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INTRODUCTION 

ACCOUNTING used to be restricted to financially measurable matters of profit and loss; expenditure and revenue; taxes and subsidies; investment and liabilities. But the mathematical and statistical skills underpinning a solid set of books and filed accounts are today increasingly being used to measure the environmental and social sustainability of a product, input, production process and supply chain.…

INTRODUCTION

The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a reassessment of the model of relying on one or two outsourcing locations. It has demonstrated that when there is a major disruption caused by an emergency as serious as a pandemic, shipping and industrial processing can be disrupted.…

A former DEA agent who laundered money undercover to attack the Medellín and Cali cartels has called for a root-and-branch reform of AML, so that its vast resources target the most suspicious transactions and the professional launderers who facilitate them. Speaking to MLB, Robert Mazur, who offered ML services to drug kingpins such as Pablo Escobar in the 1980s and 1990s to undermine their criminal networks, said that many laundering techniques used then are still in use today.…

The Polish can manufacturing and filling industry continues to attract attention from major buyers and investors from around the world, aware that this strong and innovating national sector is able to rely on a strong, reliable workforce.

Global beverage giant PepsiCo, for example, has been drawn to the Polish can manufacturing industry.…

The relationship between the USA textile industry and its counterparts in Latin America has never been straightforward, given the US exports fabrics and fibre to its neighbours as well as importing apparel, but the Covid-19 pandemic has increased complexity in this relationship.…

The narcotics trade was a prime motivator to enact global anti-money laundering regulations to curb dirty money flows. Over 30 years later, drug trafficking is still considered the largest transnational crime by international law enforcement agencies. It is worth an estimated USD344 billion-a-year, according to Interpol, followed by counterfeiting crimes (USD288 billion) and human trafficking (USD157 billion).…

INNOVATIVE confectionery and sweet bakery companies will be able from next month (July) to explore applying for research funding from the European Union’s (EU) Horizon Europe programme, which has a budget of around EUR95.5 billion. This spending will last until 2027, with companies needing to form international consortia focused on food, ingredients and packaging projects to have the best chance of securing funding.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) international food and drink trade has withstood the challenges of Covid-19, with figures for the first eight months of 2020 valuing EU exports (excluding the UK) at EUR119 billion, up 1.2% compared to January-August 2019. Imports also rose slightly to EUR81.6 billion (up 0.8%).…

BRITISH and European Union (EU) confectioners must take care to ensure their products meet new origin rules if they want them covered by the duty free goods provisions of the new EU/UK trade agreement struck on Christmas Eve.

The 1,256-page deal includes complex and comprehensive origin rules, such as for chocolate, which can be deemed made in the EU and Britain if all dairy, eggs and honey used are sourced locally, as well as at least 40% of grains, malt, starches and wheat, (which must also not exceed 30% of costs).…

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is consulting on proposed new accounting requirements for mergers and acquisitions involving companies within the same group. At present IFRS 3 on business combinations covers mergers and acquisitions involving third party-owned businesses, not intra-group deals.…

THE INTERNATIONAL trade in knitwear products and inputs contains significant variations in prices that can be leveraged buy smart traders within the industry who analyse import-export data and orientate their purchasing and sales practises accordingly.

That said, knitwear traders and manufacturers need to be aware that some bargains really are too good to be true and could be an indication that certain trade flows are being exploited by money launderers seeking to move criminal proceeds from one country to another through artificial pricing – deliberate over- and under- invoicing.…

Much expertise of anti-money laundering is developed from the experience of victims and law enforcement, fed into techniques and systems fighting this crime. But ex-criminals, including those who launder illicit money, have a different perspective and can offer fresh insight and intelligence maybe not considered by AML officers.…

LATIN America has been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic – with Chile, Peru, Brazil and Colombia in the top-20 of countries regarding cases per million people – and its paint and coatings market and industry has faced a similarly rough ride.…

A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel will assess whether import restrictions created by the European Union (EU) to reduce the use of carbon-intensive biofuels comply with global trading rules.

The Indonesian government is challenging portions of the EU’s renewable energy directive (RED) linked to EU guidance limiting the indirect land use change (ILUC) of biofuel feedstock cultivation.…

THE COVID-19 crisis has severely depressed sales of personal care products within Latin America and it is unclear when the market will pick up.

In Argentina, for example, a coronavirus-induced lockdown has pushed the economy deeper into recession, slashing sales of most unessential beauty and personal care products.…

Entrepreneurship abounds across the diverse island nations of the Caribbean where small, independently-owned beauty product businesses thrive and have been successfully vying for space alongside major international brands in pharmacies, boutiques and family-owned stores alike.

What many manufacturers lack in start-up capital, they make up for in innovation and close proximity to a wealth of organic, raw materials that are finding new favour with modern, discerning consumers at home, with an eye to developing export sales.…

While the Canadian chocolate market is dominated by major manufacturers, such as Nestlé, Hershey, Mondelēz, Lindt, Mars and Ferrero – a diverse artisanal sector is growing towards commercial maturity, as consumers seek out premium products that are locally produced and often marketed to specific target customers.…

GIVEN the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by banks on fighting money laundering, fears that trade-based money laundering (TBML) remains widespread, as stressed by FATF, the APG (http://www.fatf-gafi.org/publications/methodsandtrends/documents/trade-basedmoneylaunderingtypologies.html), and most recently, the European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/supranational_risk_assessment_of_the_money_laundering_and_terrorist_financing_risks_affecting_the_union_-_annex.pdf), are of serous concern. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) said that in 2018, global merchandise exports were worth USD19.48 trillion, so there is plenty of place for laundered money to hide.…

In principle, the technology of osmotic power, known widely as ‘blue energy’, has a lot going for it: unlike wind or sunlight, its electricity generating technique of mixing freshwater and saltwater at the mouths of estuaries is constant, with electrically charged salt ions moving from salty seawater to fresh river water.…

China based analysts are raising concerns that the coronavirus (2019-nCo) outbreak will disrupt supplies of apparel to major international fashion brands. of key concern is the fact that government movement restrictions have impeded operations of clothing and textile manufacturers in provinces that are a key part of Chinese output: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Shaoxing.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has set out plans for a future trading relationship with the UK after the current transitional period, where Britain follows EU rules, expires on December 31 – it includes unfettered free trade in food and drink products, without tariffs and without restrictive quotas.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has called on EU member states and other EU institutions to work harder to fight the scourge of food fraud, which can damage the commercial health of legitimate manufacturers and risk consumer health. In a detailed policy statement (called ‘council conclusions’ in EU jargon), ministers said an EU “legal definition of food fraud” should be created that would underpin future regulatory actions fighting such wrongdoing, which can include deliberate mislabelling and the use of illicit ingredients.…

Airbus is to pay out EUR3.6 billion (USD4 billion) under a trio of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) with British, French and United States authorities that were simultaneously agreed by national courts January 31 as part of a global resolution over bribes to clinch civil and military aircraft sales.…

INTERNATIONAL collaboration, financial and strategic support and government policy consistency that endures beyond changes in political administrations are vital to maintain accelerating global gains in access to higher education, delegates at an international conference in Scotland were told this week.…

THE DIGITAL textile printing industry and market in Colombia is growing at steadfast pace, with local demand propelled by boutique fashion brands and publicity. However, the increased costs and upfront investment involved in creating digital printing means that traditional finishing techniques are still common in this South American manufacturing hub.…

IT has been another subdued year for the beauty and personal care product market in Latin America, as the region’s economy underperforms yet again after six years of deceleration (and in some countries outright recession), keeping a lid on sales growth. …

EVERY manufacturing and agricultural industry has an impact on climate change – and the tobacco sector is no different. Faced with long-standing criticism of the health impact of its products, the tobacco industry is now facing attacks that its work generates carbon emissions and hence climate change.…

WOLLASTONITE has been described by a Canadian producer as “a white mineral for a greener world,” and it seems governments, businesses and industries agree – with wollastonite is set to see increased market growth in its traditional uses plus a new focus on its powerful qualities to help tackle climate change.…

WOLLASTONITE has been described by a Canadian producer as “a white mineral for a greener world,” and it seems governments, businesses and industries agree – with wollastonite is set to see increased market growth in its traditional uses plus a new focus on its powerful qualities to help tackle climate change.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has passed a new European Union (EU) regulation that will limit the amount of trans-fats that can be present within food products sold across the EU from April 2021.

