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Qatar Airways eyes rapid growth as travel demand rebounds 

Qatar Airways eyes rapid growth as travel demand rebounds 
Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker. (Supplied)
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Updated 08 March 2023
REUTERS 

Qatar Airways eyes rapid growth as travel demand rebounds 

Qatar Airways eyes rapid growth as travel demand rebounds 
Updated 08 March 2023
REUTERS 

BERLIN: Qatar Airways announced plans for rapid growth on Tuesday, as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic. 

Announcing objectives at the ITB tourism fair in Berlin, the Gulf carrier said it would add seven destinations, restore 11 others and boost the frequency of flights to 35 markets — marking a 21 percent rise in flights by July 2023, compared with the same month last year. 

Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker, speaking in his first appearance since settling a major legal dispute with Airbus, said the airline was being conservative because of its dependence on deliveries from Airbus or Boeing amid supply woes. 

"Unfortunately, it is not in their hands; I think supply chain problems will last a bit longer," Al Baker told a news conference during the world's largest tourism expo. 

Newly planned airline destinations include five in Europe, including three in France, and two in Africa. 

"The aviation industry is slowly rebounding ... (from) unprecedented pressures," Al Baker said. 

Al Baker noted upward inflationary pressure on ticket prices but said the airline was not passing on all fuel increases. 

Al Baker, whose roles include tourism minister of Qatar, also announced a campaign to increase visitors to the Gulf state, building on attention from hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup to boost its domestic tourism industry. 

He said Qatar aimed to increase the number of annual visitors threefold compared to 2019 levels to six to seven million, with a target of contributing to 10 percent of its economy. 

Gulf analysts say the small peninsula state faces stiff competition from neighboring Dubai, an international tourist destination, as well as from Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom opens up and invests heavily in tourism and entertainment. 

Al Baker said Qatar had been the target of disinformation and vigorously defended its performance in staging the World Cup. He lashed out at media coverage surrounding the event. 

Airbus meanwhile also said on Tuesday it had reinstated orders for 73 aircraft from Qatar Airways after revoking them during a dispute over damage to the surface of grounded A350s. 

Airbus and Qatar Airways settled the dispute at the end of January, averting a rare and potentially damaging UK court trial in the jet sector.  

Qatar Airways chief called the settlement a "win-win". 

 
 

Topics: Qatar Airways berlin aviation Airbus

China should be global nexus for chemical industry sustainability, says SABIC CEO

China should be global nexus for chemical industry sustainability, says SABIC CEO
Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

China should be global nexus for chemical industry sustainability, says SABIC CEO

China should be global nexus for chemical industry sustainability, says SABIC CEO
Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

RIYADH: China should be at the center of global collaboration efforts to boost sustainable economic growth in the chemicals industry, the head of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. has insisted.

Speaking during the Boao Forum for Asia Conference, SABIC CEO Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh said the economic powerhouse was perfectly placed to help foster closer working between countries and companies in the sector.

He called on the international community to strengthen cross-regional and cross-sector collaboration to deliver growth that fit in with the global push for environmentally-friendly policies..

 Following Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s keynote speech at the event’s opening plenary, Al-Fageeh spoke as a representative of the international business community and said: “For sustainable economic growth to flourish globally, close international collaboration will be required – not only between companies but also between countries linked by value chains. 

“Being the world’s largest market for chemical products, China is the obvious place to establish a nexus of global sustainable economic growth. 

“As SABIC expands its local presence, it will focus on investing in the development of technology.

“Innovation-driven economic growth can spread widely under the strategic alignment between Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.”

In addition to his comments at the opening ceremony, Al-Fageeh also participated in a panel discussion on ‘Carbon Neutrality: Dilemma and Way Out’ with representatives from financial institutions, businesses, and government organizations. 

During the discussion, the CEO underlined the importance of collaboration across the value chain in the quest for global carbon neutrality. 

He also noted that companies should be focusing on the long-term economic value of their carbon-reduction-related projects to ensure that they are sustainable.

SABIC’s used its exhibition booth at the Forum to showcase its solutions to accelerate the circular carbon economy, increase energy efficiency, and help customers mitigate their environmental footprint.

Relations between China and Saudi Arabia have been growing in recent years, and in December 2022 President Xi Jinping made a three-day state visit to the Kingdom.

Xi and his delegation held talks with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the heads of key ministries, resulting in 35 memorandums of understanding and deals worth $30 billion.

Topics: Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) China

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Oil Updates – Prices down marginally amid uncertainty over imminent US economic data

Oil Updates – Prices down marginally amid uncertainty over imminent US economic data
Updated 31 March 2023
Reuters

Oil Updates – Prices down marginally amid uncertainty over imminent US economic data

Oil Updates – Prices down marginally amid uncertainty over imminent US economic data
Updated 31 March 2023
Reuters

BEIJING: Oil prices were very slightly down in Asian morning trade on Friday as bullish sentiment about Chinese demand and potential Middle Eastern supply disruptions was tempered by uncertainty over US economic data on Friday, according to Reuters.

