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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.…

South Korea’s pharmaceutical industry, a global player with exports reaching South Korean Won KRW7.93 trillion (USD6.8 billion) in 2020, has been expanding its foothold in the world’s Muslim markets, offering guarantees that manufacturers avoid inputs that are offensive to Muslims.…

The executive director of the Chamber of the Textile and Apparel Industry, of El Salvador (CAMTEX – Cámara de la Industria Textil) has told Just Style how her manufacturing hub is seizing market opportunities growing as Covid-19 ebbs.

Patricia Figueroa, who has been in her job since 2015, also highlighted the challenges the Salvadoran clothing and textile industry will tackle in 2021-22, with CAMTEX’s help.…

INTRODUCTION

The concept of bespoke tailoring and couture has long been regarded as the apex of clothing and textile making, given that it matches a garment closely to its wearer and intended use. Until now, such personal apparel has inevitably been expensive, given runs are individualised – indeed, bespoke has been the antithesis of mass-produced fast fashion.…

INTRODUCTION

In a highly technical textile sector segment such as the manufacture of compressed garments, the use of detailed standards to guide production is not just useful in guaranteeing quality output, it can help manufacturers and brands’ marketing. Where products are associated with international, regional, national and private standards, this builds confidence in consumers, promoting sales.…

In five years, the Europol-hosted website ‘No More Ransom’ (NMR) (1) “prevented criminals from earning almost a billion euros through ransomware attacks,” the European Union (EU) police agency claims. Launching a new more user-friendly home for its ‘Crypto Sheriff’ app on Monday (July 26), Europol said that through 121 free tools, able to decrypt 151 ransomware families of this malware, the NMR repository has helped more than six million people recover locked files for free.…

For evidence that China’s nationalistic ‘guochao’ consumer trend is gathering pace in the personal care product sector, look at the country’s powerful e-commerce sector. In February 2021, the turnover of cosmetics on China’s Taobao platform was Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY14.7 billion (USD2.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 11%, with the top brand in sales being the guochao-oriented personal care product brand Hangzhou-based Florasis Hua Xizi.…

AMERICA has long been the global policeman of international sanctions, including breaches of AML rules, but evidence suggests that the US dollar’s use in international transactions could be weakening and is having to compete with the rising power of crypto currencies.…

The Bangladesh clothing industry is looking forward to the completion of five state-of-the-art textile factories at the Korean Export Zone (KEPZ) with combined floor space of 2 million square feet as an important expansion of local backward linkages. The factories, three of which are under construction, and two (producing polyester yarn and fabrics) are already open, will produce manmade fibre (MMF) yarn and finished garments, at the KEPZ, located in the south-eastern port of Chattogram.…

With global markets and daily consumer habits being disrupted for almost a year due to the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, some oils and fats sales have grown – and a key example is soybean oil. This is true worldwide, from North and South America, to Africa, Asia, and Europe.…

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has proposed a new accounting standard helping companies whose income can be changed by rate regulations, to give a clearer picture about their financial performance. Sectors covered include utilities and public transport, whose charges are often capped by governments.…

NEW integrated paint manufacturing units in India with an annual production capacity of less than Indian Rupees INR500 million (USD6.6 million) will soon be exempt from securing prior environment clearance by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). This rule, covering plants with production facilities for resins and pigments, is expected to come into force early next year (2021) once the central government formalises and gazettes a new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification.…

The China National Coatings Industry Association (NCIA) on July 31 informed members that it has been told by the ministry of ecology and environment to investigate the production, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste in the coating industry and compile a management guide based on the investigation’s findings.…

EUROPEAN, Japanese and South Korean automotive manufacturers are about to follow new international guidance ensuring increasingly-networked vehicles are protected from hacking by cyber-criminals.

This follows the release of two new UN regulations, adopted June 24 by the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.…

THE ASIA-Pacific region, even one-party states such as China, have developed legal protections for whistleblowers, although the comprehensive protection more commonly found in Europe is still usually absent.