This new rule, authorised under powers already granted to the EU executive, will impose a maximum limit of trans-fats of 2 grams per 100 grams of fat, excluding naturally-occurring animal origin trans-fats.…

CANADIAN tobacco majors have sought creditor protection after the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld two class action rulings, warning appellants Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges (RBH) and JTI-Macdonald Corp are liable to pay Canadian dollars CAD13.6 billion (USD10.2 billion) in damages to sick smokers.…

ANNOUNCEMENTS made at the Routes Americas conference for 2019 have demonstrated how the region’s civil aviation sector is expanding and providing more business to airports.

New Canadian low-cost carrier Jetlines, for example, unveiled plans to put conference host Quebec City on its route network when it begins operating later this year.…

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) Disputes Settlement Body (DSB) has approved establishing disputes settlement panels ruling on whether retaliatory duties imposed by the European Union (EU), on US knitwear exports, imposed in response to America’s controversial steel and aluminium tariffs, break WTO rules.…

MPs in Canada have returned to their House of Commons after the traditional summer break, when they are expected to vote on a draft law, the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, that would ban the testing of cosmetics and their ingredients on annals in Canada and block the sale of personal care products that have been assessed using such techniques.…

FACED with ever tightening restrictions on production, marketing and distribution, the tobacco sector is keeping a close eye on how the legalisation in Canada of another largely smoked product – cannabis – rolls out. On October 17, 2018, the consumption and cultivation of cannabis in Canada will become legal, making it the first G7 country to legalise recreational cannabis nationwide.…

A new report from Transparency International has found that only 11 major exporting countries in the world significantly punish companies that pay bribes abroad. The report, called ‘Exporting Corruption’, also found that more than half of world exports come from at least 33 jurisdictions, including several European Union (EU) member states, where companies that export corruption along with their goods and services face weak consequences. …

AML compliance departments are having to take an increasingly close look at any transactions involving Venezuela, as its authoritarian government attracts increasingly large numbers of international sanctions.

The European Union (EU) in June sanctioned 11 senior Venezuelan officials following the May re-election of President Nicolas Maduro in polls that the EU said were “neither free nor fair and…lacked any credibility…”

The sanctions – see https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018D0901&from=EN…

AN INNOVATIVE air traffic management switch from land-based ATC services using classic vectoring, to a performance-based navigation (PBN) arrangement using airliner satellite positioning and RNP-AR (required navigation performance – authorisation required) has dramatically increased the traffic capacity of El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, Colombia.…

THE DEPUTY Premier of Québec this morning committed her government to helping the Canadian province’s aluminium sector preserve its current level of employment in the face of the American tariffs that have hit the industry since last Thursday.

Speaking at an international aluminium summit in Montreal, Canada, Dominique Anglade said: “If there’s a risk of a reduction in production and not being able to export as much, we will be here to support the companies to make sure they maintain the jobs in the sector.”…

THE LATIN American personal care product market, buffeted in recent years by economic and political instability, looks back on track, with trouble-spots such as Venezuela being very much an exception to overall progress.

Data released by market researcher Euromonitor International has said that the region’s beauty and personal care product sales in 2017 topped USD65 billion in 2017, growing by 42.5% between 2012 and last year.…

THE AMERICAN and Canadian automotive industries will be counting the cost of new tariffs being imposed on steel and aluminum traded between their countries, following the decision yesterday by the Trump administration to start collecting 25% on Canadian steel and 10% on aluminum.…

Argentina’s auto industry had expected a near record year in 2018, but unexpected financial problems that have hit the country in the past month could push the economy into recession and dampen local demand for cars. 
These problems are a far cry from the optimism expressed on April 4, when the heads of three carmakers spoke bullishly about production and sales growth at a business conference staged in Buenos Aires by economic consultancy Invecq Consulting. …

THE PROSPECTS of a successful conclusion to the ongoing talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have taken a heavy blow from today’s decision by President Donald Trump to impose duties on steel and aluminium products from Canada and Mexico at 25% and 10%, respectively.…

TECHNIQUES for using forensic linguistics to detect fraud continue to be refined as experts debate the best and most reliable way to use such technology and practices. Indeed, specialists continue to disagree over how forensic linguistics should be used in the anti-fraud arena.…

Brazil is by far the country most-named in American investigations for crimes against the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with China trailing behind in second place, according to the latest listing from a blog, FCPA Tracker. It says industries cited in the different FCPA probes tied to Brazil include power generation, waste management, oil and gas services, food production, steel manufacturing and telecommunications.…

Diversity – a theme very close to Mohamed Irshad’s heart – could not be embodied by a more appropriate person than the affable, youthful-looking 34-year-old head of global internal audit – the Americas, at French multinational Schneider Electric. Irshad is an Indian national who was born and raised in Dubai, studied in India, has lived in Paris and is now based in Canada.…

International activity to understand and potentially extract natural gas from methane hydrates has intensified since 2010 with the continuation and launch of new research and development (R&D) projects and field production tests offshore and onshore, as shown in a new overview by Carolyn D Ruppel, chief of the gas hydrates project at the United States Geological Survey (USGS).(1)…

AUSTRALIA may have been strengthening its anti-money laundering (AML) systems, but an admission last year (2017) by the country’s biggest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), about AML failures was a clear reminder that reforms are still needed. The Commonwealth Bank admitted that it had breached Australian AML laws 53,700 times.…

BRAZIL’S textile sector would contract, should the country abandon its protectionist policies, however, its added value clothing industry would perform better, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) report has concluded.

Noting that average tariffs levels weighted by imports are almost twice as high in Brazil as in Colombia and more than eight times higher than in Mexico or Chile, the report highlighted how around 450 tariff lines are at the maximum of 35%, including textiles, apparel and leather.…

Brazil’s textile industry has reported an overall growth in sales of 3.2% for 2017, and even bigger increases are forecast for the year ahead. Latest data from the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Association (ABIT – Associação Brasileira da Indústria Têxtil e de Confecção) predicts an overall growth in revenues of 3.29% for the year 2018.…

THE RUSSIAN government has said it plans to significantly increase its beef exports from Latin American states (except from Brazil) to compensate for potential domestic supply shortages created by the existing ban on imports of meat from western countries and a recent ban on beef imports from Brazil.…

International police agency Interpol and its European Union (EU) counterpart Europol have
announced what they say is the biggest hit ever against online piracy with law enforcers
taking down more than 20,500 websites selling counterfeit goods seized in 26 countries.
Participating countries were Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Britain,
Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine, the USA
and China special administrative region Hong Kong.…

PANAMA has been reforming its anti-money laundering (AML) regulations at a rapid rate as it tries to change perceptions of the country as a hub of money laundering and tax evasion. However, with serious loopholes remaining and grave doubts over its lack of investigative capacity, it remains some way from shedding its unwanted reputation.…

THE BRAZILIAN arm of Brussels-based speciality chemical firm Solvay says that it is prospering in Brazil though sales of biodegradable polyamide yarn Amni Soul Eco, reflecting the demand for bio-based materials and products in Latin America’s largest country.

Renato Boaventura, CEO of the Brazil Rhodia Solvay Group’s ‘fibras global business unit’ told WTiN.com…

‘Colourful’,’ young’, ‘big’ and ‘clever’ are words often bandied about to describe the positive qualities of Brazil, and they certainly could be used to define La Estampa, a Brazilian textile company specialising in digital print B2B.

With a global print capacity of 25,000 metres per day, La Estampa is able to punch its weight in global digital textile markets.…

THE GLOBAL increase in commodity prices for beef and veal has dampened demand in Russia for imports of these meat products. The country’s agriculture ministry has said imports fell 18.6% this January-May compared to the same period in 2016, That was mainly due to a rise in import prices, which since the beginning of the current year have grown by almost 25%, said ministry officials.…

COLOMBIA’S oil and gas sector is stabilising after a crisis provoked by the plunge in global oil prices, but efforts to recover growth are being hampered by guerrilla attacks, corruption scandals and a popular backlash against the industry.

The crash in oil prices that began in 2014 has left the oil industry in Colombia in a precarious position, with only an estimated five years of commercially reliable reserves remaining, according to government calculations.…

AT the end of June, Colombia’s FARC guerrillas handed in over 7,000 weapons to bring a close to over 50 years of armed struggle with the government. However, the next stage in the peace process is proving an even thornier issue than disarmament: surrendering their assets from laundered criminal wealth. …

The macro-economic slowdown experienced by Latin America in recent years has thrown the brakes on what had been impressive growth in the beauty and personal care sector since the turn of the century.

