BIZ

Coca-Cola says it may use more plastic due to Trump tariffs

Published

1 month ago

February 12, 2025

editor

Coca-Cola may have to sell more drinks in plastic bottles in the US if President Donald Trump’s tariffs end up making aluminium cans more expensive, the company’s chief executive, James Quincey, said in a call with investors.

It comes after Trump ordered a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US, which could end up driving up the price of canned food and drink items in the country.

In December, the beverage giant scaled down its sustainability target of using 50% recycled materials in its packaging by 2030, to using 35% to 40% by 2035.

Environmental groups have labelled Coca-Cola as the “top global plastic polluter” for six consecutive years.

“If one package suffers some increase in input costs, we continue to have other packaging offerings that will allow us to compete in the affordability space,” Quincey said.

“For example, if aluminium cans become more expensive, we can put more emphasis on PET [plastic] bottles”.

The Coca-Cola boss also sought to minimise the impact of the tariffs on his business saying packaging is only a relatively small component of his company’s costs.

In recent years, Coca-Cola had been selling more products in aluminium containers as part of its marketing and sustainability strategies.

Despite being generally more expensive, aluminium cans are also a lot more recyclable than plastic bottles over time.

The US imports almost half of the aluminium it uses, according to the United States Geological Survey, so a 25% tariff on all imports is likely to cause cans to become even more costly.

After Trump first ordered tariffs on steel in 2018, many can-makers won “exclusions” from those import taxes.

But this time, Trump has said there will be no exemptions from the rules either for individual products or for particular countries.

In a separate move that is likely to contribute to plastic pollution, Trump signed an executive order earlier this week ending a US government effort to replace plastic straws with paper.

The order reversed a measure signed by former President Joe Biden, who had called plastic pollution a “crisis”.

(BBC News)

BIZ

CAA announces prices for 22 essential food Items

Published

3 days ago

March 15, 2025

editor

The Consumer Affairs Authority has released the estimated price ranges for 22 essential food items. These prices will remain valid until the 16th.

Scan 12 Mar 25 · 10·51·25 Download

BIZ

Nearly Rs. 05 mn. stolen onboard FitsAir flight!

Published

3 days ago

March 14, 2025

editor

Katunayake police have received a complaint over a sum of nearly Rs. 05 million being stolen from hand luggages of several passengers travelling from Sri Lanka to Dubai on a FitsAir flight.

The robbed passengers had included several doctors who were travelling to a medical conference in Dubai.

The loss of the cash, including 15,000 US Dollars and 6,000 Dirhams, had been only discovered after the passengers had disembarked the flight.

Upon complaining to the Dubai police, they were told to lodge complaints with the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake and with the Sri Lanka Police. However, the robber remains at large.

It is said that the flight lacked CCTV cameras and the airline is also attempting to evade the matter despite the victims also complaining to the company office.

However, a day after the incident, a foreigner travelling from Dubai to Colombo was arrested over another inflight theft and according to media reports, the said suspect is said to have travelled in the aforementioned FitsAir flight to Dubai.

When the ‘Lankadeepa’ newspaper made an inquiry from the airline in this regard, they were told that the company cannot comment to the media.

Aberdeen Holdings, which owns FitsAir, is chaired by Sattar Kassim.

BIZ

MRP on rice remains unchanged – CAA

Published

4 days ago

March 13, 2025

editor

The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) today (March 13) announced that the Maximum Retail Prices of rice remain unchanged.

The CAA notes that reports have emerged of certain rice mill owners and wholesalers attempting to sell rice at higher prices by misleading retailers into believing that the CAA’s regulated prices have changed, leading to queries whether it is so.

Therefore the MRP remains unchanged and are as below :
Raw red rice – Rs. 220 per kg
Nadu rice – Rs. 230 per kg
Samba rice – Rs. 240 per kg
Keeri Samba rice – Rs. 260 per kg

The CAA further emphasizes that continuous raids and investigations will be conducted islandwide to strictly enforce these price regulations and take legal action against any violators.