crisis

Chinese hypermarkets are in crisis and have found the solution: follow the Mercadona model

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The golden age of Chinese hypermarkets is coming to an end. With the economy stepping on the brake, these mastodons are in a tighten and desperately seek new formulas to hook consumers who look more at the pocket. In this new panorama, the solution seems to be betting on the strategy that Mercadona dominates perfectly for years. What’s happening. The great Chinese supermarkets are having You would be difficult to survive. In recent years, Carrefour has closed more than 140 stores, Tesco has disappeared and last year the main leading hypermarkets had Important losses. With The economy in decelerationChinese consumers are more cautious when spending and that is causing the main chains to change their strategy drastically, as reported in Bloomberg. The Mercadona model. Many neighborhood stores and more white brands, this is how some Chinese giants are adapting to this new era. The own brands were not usual in China, but currently they take more and more space in the halls of the main chains. In addition, they are beginning to change their store strategy, favoring the proximity of smaller stores instead of hypermarket that forces us to move by car and plan a larger purchase. Adapt or die. Chinese hypermarket chains are transforming with smaller formats and their own brands. Walmart, with its stores proximity to Lo Carrefour Express and its MarketSide brand, is a good example of this trend. The Wumart Group has launched Six stores with discounts in Beijing and FreeShyppo, from Alibaba, already has more than 300 stores under its cheap chaopa brand. Approximately 60% of the products found in these stores are white brands. This strategy responds to the search for savings and convenience by the consumer. The Pangdonglai case. It is a Henan supermarket that has achieved viral success. Its strategy is based on exceptional customer service, good treatment of unique employees and services such as ticket offices with dog water and personalized preparation of the purchase basket. But the main secret of their success is that they have placed their profit margin in 30%, which allows them to keep low prices all the time, without having to resort to specific promotions. Despite having been born in a smaller city, its model is so influential that Yonghui Superstores, the fourth chain of China, is reforming its stores following its example. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | The US studied what would happen if it enters war with China. Now he has started a career desperate to double missiles

29 years ago we clone to the Dolly sheep. Thanks to this, today we are one step closer to solving the fertility crisis

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Imagine a future in which the infertility caused by the lack of ovules or sperm is no longer an insurmountable obstacle. A future where two men can have a biological child together, or where A woman who has lost her ability to produce ovules For age or for a cancer treatment may have offspring with its own genetics. This future, which until now belonged to science fiction, is a little closer thanks to a revolutionary advance that has been published in Nature. Biology This advance, which seems like a science fiction, has been made by the team of researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, led by Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov. In this case they have managed to develop an experimental technique that forces a skin cell (somatic) to reduce your number of chromosomes in half. It is, in essence, the most crucial and complicated step in the creation of a gamete (an ovule or a sperm). A process they have called mitomeiosis. To be able to understand it, you have to know that all the cells of our body have in total 46 chromosomes in its nucleus. But there is an exception: sperm and gametes that They have 23 chromosomes. A very important number so that when an ovule and sperm merge, they have a total of 46 chromosomes. That is why it is revolutionary that they have managed to get a skin cell to have 23 chromosomes to be an ideal candidate to give offspring. The trick. The natural process to create these haploid cells (with 23 chromosomes) is called meiosis. A very complex type of cell division that has been investigating for a long time. This made it replicate in a laboratory, which is known as in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) was one of the greatest challenges of biology. Something that now reminds us of what we already saw with the Dolly sheep in the cloning process. OHSU’s team addressed the problem in an ingenious way. Using a technique similar to cloning, called nuclear somatic cell transfer (SCNT). A technique that is complex, but can be summarized in three different steps: The first thing is to take a donated human ovule and extract the genetic material. In this way, the ovule maintained all its cytoplasm with the organelles, which ultimately is like the machinery that the cell has to produce energy and carry out many processes such as meiosis. Once done, a skin cell is taken (a diploid cell with 46 chromosomes in a 2N state) and is extracted the nucleus inside. Now it only remains to introduce the core of the skin cell into the ovule that has been emptied. The result. In this case it was amazing, since the ovule cytoplasm could ‘deceive’ the skin’s core, forcing it prematurely into a state similar to the metaphase of the Meiosis. This caused its 46 chromosomes to be organized in a spindle ready to divide, despite having skipped the DNA duplication phase in the cell cycle that is before the division of the genetic material. The problem. However, here they met a wall. In nature, the entrance of the ‘active’ sperm to complete its division, being mediated by a large number of zinc. But in this case, when they tried to fertilize the SCNT ovules with sperm, the vast majority (almost 77%) remained ‘arrested’ without reacting. The natural signal was not enough for this artificial construction. The solution in this case went to develop an artificial ‘starter’ key. After sperm fertilization, they applied an assisted activation protocol an electrical pulse by electroporation to simulate the calcium entry caused by sperm to its entrance, followed by a treatment with a chemical inhibitor called Roscovitin. And it is something that ended up working. Forced activation made the modified ovules leave their arrest and complete the division. The 46 chromosomes of the cell were separated, leaving an average of 23 chromosomes within the fertilized ovum (now a zigoto) and expelling a small polar body from the rest, having achieved the long -awaited ploidy reduction that was the objective of this experiment. Progress. The embryos resulting from this experiment containing chromosomes of the skin and sperm cell, beginning to divide and even some reached the blastocyst phase (an early development of about 5-6 days), with a success rate of 8.8%. This shows that genomes can integrate and work together. It’s just a test. The authors who are still a long way forward, since for now it is a “proof of concept” by not being a perfect replica of natural meiosis. In this case, segregation is random unlike meiosis, where it is ensured that each daughter cell receives a copy of each of the 23 types of original chromosomes. In this project the separation of homologous chromosomes (the paternal and maternal) was completely random. This generates aneuploid embryos that are incompatible with life. In addition, it also lacks ‘cross -rise’ or crossovera vital mechanism in meiosis where paternal and maternal chromosomes exchange fragments creating genetic diversity. This is something that is not present in this process and that takes away a lot of variability. The future. Despite the limitations of this study, work is a fundamental milestone. It aligns with other laboratories such as the Japanese Katsuhiko Hayashi that in 2023 managed to create functional ovules From male mice skin cells, with which healthy offspring were born. In the long term, the implications of these studies give hope to those women who suffer from infertility due to lack of functional gametes and who want to have offspring with their own genetics. The same happens in same -sex couples that also open the door for a couple of men (using a skin cell to create an ovule) or women (creating sperm) can have biologically related son between both members of the couple. Although we cannot also forget that right now there is a fertility crisis that causes that in Spain, for example, there is reduced birth rate. This is also conditioned that it is … Read more