Much of the region is now looking for ways to stimulate the sector, tempering ambitions by aiming for more gradual growth rather than runaway success.…

EUROPEAN electricity industry federation Eurelectric hews closely to the views of its national associations, so when all but two of its members made a commitment in April (2017) not to fund investments in new-build coal-fired power plants after 2020, the energy sector can be sure this is a solid promise.…

Demand is growing for a major international programme designed to support developing countries build up their tax audit capacity and – critically – the funding is there to meet that need. Launched as a joint initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in July 2015 after an initial pilot phase, Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) sees tax experts work side-by-side with local officials in developing and emerging markets.…

THE DIFFICULTIES that have surged in the diplomatic relations between the Mexican government and the new US administration of President Donald Trump have increased uncertainty within the Mexican personal care product market and industry.

With Mexico facing US demands to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with the risk of the US imposing temporary safeguard duties on Mexican exports to protect American manufacturers, companies in Mexico are seeking to boost domestic consumption.…

IS the Brazilian textile sector finally seeing an end to the contraction in sales and production prompted by the country’s recession? According to figures released by industry association ABIT (Association Brasileira de Industria Textil e Confecçao), the tide is turning and better times are ahead. …

The technology is known as ‘dynamic inductive charging’ and has been trialled in a range of scenarios across different continents. And one system, in South Korea, is now in operation on a live transport route, on roads in the towns of Gumi, in the country’s southeast, and Sejong, in central South Korea.…

As the drive to encourage electric vehicle (EV) ownership gathers momentum, so does the desire to install automated recharging systems, such as devices built into roads that top up batteries as autos motor on.

The technology is known as ‘dynamic inductive charging’ and has been trialled in a range of scenarios across different continents.…

Colombia’s billion dollar illegal gold trade has become one of the country’s primary sources of finance for armed groups and mafias and a hub of commercial crime. Underworld networks now exploit, infiltrate, and co-opt every step of Colombia’s gold supply chain.…

Brazil’s tumbling textile exports to Venezuela may fall further if the country is suspended from the south American trading bloc, Mercosur next month. (December, 2016) 

According to World Bank data, Brazil’s textile and clothing exports to Venezuela peaked in 2011 at USD90.3 million but have been falling steadily ever since.…

PAKISTAN’S denim export industry hopes that help for the textile announced by the government in February (exemption from paying sales tax and payment of long overdue tax refunds) and in a meeting with industry leaders in September (a promised reduction in energy costs) will boost this promising segment.…

PERSONAL care product and cosmetics manufacturers are continuing to invest in sustainable materials – such as responsibly-sourced cardboard and bio-plastics. Indeed, such green alternatives can boost sales in markets where consumers are increasingly concerned with the environmental impact of products. But packagers still face challenges in ensuring these meet the standards of their clients, particularly in premium sectors.…

BIG data in the world of commerce can have a mercenary aspect, telling companies detailed information about potential customers, to target them with offers to increase revenue.

But it is not the whole story.

In civil aviation, big data can also improve safety, efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, Marco Merens, chief, integrated aviation analysis, at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) air navigation bureau told Jane’s Airport Review.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has called on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to establish a disputes panel to rule on its claims that Colombia is breaking global trade rules over Colombia’s alleged “discriminatory treatment” of imported spirits.

Colombia taxes spirits with an alcohol-by-volume (abv) content of more than 35% at Colombian Pesos COP487 (USD0.17) per degree of alcohol, compared to those with 35% abv or less – charged at COP297 (USD0.10) per degree of alcohol.…

South America’s cosmetics and personal care sector is looking to bounce back from a slowdown caused by the region’s macroeconomic troubles, but political pressures and regional trade alliances are driving individual country markets down divergent paths.

Over the last year, countries across the region have been buffeted by economic turmoil that has had a knock-on impact on the cosmetics sector.…

OVER the last decade, Colombia has taken significant strides towards establishing a robust anti-money laundering system to detect the billions of dollars of criminal profits that flood its financial system. But one result has been the migration of money laundering networks away from hiding the origins of bank deposits and cash to trade-based money laundering.…

The leaked Panama Papers exposed the shadowy dealings of Panama’s offshore banking sector, but this is only the tip of the iceberg for a country that has become one of the centres of commercial crime in the Americas. James Bargent reports.…

The emergence of Brazil as a major economic power and highly promising market of 200 million inhabitants is luring Mauritian textile producers to foray further in Latin America’s largest national market. Indeed, despite Brazil’s ongoing economic recession, Mauritian textile and clothing exports to the country have more than quadrupled since 2012, according to trade promotion body Enterprise Mauritius.…

A decline in exports has ended the boom years for the Colombian cosmetics sector, but the country still holds high hopes of establishing itself as a major regional player.

Colombia’s cosmetics and personal care sector has been thriving for well over a decade, as economic growth has fuelled a strong domestic market and the country established itself as an export hub for the north of South America.…

COSMETICS and personal care product labelling and decoration continues to play a key role in differentiating brands on the shelf and creating an experience for the consumer. While many companies are moving towards more simple, clean looks, other higher-end brands still prefer eye-catching, metallic designs.…

THE UNITED States Trade Representative (USTR) has highlighted its continuing concern about intellectual property rights violations in the pharma sector, citing claims that 20% of medicines sold in India are fakes.

In its annual ‘Special 301 Report’, the USTR said it notes “its particular concern with the proliferation of counterfeit pharmaceuticals that are manufactured, sold, and distributed in trading partners such as Brazil, China, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Peru, and Russia.”…

Spanish distributors and publishers have been busy meeting with Argentine buyers at the 42nd Buenos Aires International Book Fair, as Argentina’s new centre-right government lifting of import restrictions and a looming economic recovery improves the potential for sales. “Argentina is the new hotspot in Latin America,” Fernando López Daza, manager of Época Distribuciones, a Madrid-based distributor, said at the fair, which is being held from April 21 to May 9.…

Argentina’s automotive industry is poised for a rebound in 2017 after production slumped by 38% over the past four years, say experts encouraged by the performance of the country’s new government.

“We see Argentina’s car market turning the corner now,” said Neil King, the London-based head of automotive research at Euromonitor International, a research firm.…

As the European Union (EU) dairy industry continues to face challenges, it is calling for EU institutions and member governments to have a greater focus on resolving Russia’s ban on EU agricultural goods, while continuing to open up new markets. In the meantime, the Russian ban has not helped an oversupply problem that is depressing prices.…

THE ONGOING legalisation of marijuana in the United States and Canada offers the tobacco industry some significant opportunities. This includes both increased consumption and also investment in tobacco sector suppliers such as vaporiser manufacturers.

As of this March, the US states of Colombia, Washington and Alaska had also legalised recreational use of marijuana and Oregon is well on its way to full legalisation.…

Colombia is appealing a World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision that it broke its WTO global trading commitments regarding taxing the imports from Panama of textiles, as well as apparel and footwear.

The WTO’s disputes settlement body (DSB) ruled in November that Colombia’s compound tariff, made up of a 10% ad valorem component and a specific component that varied according to the import value and customs classification of these products, was too high.…

Back in March 2014, a Hong Kong businessman named Joseph Lau Luen-hung was sentenced in absentia to five years and three months in prison by Macau’s Court of First Instance.

Lau had been found guilty, along with along with fellow businessman Steven Lo Kit-sing, of money laundering and paying a Hong Kong dollars HKD20 million (USD2.5 million) bribe to Macau’s former secretary of public works, Ao Man Long, who is himself serving a 27-year jail term (for bribery charges).…

While January 6 (2016) was a big day for Chile’s fight against money laundering, with a major money laundering case drawing to close, there is concern that the country’s anti-money laundering (AML) efforts are actually weakening.

After eight years of investigation, Santiago’s 34th Criminal Court handed down the first sentence against eight individuals in the country’s largest ever money-laundering cases.…

European Union (EU) beef farmers have called for help finding new markets to make up for the loss of exports to Russia in the wake of the crisis over Ukraine.
Jean Pierre Fleury, chairman of EU farm and livestock producer association Copa-Cogeca’s beef working party, has issued a plea to the European Commission, calling on it “to take urgent action to improve the EU beef market situation.”…

Colombia’s bio-based oils and fats sector is seeing industry profits siphoned off by criminal networks thanks to a contraband smuggling boom linked to illegal armed groups, organised crime and money laundering.
Contraband smuggling in Colombia has evolved into a sophisticated criminal business worth USD6 billion a year, according to the estimates of the Colombian National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN – Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales), and has become one of the principal threats facing national industries.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission may block or impose conditions on a planned acquisition by US-based Cargill of the industrial chocolate business of its American rival Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The European Union (EU) executive’s directorate general for competition has opened an in-depth investigation into the deal, to assess whether it could damage the availability of reasonably priced supplies of this key confectionery input.…

THE LATIN American paint and coatings sector has been facing tough times in the past year, with sluggish overall economic performance depressing demand for the industry. Even, last summer’s World Cup football fiesta in Brazil, did not give the region’s largest market any motive to celebrate.…

SOUTH America’s personal care product sector has been is facing tougher times than usual – with some countries experiencing weaker sales last year and others faltering this year.
The region’s largest market Brazil is facing a rocky 2015, with a general slowdown in Brazil’s economy, expected to shrink by 1% in 2015.…

THE EUROPEAN Committee of Sugar Manufacturers (CEFS) has called on the European Union (EU) and US negotiators for a Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) to exclude sugar and high sugar products from this planned trade agreement.

