Salford University News
EU tariffs step towards end of WTO
Friday 22 June 2018
AS THE EU announces it will impose tariffs on US goods, Dr Tony Syme, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Salford Business School, says the future of the...
Beyoncé and Jay-Z: the world is going APES**T for their vision of black culture
Thursday 21 June 2018
Anyone who is familiar with Beyoncé’s work knows that every outfit, song sample, visual reference and album cover art contains a deeper, more significant meaning behind its mainstream pop culture...
Expert comment on breaking stories
The development of the airport bring huge benefits to the region and has further enhanced economic prosperity
Manchester Airport celebrates 80th birthdayDr Neil Robinson, tourism expert
Dr Neil Robinson, tourism expert
The development of the airport bring huge benefits to the region and has further enhanced economic prosperity
There is a very real possibility that pubs will have run out or be close to running out of fizzy drinks due to the European wide CO2 shortage
CO2 shortage in EuropeDr Jonathan Owens, Operations Management expert
Dr Jonathan Owens, Operations Management expert
There is a very real possibility that pubs will have run out or be close to running out of fizzy drinks due to the European wide CO2 shortage
Dr Owens said: “Millions of England football fans are getting ready for this weekend’s match against Panama that could see them qualify from the group stages, but it could be a very sober celebration!
“There is a very real possibility that pubs will have run out or be close to running out of fizzy drinks due to the European wide CO2 shortage. It is not only desperate news for the football fan whether you are English, German, French etc, but also for the pub trade.
“In particular the smaller independent pubs who were perhaps hoping this summer was going to be a bumper one depending on England’s progression and could help offset what had been hard start to the year. Recruitment could be impacted.
“In addition, there is a potential ripple effect of the feel good factor into other areas. If the nation is engrossed in the England football team’s success it could well encourage people to spend more in the short term. This is nothing new as we do this every year at Christmas. Therefore, to meet this demand we still need to both service and supply it. However, might the lack of alcoholic beverage choice make people decide to stay at home?
“And it is not just their fizzy drinks it will affect, but anything that uses CO2, such as bags of salad, crisps, ready meals etc. All things that might be in demand during the World Cup.
“So what has gone wrong? Well CO2 comes from ammonia and is part of Europe’s fertiliser production. The peak demand for fertiliser is not until after the harvest period, which is late summer. Subsequently, most productions plants take their shutdowns over the late spring and early summer period. There is normally enough production to maintain supply to the food and drink industry during this down time.
“What has made this year different is after the cold start to year over most parts of Europe and the exceptionally warm spring demand has grown significantly, thus leading into a major global sporting event has kept demand exceptionally high. However, what is the biggest issue is ammonia prices are at very low, but production costs are very high, which has led to several big production plants to extend their maintenance shutdowns.
“The 2018 World Cup may well go down as being the soberest yet!”