South Korea is one jurisdiction leading the pack on developing robust whistleblower protections.…

The challenges facing European automakers are not unique, given data protection laws are being developed around the world. In the USA, a California Consumer Privacy Act came into force in January (2020) and contains significant requirements for how businesses collect, retain and use personal information – see https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB375…

THE NEED to actively recharge electric vehicles makes them less attractive to consumers, especially when batteries can take eight hours to charge. So, the development of ambient technologies that enable EVs to charge themselves as they operate has been a key focus of automotive R&D.…

EAST Asia’s auto-making hubs may have been making a better fist of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis than manufacturing centres in Europe and north America, but the pandemic has been harming the industry in the region.

Government responses have varied, however, with no major scrappage packages being announced.…

COURT documents unsealed yesterday (May 28) containing indictments by a grand jury for the US District of Columbia district court detail an international web of financial deception laundering more than USD2.5 billion towards North Korea, including payments specifically earmarked for the country’s nuclear weapons programme.…

WANT to check the dark web for illicit services? Search engines accessible from the public web offer links to the dark web. One example is Finland-based Ahmia (https://ahmia.fi/), which yields interesting results from searches such as https://ahmia.fi/search/?q=hacking. A more recent variant that has attracted attention from the IT security press is Kilos – http://dnmugu4755642434.onion…

While medical teams worldwide seek to free up hospital beds to care for Covid-19 victims, attention is turning to effective wound care for patients to hasten healing following surgery, avoid cross contamination in a hospital and enable proper care at home following direct clinical supervision.…

Ecommerce is becoming an increasingly popular way to order food and drink, with home deliveries booming during the current Covid-19 health emergency. But to what extent are such deliveries generating carbon emissions through fuel and additional packaging waste? E-commerce accounts for an increasingly large slice of the global retail market, growing 28% in 2017, 22.9% in 2018 and by 20.7% in 2019, to USD3.535 trillion, and forecast to reach USD4.2 trillion in 2020, according to eMarketer’s Global Ecommerce Forecast 2019.…

As with every business sector in every country around the world, Japan’s paint and coatings industry has been thrown into uncertainty over the full impact and longer-term implications of the coronavirus Covid-19 that has swept the globe since first emerging in China in December 2019. …

With the Korea Cosmetic Industry Institute (KCII) estimating there were USD11.7 billion’s worth of South Korean-made personal care products (‘K-beauty’) sales in 2019, including nearly USD6.49 billion in exports, and more than 16,000 individuals and businesses officially licensed to provide cosmetic products and services, South Korea’s cosmetic industry has the innate strength it will need to cope with the Covid-19 crisis.…

Indonesia’s industry ministry launched an initiative in February (2020) aimed at eliminating lead used in paint made and sold in the country. It involves the Indonesian paint industry, is part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) project and is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), an international investment body.…

The can making and filling sectors have become beneficiaries – at least in the short term – of consumers turning their kitchen cupboards into pandemic pantries, stockpiling canned food and other long-lasting products because they fear of food shortages because of Covid-19.…

The textile industry in Guatemala represents 8.9% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), but a rise in production costs is jeopardising the industry’s overseas sales competitiveness. Therefore, Guatemala producers are focusing on buying and installing cutting edge technology to improve existing operations and even create new business divisions, maintaining their competitiveness against other suppliers in the region, Alejandro Ceballos, president of the country’s Apparel & Textile Industry Association (Vestex).…

In a market long dominated by well-established players, the success of ‘masstige’ beauty brands, which combine elements of mass and luxury products, is creating fierce competition in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Consumers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman looking for skincare and cosmetics are increasingly shopping from South Korean brands such as Etude House, which opened a branch in Dubai Mall in 2018 and is known for its quirky kitsch products, and The Face Shop, which arrived in Dubai in 2008 and recently renovated its four concept stores in the city.…

THE MALAYSIAN government has issued a Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIB) Framework, which tells financial institutions of importance to Malaysia’s wider economy to hold minimum levels of reserves to protect themselves against troubled times. Mandatory ‘higher loss absorbency’ (HLA) requirements for listed systemic banks, ranging between 0.5% to 1.0% of risk-weighted assets, will come into force from January 31, 2021.…