“The US market is a mature and saturated market, not attractive for the EU,” Marie-Christine Ribera, CEFS director general, told TTIP negotiators during an event dedicated to interest groups affected by the agreement, held in Brussels on February 4.…

WHILE the global nonwovens industry maybe booming through investments, acquisition of new sites, expansion of capacity, more customers and exhibitions all over, the same optimism cannot be applied to emerging market former starlet Brazil. Despite its huge market with 200 million inhabitants, the nonwovens sector of South America’s economic powerhouse is looking for another deep loss of steam in 2015.…

Colombia’s paint and coatings sector is continuing on a path of steady growth fuelled by the country’s construction boom even as it struggles to ward off the threat posed by a thriving informal sector.
Between 2011 and 2012, the country’s paints, varnishes, inks and mastics sector saw gross production rise from USD566 million to USD715 million according to figures collated by Acoplasticos, a trade body covering the plastics, chemicals, petrochemicals, rubber, paints, inks, coatings and fibres sectors, based on information from the Colombian national statistics administration (DANE – Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística).…

Central America’s increasing exposure to money laundering is at least being recognised by the governments on the region, who are working both individually and collectively to combat the problem.

The region has strengthened cooperation, for instance. A key initiative is the Central American Integration System (SICA), a regional political organisation which coordinates government actions for Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic regarding certain policy development and programmes, notably improving law enforcement.…

ADAPTIVE licensing methods such as that proposed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are indeed useful in the development of medicines for rare diseases, Martin Andrews, the senior vice-president at GSK Rare Diseases, has told the World Orphan Drugs Congress 2014.…

Given today’s uncertain global economic environment, it is up to CFOs to manage expectations and push for their companies’ long-term growth through clear planning and a responsible corporate culture. Business leaders from across the globe discussed how to navigate these issues at the seventh ACCA Poland CFO European Summit, staged in Warsaw, on November 19.…

A FREE trade deal struck between the European Union (EU) and Ecuador should benefit European auto manufacturers with increased market access in Ecuador, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has told wardsauto. In a statement, ACEA welcomed the inclusion of Ecuador into the Andean free trade agreement previously concluded by the EU with Peru and Colombia.…

The smuggling of auto parts and vehicles into Colombia is a billion dollar trade that has long shackled the sector’s potential for growth. This contraband trade now finds itself squeezed between market forces on one side and a government clampdown on the other, but industry opinion is divided over whether it will be enough to halt the smuggling wave.…

The smuggling of auto parts and vehicles into Colombia is a billion dollar trade that has long shackled the sector’s potential for growth. This contraband trade now finds itself squeezed between market forces on one side and a government clampdown on the other, but industry opinion is divided over whether it will be enough to halt the smuggling wave.…

The Venezuelan government’s economic policies have created a boom in smuggling contraband meat and livestock to neighbouring Colombia. The trade is pushing down Colombian prices, putting consumers at risk and threatening the country’s hopes of becoming an export nation.

Between January and September this year, Colombia’s tax and customs police (Policia Fiscal y Aduanera – POLFA) made over USD1 million worth of seizures of meat and livestock in the form of 106 tonnes of beef, 4 tonnes of pork, 11 tonnes of chicken, 1,024 live cows, 243 pigs and 23,100 chickens.…

Mexico, South America, and the United States are usually the focus of discussions about money laundering, drug-trafficking and transnational crime in the Western Hemisphere. However, as countries like Mexico and Colombia have upped their security game, criminals have taken advantage of their small Central American neighbours as weaker links for both the transport of drugs and the laundering of illicit funds associated with the trade.…

Transnational medicine mafias are exploiting the differences between the economic and healthcare models of socialist Venezuela and its free market neighbour Colombia to run a thriving trade in contraband pharmaceuticals.
Every year, networks of smugglers, corrupt officials, and shady businessmen move millions of dollars worth of contraband, expired and false drugs between the two countries, undermining the legal pharmaceutical sector and posing a grave health threat on both sides of the border.…

An international Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT) was launched September 1 to step up the fight against online fraudsters in the European Union (EU) and beyond.

Housed in the Netherlands-based European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), J-CAT is a six-month pilot scheme to coordinate international investigations.…

Colombia has become something of a specialist in dismantling criminal cartels throughout the years, with the cocaine kings of the Medellín Cartel, the Cali Cartel and the Norte del Valle Cartel all consigned to history. Now, the country’s authorities have a new cartel in their sights – a price-fixing nappy cartel headed by the biggest names in the domestic market.…

THE UNITED States is trying to come up with a tailor-made international marketing strategy to tap a bigger share of pork sales, now growing at an estimated 12% between 2013- 2018 globally, the country’s National Pork Board (NPB) vice president for strategic communication Kevin Waetke said.…

THE MARKET distorting economic policies of Venezuela’s government were supposed to help the country’s poor, but instead have created a boom in contraband smuggling into neighbouring Colombia, generating massive profits for organized crime, James Bargent reports.

CONTRABAND and smuggling permeate every aspect of economic life in the windswept Colombian border city of Cúcuta.…

Sourcing trends in fast fashion in Europe and north America are in flux, being affected by the economic downturn, changes in consumer behaviour and growing awareness of industry practices, especially in the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh last year.…

As farms and agricultural organisations face changing accounting demands from legislatures and financial institutions around the world, accountants face greater pressures to develop specialised agricultural knowledge.

Indeed, accounting services provided to the farming industry within the European Union (EU) are becoming increasingly important, notably because of reforms to the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), experts have told Accounting & Business.…

The investment arm of Hong Kong-based Li & Fung is investing in US-based Centric Software Inc, a provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software to the apparel industry, helping Centric’s expansion into Asia. Centric announced yesterday (July 29) it has secured USD24 million in growth capital from financiers including Fung Capital USA – the investment arm of Hong Kong-based Fung Group, which includes Li & Fung.…

IN the 1970s and 1980s, the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean did not have a comprehensively robust reputation for sound financial management. Many Caribbean island states had newly emerged from colonialism, finding their way as independent countries. And many Latin American countries were riven by social discord, even civil war, with many under military rule.…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has secured agreement from its 34 rich world member countries to apply a new single global standard on automatic exchange of tax information. Endorsed by G20 finance ministers, the standard obliges countries and jurisdictions to obtain all financial information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions annually.…

Latin America’s cosmetics and personal care products sector has boomed as consumers take advantage of their rising disposable incomes. The region (including Mexico) accounted for 17% of global sales in the beauty and personal care industry, according to market analysts Euromonitor International in 2013. …

THE COUNTRIES of Latin America may have strong cultural links, but their politics and economies have always varied and this is still the case with the paint and coatings sector. Whilst the whole region has experienced rising incomes over the past decade, this growth has been far from even and is currently under threat – for instance in Venezuela and Argentina, where interventionist governments have impeded trade.…

Colombia’s struggling automobile sector is anticipating the April 15 launch of a new government program designed to help it follow the successful tactics of its principal competitors abroad.

The primary objective of the scheme, PROFIA, (Development Program for the Automotive Industry) is to help the sector recover market share from cheap imports, notably by imports by slashing tariffs on parts and materials imported for vehicle assembly.…

REPRESENTATIVES from Europe’s sugar industry want sugar to be excluded from the current free trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union (EU). Speaking at an EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) briefing in Brussels, Oscar Ruiz de Imaña – the deputy director general of the European Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS), warned of the uncertainties in the sugar markets on both sides of the Atlantic.…

Colombia has perhaps the strongest reputation in Latin America for playing host to powerful illicit drug cartels and their related money laundering. As a result, it is perhaps reassuring that over the past three years, the Colombian government, through the country’s Attorney General’s Office, seized between USD1 billion and USD1.2 billion, according Luis Edmundo Suárez, Colombia’s Unidad de Información y Análisis Financiero – financial information and analysis unit (UIAF).…

AN INTERNATIONAL higher education conference has underlined the major progress made in building links between the universities of neighbouring countries in Latin America. But it also highlighted the significant remaining challenges facing Latin American higher education if it wants to be truly integrated with tertiary institutions worldwide.…

AN INTERNATIONAL higher education conference has underlined the major progress made in building links between the universities of neighbouring countries in Latin America. But it also highlighted the significant remaining challenges facing Latin American higher education if it wants to be truly integrated with tertiary institutions worldwide.…

ALTHOUGH Colombia’s pharmaceutical sector has enjoyed growth over the past few years, new price controls could disrupt the sector’s expansion if they are poorly planned, industry representatives claim.

