Category Archives: Business
If you knew that fish was from Maine, would you pay more?
Would you be willing to pay more for seafood sustainably harvested or landed in Maine? A survey of 1,000 people through a University of Maine Maine Sea Grant project found that about 75 percent of respondents said they would shell out more for fish if they knew it was harvested sustainably. About 30 percent said they believe Maine consumers, in general, […]
Madison Paper buckled under big spike in Canadian imports
In announcing the closure of Madison Paper Industries, observers pointed to a one-two punch of declining domestic demand and rising imports, alongside high winter energy costs. Federal import figures give a picture of just what the mill was up against in recent years. From July-December, imports of supercalendered paper from Canada were up 90 percent by volume and […]
In casino revenues, a battle over Maine slot dominance
The latest revenue figures from Maine’s two casinos show the gaming pie keeps getting bigger, up another 2 percent after growing at less than 1 percent in 2014. Hollywood Casino’s net revenue was down slightly in 2015 as Oxford Casino’s rose again, up to $76.6 million. As other casinos try to enter the market in Maine, the current operators have raised concern […]
‘Caution and optimism’ advised as real estate index dips
Maine real estate activity dropped off in the fall, but remains well above lows during the recession, according to a composite index of commercial, residential and construction activity in the state. The index created by the Maine Real Estate and Developers Association, or MEREDA, dipped to its benchmark level of 100 in the third quarter of 2015, a level on par with […]
If you’re not reading this, you may be out buying gift cards
The Portland-based digital gift card processor CashStar said its annual survey of online shoppers revealed most gift cards are likely to fly out the door as close to the Christmas holiday as humanly possible. That appears to be true for at least one of the Portland company’s corporate clients: Starbucks. On Tuesday, Starbucks said it’s expecting to […]
Maine-based companies got dinged, too, in Monday’s market correction
Maine has few publicly traded companies, but the stock prices of those headquartered here and those with major ties to the state did get dinged in the market-wide correction Monday. By the market’s close, the S&P 500 index was down 3.94 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average was down 3.57 percent, after early-morning panic that saw some […]
Verso’s Jay shutdown adds to massive drop in U.S. paper capacity
For perhaps the second year in a row, hundreds of Verso paper mill employees in Maine may face losing their jobs around the holidays (late 2015 or early 2016, the company says). It absolutely sucks, whatever the reason. And the almost unrelenting bad news for paper mill workers in the state hurts more against the memory of what was, for sure. After […]
Cold winter didn’t sap Maine maple syrup production
Maine produced more maple syrup in 2015 than the previous year, despite a bitterly cold winter that shortened the average number of harvesting days for Maine taps. Maine was again behind Vermont and New York for syrup production, holding fast to third place in the country for maple syrup output, producing about 553,000 gallons last year. That’s a little more than […]
Where the most Maine businesses are going it alone
Per capita, Knox County is Maine’s capital for solo business owners. Census figures released Thursday show businesses that have no employees, by county. For every 100 people, Knox County has 12.7 businesses with no employees, most of which are sole proprietorships. Hancock and Lincoln counties are close behind. The census bureau excludes these businesses from its data for their relatively small economic impact […]