Word: demand
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...hours of talks in Berlin. German participants said the U.S. government and GM appeared to be stalling. For weeks, talks have focused on a German government-backed credit for Opel of €1.5 billion ($2.1 billion). But German officials said the U.S. surprised them on Wednesday with a new demand for an additional short-term credit of €300 million ($416 million). The U.S. government also rejected the German government's plan to impose itself as a kind of administrator over Opel's management. After the meeting, the Germans blamed the Americans for the lack of progress. "Once again...
...Whatever deal eventually emerges, experts warn that Opel's future is anything but rosy in a car industry beset by a massive erosion of demand. The Financial Times reported that the offer document GM sent out to bidders last month predicted a loss before tax and interest payments of more than $3 billion at its European businesses this year. (See pictures...
...Still, it's another challenge for the industry at a time when demand in mature markets could use its own caffeine kick. While global coffee consumption grew slightly last year, the level in Europe - which brews up roughly twice as much as the U.S. in absolute terms - fell by 2%. "There's still a bit more to come with regards to demand erosion" in both of those big markets, says Abah Ofon, a commodities analyst with Standard Chartered in Dubai. Any growth in demand from developing markets, he says, is "insufficient to lift a market which is falling...
...price-conscious consumers in Europe and the U.S., that may augur a shot of good news. Consider the example of cocoa. Futures prices for the crop have tumbled in recent weeks amid signs of dwindling demand for chocolate products in mature markets. The European Cocoa Association said last month that grinding - the process that turns the crop into cocoa butter or powder and a handy proxy for demand - by its members fell 11% in the first quarter of this year. Grinding across the U.S., Canada and Mexico fell by slightly more in the same period. That's prompted some manufacturers...
...Stasi. According to the Birthler Agency, 87,000 applications to examine the files were submitted in 2008, fewer than the 100,000 applications that were sent in 2007. But this year's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has sparked renewed interest and heightened demand. "It's important that the Stasi files are open and there is access for victims, researchers, historians and Germans to learn about their personal histories," says Altendorf. "Many people need a certain distance to deal with their own past, and that could explain why so many Germans are interested now in seeing...