■ AgricultureSoya demand killing Amazon
The Amazon rainforest and savanna lands are being destroyed at a rate of 1.2 million hectares a year to feed Europe's insatiable desire for more soya bean production, according to a research report on Friday. The UK is one of the chief customers for South American soya production, and the report says that by 2020 an area the size of the UK will have been converted to grow the beans as the market grows by 60 percent. Soya oil appears in hundreds of processed foods such as ice cream, margarines, mayonnaise and lipsticks, but the biggest market is to feed farm animals. Adam Harrison, rural development officer for the conservation organization WWF Scotland, said: "The market has grown because feeding cattle animal protein was banned following the BSE crisis, and soya is the high-protein substitute." The report says that soya production has led to vast tracts of land being cleared in southern Brazil, and the near-disappearance of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest.
■ Patent rights
Procter & Gamble sues Coke
Procter & Gamble Co is suing its former partner, Coca-Cola Co, for allegedly infringing patents on preservatives in fruit drinks. The Cincinnati consumer products company said Coke's Minute Maid fruit drinks infringe several P&G patents on processes that control the growth of micro-organisms. P&G officials weren't immediately available for comment. Coca-Cola, of Atlanta, declined to comment on the suit, which was filed the suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. "We just received the filing. We are in the process of reviewing it and will comment on it when it is appropriate," Coca-Cola spokesman Ray Crockett said. P&G has another lawsuit pending against Coke's Minute Maid. That suit, filed in 2002, alleges infringement of a technology for adding calcium to orange juice.
■ Mining
Cambior to invest in Peru
Cambior Inc. has signed a deal to buy a majority stake in a Peruvian gold mining company in a cash-and-stock deal worth some US$31 million. The Canadian gold miner said on Friday it will acquire a 55.3 percent stake in Compania Minera Poderosa SA in a deal with a group of private shareholders. Under the deal, Cambior will pay US$25 million in cash and issue about 2.2 million common shares. The company may also pay up to US$6 million depending on the outcome of certain contingent liabilities. CMPSA owns and operates the Poderosa mine located in the Pataz province of northern Peru. The mine has produced 1.25 million ounces of gold since 1982, with an average of 75,000 ounces a year over the last five years.
■ Shipping
UPS expands in China
UPS Inc says the government has given it the green light to triple its number of flights to China, a key international market in the shipping giant's growth plans. The Atlanta-based company said on Friday that the US Department of Transportation has tentatively granted it six additional roundtrip flights to Shanghai, which will start next month, and six new roundtrip flights to Guangzhou next year. That would give it 18 roundtrip flights from the US to China per week. It currently operates six. The decision is subject to final approval by the DOT, and there is no set timetable for that to happen, UPS spokesman Norm Black said. The US and China negotiated a new bilateral agreement earlier this year that opened the door for expanded aviation rights. UPS formally applied for the new authority in July.
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