As the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have placed intense stress on global supply chains, purely efficiency-based models have shown their limits in the fashion industry. Since then, luxury and fashion players have pivoted their business models to build their resilience for tomorrow, and beat the impact of inflation, while they also need to anticipate regulatory shifts in terms of sustainability to plan for the future.
As the world’s energy landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, countries around the globe are striving to secure reliable and sustainable energy supply. However, not all nations are positioned equally in this quest for energy security. Our Global Energy Vulnerability Index sheds light on the energy vulnerabilities and strengths of different economies, revealing the challenges they face and the opportunities they can seize to enhance energy security.
One of the most noticeable features of beverages in the last decade has been the dramatic growth in popularity of the metal beverage can. While proponents of the can like to tout features like sustainability and portability as the driving forces behind this, what has really happened is that the can has aligned itself well with some of the most dynamic growth categories in beverages. It is this category alignment that has been the key to cans’ success.
The latest 2023 quarterly forecast data shows gradual improvements to economic projections for the year. But the global outlook remains weak as challenges persist.
Albeit staying historically high, prices of many commodities are set to normalise below last year’s levels, weighed by weaker global demand. Despite recent improvements in global economic outlook, it remains fragile as high borrowing costs, persisting inflation, geopolitical woes and disappointing China’s recovery weigh on the outlook and dent demand for energy, metals and food. Yet, tightening global supply adds pressure to energy and food commodities markets.
Global inflationary pressures are predicted to moderate further over 2023 and 2024. Slower economic growth, stricter monetary policies of the central banks and supply chain improvements contribute to the price stabilisation. However, there are divergent inflation trends in the largest economies due to differences in the economic performance, labour and energy markets.