Brent futures, which have risen nearly 6 percent this week, were down 19 cents, or -0.24 percent, at $79.08 a barrel at 0415 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell by 1 cent, or -0.01 percent, to $74.36, having gained about 8 percent this week.

Markets are now waiting for US spending and inflation data on Friday and the resulting impact on the US dollar.

“The market may maintain its rebound if today’s US PCE offers positive signals to the markets that US inflation is expected to cool further,” said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets in Auckland.

“Disappointing data may cause concerns about Fed policy again and cap the recent gains,” she added.

Prices have ticked up this week over optimism surrounding China’s economic recovery. China’s manufacturing activity rose in March at a slower pace compared with a record-breaking expansion in February, but still exceeded expectations by economists in a Reuters poll.

Industrial activity in China has become a key determinant of prices in recent weeks after its ending of coronavirus-related restrictions, amid weaker global demand.

Oil prices are set to cap a second straight week of gains after the largest bank failure after the 2008 financial crisis spooked traders and roiled markets. Worries about a full-blown global banking crisis have abated after two banks, in the US and Europe, were rescued.

Prices rose more than 1 percent on Thursday because of lower US crude stockpiles and a halt to exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region, offseting pressure from a smaller-than-expected cut to Russian supplies.

Producers have shut in or reduced output at several oilfields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq following a halt to the northern export pipeline. More outages are on the horizon.

The US Energy Information Administration said US crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly in the week to March 24 to a two-year low.
 

Topics: oil updates

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FII Priority: Agricultural production needs to increase by 60 percent to feed projected 2050 population  

FII Priority: Agricultural production needs to increase by 60 percent to feed projected 2050 population  
Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

FII Priority: Agricultural production needs to increase by 60 percent to feed projected 2050 population  

FII Priority: Agricultural production needs to increase by 60 percent to feed projected 2050 population  
  • Average price of a food basket has increased 66 percent in the US and 3,000 percent in Lebanon in the past three years 
Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

MIAMI: “What we have right now is the confluence of the currency crisis, a debt crisis and a food crisis,” said Sara Menker, CEO of Gro Intelligence, a data and analytics company focused on food security and climate change, at the FII Priority conference on Thursday.

COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war and droughts in South America, among other factors, had disrupted supply chains, trade flows and agricultural production in the past three years, Menker said.

Consequently, the price of a basket of food had risen dramatically — 66 percent in the US, 2,000 percent in Sudan and 3,000 percent in Lebanon.

At the same time, “many countries have issued an unprecedented amount of foreign currency-denominated debt that they have to pay in US dollars, which are the same dollars they have to use to import their food, which has been devalued,” she said.

The three primary drivers of food insecurity and chronic malnutrition across the globe were climate, conflict and economic instability, said Ertharin Cousin, CEO and managing director of Food Systems for the Future, a nutrition impact investment fund.

Although there was a sufficient humanitarian response to the food security challenge, there was a “paucity of investment” in the adaptation of agriculture required to support a sustainable transformation of the food system, which in turn could support the environment and human health, and generate the economic return needed for everyone in the food sector, Cousin said.

For Gabrielle Rubenstein, co-founder and managing partner of Manna Tree, a global food supply chain private equity firm, it was the opposite case.

“I’m here to tell you that we have just announced that we’ve raised 640 million over four and a half years — that is the largest growth equity player in the world,” she said.

“When you look at what food supply chain and food security means, it doesn’t mean any more foreign direct investment. What it means is profitable business models that are your standard private equity firms that have revenue and that, more importantly, the top line growth is growing,” she said.

Yet, there are places where capital did not flow because investors considered those places too risky, Cousin argued.

“The challenge is that the risk lens that we use has limited the flowing of capital to certain geographies and certain entrepreneurs, particularly in the asset classes of food and agriculture.”

Africa, for example, was considered risky by investors who chose to see it as one continent instead of 54 countries, each with a different risk ratio, Cousin said.

It is not just the flow of capital that is debilitating food security globally.

As things stood, the inherent cost of capital was mispriced and needed to be driven down, Menker said. “The minute we do that it will unlock so much innovation, different types of return profiles and opportunities.”

Current food systems were not receiving enough money to undergo the transformation necessary to feed the projected population by 2050, especially when combined with climate disruption, she said.

Agricultural production would need to grow by about 60 percent to feed the population projected for 2050, Cousin said.

It was also important to distinguish food commodities from nutritious food, Menker said. “Yes, we do grow enough commodities, (but) we don’t grow enough nutritious food.”

Cousin concluded: “We don’t have the appropriate subsidies that support the regenerative production of nutritious food. That’s the opportunity that is in front of us if we really want to not only feed the world but nourish the world.”

Topics: FII Priority Conference

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From vertical farms to plant-based meats, FII Priority panel discusses future of food

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Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

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Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

MIAMI: Last month, AeroFarms opened a 65,000 sq ft facility in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and signed a joint venture agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to establish a company in Riyadh to build and operate indoor vertical farms in the Kingdom and the Middle East and North Africa region.