South Korea’s ministry of food and drug safety (MFDS) has released new guidelines designed to enable food companies selling into the country to more easily comply with national nutrition labelling regulations. The guidelines include a 10-step code of practice, a decision tree pictorial as well as a Q&A tutorial.…

The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has revealed details of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) Involving the disgorgement of profits worth GBP2,069,861 (USD2.7 million) reached with Berkshire, southern England-based Güralp Systems Ltd. The information was released after three individuals from the seismic device company were acquitted, meaning reporting restrictions could be lifted.…

BEAUTY consumers worldwide are demanding more transparency in manufacturing processes and ingredients, less environmental impact, and simple and clean ingredients. So goes the product, so goes the packaging. The beauty industry is responding with brand packaging and labelling that transmits a marketing message that the beauty product inside may be healthy and full of goodness.…

IMPORTERS of paints into Japan have been given four time-windows in 2020 to secure ‘small volume permits’ under which coatings can be brought into Japan without any new chemical components being declared to regulators. This special exemption applies to imports of a product into Japan under one tonne per year, says the Japanese Chemical Substances Control Law.…

Businesses across the personal care product sector have expressed concern about a comprehensive national digital marking and traceability system that the Russian government plans to comprehensively put in place by 2024. A limited selection of products are being used to trial the system from the New Year and this includes perfumes.…

Data by the Asia Nonwoven Fabrics Association (ANFA) shows that nonwovens production in Asia increased by a robust 6.5% year-on-year in 2018, to 5.6 million tonnes. China-based manufacturers were responsible for the bulk of this output, producing 4 million tonnes. However, but India-based production increased at faster pace, at 15.9% up, year-on-year.…

Clothing and textile executives attending a New York conference have been told they need to take special care on assessing their supply chains, to ensure they are not tainted with human rights abuses, because not only may the reputational risks be severe – criminal liability may follow.…

A sharp increase in imports of cars into Vietnam has underlined how this south-east Asian country of 96 million people, could become a major auto market, especially as Vietnamese drivers move from motorcycles to cars.

At present, the motorcycle is king in Vietnam.…

Japan’s sluggish paint and coatings industry is showing little indication of a dramatic up-tick in its fortunes, despite domestic giants looking to innovative new products and acquiring some major players in overseas markets to drive future growth.

And with a worsening trade war between China and the United States threatening to tip the global economy into recession, on top of a deepening bilateral dispute with South Korea, a major market for Japanese paint, analysts suggest the next few years may be challenging for the sector. …

Described by environmental campaigners as “the elephant in the COP21 negotiations room” when climate change proposals were agreed in Paris during 2015, today – the electrification of shipping is moving ahead apace.

From inland ferries to cargo barges and cruise ships, vessels are being built or retrofitted with renewable power propulsion sources, curbing the shipping industry’s major emissions.…

THE BEAUTY and personal care sectors have performed healthily in Australia and New Zealand throughout the past year, with companies providing consumers with fulfilling experiences, skin care excellence and natural ingredients performing particularly strongly.

The continued growth of beauty and personal care in Australia in 2018 was also driven by the expansion of specialist retailers Mecca and Sephora in premium beauty.…

VIETNAM has been a major textile production hub for years and, as the country’s government pushes sectors to embrace technology associated with the Industry 4.0 movement, some companies are adapting advanced methods such as digital textile printing.

According to statistics from India-based Mordor Intelligence, Vietnam is the third-largest garment exporter in the world, with the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea serving as major destination markets. …

THE CHINESE government has from September 1 imposed 5% additional retaliatory duties on US exports of paint to China, in the latest round of the trade war between the two countries. The new tariffs cover products such as polyester, acrylic, ethylene and polyeurathane powdered paints; acrylic, polymer and vinyl liquid paints; and more – see http://gss.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/zhengcefabu/201908/P020190823604938915640.pdf…

‘AUSTRALIAN-made’, ‘cruelty-free’ and ‘natural’ – these were the marketing buzz words most commonly cited during Australia’s leading beauty event – Beauty Expo Australia – staged in Sydney between August 24 and 25.

