This Week's Supply Chain by the Numbers - Oil Price Prediction, Card Check Opposition, Baltic Dry Index Recovery, Coca-Cola's Chinese Investment

Supply Chain by the Numbers: Week of March 11, 2009

-March 11, 2009

The Supply Chain and Logistics Numbers Worth Knowing This Week: Predictions by Pickens; It's No Secret - Money Talks; Baltic Dry Index on the Rise; Coke in China - The Real Thing



$75
The price legendary energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens confidently predicted this week that oil prices would hit “before we will see under $40.00 per barrel oil again.”

$30 million

The estimated amount that several business groups have recently spent in advertising opposing the potential “card check” union organizing law likely to be soon introduced in the US Congress that would eliminate the requirement for a “secret ballot” to establish a union in a company.


314%
The tremendous recovery in the Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost to ship bulk commodities over the ocean, from its low in December of 633 to the 2084 level reached this week. This is a bullish sign for the global economy, and likely in part the result of ocean carriers taking capacity off of the market.




$2 billion
The amount The Coca-Cola Company said this week it planned to invest in China over the next three years. The investment will be broad, including plants and distribution infrastructure, sales and marketing and R&D.