Heineken Names Rafa Oliveira as New CEO to Lead EverGreen 2030 Strategy

One of the world’s most recognised beer companies has a new leader. On June 23, 2026, Heineken N.V. announced the nomination of Rafael “Rafa” Oliveira as its next Chief Executive Officer — a move that signals a deliberate shift toward external leadership at a pivotal moment for the global brewing industry. Who Heineken New CEO Is Rafa Oliveira? Oliveira brings more than two decades of senior leadership experience across international consumer goods markets. He joins Heineken from JDE Peet’s N.V. — the world’s largest pure-play coffee and tea company — where he has served as CEO since 2024. Following Keurig

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Container Shipping Is Recovering From Shocks Faster — But the System Has Never Been More Stressed

Container Shipping in 2026: The Resilience Paradox A striking new chart from Sea-Intelligence — tracking the containment speed of every major container shipping disruption since 2012 — appears to tell a story of industry progress. The data maps how long it took schedule delays to return to pre-shock levels after each crisis: three months following the 2014 U.S. West Coast labour dispute, one month after the Hanjin collapse in 2016, 15 to 26 months during the pandemic, and two months after the Red Sea crisis. The ongoing Hormuz disruption still carries a question mark. The obvious interpretation is that the

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Is the Alcohol Industry’s Decline Structural or Cyclical?

The global alcohol industry is not navigating a rough patch. It is in structural retreat — and the data leaves little room for ambiguity. The World Health Organization places global alcohol consumption down 12% between 2010 and 2022. IWSR data shows spirits volume down 1.3%, wine down 2.4%, and beer down 0.2% in the most recent reporting period. The headline financials at the world’s largest producers tell the same story: Diageo’s operating profit dropped 27.8% in the fiscal year to June 2025. Core beer fell below half of Carlsberg’s revenue for the first time. Pernod Ricard completed the disposal of

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JBS USA Closes Two Beef Plants as U.S. Supply Crisis Deepens

The world’s largest meat supplier is closing facilities in Philadelphia and Memphis, cutting 2,000 jobs — a stark signal that the structural pressures squeezing America’s beef sector are now reshaping processing infrastructure. News Editor | Posted: June 23, 2026 JBS USA, the world’s largest meat processing company, has announced the closure of two U.S. beef processing plants — one in Philadelphia and one in Memphis — eliminating a combined 2,000 jobs. The move, confirmed by CEO Wesley Batista Filho this week, underscores the severity of the structural crisis gripping the American beef sector, where record-low cattle supplies, border disruptions, and

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South American Crop Growth Pressures U.S. Grain Markets

Growing corn and soybean supplies out of South America are reshaping the competitive dynamics facing U.S. grain producers, with the latest USDA supply-and-demand report confirming upward production revisions for both Brazil and Argentina — and traders already pricing in the consequences. Brazil’s corn crop is now projected at 138 million metric tons, while soybean production holds steady at a substantial 180 million metric tons — figures that place the country firmly at the centre of global oilseed and coarse grain trade. Argentina’s corn and soybean forecasts have also been revised higher, compounding the volume of South American supply expected to

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Container Shipping Rates Update: Carriers Stack New Surcharges on Africa and North America Trades for July 2026

CMA CGM, Maersk, and Hapag-Lloyd have all announced new or revised Peak Season Surcharges and rate increases in the past two weeks, with Southern and East Africa trades facing some of the steepest cumulative increases heading into the second half of 2026 Container carriers have moved aggressively on pricing over the past two weeks, layering new Peak Season Surcharges (PSS), General Rate Increases (GRIs), and revised booking fees across multiple trade lanes. For F&B value chain businesses moving cargo into and out of Southern Africa specifically, the volume and overlap of these announcements is worth close attention — several major

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Fresh Food Is the Last Thing Shoppers Will Cut — Everything Else Is Up for Negotiation

New consumer research shows 61% of shoppers have changed how much food they buy due to rising prices, but freshness remains the one category consumers refuse to compromise on, creating a sharply uneven demand picture for retailers and manufacturers Grocery shoppers are no longer making blanket cutbacks in response to rising prices — they’re making calculated, category-by-category trade-offs, and fresh food keeps winning. That’s the central finding of RELEX Solutions’ State of Supply Chain Consumer Pulse survey, released this week, which polled 1,000 consumers across the US and UK and found a demand environment that’s becoming significantly harder for retailers

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Why Restaurant Margins Are Vanishing in 2026 — and How Operators Are Fighting Back With Weekly Data

With food costs 35% above pre-pandemic levels and fewer than half of operators turning a profit, the restaurant industry’s old playbook of gut-feel pricing and quarterly cost reviews is no longer enough Restaurant profit margins are facing their toughest stretch in recent memory, and the numbers back it up. Only 42% of US restaurants were profitable in 2025, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 2026 State of the Industry report — meaning a majority of operators closed the year in the red or at breakeven. The pressures driving that outcome haven’t eased heading into 2026: food costs remain more than

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This Week in Seafood: Trade Tariffs Reshape Shrimp and Salmon Flows as Industry Invests in Cold Chain Infrastructure

From a 16% drop in April shrimp imports to Chile’s growing dominance of the US fresh salmon market, this week’s seafood news shows how tariff policy continues to redirect where America’s seafood comes from Trade policy remains the defining force in global seafood markets this week, with new data showing sharp shifts in where the US sources its shrimp and salmon. At the same time, the industry continued investing heavily in cold chain infrastructure, disaster relief funding reached fishing communities still recovering from years-old disasters, and lawmakers pressed federal agencies on emerging biosecurity threats. US Shrimp Imports Fall 16% as

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Tyson Foods’ Outgoing COO Devin Cole Secures $10.6 Million Separation Deal Amid Sweeping Leadership Overhaul

Tyson Foods COO exit package, disclosed in an amended SEC filing, caps a turbulent stretch atop Tyson Foods that has now seen its CEO, COO, and chairman’s contract all change within weeks of each other Tyson Foods’ former chief operating officer, Devin Cole, will receive a lump-sum cash payment of $10,578,900 as part of a separation agreement following his June 8 departure from the role, according to an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The payout is contingent on Cole releasing all claims against the company and reaffirming his commitment to existing restrictive covenants and confidentiality obligations. The

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