Speaker to discuss biomedical research
The fifth annual Symposium on Current Issues and Advances in Food Animal Wellbeing on Aug. 6 will feature a speaker discussing the threats facing biomedical research and its relationship with animal welfare.
Paul McKellips, a former vice president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research, will speak about biomedical research and how it is used as a protection against bioterrorism and state-sponsored biowarfare, according to a release Wednesday. McKellips served as a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of his military service.
Other speakers and presenters at the day-long symposium include farmers, scholars and industry representatives.
The event will be held in the Leland Tollett Auditorium at the John W. Tyson Building at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. It is sponsored by the Center for Food Animal Wellbeing, a part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Registration for the event is $25, and attendees should register by July 31. Those wishing to register or seeking more information can visit the center's website, foodanimalwellbeing.uark.edu.
-- John Magsam
Ikea to raise minimum wage to $11.87
NEW YORK -- Ikea Group, the world's largest furniture retailer, will raise the hourly minimum wage it pays workers in the U.S. by 10 percent to $11.87, seeking to keep employees from moving to other merchants that have recently increased pay.
The raise, which takes effect Jan. 1, follows a 17 percent jump to $10.76 an hour this year. The 2016 raise will affect 32 percent of Ikea's hourly retail staff, along with some workers in distribution, the company said Wednesday.
Many U.S. retailers have been raising pay to retain workers in an increasingly tight labor market and to respond to mounting pressure from labor groups and politicians. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. raised its minimum wage to $9 an hour in April and said it would bump it to $10 in February 2016. TJX Cos., the parent company of discount retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, announced a similar move that takes effect this month. Target and Ross Stores have increased pay this year, as well.
"Every year we evaluate our wage structure," said Rob Olson, chief financial officer of Ikea's U.S. unit. "It is not about being the leader; it's about doing the right thing for our co-workers."
-- The Associated Press
OPEC loses ground in crude oil market
OPEC said its share of the global crude oil market last year declined to the lowest level since 2003, highlighting the motive for the group's current push to defend sales volumes.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' share of the global crude market dwindled to 41.8 percent in 2014, from 43.3 percent the previous year, according to the group's Annual Statistical Bulletin. Libya accounted for more than half the output reduction. OPEC's 12 members pumped an average of 30.68 million barrels a day last year, according to the report by the group's Vienna-based secretariat.
The decline in OPEC's dominance, caused by surging North American shale oil, prompted the group to abandon its decades-long role of balancing world markets. Guided by Saudi Arabia, the organization chose instead to maintain output and pressure higher-cost rivals to curb their output in the face of a global glut.
"The OPEC policy is probably the only option they have," said Ole Sloth Hansen, an analyst at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, Denmark. "U.S. shale is now the swing producer."
-- Bloomberg News
U.S. shale boom lowers propane price
The fuel that will char millions of hot dogs across the U.S. on the Fourth of July is giving energy producers heartburn.
Propane inventories have soared to the highest seasonal level in more than 30 years, sending prices in Texas to a 13-year low and forcing sellers in Canada to pay people to take it away.
The bargain-basement price is a byproduct of the U.S. shale boom, as record production of natural gas has doubled the supply of propane, commonly used for heating, crop-drying and cooking. The glut of natural gas liquids has turned the U.S. into the world's biggest supplier and helped revive the nation's petrochemical industry.
"We've gone from North America being a net importer of propane to the U.S. being the single largest exporter of propane," said Michael Sloan, a Fairfax, Va.-based principal at consulting firm ICF International Inc. "It's a good time to fill up your propane tank."
Propane in Mont Belvieu, Texas, the largest storage site in the world, traded at 35.25 cents a gallon on Tuesday, down 68 percent from Sept. 16. It fell to 31.5 cents on June 5, the lowest level since 2002. When producers extract natural gas from shale rock, it often comes up in a single stream that contains other fuels, including propane.
Field production of propane rose to a record 1.1 million barrels a day in March, almost double what it was five years ago.
-- Bloomberg News
Ford ride-share program takes test spin
NEW YORK -- Ford is starting a ride-sharing pilot program in six U.S. cities and in London.
Under the program, customers who finance their vehicles through Ford Motor Credit will be able to rent their vehicle to prescreened drivers for short-term use, helping to defray some monthly vehicle ownership costs.
"As most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time, this can help us gauge our customers' desires to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use," David McClelland, Ford Credit vice president of marketing, said in a written statement.
Ford Motor Co. said 14,000 customers in the U.S. will be invited to participate, along with 12,000 in London.
U.S. customers will partake through ride-share company Getaround, while London customers will use easyCar Club.
The program is being offered through November to Ford Credit customers in Chicago; Washington D.C.; Portland, Ore.; and California locations including Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 06/25/2015