Jaguar Land Rover continues in crisis for a cyber attack. The magnitude is such that the British government has had to intervene

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August 31Jaguar Land Rover was forced to make a drastic decision: off the majority of its systems to stop a cyber attack. The gesture had immediate consequences. Its factories in the United Kingdom were paralyzed and the interruption also extended to other production centers abroad. Thousands of employees were forced to stay at home in the middle of a global break that lasted almost a month. Now, The company is planning A staggered return of his activity, although not without challenges. September 2, The company spread Your first official statement. He talked about a “cybercormer,” defended the decision to disconnect systems and wanted to reassure customers indicating that there was no data filtration tests. At that time it was thought that the interruption would be brief, just a few days. However, the reality was another: the break continued until September 24 And then one more week was extendedwith October 1 marked as the minimum date to initiate a gradual and phase recovery. The attack that has put Jaguar Land Rover in check Preventive disconnection not only stopped production, much of the internal systems of Jaguar Land Rover also knocked down. Design and management tools They were out of service and engineering processes were interrupted For weeks. The commercial network also suffered: retail and logistics were blocked, forced to operate with manual methods. In spite of everything, the company managed to keep its dealers open and established alternative procedures to process payments, deliver already finished vehicles and ensure the supply of replacement pieces. The blow was global. In addition to British plants, production was interrupted in other international centers, such as Slovakia, Brazil and India. The epicenter was in West Midlands, where Jaguar Land Rover concentrates its headquarters and key factories, surrounded by hundreds of suppliers. The break unleashed a domino effect that left many of those companies without orders. The company itself acknowledged that the impact extended to the entire supply chain, both in the United Kingdom and in other countries. Forensic research has not yet concluded, But the indications suggest a ransomware attack. Shortly after the crisis exploded, a self -denominated group “Scattered Laps $ Hunters” appeared on Telegram that published images of internal systems of Jaguar Land Rover. The denomination points to a collaboration between groups such as Scatrtered Spider, Lapse $ and Shinyhunters, all with history in attacks against large companies. Internal data filtration reinforces the extortion hypothesis, although the company has avoided confirming the authorship and has not revealed whether it received a specific rescue request. Attack management involves multiple actors beyond Jaguar Land Rover. ANDThe National Cybersecurity Center leaders Together with private specialists, the analysis of what happened, while the government receives regular information about the progress of recovery. Company managers They have attended meetings with ministers And they have explained that the lap should be done step by step. From there arises the restart strategy in phases: first critical systems proven in controlled environments, then a progressive resumption of production. It is a process still underway, with the priority set to run more risks. The cost of the break is measured in tens of millions. Every week without production was for Jaguar Land Rover losses close to 50 million pounds (about 59 million euros), a blow that forced the Moody’s A agency lower your perspective positive to negative financial. The interruption not only affected the company: Hundreds of suppliers They saw their orders frozen and some smaller companies began to cut template. To contain the crisis, the British government offered a loan guarantee for 1.5 billion pounds (about 1,790 million euros), to which Jlr added one Own financing line with commercial banking of 2,000 million pounds (about 2,360 million euros). The crisis has not only evidenced the fragility of Jaguar Land Rover, it has also lit the alarms throughout the automotive. A manufacturer of this size, with global resources and experience, has needed almost a month to try to start back after a computer attack. This vulnerability forces to review cybersecurity strategies in the industry, from network segmentation to continuity plans. The case will serve as a reference for other manufacturers: the question is no longer whether there will be new attacks, but how to minimize its effects when they arrive. Images | Robin Mee him | Jaguar Land Rover In Xataka | 200 people paid to see a drone show in Valencia. The problem is that the event did not exist

