Business news in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Industry relief will come when the drought breaks, input costs moderate from their current levels and herd expansion takes place.”

Mike Martin, Cargill spokesman, on drought conditions in Texas and the effect on the beef industry Article, 1D

15 U.S. states report cases of pig virus

DENVER - A new virus that has migrated to the U.S. is killing piglets in 15 states, including Arkansas, at an alarming rate in facilities where it has been reported.

Dr. Nick Striegel, assistant state veterinarian for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said Wednesday that the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus, also known as PED, was thought to exist only in Europe and China, but Colorado and 14 other states began reporting the virus in April, and officials confirmed its presence in May.

“It has been devastating for those producers where it has been diagnosed. It affects nursing pigs, and in some places, there has been 100 percent mortality,” he said.

Striegel said the disease is not harmful to humans, and there is no evidence it affects pork products. He said outbreaks are not required to be reported to federal officials.

The virus has been confirmed in about 200 hog facilities in 13 other states including Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, according to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

Wal-Mart threatens to pull out of D.C.

WASHINGTON - Wal-Mart said Tuesday it won’t build three stores it had planned for the District of Columbia if lawmakers approve a bill that would force the retailer to pay its employees at least $12.50 an hour.

Wal-Mart had been planning to build six stores in the nation’s capital. But a Wal-Mart representative wrote in an article published online by The Washington Post Tuesday that the retailer will abandon plans for three of those stores if the bill gained final approval. The City Council gave preliminary approval on Wednesday, but Mayor Vincent C. Gray could still veto the bill. Wal-Mart said the bill will also jeopardize three stores already under construction.

The bill is backed by unions and worker advocates who say employees of big retail stores should earn a “living wage.” It applies only to stores doing business in spaces of 75,000 feet or more.

  • The Associated Press

Forage summit set for August in Hope

Livestock ranchers will be able to learn about new forage management tools at a conference Aug. 13 in Hope.

The Arkansas Forage Management Conference is offering tips and techniques to livestock and forage operations on how to deal with with the state’s weather extremes.

“Arkansas’ forage and livestock producers have had rough going the last two or three seasons,” John Jennings, professor and forages specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said in a release.

“This conference is an opportunity for producers to add new management tools.”

The conference, at the Southwest Research and Extension Center at 362 Arkansas 174 North in Hope, will cost $10 per person, which includes dinner and conference materials.

To register or obtain more information, contact your county extension office or by calling the Extension Service Department of Animal Science at 501-671-2171 or the research center at 870-777-9702.

Below-normal shrimp season forecast

HOUMA, La. - Federal fisheries officials are predicting a below-average brown shrimp season for the next year in waters off Louisiana and federal waters off Louisiana and Texas.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issue an annual prediction of brown shrimp catches based on monitoring juvenile population numbers, growth estimates and the environment.

Federal scientists are predicting a harvest of 55 million pounds of brown shrimp for this month through June 2014. That’s slightly below the historical 52-year average of 56.5 million pounds. They predict the Louisiana portion of that catch to be about 29 million pounds and the Texas portion about 26 million pounds.

  • The Associated Press

China exports, imports lower in June

BEIJING - China’s exports and imports unexpectedly declined in June, a sign of the severity of the slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy as Premier Li Keqiang reins in credit growth.

Overseas shipments fell 3.1 percent from a year earlier - the most since the global financial crisis - data from the General Administration of Customs showed in Beijing Wednesday when compared with the median estimate of a 3.7 percent gain in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports dropped 0.7 percent, while the median projection was for a 6 percent increase.

Exports to the U.S. and European Union declined for a fourth-straight month while the drop in imports resulted in part from falling commodity prices. Weaker global and domestic demand, highlighted by China’s biggest shipyard outside state control seeking a government bailout, increases pressure on Li to support growth that’s at risk of sliding to the weakest since 1990 even as he vows to press on with restructuring the economy.

Tribune Co. to spin off its newspapers

The Tribune Co. announced Wednesday that it would spin off its newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune, into a separate division called Tribune Publishing Co. Its broadcasting properties would remain together with other assets in the Tribune Co.

The move mirrors one by News Corp., which last month formally separated its newspapers into a new company.

The Tribune Co., which emerged from bankruptcy at the end of 2012, signaled last week that it saw a bright future in broadcasting when it purchased 19 television stations in 16 markets, bringing its total number of television stations to 42 and giving the company a large footprint in the local TV business.

The spinoff does not preclude a sale of any or all of the newspapers, the company said, and executives are hoping that the announcement stirs interest in some of the properties.

Business, Pages 22 on 07/11/2013

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