Although ‘Proudly Australian’ has become a slogan used by many beauty brands based in Australia, the conference actually demonstrated how Australian beauty retailers and consumers are open to trying more international lines, new treatments and innovative products.…

WHILE the future of Hong Kong’s political stability hangs in the balance given the long-term protests that have been wracking the territory, its underlying economy seems to be just holding together, with DBS Bank, for instance, in August projecting zero economic growth.…

THE EUROPEAN automobile manufacturing sector will be hoping that the newly negotiated European Union (EU)-Mercosur trade deal is ratified quickly, given it scraps import duties imposed by Brazil and Argentina on EU automobile exports of 35%.

This agreement has been welcomed by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which noted that the South American trade bloc, which also includes Uruguay and Paraguay, is home to around 270 million people, where 3.3 million new cars were sold during 2018.…

JAPAN and South Korea have many similarities in AML/CFT terms, being the only countries in north-east Asia with democratic, open societies, who also run their economies according to standard free market principles. They are also both developed industrial economies in which the rule of law is applied consistently and transparently.…

THE PERSONAL care product sector has an increasingly complex and global supply chain and as a result, international technical standards are growing in utility and importance. Where suppliers and retailers follow and require the use of international standards to guide their operations and products, there will be fewer nasty surprises, in orders and purchases.…

THE BALTIC States, being European Union (EU) member states adjacent to Russia and Belarus have been exploited by Russian criminals as a gateway for their illicit funds into the EU and beyond.

This is despite that as EU member states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania must implement EU anti-money laundering and anti-terror finance legislation.…

THE INDUSTRIAL minerals mining and processing sector and its customers has an increasingly complex and global supply chain and as a result, international technical standards are growing in utility and importance. Where suppliers and retailers follow and require the use of international standards to guide their operations and products, there will be fewer nasty surprises, in orders and purchases.…

Russia has criticised Mexico at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for maintaining anti-dumping duties on Russian steel exports, which it claims are outdated, being based on pricing assessments using data from a different country.

The Mexican government used this method for past dumping calculations on Russian steel because it is permitted under WTO rules where a government dominates an economy that does not operate as a free market.…

ON the face of it, Japan and Russia are perfect partners for growing trade in liquified natural gas (LNG). Japan has always had few fossil fuel resources for powering its sophisticated industrial economy, and Russia has plenty of gas to export.…

China has witnessed a wave of changes in colour cosmetics sold on this key market to woo young Chinese women aged 20 to 29, or the so-called generation Z, according to the London-based research firm Mintel.

Growing up with dynamic advances in technology advancement, one big difference between Gen Z and earlier generations before is that this smartphone-glued generation is highly receptive to mobile technology-based marketing.…

GROWING consumer and regulatory demand for more sustainability in consumer markets is redefining the packaging sector, and beauty segment is no exception. As a result, airless packaging – while sometimes expensive – offers virtues such as the ability to preserve product freshness, minimal oxidisation, low wastage and efficient dispensing, that can dovetail with greening market trends.…

EAST Asia’s two personal care product industry giants – Japan and South Korea – have long been competing for major slices of the regional and global beauty market. At present, however, Japan’s industry seems to be performing more solidly than its rival, which is struggling with the fall-out of diplomatic problems with Asia’s largest market – China.…

THE MANUFACTURE, distribution and use of leaded paints in projects funded by Japan’s public sector has been banned from March (2019), at the end of the 2018-19 fiscal year. For instance, Japan’s ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology revised its building construction standards for educational facilities in April (2019), requiring manufacturers to use a non-leaded primer or sealer before applying antibacterial paint on surfaces such as gypsum board.…

THE SUBMISSION to the White House by the US Department of Commerce of a report recommending whether and how the USA should impose tariffs on automotive and related parts on national security grounds has provoked significant concern worldwide.