In full birth crisis, Japan faces an extra challenge in 2026: a superstition

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Japan is a country with several calendars. The Western, or Gregorian, is common in the Asian country, which also has its own calendar, based on the “Eras”, the reign periods of its emperors. But in the culture of the country there is still the embers of another calendar, the one based on the traditional Chinese calendar. In 2026 we can verify to what extent this embers is still alive in the Japanese archipelago. To understand why we have to go a complete cycle behind, the year 1966. That year Japan experienced A significant phenomenon: a Fall marked in birthan abrupt contrast with the historical series. If in 1965 around 1.82 million children were born, in 1966 the figure was 1.36 million, 25% less, according to Explain Japan Times. The births were immediately recovered: in 1967 they rolled 1.94 million. The collapse in birth can also be seen in the Japanese health ministry data. As explained by the international agency, the fertility rate went from 2.14 in 1965 to 1.58 in 1966, to “bounce” up to 2.23 the following year. The data was not the result of a statistical anomaly or a disaster, neither natural nor created by the human being. We can see this reflected in an increase in induced abortions in the country, which was recorded A study Posted in 1974 in the magazine Annals of Human Biology. It was the fault of a superstition. The year 1966 corresponded (approximately) to the year of the horse of fire in the cycle on which the traditional Chinese calendar is based. The calendar based on the sexagesimal cycle used in some Asian countries relates each of the 60 years of its cycle with one of Twelve animals (which includes the rat, the tiger, the dragon and also the horse), and one of five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water). And what is special for the year Hinoeuma? According to Japanese superstition, women born during the Fire horse year They will kill their husbands or, according to translations, will be at least the cause of the death of their spouses. This would have taken many couples of childbearing age to avoid pregnancy (or even interrupt), at a time when, as Emi Suzuki and Haruna Kashiwase explain in An article For him Data Blog of the World Bank, there was no possibility of a selective abortion depending on sex. Another important detail mentioned in its article is that the phenomenon occurred more marked in rural Japan and not so much in the urban context, which reflects the greatest follow -up that this type of superstitions used to have in the rural world. 60 years of change 60 years is a long time and Japanese society is no longer the one. Will something be repeated again similar in 2026? There are two reasons why it can be suspected that, if the fall in birth rate occurs, this will be of a minor magnitude of experienced in 66. The first reason is in the slightest weight that today has the superstitious in society. Japan lived an abrupt transition series between the end of the EDO era and the present. One of the most vertiginous progress is the one that led a country ravaged by war to become a worldwide technological innovation pole. 1966 It can be seen as a year of transition in this context, 2026 not so much. In any case, the peculiar relationship between Japanese tradition and modernity is often difficult to understand from the western point of view, so it is not convenient to venture into this direction. However, there is another fact that takes us away from that year 1966: 1.15. We said at the beginning that between 1965 and 1966 the Japanese fertility rate went from 2.1 to 1.6. The fall associated with the year Hinoeuma It was punctual and was reversed the following year, but if we looked at the set of the Historical data we see that it is a small detour in a curve with A marked trend: Japan He runs out of birth progressively. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Health cited by Suzuki and Kashiwasethe Japanese fertility rate was descending throughout the second half of the twentieth century, first quickly and then slower. In 1989 the birth rate would be located again in 1.58 and has not been recovered or expected to do so. It was known as he “shock of 1.57 “ When the rate fell below the year Hinoeuma. Today the rate It is already 1.15. A few years before, in 1987, Japan celebrated a kind of “Fiesta de Quintos”, a celebration in honor of the generation that had turned 20 in the previous months, those born in Hinoeuma. The newspaper The New York Times It echoed of that celebration and superstition that had diminished the generation held that year. Then it seemed clear that the “fifths” of 86 would be the smallest promotion in history, but they would only be for a short time. In Xataka | While the population of Japan sinks irremediably, Tokyo grows. There is an explanation: Ikkyoku Shūchū Image | Evgeny Tchebotarev

60 years ago Singapore lived an alarming housing crisis. Today almost all of its inhabitants have their own home

