You probably wouldn't have guessed from our coverage, but last week was pretty quiet on the news front.

Sure, we had updates such as the death – finally - of minimum pricing proposals in Scotland, the ongoing plight of French firm Belvedere, the divorce of Blavod and Cockspur and PepsiCo's decision to return to Super Bowl action.

However, last week saw macroeconomics dominate business news pages around the world, and it wasn't pretty reading. Ireland's economy has fallen back, Warren Buffett thinks the US is still in recession, the UK might have to print more money and the Eurozone recovery has slowed to a crawl.

While recovery in the West has not been fully extinguished - not yet, at any rate - the road looks a lot longer and harder than some supposed at the start of 2010. Europe and the US may have avoided a slump, but they are struggling to get out of first gear.

For drinks firms, this could mean yet another change in strategy. Consumer spending is likely to remain sluggish, which means that deep discount deals are likely to remain in the run-up to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Diageo, for example, does not expect to increase its net sales in Europe for the year to the end of June 2011.

That's got to be food for thought for everybody else.

Looking to a sunnier future – literally, I hope - just-drinks is heading to Cannes in October. We're returning in force to the Cote d'Azur for this year's TFWA World Exhibition, which looks at all things Travel Retail-related.

The diary is fast filling up, but if you'd like us to come say hello, drop me a line at news@just-drinks.com.

Until next time...

Olly Wehring
Managing Editor
Web: http://www.just-drinks.com
Email: editor@just-drinks.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/just_drinks