President Donald Trump has 90 days from February 17 (to mid-May) to decide on whether to impose the tariffs under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.…

The coatings market of South Korea looks on track to achieve modest growth this year, with gains in architectural coating sales and a mild revival of marine coatings projected to offset a deteriorating outlook for automotive coatings. The overall South Korea paint and coatings market in 2018 has been estimated by market researchers Frost & Sullivan at USD4.5 billion in sales and 1 million tonnes in 2018, making it the fourth largest coatings market in Asia, in both value and volume terms – behind China, Japan and India.…

Considerable investments continue to be made in Italy’s beauty and personal care market continue despite this being a stagnant market, according to sector-specific and general economic data and forecasts,

Despite this, global retailers in the beauty and personal care (BPC) industry continue to eye up what remains one of continental Europe’s largest domestic BPC markets, knowing that consumer demand remains solid, even if not growing.…

EASTERN Europe remains a highly diverse market, where major beauty brands must think strategically to achieve economies of scale and a regional presence that really deliver profits. This is also a region where some markets are significantly bigger than others – with Russia and Poland being key targets.…

The Philippines’ latest national trade data, published on October 10, has suggested that a recent slump may be over for this southeast Asian country’s troubled garment export sector. It was considered a sunrise industry during the 1990s but has since fallen far behind its Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian counterparts.…

DIGITAL production technologies could help African manufacturers pick up business lost by Chinese rivals because of the trade war in the USA, with brands looking to take advantage of the free trade agreements that many African countries have with the USA and Europe.…

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.…

BY this time next year, there could be as many as 30 garment manufacturing factories that are owned and operated by Asia-based companies in Haiti, according to Georges Sassine, president of the Association des Industries d’Haïti (ADIH).

The Caribbean country has seen an influx of Asian-owned businesses since early 2017 and Sassine said there are presently almost 20 such garment factories in Haiti.…

As he took in the fourth Africa Sourcing and Fashion Week (ASFW) in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last week, Kenneth K Han, managing director of Shints ETP Garment Plc, said he is optimistic over the country’s potential in the textile and apparel sector, despite many challenges.…

THE GOVERNOR of New York has announced a USD13 billion plan to upgrade John F. Kennedy International Airport, building two international terminal complexes on the airport’s north and south sides, and associated land transport links. The investment will draw on USD12 billion in private funding, said Gov Andrew Cuomo.…

WHILE crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero and the others have built their reputation and success of the reliability of their blockchain-based transaction records, it does not mean that these financial systems are immune to fraud. Indeed, fraudsters have found ample opportunities to exploit and subvert the eco-system that surrounds cryptocurrencies.…

UNTIL the past two years, scalp care products have been regarded as an elite product in China, with sales generally restricted to expensive lines sold at high-end hair salons. But recently, this specialist hair care products have been increasingly available on the mass market and are proving especially popular with young women commanding higher incomes, according to the London-based research firm Mintel.…

SOUTH Korea’s textile exports to Vietnam and the south-east Asian country’s garment exports to South Korea are forecast to register continued robust growth on the back of a range of free-trade agreements linking the two countries.

Data compiled by the department of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware in the USA, stressed how South Korea has for a long time been a leading supplier of textiles for Vietnam, last year (2017) accounting for 17.8% of Vietnam’s total textile imports in value terms, whereas Vietnam is quickly becoming the second-largest garment supplier for South Korea after China, with 30.9% of all imports in 2017 in value terms, up significantly from just 1.7% in 2007.…

Cryptocurrencies have made a big splash across Asia, and governments have taken very different regulatory approaches to curb associated financial scams and money laundering.

While there is one group of countries that has banned the operation and use of cryptocurrencies entirely, including China, India and Vietnam, a second category spans countries that see cryptocurrencies as potentially boosting their own financial sectors.…

With a historic heat wave plaguing the Korean peninsula since the middle of July, killing at least 29 people and hospitalizing 2,300 others with heat-related illnesses, it is little surprising that suncare product sales have been booming in South Korea.