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Singapore is a constrained nation, rich and with one Huge concentration of population, ingredients that a priori invite you to think about a complicated residential market. His most iconic image is in fact that of a ‘skyline’ drawn by huge and brand new skyscraper. However, despite the fact that it has not been oblivious to market reheatingthe city-state presents a curious peculiarity: a overwhelming majority of its population resides in homes promoted by the State and the country has one of the biggest Property rates of the world. His model has fascinates experts for years. A unique country. It is not that the real estate market of Singapore is special, is that it is the nation itself. If it had to be defined with three adjectives, they would be small, concentrated and prosperous. The city-state is barely 720 km2 And he welcomes just over six million people, so that his population density is around 8,200 people/square kilometer. These data make the island nation one of The most concentrated of the planet, behind Macao and Monaco. If we talk about per capita income, an indicator of population wealth, Singapore also sneaks into the top of international rankings. In fact, he heads Asia’s list and stands out on the world map. According to The data which manages the US administration, at least last year there were only two nations that exceed it (both small): Monaco and Liechtenstein. The city-state also stands out for Your concentration of millionaires. Singapore’s paradox. If the country’s economic and demographic data are curious those of its real estate market are no less. Especially because, as he pointed out In March Wei Low In an analysis published in Bloomberg, the city-state presents a “paradox.” Singapore is not cheap for real estate professionals, but at the same time it is surprisingly affordable for its inhabitants, which seem to have no problems when acquiring a house. Does not lead the List of countries With a higher housing property rate, but it is appearing in the upper part of the table, with a percentage much higher than that of Spain. Here the Bank of Spain (BE) Calculate that the percentage of households owned by their main house The European average It was slightly lower, of 69.7%, a percentage that brings together, however realities so disparate such as Romania (96.1%) or Denmark (59.3%). First percentage: 90%. In the case of Singapore the analysts They usually point that the property rate is around 90%. That The reference that is handled from Wei or the one that collects the Trading Economics platform, which Precise that the average property rate in the city-stated between 1980 and 2024 was 89.2%. The last indicator (of 2023) would be 90.8%, a few points below the maximum of 93.1% scored at the beginning of the century. Such a percentage has made often analysts are done a question: How have Singapore managed to reach a rate of ownership of the housing so surprisingly high? Second percentage: 80%. The above is much better understood when knowing Another indicatorequally striking: it is calculated that More than 80% of the population of the country resides in apartments built by the State, which also controls an overwhelming part of the territory. In 2018 Abhas JHA, Urban Development Manager and Risk Management of the World Bank, I calculated that 90% of the land were owned by the administration, almost double that in the 60s. During the same period, between the 7th and the present, the property rate He also shot. Three letters: HDB. To understand these percentages, we must know the recent history of Singapore and especially the origins of one of its fundamental organisms at real estate, HDB, the acronym in English of Housing and Development Board. In the late 50s, when the city-state reached its self -governmentthe Singaporenses authorities met A challenge Capital: its housing park had not grown alongside that the population of Chinese, bad and Indian immigrants, which translated into overcrowding and illegal populations. To solve that pressing “Residential Crisis” In 1960, HDB was created, an organism that was launched with a strong support of the government. In three years he had built 21,000 homes, a couple of years later the figure amounted to 54,000 and after a decade it resulted in the crisis. The result, highlights the organism itself On its websiteIt is that today “about 80% of the population of Singapore resides in HDB homes in 24 cities and three urbanizations.” As a reference, at the beginning of the 1960s only a small part of the Singapurenses (about 9%) resided in houses of public origin. Government graph explaining the sales system to 99 years. One date: 1964. In the residential chronicle of Singapore there is, however, another even more important date, such as remember Bloomberg Agency: 1964. That year the administration decided to offer subsidiary apartments for sale as part of the program ‘Housing access plan for the people’an initiative aimed at medium-low-income families who wish to acquire their own home. Since then the country has continued to polish the system, creating a mechanism that has favors for more than 30 years the mixture of ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays or Indians) to prevent them from forming in the small city “Racial enclaves” and a program that encourages the modernization and reform of the housing park. “Being a home owned citizens a tangible asset and a participation in the construction of the nation. There are more than one million HDB houses, in which 80% of the resident households reside. Of them, nine out of ten are owners of their homes,” stands out The Singapore government. How does the system work? There is an important detail. As remember Administration, The majority From HDB homes are sold with a 99 -year -old lease contract, a formula that, Reason the Government“satisfies the needs of the owners and their children while guaranteeing the rehabilitation of land and building construction.” The formula is not exclusive to the city. In Hong Kong there are also … Read more

The suicide of a teenager unleashed a crisis in Openai. We already have the first measures that will arrive in Chatgpt