The company, which specializes in vertical farming, grows plants with 90 crop cycles a year versus the usual five crop cycles. Its facility in Virginia feeds the entire US, said David Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO of AeroFarms, at the FII priority conference on Thursday.

AeroFarms wanted to work with early adopters, and the spirit in the Middle East allowed people to be the first, he said.

The region, with its lack of arable land and freshwater, is a good fit for AeroFarms, which can grow a plant with less than 5 percent of the water needed to grow one outdoors, he said.

“It’s a good fit to help with food security and enable food production locally in the region, and there’s capital to help us build it.”

The facility in Abu Dhabi and upcoming facilities in other parts of the region would also serve as innovation hubs for robots and artificial intelligence, which would then be expanded to its farms globally.

“No amount of smart farming is going to stop the young Vietnamese fisherman going out and fishing to make money to put money in his wallet to buy food,” said Fahim Al-Qasimi, co-founder of Seafood Souq, a platform that allows the seafood industry to trade and trace the seafood back to the source.

It is why Seafood Souq works in emerging markets, so it can provide the technology to small and independent fishermen that allows them to sell their traceable products in new markets, he said.

“Traceability is extremely important in the seafood industry,” Al-Qasimi said. “The only product we extract from the Earth that is more like mining than farming is seafood.”

Much of Seafood Souq’s success can be attributed to being an FII portfolio company, he said, with the partnership enabling Seafood Souq to grow platform orders by 250 percent and revenue by 84 percent in the past year.

“A third of the world still relies on seafood as a main source of protein or income. And it’s a very undigitized space, so we’re extremely proud to be innovating in 35 countries today from the region for the world,” Al-Qasimi said.

Topics: FII Priority Conference

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Public sector should lead in financing energy transition, HSBC MENA chairman tells FII

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  • Samir Assaf praised the example of PIF in taking more of the primary risk
  • NEOM deputy CEO stressed importance of energy transition projects in creating long-term sustainable capital
Updated 31 March 2023
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MIAMI: The public sector should lead the way in supporting the financial costs of the energy transition, said Samir Assaf, chairman of HSBC Middle East and North Africa.

During the FII conference in Miami, Assaf argued that public institutions around the world should follow the example of the Public Investment Fund, or PIF, the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, when it came to supporting the initial losses that could occur in making these kinds of investments.

“I think that PIF is giving us a great example through the loss of equity investment they are doing in hydrogen or in NEOM,” Assaf said.

“When you think about the reform that is happening, or will happen at the World Bank, the essence of this reform is to make sure that the World Bank is deploying more toward the energy transition and taking more of the primary risk to support (the) financing of this energy transition.

“In my view 60, 70, 75 percent of the risk of the equity should come from the public sector,” he said.

Assaf said that although banks maintained a key position in financing activities aimed at achieving net zero in 2050, “the reality is that we are all in this journey together and everyone is in this role, and I really have a call to public money to come and be the first loss of this transition.”

At the panel, speakers pointed to the urgency of accelerating the transition to green energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and prioritizing more resilient infrastructure in vulnerable communities.

The focus was on low and zero carbon technologies that would drive opportunities for investors, including capturing and removing carbon, carbon neutralization and scaling up solutions such as green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel.

“There’s a lot of money right now that’s positioned to go after technologies that may or may not be able to solve that problem in an adequate way,” said Steve Shallenberger, CEO of environmental technologies company, Rivotto.

“As a collective, we are at a very serious inflection point where we have to make the right decisions” to avoid “putting financial burdens and hand over an Earth that’s not suitable for future generations.”

During the panel discussion, participants also talked about the responsibility of the Global North in financing the transition toward green energy.

The general consensus among speakers was that the deployment of new technologies and the scaling up of those technologies would happen in the north, where the current competence sits, and the deployment of those technologies at scale would happen in the Global South.

The speakers added that the rollout would represent “a very interesting opportunity” for countries in the southern hemisphere to generate long-term attractive returns.

“The R&D (research and development), the proof of concept and the commercial scaling up, that is likely to happen in the North,” said Assaf.

“But the deployment of those technologies at scale is going to happen in the Global South. And that’s where the opportunity is.”

In a separate panel, NEOM’s Deputy CEO Rayan Fayez also stressed the importance of harnessing the opportunity offered by these projects to create long-term sustainable capital, while at the same time creating an impact on the rest of the world.

“It’s a balanced approach between economic development and economic returns, but at the same time creating impact that goes beyond projects like NEOM,” Fayez said. “We’re trying to redefine how businesses coexist with nature.”

“We’re addressing livability challenges and you’ve seen some designs of The Line. What we’re doing is redesigning how people could live better in the future with less infrastructure, with less footprint to occupy, with better proximity, no cars, no CO2 emissions,” he said.

“All of that coming together is creating an ecosystem where we are solving challenges that have existed all around the world but people have not had the chance of having a blank canvas in the way we do, the vision, and the way our chairman does, to recreate it and experiment with it at scale like we are in NEOM.”

Topics: FII Priority Conference Samir Assaf Public Investment Fund NEOM Rayan Fayez HSBC

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