Their concerns focus on the reaction to maximum price controls on medication recently approved by the government.…

E-books now look more like evolution than a revolution in Spain. Overall sales of books were Euro EUR2.47 billion last year, down 10.9% on 2011 and 28.9% below 2008. E-book sales were EUR74.3 million, just 3% of the sector, representing 54,714 copies sold.…

SENIOR figures within the global cotton industry are considering promoting sales of their fibre proactively for the first time, as price shifts are allowing synthetics to seize more market share. Kevin Latner, president of Cotton Council International, argued at the International Cotton Advisory Committee’s (ICAC) 72^nd plenary session, in Colombia, for the industry to persuade consumers that cotton is a sustainable and quality fibre.…

COAL might be regarded as the oldest energy source going, but it is still currently the world’s largest long-term source of electricity. It fuels around 40% of global electricity production, according to the UK-based World Energy Council, a United Nations (UN) accredited body representing some 3,000 private and public-sector member organisations across 90 nations.…

BRAZIL is an innovative technical textile producer, declares a report from a senior São Paulo’s business school the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), despite the sector experiencing teething problems as it expands. Looking at the Brazilian textile sector as a whole, the study estimates that 77% of investment into the sector during 2012 was used to buy innovative machinery – and the technical textile sector especially has a lot of demand to meet.…

THERE was much fanfare in Managua in June when Nicaraguan officials granted a concession to build a USD40 billion canal, which would challenge the great Panama Canal. The unlikely builder: a Chinese businessman, Wang Jing, chairman of China-based Xinwei Telecom Enterprise Group and president of the newly established Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co.…

To meet apparel and textile brands’ desire to move into fast fashion, manufacturers have begun to embrace new production processes that improve efficiency and performance. Apparel and textile manufacturers have been slower than many other manufacturing industries to embrace supply chain improvements in speed, but are now succumbing to pressure from brands moving into fast fashion retail.…

WHILE it is hard to generalise about a region as diverse as Latin America, the truth is that many of its consumers are more concerned about personal appearance than is typical elsewhere in the world, and that is good news for the personal care product industry.…

A growth in alleged steel smuggling into Colombia has sparked concern by steel workers unions, who have successfully pressured the government to take action against illicit trades. The Colombian authorities are investigating recent steel imports from China and Mexico, fearing they may have breached the country’s trading laws.…

DESPITE the presence of anti-fraud legislation, fraud and corruption are an everyday part of life throughout South America, where fraudsters are unlikely to be convicted, let alone penalised.

“Penalties don’t really have an effect on fraudsters,” said Fernando Gamiz, an analyst at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), with over 20 years of experience working on South American fraud.…

The Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), a technical agency of the Organisation of American States (OAS), is playing an increasingly influential role in the Americas in terms of fighting drug-trade linked money laundering. Specifically, CICAD has a central role in the unfolding of the Hemispheric Plan of Action on Drugs 2011-2015 which was adopted by the OAS in 2011, and includes key anti-money launderingAML components.…

A REGIONAL airport on Vancouver Island, British Colombia, has received Canadian dollars CAD1.3 million (USD1.26 million) in Canadian federal government funding to make lighting safety improvements. The money will fund new apron and taxiway lighting plus runway edge lighting circuits at Campbell River Airport.…

A REGULATION aimed at ensuring the rollout of broadband networks across the European Union (EU) is achieved more cheaply and swiftly has been proposed by the European Commission. It tries to force member states to ensure new buildings are broadband ready, while telling incumbent telcos to give access to their physical networks to broadband service providers.…

WHEN the authors of the US declaration of independence said that “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” were goals of their nascent state, they knew what they were talking about. For what is the point of life and the freedom to direct it, if it does not generate happiness?…

COLOMBIA industry associations and politicians have warned the country’s automotive industry is at risk following the signing of a free trade agreement with South Korea in February.

The free trade agreement, which is expected to come into force at the end of this year, will eventually allow South Korea-made vehicles to enter the South American country free of the current 35% tariff.…

THE COLOMBIA government has launched a crackdown on illegal mining in its country, with agencies temporarily suspending the export licence of American coal giant Drummond and then permanently revoking the permits of 32 mine operators.

While the National Mining Agency (ANM) refused to tell the Mining Journal the names of the companies concerned while legal procedures were outstanding, it has said that 70% of the mines are for coal, and others were for gold and construction materials.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) confectionery manufacturers and their suppliers stand to boost their export sales and reduce import costs with the launch of talks to forge the two largest bilateral trade deals ever sought by the EU – with the USA and Japan.…

COUNTERFEIT cash can be a most useful tool for money launderers. When made properly, high value notes can be moved around the world and spent without recourse to banks, credit card operators and other financial institutions.  And with the increasing sophistication digital counterfeiting technology, this criminal industry is today a truly global enterprise: high quality banknotes can be faked almost anywhere in the world.…

Colombia’s clothing export sector is eyeing Europe as a key market for diversifying its sales away from a reliance on the United States and neighbouring South American countries. Senior industry officials speaking at the major Latin America textile and apparel trade fair, Colombiatex, staged last week in Medellin, said they would pro-actively seek out European sales.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

GHANA is particularly vulnerable to climate change according to recent studies, putting its vital cocoa and oil palm industries under threat. The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), based in Bogotá, Colombia, released a study in September 2011, which claims that much of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will be too hot for cocoa production by 2050.…

BY ANDREW ROSATI, IN CARACAS

Colombia’s textile and clothing sector has welcomed an initiative unveiled by the country’s President Juan Manuel Santos to help boost Colombian textile and apparel manufacturers through new tariffs and anti-smuggling measures.

These temporary duty increases include a new mixed tariff which includes a standard ad valorem charge, as well as a special tax in a fixed dollar rate on goods imported from foreign textile and clothing chains.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Counterfeit, mislabelled and substandard meat products have been seized in an international police operation spanning 29 countries, coordinated by Interpol and European police agency Europol. Sausages, ham, lamb, chicken and beef were seized, a Europol spokesman told globalmeatnews.com.…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN MALAGA

RANDOM House is bullish about selling more English and Spanish language titles in Spain and Latin America as a result of its planned merger with Penguin Books and outright purchase of Spain’s Random House Mondadori (RHM).…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN MALAGA

RANDOM House is bullish about selling more English and Spanish language titles in Spain and Latin America as a result of its planned merger with Penguin Books and outright purchase of Spain’s Random House Mondadori (RHM).…

BY ROBERT STOKES

THE SEPTEMBER 2012 announcement by utility RWE npower it would close the 2,000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired Didcot A power station in southern England has highlighted the scale and speed of large coal plant closures in Britain. European Union (EU) environmental laws are being identified as a key culprit behind this trend.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

PRESSURE is growing on European Union (EU) ministers to give the EU’s sugar production quota system a stay of execution. MEPs on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee have called for the retention of EU sugar quotas for beet farmers until 2020, rather than follow existing plans to phase them out in 2015.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CEO of Nestlé has praised the role of international standards in managing his multi-national company, giving it a health-based legal framework within which its specialists can creatively develop new confectionery and other food products.

Speaking within an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) briefing, Paul Bulcke said: “Tastes may differ, but health requirements and minimum standards are the same the world over.…

By JONATHAN DYSON, in La Paz

Bolivia’s tobacco consumption is growing as this Andean country gets richer. Increasing government controls are not having much effect on demand. And the country’s dominant independent manufacturer is developing new brands.