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The chatbots of AIs are in the spotlight for their possible risks on mental health, especially chatgpt. We recently deepened this problem following the accusations that Chatgpt was the culprit of causing delusions and even the suicide of a teenager In the United States. Although we already saw that reality is much more complex that a simple “the fault is AI”, OpenAi has responded to the wave of criticism and already has A package of measures that will integrate into chatgpt To avoid more similar cases. OpenAI’s plan. In response to the controversy after the case of Adam Raine, Openai has detailed the measures that will reach Chatgpt, which will focus on facilitating access to emergency services, contacting trustworthy people and reinforcing protection measures focused on adolescents. The company puts a period of 120 days to integrate these novelties, although it warns that some will take a little more than others. Reasoning models. GPT-5 Choose the best model automatically depending on the needs. One of the solutions proposed by Openai for conversations that take a worrying address is to automatically direct them to their reasoning model, regardless of the user selected. Parental control. It will arrive next month and the minimum age to use will be 13 years. Parents can link their children’s account to their own and can deactivate functions such as chat memory and history. In addition, they will receive a notification if it detects that their son “is in a moment of acute anguish.” Collaboration with experts. OpenAI ensures that all these improvements will be implemented under the supervision of mental health experts. For some time they have an artificial welfare and intelligence experts that has been expanded with experts in addictions, eating disorders and adolescent health. The demand. It is not the first case in which Chatgpt is placed as responsible for a mental health crisis, but one of the most popular. Adam Raine’s parents They sued Openai after their son’s suicideclaiming that Chatgpt validated his “most harmful and self -descetive thoughts.” In some of his conversations he came to discuss details of how to make the knot in the rope with which he planned to commit suicide. Weak safeguards. In his Fake Friend reportthe ‘Center for the Fight against Digital Hate’ has already verified that the safeguards of chatbots are very fragile and the case of Adam Raine corroborates it. Chatgpt detected several times that there was a risk of self -injuries and insisted to call the suicide prevention line, Adam managed to dodge these messages simply telling him that he was looking for information for a fiction story. The new parental control sounds like the first stronger measure against this problem. Image | Kaboomps, via Pexels In Xataka | In 2011 someone published in Reddit “A858”. Fourteen years and thousands of messages later, the mystery is still disound

The data is at maximum, the hoteliers insist that there is crisis

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On their way to become The Great Resort From Europe, the Spanish tourism sector has encountered an unexpected dilemma: receives Many visitorsmany. So many in fact that he walks towards the barrier of the 100 million travelers International, but … does that translate into more money for hotels, restaurants and other businesses that live from tourism? In the hospitality they begin to rise voices that warn that no, a complaint that sounds with special strength in one of the most busy (and iconic) destinations throughout the country: Mallorca. And that is a problem. Accustomed to records. Talking about tourism in Spain for a long time is to make it of great figures. Even records. In 2024 the country He pulverized his brand of foreign visitors, this year aspires to overcome the barrier of one hundred million And there is studies that predict that in the medium term, by 2040, Spain will be the great ‘resort’ of the world, surpassing in an influx of tourists iconic destinations such as France, the United States or Italy. And the reality is that The data of demand that leave observatories such as the INE point in that direction. A growing sector. The information we have is still incomplete and there is a lot of year ahead, especially if we take into account that Christmas has gained weight as Tourist active In much of Spain, but the first data suggests that in 2025 the sector is maintaining its good streak. According to the INE tables, between January and July The country’s hotels hosted 67.1 million visitors (sum of national and foreign), 1.2% more than last year, which was already a good exercise for the sector. Overnight stays have also increased. And how is summer going? Promises. In July the flow of Spanish travelers grew by 1%, that of non -residents 2.1% and in general the hotels dispatched 1.8% more overnight that in the same month of 2024. The rates also respond well: the hotel price index grew up last month last month 5% in annual rate. The above are data that reflect only the “hotel establishments”, so they leave other accommodations with an important weight in the sector, but serve to have an initial idea of ​​how the campaign is evolving. Fantastic, right? Yes. And no. INE data reflect a growth trend, but over the last weeks voices have been heard They warn that the greatest influx of tourists is not always accompanied by a greater expense in hotels, restaurants, agencies, excursions and other sectors that feed on tourism. Although in June the INE did identify a sensitive increase (+5.5%) In the total expenditure of foreign tourists, a Google search arrives to understand that the photo in July is more diffuse or, at least, it changes from one region to another. Yesterday Vigo lighthouse explained How the main city of Galicia continues to earn visitors, although these are left less money in business. It is not something that happens only there. A few days ago We told you How in San Juan de Luz, in the French Basque Country, hoteliers are receiving a change in travelers’ habits, more and more given to make their own pícnics instead of going to eat at restaurants. In A statement released yesterday by hospitality in Spain, its president slides some data that, although confirming that the summer campaign is not being bad, it does not reach the forecasts of the industry. Businesses had their box 5% grow. And everything points that it will not be so. “Without meeting expectations”. “It is a good summer for tourism, but without meeting the expectations we had marked and the forecast we had with the first months of the year. It is true that we have more foreign tourists, it is true that there is a very considerable volume of tourists, but there is a change of trend. The average ticket in our establishments is going down,” José Almeida reflectsresponsible for hospitality in Spain, for whom this trend is explained by several factors, such as gradualization of national tourism, the increase in the cost of life or the influence of Tourist flats. Earrings from Mallorca. If there is a collective that is noticeable that summer is not marching as expected is that of the hoteliers of Mallorca. The Regional newspaper Last minuteBased in Palma, has published A good number of articles in which It echoes of the restlessness of the sector. In July the Hotel Business Federation of Mallorca (FEHM) warned of a puncture in the tourist influx in certain areas, especially in Capdepera and Sóller, and the president of Mallorca Caeb restoration even I went one step further: “This year will close hundreds of restaurants in Mallorca.” According to Your calculationson the island there are areas that have seen how the volume of diners collapsed a forceful 40%, which has even forced some restaurants to holiday their waiters in full high season. WELCOME, “Diesel tourists”. They are not the only comments that are heard in one of the great tourist destinations in Spain. Tourist transport refers A 20% drop in July and August, the Balearic Islands indicate a similar decrease in hiring excursions and nightlife speaks of lower collections in northern Mallorca or even Magaluf. “In Mallorca we have diesel tourists: they walk a lot and spend little,” Ironiza Recently Pepe lying, from CURTURthe Association of Tourist Merchants and Businessmen of Mallorca. What do the figures say? That something happens in Mallorca. Aena already gave a first clue when publishing her Traffic balance of July, which in a context of general growth wrote down a stagnation in the volume of palm passengers, with -0.1% less of traffic that during the same month last year. And now the most recent INE data on hotel occupancy corroborates it: in July the influx of travelers on the island of Mallorca fell a slight 1.22% and overnight stays 0.35%. The setback was more accentuated in Palma, while if we talked about the set of the … Read more