And while traditional sun protection products such as parasols and straw hats have sold well – July sales up 83% and 37% year-on-year respectively, according to local e-commerce website Auction, (www.auction.co.kr),…

Vietnamese officials say that last year’s shock withdrawal by the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been overcome as Vietnam has in any case entered into 16 other bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs).
This includes the forthcoming Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – which includes all the TPP partners bar the USA, and the European Union-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA), creating numerous opportunities for textile-garment investors.…

THE ASIA-Pacific region has many of the elements needed to create a burgeoning nonwovens market and industry. It has growing middle class consumption of basis personal products and continued manufacturing and infrastructural expansion for industrial nonwovens. These items can be supplied my new mass-production in emerging market countries and niche lines from the region’s richer developed industrial economies.…

THE ASIA-Pacific technical textiles sector is still robust – with China’s industry continuing to grow, with bulk products still a focus. Meanwhile, more developed economies such as South Korea and Japan keep honing their output, looking for specialist niches and edges created by innovation.…

THE NORDIC region is associated with cleanliness, environmentalism and healthy living, so maybe it is no big surprise that sales of natural organic personal care products are strengthening in these markets. So engrained is this trend, say experts, colour cosmetics lines are increasingly being developed as natural organic products.…

SOUTH Korean conglomerate Lotte Group has announced a major expansion of production at its plant in Kaluga, western Russia, which will involve building a new manufacturing line and double the capacity of an existing line.

A statement sent to just-food said that the construction and installation work should be completed by this November.…

SPAIN’S personal care product market is continuing to grow after years of post-financial crisis weakness. Spain’s skincare, cosmetic and perfume industry continues to mature, and has turned in solid sales figures for 2017, reflecting the optimistic mood of the economy after the ‘lost’ years of the recession.…

OFFICIAL projections for Vietnam’s garment and textile exports in 2018 are bright but input imports for garment and textile production were more than half of the value of garment and textile exports in 2017, highlighting the need for increased domestic sourcing, industry analysts say.…

Prospects for US beef sales in Taiwan are looking rosy, buoyed by a good economy and greater demand from Korean BBQ and hotpot restaurants sourcing high quality cuts, according to the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Joel Haggard, the association’s senior vice president of its Asia-Pacific office, in Hong Kong, told GlobalMeatNews: for the past year or so “there’s a kind of a ‘meat boom’ happening; what we’re seeing is more outlets trying to do business with beef on their menus,” and adding that a “robust” economic growth was fueling diner interest.…

THE ORGANISERS of Italy’s premier beauty trade fair, Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna, are claiming a record number of visitors and international buyers attending this year’s 51st edition of the event from March 15-19. Exceeding the 250,000 visitors from last year’s Cosmoprof, attending foreign buyers, distributors and retail representatives grew 11% in 2018, year-on-year.…

THE SOUTH Korean cosmetics market, currently evaluated by Frost & Sullivan at USD12.4 billion and growing at 7% year-on-year, is leaving behind the negative effects of a de facto boycott by Chinese tourists. The travel freeze, sparked by Seoul’s decision to install a US-made anti-missile system to protect itself from North Korea, has been in place since early 2017.…

SWEEPING tax reforms introduced by The Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte designed to raise funds for infrastructure improvements, may cool a protracted vehicle sales boom in the country, experts warn.

The first stage of changes under a Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law (TRAIN) came into force in January and the resulting higher excise taxes saw sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles drop by 9.5% and 8% respectively in the first quarter of the year compared to January-March 2017.…

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)…

SOUTH Korean companies in the digital textile print supply chain are aware that Asian rivals beat them on price, but are managing to stay afloat through better quality, company managers have told Digital Textile.

“Chinese products are very competitive with their prices, but their quality is still not good enough to satisfy global standards,” said Hani Kim, a manager at the overseas sales department of Unitrade, a Seoul-based manufacturer of heat transfer film for digital textile printing.…

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with ambitious plans to build 16 nuclear reactors, both small and large, to generate 17GWe by 2040. While no tenders have yet been awarded, the kingdom is working with numerous international partners to develop its nuclear infrastructure and safety systems.…

JAPAN’S long-standing exposure to organised crime groups such as the Yakuza means that however effective the country’s anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) systems maybe, they will continue to face sophisticated challenges.

