The global butter trade may not grab headlines every day, but it’s a big business that grossed US$10.3 billion in 2024, up from US$6.4 billion in 2020.

A new ranking of the top 10 supermarket chains in Southeast Asia, based on store count and country presence, highlights how retail dominance in the region is built less on megastores and more on sheer density, convenience and localisation.

Despite persistent cost-of-living pressures, Europeans were expected to spend hundreds of billions of euros on Christmas gifts, underscoring the enduring cultural and economic importance of the festive season across the continent.

Europe, not the United States, is at the centre of the world’s soft drinks export market. Austria and Germany rank first and second globally by export value, each accounting for nearly a tenth of total global soft drink exports.

Pumpkins may be most famous during Halloween and Thanksgiving, but the global pumpkin trade is now a serious agricultural business shaping export earnings for several countries.

According to new data compiled from the IMF and CIA, the world’s largest economies are also its biggest buyers.

The world is losing its forests at an alarming rate, and a striking new visualisation shows just how severe the problem has become. Laos now leads the globe in tree-cover loss, with 16.82% of its forests disappearing, followed by Sweden (11.76%) and Bolivia (11.00%).