle manufacturing. Adefa, the Argentinian National Automakers' Federation, reported that Q1 production grew 23.8% to 77,203 units compared with the same period last year. In Brazil production in March was boosted by strong domestic demand fuelled by falling interest rates and grew 12.3% compared with February 2006. Mexico's exports of trucks and buses rose almost 50% in March; 86% of the 4,188 vehicles were exported to the USA.

Ford plans to restructure its executive ranks in Latin America and Canada.

Continental AG have officially opened their new plant in Brazil whilst General Motors have announced that they will invest almost $650m in a new plant in Mexico and Daimler Chrysler will spend approximately $1bn upgrading their assembly site in Toluca, Mexico.

Prime-Tass reports that Russian automaker Gaz is considering assembling its mid-sized Gazel trucks and vans in Brazil and General Motors do Brazil is negotiating the export of the Brazilian made Chevrolet Vectra to central Europe.

TELECOMS

EUROPE: Aid money supports growth of Telecoms markets in EU accession countries.

Growth in both revenue and customer numbers in the Central and Eastern Europe telecoms sector remain consistently higher than in Western Europe. The recent accession into the EU of eight of the region's countries, as well as preparations for accession of a further three, are important drivers of this growth as aid money from EU structural funds is tied to market liberalisation. In the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary this process is virtually completed while in others it is being initiated.

The majority of growth is in the mobile sector whilst growth for fixed-line operators may be restricted to satisfying the demand for high-speed data services.

TELECOMS

ASIA: Under WTO rules China must open telecoms markets by end of 2006

China remains anomalous in developing telecoms markets in that it's fixed line sector remains larger than the mobile market. It remains to be seen whether the issuance of 3G licences in 2006 will alter this scenario.

Under WTO rules China must open its telecoms markets to overseas operators by the end of 2006. China Unicom has recently announced that it is seeking a foreign investor to back its 3G development.

The European Commission's recent decision to impose controls on roaming tariffs has been seized upon by certain Asian commentators who are pressing their national regulators to ask local operators to justify their charges.

In India LG Electronics is planning to raise production of GSM phones by 300% to satisfy both domestic demand and export markets in, amongst other countries, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Kenya.

FOOD & DRINKS

EUROPE: What is the state of the Scandinavian beer market?

Figures show that beer consumption in Sweden, Denmark and Norway has been falling over the last five years. Find out by how much by checking Snapdata's Scandinavian reports which contain figures and charts showing market shares, market size, and historical and forecast growth as well as socio-economic data and sources for further research.

CLOTHING

ASIA: How is China's rapid growth effecting the US clothing market?

With cheap Chinese garments flooding into America, is the US clothing market suffering? Snapdata's US and China Clothing reports will reveal the answer with figures and charts showing market shares, market size and historical and forecast growth, figures which, alongside socio-economic data, combine to give an accurate overview of the market.

TELECOMS

AMERICAS: Has the rise of the mobile phone had any impact on the fixed line services in the Americas region?

Covering the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, Snapdata's Americas Overview reports on Mobile Phone Services and Fixed Line Services make very interesting reading. The reports contain figures and charts showing market shares, market size and historical and forecast growth as well as socio-economic data and sources for further research.

FOOD & DRINKS

AMERICAS: Is the Brazilian Coffee Market set to grow or decline over the next 4 years?

Snapdata's Brazil Coffee report contains all the information in charts and figures showing market shares, market size and historical and forecast growth as well as socio-economic data. It also ranks the main players in the Brazilian coffee market.

CONSUMER GOODS

GLOBAL: Is outsourcing in India leading to a growth in the consumer products market?

With many people benefitting from increased salaries, is there any evidence that consumers are spending more on luxury items for the home? Snapdata reports contain figures and charts showing market shares, market size, and historical and forecast growth as well as socio-economic data which will assist analysts and researchers.