Despite enhanced criminal and civil legislation targeting Japan’s underworld groups, such as the February 2000 Act on the Punishment of Organised Crimes and the March 2007 Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds (See part 4 at https://www.npa.go.jp/sosikihanzai/jafic/en/maneron_e/manetop_e.htm),…

WHILE Mongolia is a low-income country, with an annual per capita income of approximately USD3,590 in 2016 (said the World Bank), its economy is heavily reliant on mining, so increasing foreign investment in the sector is boosting the risk of dirty money entering the country.…

CONSUMERS do not like sales tax, and they are particularly sensitive to tax-based price increases when new taxes are introduced. So, it is maybe no surprise that personal care product sales in the Middle East have been dampened by the introduction of value added tax (VAT) in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2018, inflating beauty product prices.…

THE AUTOMOTIVE sector is a hotbed of growth for industrial performance materials like nonwovens. And the global market for such materials have the potential to cross the EUR2 billion mark soon, according to Germany-based Freudenberg Performance Materials Holding SE & Co KG.…

The trend to combine the brand power of cosmetics and food products, or ‘foodmetics’, has become prominent across global beauty markets, with consumers increasingly convinced about the strong connection between good food and beauty.

Consumers trust that healthy eating directly impacts their appearance, and this is opening up a range of possibilities for cosmetics manufacturers wanting to tap into the marketing power of using food ingredients.…

Consumers in the home of cosmetics, France, appear to be combining the long-established traditions of French-made products with the ultra-modern twist of Korea-inspired ‘K-beauty’ items in their latest personal care trends.

Traditionally, mention France and cosmetics in the same breath and an image of class and sophistication is brought to mind.…

Shinsegae Food, the baking unit of South Korea’s leading retail conglomerate Shinsegae Group, on October 30 in a filing to the KRX Korea Stock Exchange announced that it plans to invest South Korean Won KRW51.9 billion (USD46.6 million) boost its bakery output.…

With its history of currency counterfeiting, drug trafficking, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the laundering of related proceeds and payments, there is surely no state worldwide that has a worse money laundering track record than that of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea).…

Money laundering in South Korea (formally the Republic of Korea – RoK) has been associated by law enforcers with domestic criminals, official corruption and ethnic Koreans living abroad – which is not particularly unusual.

But, South Korea has an additional exposure to money laundering – its close and difficult relationship with the world’s most isolated pariah state – North Korea.…

IT is no surprise that Singapore has a significant exposure to money laundering and terrorist finance. It is one of the world’s largest financial centres, a major free-trade hub and has neighbours where corruption and Islamic extremist insurgent groups remain are real threats.…

THE SOUTH-EAST Asian kingdom of Thailand, has high profile vulnerabilities to money laundering, being known for its widespread sex trade sector its role in the international drugs trade, and also for being the base of human trafficking networks, according to the USA state department’s 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR).  …

MILLENNIALS are changing the cosmetic industry like never before: this generation with an ‘I want it all – I want it now’ attitude is forcing cosmetics firms to cut down on lead time –  the speed with which products are delivered to market – to a bare minimum.…

IF the future of beauty in South Korea has a face – then that could be male, say beauty experts. Indeed, market researcher Euromonitor International expects sales of genderless beauty products to grow strongly in this key market in 2018, including face masks, BB/CC creams, toners and mists, lip gloss and tints, as well as sun protection lines. …

SALES of colour cosmetics have trailed skin care purchases in China, but this may change in future, with make-up sales rising at a rapid pace in recent years.

A survey by market researchers Mintel in April this year revealed 62% of urban Chinese women claim to wear make-up every year, up significantly from the 38% of women surveyed just a year before.…

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…

HONG Kong continues to be a thriving cosmetics and personal care market, with its local consumer base enjoying ample spending power and with traders benefiting from its strategic location as an import gateway to mainland China.  