a diamond industry in full existential crisis

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They do not run Good times for the former exclusive, powerful and milmillonaria diamond industry. The boom of the “cultivated gems” He has set up the market, stirring something even more important than prices: his identity. When changing the mines of Africa for China’s laboratories, the sector has seen how its image of exclusivity weakened, one of the pillars on which it settled its business decades ago. The request Taylor Swift has served to vivify him. Of the Queen of Pop Queen, all the details are not known, but a huge diamond is gathered that some analysts value already between $ 250,000 and $ 500,000. Beyond its value, the commitment has served to revitalize the message of sophistication and luxury that so well cultivated in its day Of Beers. A ‘yes I want’ that is worth millions. Taylor Swift is much more than the pop queen. It is a real walking industry capable of Alter the GDP of the US with his tour and a influencer to which, only on Instagram, they continue More than 280 million of people (add it 32.5 on Tiktok) In search of inspiration. That is why the photograph he shared yesterday with his hand request is much more than a news for the pink press. His commitment to Travis Kelce has put the trend hunters of everyonewhich already examine the pedida ring with magnifying glass. Beyond the jewelers and designers, the Swift fans legion or the pink press, there is a group that has probably followed the news of the request with almost the same beautification as the singer: the world diamond industry. And the reason is very simple. Plunged into one deep existential crisis (Perhaps the greatest of all its history) that affects both its prices and its public image, the swing that Kelce has just put on the left ring finger of Swift reinforces the value that has made diamonds into a Milmillonario business: exclusivity. Why’s that? Because they don’t run simple times for the diamond industry. De Beers, the Titan of the Sector, the company that convinced generations of love that a romance is only authentic if it is sealed with a Pedrusco, is not at your best; And diamond prices have experienced A deep fall In recent years until they are minimal that were not seen so far in centuries. Behind that deep crisis there are several factors. There are those who explain it for The ‘prick’ of the Chinese market. Others simply point to a Cultural change: We marry less and that amounts to less commitment and alliances rings, to which it adds that the sector already enjoyed A boom Between 2021 and 2022, when the US market grew thanks to all postponed weddings during the pandemic. However, there is another factor that greatly explains the drift of the sector in recent years, one that affects both prices and the identity of diamonds: Synthetic stones. A Serious dangerous competitor. Those also known as “laboratory diamonds” are not new. Its origins can go back to mid -last century. However in recent decades its elaboration It has been refined So much and above all they have reached such penetration in the market that have become a serious competitor for natural diamonds. Serious and dangerous. The last ones (the natural stones) leave mines after having formed for millions of years in extreme conditions. The first (synthetic) are created in laboratories in days. And the reality is that experts do not differentiate them with the naked eye. The result was the expected. Laboratory diamonds have gained space in jewelry stores, affecting market prices, guarding traditional companies and especially staggering the foundations on which the business was built. They compete with the minted gems but can be manufactured in series in record time and a speed made in the industry there are voices that already warn of the risk of Overproduction. Not just that. There are manufacturers that They have decided to bet For the “cultivated” diamonds when considering them more ethical. A percentage: 20%. The result is that synthetic diamonds have made a considerable hole in the market. In An article recent The Wall Street Journal He pointed, citing the analyst Paul Zimnisky, who already represents more than the fifth of the world sales of jewelry with landing. It is not bad if one takes into account that only a few years ago, in 2016, they were less than 1%. If we talk about commitment rings your market penetration is even greater. The website specialized in weddings The Knot show that more than half of the commitment rings sold last year in the US included at least one laboratory diamond. Again there are many, many more than before pandemic. Growth since 2019 is estimated at about 40%. Market quota … and prices. That panorama has been marked by a prices collapse. Both of the synthetic and the natural stones. Zimnisky Calculate that since 2016 the sale price of a diamond of a laboratory quilate has dropped about 86%. During the same period the mined stones have also lost value, although in much less value: a gem of the same size would now cost around 40% less than nine years ago. Not all studies and valuations coincide in the data, but what they do share in all cases is the drawing: clearly falling. And what does Swift have to see? Swift’s ring affects the pillar on which the traditional diamond market, one of its capital values: exclusivity. From the Queen of Pop’s ring it is known that it is the exclusive design of a New York jewelry, which looks Antique Cushion Cut of eight carats and a diamond Old Mine Brillant of historical cut rounded in the corners. It is said that only the diamond can cost between $ 250,000 and $ 500,000 and that the ring is around one million or 1.3 million dollars. The analysts of The New York Times even They believe that the jewel will mark the return of “vintage … Read more