DEFYING the global trend, tobacco consumption in Bolivia is increasing steadily, despite new anti-tobacco regulations and advertising restrictions that have been implemented in recent years.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, IN LONDON; AND JONATHAN DYSON, IN LIMA

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) executive the European Commission is hoping that the negotiation of new free trade agreements (FTAs) between the EU and Colombia and Peru will be the springboard for penetration by European auto-manufacturers into markets that have been pretty well off limits to them in the past.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER, IN SÃO PAULO

WITH Europe and north America’s economies continuing to perform poorly, the importance of large emerging markets as growth areas for the international nonwovens sector is growing, especially as their middle-classes expand. Brazil is a case in point, middle class demand for nonwoven consumer products is helping attract the foreign direct investment required to develop new plants and distribution networks.…

BY JONATHAN GILBERT, IN BUENOS AIRES

ARGENTINA’S protectionist economic policy and controls on imports are causing difficulties for car manufacturers across South America. Auto production is falling in the country – to a certain extent, because parts are being held up at customs – and overseas producers have taken action by cancelling exports.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS, IN OTTAWA

AS regards Francophone Canadian literature and English Canadian literature, the ‘two solitudes’ are often present in the context of the country’s book market – with clear divides between English and French publishing houses, retailers and distributors – but what about within the literature itself?…

BY GERARD O’DWYER, IN HELSINKI

A TOUGH legislative response to the rising problem of money laundering-related crimes in Sweden appears to be having a meaningful impact on curbing illegal activities within the country – with the latest statistics from Finanspolisen, the Swedish financial crime police, revealing that while the number of reports pertaining to money laundering grew by 30% to 11,892 in 2010 (year-on-year) that figure dropped to 11,135 in 2011.…

BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN LIMA

A GROWING demand for personal care products in Peru, paired with the country’s rising GDP (6.9% in 2011, and forecast to grow another 5.5% in 2012), is creating significant new opportunities for both international and domestic cosmetics brands, who are reaping the benefits of Peru’s strong economic growth.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

Representatives from the American steel industry have welcomed coming into force next week (on May 15) of the USA’s latest free-trade agreement (FTA), agreed with Colombia.

The president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) Thomas J.…

BY ROBERT STOKES, IN MÁLAGA

JUST like El Dorado, the never-was city of gold, Latin America’s 390 million Spanish speakers, are a siren call to Spanish publishers, whose domestic market numbers just 46 million souls. There is even a side bet on 190 million Portuguese speaking Brazilians

Some publishers, lured by these big numbers, have tried and failed in the past, foundering on the reefs of censorship, economic and currency volatility, and the local business culture, though taking forever to get paid – if at all – should not have come as a shock to Spanish firms.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHEN the European Union (EU) set up the world’s first carbon trading market in 2001, the Emissions Trading System (ETS), advocates heralded a new dawn: carbon pollution could be brought under control in a way that benefited the environment while not damaging industrial interests.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHEN the European Union (EU) set up the world’s first carbon trading market in 2001, the Emissions Trading System (ETS), advocates heralded a new dawn: carbon pollution could be brought under control in a way that benefited the environment while not damaging industrial interests.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

THE USA’s Under-Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez has told just-style he is optimistic about the impact on the American textile and clothing sector of new bilateral trade deals struck by the Obama administration with South Korea, Panama and Columbia.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

COLUMBIA’S largest airport has long needed a new long-term development strategy, and it would appear one is coming, with the US government helping with funding. The El Dorado International Airport, servicing Colombia’s capital Bogotá, has in recent years been oversaturated by the growing number of both passengers and cargo, and no longer has the capacity to effectively meet demands.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SUPPORT for the imposition of a Eurozone financial transaction tax has been voiced at a hearing of the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee hearing. Avinash Persaud of Intelligence Capital, Sony Kapoor of Re-Define and Stephany Griffith-Jones of Colombia University all backed the tax for sourcing revenue from high frequency traders and intermediary financial players, and not what they regarded as "the real economy".…

BY JAMES FULLER

IF evidence were needed to show how globalised the confectionery sector has become – then look at the row between Ecuador and the European Union (EU) over possible EU controls limiting levels of toxic metal cadmium in cocoa powder and chocolate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed it is scrapping sugar production quotas across the European Union (EU) in 2015 when proposing a comprehensive reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). There have been calls from some member states and MEPs for the quota regime to be renewed, but the Commission has stuck to its guns and will continue with abolition.…

BY NADJA DROST

AMIDST a global gold rush spurred on by historically high prices, Colombia, with vast tracts of unexplored gold deposits, is emerging as a major source of the precious metal.

But Colombia’s gold boom is providing the country’s numerous illegal armed groups with sundry new ways to finance their wars as well as launder their ill-gotten profits.…

BY NADJA DROST

THE COLOMBIAN government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIAF) is asking that all gold buyers, refineries, exporters and importers in the South American country be legally required to report to the agency, in order to better detect suspicious financial activity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

Talks between Mexico and China at the World Trade Organization have failed to resolve a dispute over Mexico’s claims that China is illegally subsidising its textile and apparel producers, the Mexican government has told just-style. A spokesperson for Mexico’s ministry of economy said the two days of WTO consultations did not result in a settlement, opening the way for Mexico to request a WTO dispute panel to rule on its claims.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Bank has called on Latin American and Caribbean countries to reform their aviation systems and technology to boost predicted slow growth of air freight. A report predicts cargo traffic between the Latin America/Caribbean and the United States – the most important destination market – will grow 5.8% annually between 2010 and 2027.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

LATIN America is proving to be one of the most intriguing and exciting markets globally for beauty and personal care products. "The Latin American cosmetic market grew 20% in 2010, so now it is a market of US dollars USD64 million – almost as big as the north American market," said Mr Jaime Concha Prada, who recently served as president of CASIC, the Chamber of the Latin American Cosmetics Industry.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

INFORMATION technology innovations and especially the Internet have certainly changed the anti-money laundering and compliance officials share, store and access information, but as high-tech solutions become more streamlined and interconnected, one concern that still arises is security. Such concerns are increasingly being voiced as regards cloud computing, whose bulk remote digital muscle is regarded as attractive by financial institutions in boosting their work against money laundering and terrorist financing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HIGH sugar prices and tight supplies are a constant worry for confectionery manufacturers this year, and the European Union (EU) has been trying to keep these problems under control. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has estimated that global prices rose 81.4% from last July (2010) to this January (2011) and the EU has taken action.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has drawn a curtain over the longest running trade dispute in the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) history – approving December 2009 deals on reducing EU banana import tariffs. These had been struck with the USA, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela solving complaints the EU unfairly favoured Caribbean island banana exports with quota and tariffs.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

Students resist Colombia university liberalisation plans

Pacifica Goddard

University students across Colombia are in an uproar over their government’s reform plans for the country’s reform of higher education, which would allow universities to make profits and encourage them to forge partnerships with the private sector.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

FOR those doubters who claim the world’s senior anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) organisation the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) does not have much clout, a look at the case of Ecuador makes instructive reading. Last February, the Paris-basedFATF issued a stinging criticism of this South American country, with a public statement officially listing Ecuador as a country with serious AML/CFT deficiencies, along with such dubious fellow travellers as Angola, Ethiopia and North Korea.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD, KARRYN MILLER, GARRY PIERRE-PIERRE, KEITH NUTHALL

FOR niche spirits, obscure can be good – and so products made in countries not renowned for their spirits production can gather export market cache. Latin America and the Caribbean are regions where effort by buyers can pay dividends.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

DEFINING a niche drink is an arbitrary matter and what may pass as niche today may well be considered mainstream tomorrow. Flavoured vodka, for instance, had a relatively specialised following in Europe until a few years ago – now it is classified as an official spirit drink under European Union (EU) regulations.…

BY NADJA DROST

THE SURGING price of gold has unleashed a gold rush in Colombia, and international criminal networks are using the burgeoning trade in the precious metal to clean the proceeds of crime. In a country with as intimate a connection with the illicit drugs trade and terrorism as Colombia, the risks posed to anti-money laundering authorities are significant.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) has promised US dollar USD20 million in financing to Alquería, a leading dairy producer in Colombia, to help it expand into Colombia’s low-income and remote consumer markets.

