Businessmirror july 07, 2018

Page 1

MEDIA PARTNER OF THE YEAR

UNITED NATIONS

2015ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA AWARD LEADERSHIP AWARD 2008

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A broader look at today’s business n

Saturday, July 7, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 266

2016 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

KIM146212 | DREAMSTIME.COM

PHL goes on a ‘bittersweet’ ride to control people’s thirst for SSBs

C

By Cai U. Ordinario

HANGING the hearts and minds—and yes, the taste—of Filipinos when it comes to sugarsweetened beverages (SSBs) could be “bittersweet” for the economy. With a penchant for all things sweet, Filipinos would have to face the reality that consuming these products, especially SSBs on a

regular basis, could not only place their health at risk, but could also be a drain to their pockets as well. The recent increase in taxes

for SSBs—courtesy of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law—has already affected their consumption. And now, with President Duterte leading the way, these SSBs will soon carry health warnings that could further erode consumption. “It will likely affect the whole chain down to one million sari-sari stores,” University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agri Business Executive Director Rolando Dy told the BusinessMirror.

Consumption

NATIONAL Economic and Devel-

opment Authority (Neda) Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie G. Edillon said regulating sugar consumption can be effectively done through taxes. This has been observed in other countries such as Mexico when it slapped a 10-percent excise tax on sugary drinks: Consumption dropped by 7.6 percent. Edillon said the impact in the country would be significant, given that the country’s consumption of SSBs is high. She said that in 2005, Filipinos’ Coca-Cola consumption reached 151 servings per capita per year. This is more than twice the global

average of 77 servings per capita. This is supported by local data. Based on several Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) results, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said families have seen a steady increase in spending for nonalcoholic beverages from 2003 to 2012. In 2003 Filipino households spent P29.5 billion on nonalcoholic beverages. Of this amount, around P16.1 billion was spent on carbonated drinks, while P8.24 billion of the amount was spent on fruit juices and noncarbonated drinks. The spending on nonalcoholic

beverages in 2006 almost doubled to P34.18 billion. However, there was a slight decline in spending for soft drinks at P16.06 billion, but an increase in the expenditure for fruit juices at P10.15 billion. The increase continued in 2009, with households spending as much as P44.09 billion on nonalcoholic beverages. There was a marked increase in the spending for soft drinks at P17.32 billion and in the consumption of fruit juices at P14.63 billion. In the latest FIES in 2012, families spent P62.61 billion Continued on A2

Trade war threat gets real as Trump slaps tariffs on $34-B Chinese imports By Andrew Mayeda & Jennifer Jacobs | Bloomberg

as it enters a new and dangerous phase by imposing direct costs on companies and consumers globally. China has vowed to hit back in kind on goods ranging from American soybeans to pork, which may in turn prompt Trump to raise trade barriers even higher.

U

.S. President Donald Trump is firing the biggest shot yet in the global trade war by imposing tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports, delivering on a promise to his political supporters that risks provoking retaliation and harming the world economy. The duties on Chinese goods will go forward just after midnight, Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way to Montana on Thursday. Another $16 billion of goods could follow in two weeks, Trump said, before suggesting the final total could eventually reach $550 billion, a figure that exceeds all of China’s annual goods exports to the US. As of 12:01 a.m. on Friday in Washington, US Customs officials

are set to begin collecting additional 25-percent tariffs on Chinese imports of goods ranging from farming plows to semiconductors and airplane parts. It’s the first time the US has imposed tariffs directly aimed at Chinese goods following months in which Trump accused Beijing of stealing American intellectual property and unfairly swelling America’s trade deficit. The riskiest economic gamble of Trump’s presidency could spread

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.4100

Real conflict

IN this June, 19, 2018, file photo, ship-to-shore cranes stack shipping containers onboard the container ship Maersk Semarang at the Port of Savannah in Savannah, Georgia. AP/STEPHEN B. MORTON

“ONCE these tariffs start going into effect, it’s pretty clear the conflict is real,” said Robert Holleyman, former deputy US trade representative under President Barack Obama and now a partner at law firm Crowell and Moring Llp. “If we don’t find an exit ramp, this will accelerate like a snowball going down a hill.” Recent US tariffs on steel and aluminum antagonized fellow rich nations and drew return fire from the European Union and Canada. Chinese state media have run numerous commentary pieces on the dispute over the past few days criticizing the American position. As the world’s most developed nation and the rule-maker of the Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4829 n UK 70.6561 n HK 6.8065 n CHINA 8.0472 n SINGAPORE 39.1425 n AUSTRALIA 39.4486 n EU 62.4523 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.2415

Source: BSP (July 6, 2018 )


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.