Spanish wine is going through an existential crisis and for producers the problem is simple: too cheap

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The end of drought has shaken the pendulum of agricultural production, taking ahead the hopes that many had in this harvest. The productivity recovery It has arrived accompanied by a decrease in the prices of a variety of products in the sector. Among them, the grapes used for the elaboration of various types of wine. Protest in front of AECAVA. A few days ago, grape -producing farmers from different communities They organized a protest In front of the headquarters of the Association of Cava (AECAVA) Association in Sant Sadurní D’Alcoia, Barcelona. They did it in order to demand sufficient prices to cover, at least, production costs. 20% more grapes. The protest occurred while the harvest of some of the grape varieties began. The sector estimates that this year will be an increase in grape production, with some farmers calculating a 20% increase With respect to the 2024 harvest. This would be the effect of the recovery of the sector after a drought that affected very diverse crops and left several crops on the edge of the collapse. The situation is now very different thanks to the rains we saw between the past autumn and this spring and even in part of the summer. Double edge weapon. Despite this, this improvement threats becoming a double -edged sword at the fall in prices that the agricultural sector now denounces. The increase in production and static demand involves lower prices, so much that the sector fears not being able to cover production costs. Almost at half price. As explained from the Valencian Association of Farmersthe first offers that wineters have received this year for the conventional grape kilogram is € 0.45, € 0.50 in the case of the grape for the production of “ecological” wine. These figures would represent a price drop of about 50% compared to last year’s prices, € 0.87/kg in conventional grapes and € 1/kg in “ecological” production. Harvest recovery (something we are Seeing in various crops) It would be the reason for this collapse in prices, but producers warn that this recovery does not affect all crops. The field in areas such as the Valencian Community or Extremadura, stand out, maintain a limited yield at 10.5 tons per hectare. A recovery that is not so much. From the winemaker, emphasis is placed on the so long -awaited harvest recovery after drought is not, much less, assured. Some diseases that affect the vine, such as mildewthey are putting a harvest still in the process of maturation in some regions. To this we must add the effects, even to be determined, of a especially intense and lasting heat wave. A heat wave capable to put at risk the process of maturation of plants but has also come accompanied by a series of fires Especially devastating in areas such as Galicia, Extremadura, and Castilla y León. In Xataka | The great alcohol crisis has reached the champagne. And the sector has a theory: we do not find reasons to celebrate Image | Ángela Llop, CC by-SA 4.0

If someone believed that national tourism had entered “crisis” this summer, Aena has something to say: at all