The IFC has offered USD15 million as a senior loan as well as USD5 million in equity to modernise the dairy producer’s facilities, improve efficiency and develop new affordable, highly nutritious children’s dairy products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALYSHAH HASHAM

CANADA – long a difficult jurisdiction for the tobacco sector – became tougher still on July 5, when a national ban on manufacturing and selling most flavoured cigarettes, cigarillos and blunt wraps came into force.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

LATIN American men like to think they are known for good looks, machismo and self-confidence. And these consumers are today turning to cosmetics to sustain and accentuate this image. The Latin American market for male grooming products and services is one of the most dynamic in the world.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

THE ORGANIC cosmetics market has been booming over the last few years, generating substantial consumer interest in the US and Europe. As cosmetics companies scramble to offer the latest, most effective natural ingredients, many are turning to the biodiverse region of Latin America for inspiration.…

BY MARK ROWE

IS the recession’s worst over for the jet fuel aviation industry? Passenger traffic during this late spring and summer has risen sharply compared with flights year-on-year, giving hope to an industry that Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), described last year as "structurally sick".…

BY MARK ROWE

THE OIL palm is a prolific shrub that can be converted into palm oil, one of the most versatile fats known to man – rich in solid saturated fatty acids and able to withstand refining at high temperatures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE TOWN of Asbestos in French-speaking Québec, Canada – named after the mineral that underpins its economy – is waiting to see whether its provincial government will approve a Canadian dollar CAD58 million (US dollar USD56 million) loan enabling an underground mine to tap an immense deposit.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

While most of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages produced in Brazil are consumed domestically, the exception is the juice sector. Brazil is one of the world’s top three producers of tropical fruit, according to Brazilian Fruits Institute (IBRAF), and an important global provider of fruit juice.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

According to the US department of agriculture (USDA), about 70% of the 2.5 billion litres of fruit and vegetable juices sold in Mexico in 2009 were produced domestically. Mexico exported USdollar USD266.99 million worth of juices in 2009, compared to USD308.23 million in 2008 and USD247.29 million in 2007, according the UN Comtrade database.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

Despite the difficult economic climate, spirits are still selling well in Latin America, and in 2008, 3 billion litres of spirits were sold, according to Canadean. However, spirits for the most part are not a very dynamic segment, and consumption per capita has remained steady between 4.5 and 4.6 litres for the last five years, and growth was flat at 0.4% in 2009.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

Although in most parts of the world consumers cut back on juice and nectar consumption, and growth in this segment has been the slowest in 10 years, juices and fruit-flavoured drinks were one of Latin America’s fastest growing segments in 2009, according to Euromonitor International.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

The most important markets for bottled water have traditionally been developed economies like Western Europe and the United States. However, growth in these markets has recently flattened out, exacerbated by the global economic crisis and growing environmental concerns over the product.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

INTRODUCTION

LATIN America has never been a strong player in the global drinks marketplace, but maybe, as much of the region struggles towards unprecedented prosperity, this could change. Mexico has shown the way with the international profile of its beers, notably Corona, and its world-beating Tequila and Mezcal industries.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

The carbonated soft drink segment has suffered recently in the United States and Europe, as consumers have become more health conscious and switched to less sugary alternatives, but in Latin America carbonated beverages have continued to perform well.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

A decade ago, Latin America was considered to be one of the beer industry’s toughest markets, due to frequent bouts of economic uncertainty and political turmoil. But a lot has changed in the region since the year 2000, and recently instead of recoiling from this region, the biggest beer companies in the world have been fighting tooth and nail for shares of it.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

INTRODUCTION

LATIN America has never been a strong player in the global drinks marketplace, but maybe, as much of the region struggles towards unprecedented prosperity, this could change. Mexico has shown the way with the international profile of its beers, notably Corona, and its world-beating Tequila and Mezcal industries.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

LAST year in Latin America, British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI), the region’s two dominant companies, battled to maintain profits through declining volumes. Overall, Latin America was profitable for both companies. For BAT, profits were mainly attributable to a strong performance in Brazil, and improved premium brand sales, however volumes sales declined throughout the region.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

INTRODUCTION

There are signs around the world that the textile market is beginning to recover from the global economic crisis, and developing markets will be leading that recovery. Asia is, of course, at the forefront, but many countries in Latin America have also weathered the crisis and have come out in a surprisingly decent position, with their dynamic textile and apparel industries well positioned for future expansion.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FREE trade agreements struck between the European Union (EU), Peru and Colombia offering significant benefits to the clothing and textile sector, the European Commission has said. Once ratified, the deal will remove duties for finished textile products traded between the EU and these two medium-sized Latin American markets – populations 28 and 43 million respectively.…

BY MARK ROWE

BOTH the oils and fats industry and environmentalists have long been aware of concerns over the oil palm, the prolific shrub that can be converted into palm oil, one of the most versatile fats known to man.

For almost as long, there have been campaigns to improve its cultivation in south-east Asia, which accounts for around 75% of global supply; but concern is now focussing on South America, where cultivation is growing rapidly, placing pressure on the Amazon rainforest and other wildlife-rich habitats in a belt stretching across central Brazil and Ecuador to Colombia’s Caribbean coast.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ANCA GURZU and DAVID HAWORTH

THE CONFECTIONERY manufacturing sector in the European Union (EU) has a new political boss in the shape of Romania’s Dacian Ciolo?, who became the EU’s latest agriculture Commissioner on February 10. Appointed amidst pledges he would be willing to use EU money to guarantee food production, he has promised to undertake a swift review of the EU’s reformed sugar regime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA and Ukraine appear to have headed off an oil transit dispute that could have created a repeat of last year’s major disruption of European natural gas supplies. Moscow and Kiev have signed an agreement increasing by 30% the fees Ukraine charges on transporting Russian oil to the European Union (EU) – this alters a 2004 contract and the change had sparked a diplomatic tussle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINA has come under increased pressure to scrap export restrictions on certain key non-ferrous metals, with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) establishing a disputes panel to adjudicate complaints about these rules. With the European Union (EU) being joined by the United States and Mexico as formal parties to this dispute, the outlook could be serious for China if it loses.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD’S longest-running trade dispute is over: a deal on European Union (EU) banana imports has been initialled today in Geneva. The EU, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico and United States have struck a long-awaited agreement.…

By Leah Germain, International News Services

Globalisation has created new opportunities for the transfer of people and products across borders, and broadened the scope of many businesses around the world. But it’s not all good news of course: one of the seamier sides of growing international commerce is the abduction and trafficking of human beings. 

The problem is getting worse. Just over a year since the collapse of the global market, countries around the world have reported a significant increase in cases of the exploitation of people for monetary gain. While cases of kidnapping and ransom continue to be common in African and Latin American countries, such as Nigeria and Venezuela, the majority of organized human trafficking cases are actually in Europe.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

Despite recent efforts by the Chilean government to discourage and reduce smoking, Chileans continue to be amongst the heaviest smokers in Latin America. In fact, the cigarette market in Chile expanded in 2008: Chileans purchased 14.78 billion cigarettes compared to 13.97 billion in 2007 according the United Nations Statistics Division.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

Despite recent efforts by the Chilean government to discourage and reduce smoking, Chileans continue to be amongst the heaviest smokers in Latin America. In fact, the cigarette market in Chile expanded in 2008: Chileans purchased 14.78 billion cigarettes compared to 13.97 billion in 2007 according the United Nations Statistics Division.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN INITIATIVE boosting the ability of Latin American and Caribbean countries to prevent precursor chemicals from being diverted from legitimate uses to illegal narcotic production has been launched. The UN Office in Drugs and Crime and European Commission’s three-year PRELAC project will cover: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPOL’s Organised Crime Threat Assessments have not always contained a wealth of detailed useful information – but its 2009 report shows how crime groups are adopting innovative technology and organisational skills: international business should take note. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

The Venezuelan cigarette market experienced an overall decline in 2008 and the first half of 2009. In 2008, 11.95 billion sticks were sold, an 8.6% drop from the 13.07 billion sticks sold in 2007, according to the United Nations Statistics Division.…

By Leah Germain

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing US$8 million into Colombia’s private higher education sector to promote affordable technical and professional education for the country’s low and middle-income students. The funds will help finance the private Colombian university, Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios (Uniminuto).…

BY LUCY JONES

KNITWEAR featuring Barack Obama’s image stole the limelight at the Paris fashion week last autumn but whether the love will be returned to the global knitwear industry has yet to be seen.

Indeed, there is cause for concern, because Obama used protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

WHILE net revenues for tobacco product sales in some key countries in South America have experienced growth in the last few years, in general the regional tobacco product market is stagnant. Producers blame increased excise rates, public health awareness, and new and more rigidly enforced regulations for the gloom.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

The International Finance Corporation, an affiliate of the World Bank specialising in the private sector, is to take a 10% equity stake in Tecnoquímicas, a Colombia-based pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution firm. IFC’s investment of US$25 million will support the expansion of the company’s operations in the Andean region and Central America.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

CHINA’S entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2002 and the recent end of quotas in the US and European markets have created gigantic changes in the textile industry worldwide, with developing markets like those in Latin America expected to suffer the most from these shifts.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

BIOGRAPHY

Olga Sandoval, 29, Licensed Nurse, University Hospital (Hospital Clinico Universitario), Caracas, Venezuela

Nursing License, Central University of Venezuela (UCV). Worked for two years in the San Roman Urological Clinic and seven years at the University Hospital, including one year of intensive care training.…

By Keith Nuthall

A UNITED Nations-sponsored global initiative to encourage business schools to teach and promote social and environmentally responsible commercial practices has gathered a critical mass of support. More than 100 business schools worldwide have now signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Initiative.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

SINCE biotech oil crops were first commercialised over a decade ago, their use has experienced yearly double-digit growth worldwide, with Latin America being something of a nursery for this growth. Globally, the area of biotech crops grew by 13%, or by 12 million hectares, in 2006, to reach 102 million hectares, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas; ALAN OSBORN, in London; KARRYN CARTELLE, in Tokyo; BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg; PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut; RACHEL JONES, in Caracas; MARK ROWE; and KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round being slow to proceed since its 2001 launch – and only this year approaching something resembling and end game – free traders wanting to encourage global commerce have looked to bilateral and regional trade deals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINA has been baldly accused of hosting much of the world’s booming counterfeit auto parts production. A detailed report by the planet’s largest think tank – the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – said: "China has been repeatedly identified as the principal source of counterfeit activity in the automotive sector, involving both trademark and design infringements.…

BY SUZANNE KOELEGA

AMIDST country-wide political, health and economical reforms, Colombia’s largest airport, El Dorado International Airport, has embarked on a major reconstruction project. Construction has started and should be completed by 2011.

