Middle East/Africa

Chocolate Could Run Out in 30 Years, Government Agency Warns

January 10, 2018

Chocolate could run out by 2050 because the crop used to make the confectionary will be harder to grow in a warming climate, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Ethiopia Bets on Clothes to Fashion Industrial Future

November 28, 2017

Reuters

Checkered shirts for American chain Gap. Slate leggings for Swedish store H&M. Twill shorts for Germany’s Tchibo. They are among a growing list of clothes being stitched together for big brands in Ethiopia.

Breakbulk Middle East returns to Abu Dhabi to discuss the regions challenges and opportunities in the cargo and breakbulk industry

November 15, 2017

The third annual conference will be held at ADNEC from 6-7 February 2018

Rare Victory for Rainforests As Nations Vow to Stop 'Death by Chocolate'

November 15, 2017

The Guardian

The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are formulating plans to immediately put a stop to all new deforestation after a Guardian investigation found that the cocoa industry was destroying their rainforests.

China Grows Belt and Road Business

November 10, 2017

Maritime Executive

Trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road reached a value of $786bn in the first three quarters of this year, up 15 percent on the same period last year.

Inside Saudi Aramco's Kingdom of Oil

November 8, 2017

Fortune

From the window of our small plane flying low over the desert, Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter looks as remote as the name suggests, with burnt-orange dunes stretching into infinity under the blinding sun. Not even the Bedouin nomads with their camels are visible, because there are too few of them amid the vast landscape. It's only when the plane bumps down on an empty runway at an outpost called Shaybah that it is clear that the world's biggest sand desert is not, in fact, empty.

Inspection Battle Threatens Egypt's Wheat Supply

November 3, 2017

Reuters

Wheat shipments to Egypt, the world's largest buyer, are being disrupted by a dispute involving government inspectors angered by a ban on the expenses-paid foreign trips they once enjoyed to approve cargoes at their ports of origin.

Smart Cooler Helps Companies Sell More

October 25, 2017

RFID Journal

A new platform service called diili is giving a voice to commercial refrigerators via a solution based on the Internet of Things (IoT) concept. According to the creator, Embraco, the platform is designed to boost sales of food and beverage brands that use its handsets.

As Cancer Tears Through Africa, Drug Makers Draw Up a Battle Plan

October 18, 2017

The New York Times

In a remarkable initiative modeled on the campaign against AIDS in Africa, two major pharmaceutical companies, working with the American Cancer Society, will steeply discount the prices of cancer medicines in Africa.

Chocolate Industry Drives Rainforest Disaster in Ivory Coast

September 28, 2017

The Guardian

The world's chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa, the Guardian has reported.

Middle East/Africa

The latest supply chain news, analysis, trends and best practices for companies operating in the Middle East and Africa. The Middle Eastern region consists of 18 countries that stretch from the western borders of Turkey and Egypt to the eastern edges of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Learn how businesses are optimizing supply chain and logistics performance in these regions, addressing a range of challenges such as poor infrastructure, complex customs and tax laws, unstable political climates and government controlled exchange rates - as well as capitalizing on new land and labor opportunities, particularly across Africa.