TPT September 2017

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

A third bill, HR 2910, passed by a 30-23 vote, aims to improve coordination among the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other agencies in siting interstate gas pipelines. These, and five other energy and infrastructure bills, will now pass to the House floor. Energy advocacy, by any other name On the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Institute for 21 st Century Energy, the US Chamber of Commerce broadened the energy advocacy group’s focus and renamed it the Global Energy Institute. Speakers at the 20 June event affirmed the redesignation as reflecting the country’s energy progress since 2007, and placing a new emphasis on using its position as “the world’s top oil and gas producer” to help other countries grow. “Some things have changed. Some haven’t. We still wake up each morning determined to build the country’s global energy presence,” observed Karen A Harbert, president of the institute, while others applauded the organisation’s contributions in helping build a more robust domestic energy dialogue. Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of industry watcher IHS Markit, said that the institute’s focus, analysis and advocacy are vital during a period when the US is undergoing an energy renaissance. “When it was launched, the peak oil debate was strong. Even at that time the shale revolution had begun, but the news hadn’t travelled far yet,” he recalled, continuing: “That revolution changed the global energy outlook and was recognised sooner outside the US than in. Now, at a time when US influence in the world supposedly has declined, this is one area where it definitely has increased.” Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee chair Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) noted that 20 June was also the 40 th anniversary of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). “Our task today is to refill TAPS, which is only one-quarter full today. That’s unacceptable when it’s close to so much potential oil production.”

“It’s not up to the state to do everything,” Griveaux told RTL radio: “It’s also not up to the state to stump up the totality of the funds in this case. Its role is to get everyone involved and around the table.” Though Macron’s economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, has been instrumental in the efforts to save GM&S and preserve the 277 jobs in a rural area where work is scarce, he stated irritably: “It’s typical of the French system. A company was set up in the 1970s… to bring activity to a region. There is no industrial network around, there’s only a few big clients for a small company. It’s just not solid.” Originally a children’s scooter maker, GM&S adapted to supply mainly Renault and PSA with car parts, but gradually became uncompetitive. The government, which holds sizeable stakes in both Renault and PSA, has encouraged the carmakers to continue to keep orders flowing to GM&S. Manufactur ing Bankruptcy in the manufacturing sector exceeds all others Business credit analyst Creditsafe USA has reported its findings from an analysis of the US manufacturing industry. Despite recent overall consistent performance, the study highlights several areas of concern across the entire sector, in particular the rate of bankruptcy, signalling the possibility of an industry slowdown. With the manufacturing industry being the major employer in the US, any decline is likely to impact on the overall US economy. According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, manufacturing is the largest sector in the US with approxi- mately 600,000 actively traded companies. Representing 16.35 per cent of all companies in the country, it is the biggest sector for both number of people employed and annual sales revenue. In 2016 US manufacturers contributed $2.18 trillion to the US economy, representing 11.7 per cent of the overall GDP. Manufacturing’s overall bankruptcy rate of 0.34 per cent, while an improvement from recent years, is higher than the overall national average. In addition, the industry faces increasing pressures from cheap offshore imports and the increasing cost of raw materials. Recent bankruptcy filings by companies such as the industrial storage tank manufacturer CST Industries Inc, and Suniva, a manufacturer of solar cells, hint at the potential future of the sector. The majority of US manufacturing businesses have been in existence longer than those in other industries, with more than 23.88 per cent operating for two to five years, compared to only 2.32 per cent nationally. 2012 to 2015 saw a 35 per cent decrease in the number of bankruptcies in the manufacturing sector, but the overall bankruptcy rate remains significantly higher than that of other business areas. At 362, manufacturing industry ranks third in the highest number of bankruptcies per 100,000 companies, behind construction with 459 and other services at 412. Matthew Debbage, CEO of Creditsafe USA and Asia, concluded: “The sheer size and nature of this industry makes

Industr y Macron’s old-school policy?

Reuters correspondents report that President Emmanuel Macron’s government, apparently looking to “liberate” France’s economic forces and transform it into a country of entrepreneurs, is hardly breaking with tradition in its first big industrial test. The report said that, while Macron likes to spend time talking about France as a ‘start-up nation’, his government is using a time-honoured recipe of taxpayer cash, and leaning on big companies in which it has a stake, to rescue the car parts supplier GM&S. Benjamin Griveaux, the secretary of state for economic affairs, is hopeful a buyer has been found for GM&S, but the deal demands the state supplies $5.7mn to finance investments, with a further similar sum each from the buyer and the carmakers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroën.

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SEPTEMBER 2017