Colombian civil aviation authorities on September 20, 2007, gave the green light for the US$640 million project.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

A NUMBER of factors have contributed to a booming Latin American market in soap, perfume and cosmetics – most importantly, regional economic growth and a healthy overall GDP. Hair care is the region’s biggest seller, but an increase in life expectancy has created a growing demand for skin care products, especially those related to anti-aging and sun protection.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE EUROPEAN Commission is attempting to find a solution to its long-standing row with Latin American countries over banana exports by rolling the dispute over into the multilateral World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Development Round. These talks restart in earnest September 3, and Commission agriculture spokesman Johan Reyniers said today (Monday) that the Commission was negotiating with Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Peru and Brazil to secure a deal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank has signed a US$40 million expansion package with British Virgin Islands controlled Kappa Energy Colombia Ltd. Kappa focuses on the Abanico oil field, Magdalena Valley and the Cerrito gas field, near Cucuta.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank has signed a US$40 million expansion package with British Virgin Islands controlled Kappa Energy Colombia Ltd. Kappa focuses on the Abanico oil field, Magdalena Valley and the Cerrito gas field, near Cucuta.…

BY MARK ROWE
CLIMATE change, the general scientific consensus now holds, is taking place, and will continue to do so even were we to stop our fossil fuel emissions overnight. And while there may be jests to the effect that hotter summers would be good news for drinks manufacturers, the reality is that the drinks sector faces as many challenges as any other industry, both in terms of ingredient and energy supplies, production adjustments and related commercial issues.…

BY LIZ HALL

SIX years ago, government representatives from nine South American countries gathered in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, to sign a document of great importance to those concerned with fighting money-laundering (ML) and terrorism financing (TF).

On December 8, 2000, representatives of the governments of the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, signed the Founding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formally establishing GAFISUD, a regional body modelled on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

IN line with the growing recognition in the 1980s of anti-money laundering campaigns as a weapon against terrorism and increased knowledge global drug supply routes, (implicating a number of Latin American countries), governments of the western hemisphere concluded that greater formal co-operation was necessary in fighting dirty money.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

IN line with the growing recognition in the 1980s of anti-money laundering campaigns as a weapon against terrorism and increased knowledge global drug supply routes, (implicating a number of Latin American countries), governments of the western hemisphere concluded that greater formal co-operation was necessary in fighting dirty money.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ONLY comparatively recently have the world’s anti money laundering agencies come to grips with alternative remittance systems (ARS) and even today the scale of the systems and the degree of infiltration by criminals is still not fully known.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE REMARKABLY quick approval of the European Union’s (EU) Third Money Laundering Directive this summer has delighted the EU’s law enforcement agencies but it may have done little for the composure of lawyers who had hoped, in vain as it turned out, that the measure would tackle what they see as the deficiencies of the 2nd directive approved in 2001.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ECUADOR, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala have launched disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation opposing planned European Union duties on their banana exports from 2006, when current quotas are scrapped. Caribbean producers will pay lower tariffs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ECUADOR, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala have launched disputes proceedings at the WTO opposing the planned level of EU duties on their banana exports from 2006, when the current quota system is scrapped. Caribbean producers will pay lower tariffs.…

BY LIZ HALL
A PROFUSION of family-run businesses, corrupt and under-resourced authorities and low wages has traditionally meant much commercial crime goes undetected in Latin America. But the tide is turning, with more and more companies unwilling to turn a blind eye to fraud, bribery and counterfeit goods production.…

BY LIZ HALL, in Alicante

SINCE March 2005, Operation White Whale, an extensive international anti-money-laundering operation spearheaded by the Spain’s National Police (the Policia Nacional), has produced the arrest of 57 people and the laundering of at least Euro 250 million euros obtained through illegal drug trafficking, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ONLY comparatively recently have the world’s anti money laundering agencies come to grips with alternative remittance systems (ARS) and even today the scale of the systems and the degree of infiltration by criminals is still not fully known.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST counterfeiting press for Euro banknotes uncovered in Latin America has been seized by Columbian police, working with Interpol, who netted 54,400 forged 100 Euro notes, 104,700 fake US dollars and a lithograph machine in Bogota, the capital.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DOMINICAN Republic heads the list of countries granted low rate tariff quotas by the USA for sugar and sugar-containing product imports made in 2004-5. It has been allocated a 185,335 tonne quota, followed by Brazil with 152,691 tonnes and Philippines, 142,160.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ATTACK has been made on the United States, European Union (EU), and other textile importing jurisdictions for waiting until the last minute to abolish most restrictive quotas under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Textile and Clothing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…

BY MARK WILSON
AWASH with recently-passed legislation and newly-established Financial Investigation Units, the small nations of the Caribbean have transformed their money laundering controls since the mid-1990s. In 2000, five Caribbean island jurisdictions made up one-third of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of fifteen non-cooperative countries and territories, each of them with ‘serious systemic problems,’ in the words of a FATF review published on June 22 of that year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPREHENSIVELY gloomy forecast for the future of the European Union (EU) coal industry has been issued by the European Commission, underlining its determination to press for closures of most unprofitable mines to trim Brussels’ and Member States’ state aid budgets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has signed an international charter on the capture and storage deep underground of carbon dioxide, also involving Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, China, Russia, Britain and the US. This Sequestration Leadership Forum is developing schemes to capturing CO2 at source and storing it for thousands of years deep underground, probably in depleted oil and gas wells, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STORAGE of CO2 deep underground in uneconomic coal seams is one key option being considered by the (carbon) Sequestration Leadership Forum, which has just been joined by the European Commission. Other members are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Norway, China, Russia, Britain and the US.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE is a tendency amongst international business to think that the drugs trade has little impact on the real economy. Not so says a United Nations agency report, drugs harm legal commerce. Keith Nuthall reports.

THE INTERNATIONAL Narcotics Control Board has to encourage governments to take tough action against illicit drugs and it knows that nothing corrodes effective policing against illegal narcotics than the dubious assumption that the trade actually promotes sustainable development in poor countries.…

BY EDWARD PETERS
FOR a snapshot of the current state of the Chinese tobacco industry, casual observers need go no further than the massive adverts blanketing some of the main highways in Shanghai, which is generally considered to be the most go-ahead city in the People’s Republic (PRC).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RICHES that can be made from the illegal ivory trade are well known, but what of illicit imports and exports of rare flowers. Shipping protected orchids to Europe, Japan and north America can make criminals a lot of money.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank has announced that it is investing US$100 million in Coumbian insurance and finance company the Suramericana Group; the investment is one of the most comprehensive projects ever undertaken by the IFC in Latin America.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE UNITED States faces another World Trade Organisation battle over tariffs, this time with Thailand over Washington’s intention to waive clothing duties on exports from South American countries. The Thai government has warned that its industries will suffer heavily if the US waives duties on garments and footwear exported from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.…

Keith Nuthall
A DEAL has been stuck at the World Trade Organisation’s goods council, which will extend the time that eight developing countries can erect trade barriers to restrict the import of components for automobile manufacturing, to promote local engineering companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared a planned Spanish publishing joint venture between Germany’s Bertelsmann and Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA, of Italy, combining all the book publishing divisions and imprints in Spain and Latin America of Random House and Mondadori.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU’s Scientific Steering Committee has advised that it is “likely” that BSE is present in cattle herds in Albania, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that it is “unlikely” to be present in India, Pakistan, Colombia and Mauritius, and “highly unlikely” to be in the cattle of Brazil and Singapore.…