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If Google and Deloitte give in the nail, in a few years Spain will be the great resort of the world. According to Your calculations In 2040 the country will receive around 110 million foreign visitors, even exceeding France or the US. Until then every summer is a fire test for national tourism. This in particular there are voices that already suggest A slowdown in destinations as relevant as Tenerife wave Costa del Sol. There is still a lot of campaign ahead to know if it will be so, but for now AENA’s data show a quite different photo. What suggests His July balance It is a record summer. What happened? That Aena has just published A balance of passengers that are especially interesting for two reasons. The first, because it offers us the ‘photo’ of July, the first strong month of the summer campaign. The second reason is that these figures point to a considerable increase in displacements, which clashes with The voices that over the last weeks They have detected signals of weakening in Spanish tourism, at least In certain regions. Aena’s report does not differentiate between those who move for vacations or other reasons, such as work, studies or to visit relatives. Nor does it distinguish between national and foreign passengers. In any case, another interesting approach provides to take the temperature to the tourism sector in July. 10 main airports July passengers % with respect to 2024 Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas 6,170,130 +0.6% Barcelona-El Prat Jt 5,540,010 +2.9% Palma de Mallorca 4,594,987 -0.1% Malaga-Costa del Sol 2,866,642 +7.8% Alicante-Elche Miguel Hdez. 2.106,991 +5.9% Ibiza 1,446,589 +0.9% Gran Canaria 1,286,184 +6.4% Valencia 1,132,402 +4.2% Tenerife-Sur 1,094,961 +1.4% Lanzarote-César Manrique 798,998 +7.3% Total Aena’s network in Spain 32,765,284 +2.7% What do the data say? That July 2025 was a month of record. The network of terminals managed by AENA on Spanish soil accounted for 32.76 million of travelers. The number of flights amounted to 268,034. They are, respectively, 2.7% and 3.1% more than during the same period of 2024 and mark a milestone in the historical registry of the group. “Passenger and operations figures represent an absolute monthly record, which makes last July the best month in history at the airports of the Aena network in Spain,” concrete The operator. Is there more data? Yes. In the report AENA does not detail why users, their destinations fly or if they are national or foreign travelers, but it does require how traffic has evolved in their airports. At the head in absolute terms, Barajas is located, in Madrid, with 6.17 million travelers in July. The most interesting thing, however, are not the total figures of users, but how they have evolved compared to July 2024, a record year For Spanish tourism. He passenger flow Barajas for example grew 0.6% and Barcelona-the Prat 2.9%. In general, the airports of the country’s main tourist destinations experienced an increase in activity in July. In that of Malaga-Costa del Sol, the flow of travelers shot 7.8%, in Alicante 5.9%, in Ibiza 0.9%, in Gran Canaria 6.4%, in Tenerife South 1.4%and in Tenerife North 8.6%. Of course not everyone grew. ‘Palma’s airfield, where the passenger transfer fell 0.1%, Santiago, who suffered a 12.4%cut, or Santander and Vigo, which scored setbacks of 0.6%and 6.5%, respectively. Are they high data? Yes. Both in fact that some terminals have pulverized their historical maximums. “During the past month there has been an absolute record of passengers at the airports of Barajas, El Prat, Malaga-Costa del Sol, Alicante, Valencia, Bilbao and Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de la Laguna”, They clarify from Aenawhich also specifies that there are 16 airfields that have registered their best July. Why is it important? For several reasons. The main one because in summer a good part of the displacements are by leisure, which gives us another brushstroke to understand how the tourist season marches. The second reason is that Aena’s figures collide in part with others Shared by the hoteliers that suggest a summer with less activity and income than in 2024. The Association of Hotel Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (AEHCOS) I noticed recently That July occupation levels were very similar to those of 2024 (87.82%, 1.16% above last year) but came accompanied by less income: the gross impact per customer fell according to their calculations from 198.61 to 157.18 euros. Facing August, the group expects the average occupation to be 4.57 percentage points lower than that of 2024, so it would stay at 88.32%. Are there more falls? Yes. The one on the Costa del Sol is not the only message that points to a less generous summer campaign than that of 2024. The Tenerife press It echoed These days that the establishments integrated in Ashotel closed Julio with an average occupancy level of 81.97% in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It is a high percentage that also improves the forecast of reservations that hoteliers handled in mid -June, but still almost two percentage points below July 2024. In Palma de Mallorca the employer speaks Not so much a fall in the flow of tourists as if of the spending in hospitality. What is the conclusion? Touch wait. Soon the INE will publish another interesting clue to take the temperature of the tourist campaign: its statistics of Hotel situation. At the moment the last available data, of June, reflects a 2.1% increase in overnight stays and an increase in both the occupancy level and, above all, in the rates. Waiting for the tourist balance to be outlined and knowing if Spain will finally reach this year the milestone of the 100 million tourists foreigners, there are some clear trends. The main is that the Spanish sector grows largely thanks to the flow of foreign visitors. Aena’s data does not allow to know if July passengers are Spanish or travelers from other countries, but we know that in 2024 foreign demand played A fundamental role In the balance of hotels. 7.5% grew … Read more

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