GlobalData, a provider of business information and analytics, valued Hong Kong’s cosmetics and market at Hong Kong dollars HKD18.1 billion (USD2.3 billion) in 2016, largely dominated by imports.…

THE AUSTRALIAN cosmetic and toiletry retailing market has experienced modest growth amidst fierce competition over the past decade, figures reveal, with a constant stream of new products, many environmentally conscious, maintaining consumer interest in an otherwise saturated market.

According to California-based market research company IBISWorld, more than 18,000 people work in almost 4,000 businesses in the cosmetics industry in Australia, a country of more than 24 million people.…

THE UNITED Arab Emirates (UAE) may hold an enviable portion of the world’s oil and gas reserves, at 4% and 3.5% respectively. But this has not stopped the country diversifying its long-term energy sources through developing nuclear power. With generation imminent, nuclear energy regulators and companies are watching closely how this rare event – a country embarking on a new civilian nuclear programme – rolls out.…

AS the growth in Vietnam’s middle class generates wealthier and more educated consumers in this country with a population of 95 million, growing domestic demand for locally-produced fabrics is pushing the country’s textile industry away from focusing entirely on exports.

While demand for inexpensive, imported clothing still exists in Vietnam, even cost-conscious consumers are beginning to seek out new styles and better quality in their fashion purchases, market traders have told WTiN.com.…

QATAR is a small country, roughly half the size of Wales and with a population of 2.5 million. But what it lacks in demography and geography, it makes up for in spending power – and its significant cosmetic surgery industry is a key beneficiary.…

LIKE its neighbour Japan, South Korea has a tradition of using public baths and spas, notably their 24-hour jimjilbangs, with hot and cold soaking pools, bathing and massage areas, saunas, entertainment lounges and communal sleeping.

As a result, the country’s spa and beauty salon sectors seem largely unaffected by the drastic decline in Chinese tourist arrivals amid retaliatory measures by Beijing over Seoul last year allowing US forces to deploy THAAD defence missiles on South Korean soil.…

WHEN the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) released its annual set of global statistics in June (2017), and South Korea was not among the world’s 24 countries that performed the most surgical and nonsurgical procedures in 2016, there was considerable surprise.…

SOUTH east Asia’s countries are as culturally diverse as those in Europe, and far more contrasting in economic development, so it is no surprise that their personal care product markets differ in their tastes and priorities. Fortunately, with the region’s largely emerging market economies still on a robust growth trajectory, and its more developed economies solidifying their wealth, the usual personal care product sale trend is one of expansion, albeit unevenly and sometimes with set-backs.…

THE VIETNAMESE government has said it wants to shift the country’s clothing manufacturing sector from its current low-cost model to an added value sector that includes design and branding.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc is behind the change in direction, releasing a government decision signalling this formal policy change, although details of specific actions are still awaited.…

The Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KOFOTI), which is South Korea’s primary agency for the development of the textile industry, expects South Korean textile and garment investment in Vietnam to grow, albeit with shifting focuses as a response to the US abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).…

WITH the Asia-Pacific continuing to be the hub of global industrial growth and also a nexus of technological innovation, the region’s non-wovens sector has been making the most of these benefits, increasing both output and quality.

The Chinese nonwoven fabric sector, for instance, has been growing steadily, with 8-10% year-on-year growth in recent years, surpassing the average growth rate of the country’s entire textile industry.…

THE TRADE deal announced by the European Union (EU) and Japanese on July 6 that would cut tariffs and harmonise technical regulations has been welcomed by Japan and EU auto-makers – although the Europeans are expressing caution.

Brussels and Tokyo said they had stuck a “political agreement in principle” for an economic partnership agreement, that would phase out vehicle tariffs over seven years and bring regulatory convergence through a special auto annex. …

PAKISTAN’S ministry of industries and production has granted Category-A Greenfield investment status to four automobile manufacturing investors to set up manufacturing plants – effectively greenlighting their projects to establish auto-making plants in the country.

Shah Jahan Shah, spokesperson for Pakistan’s ministry of industries and production said he ministry had signed an agreement with these July 17 (2017).…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned that the Chinese government is planning to introduce what it calls “unjustifiable food certification requirements” for imports into China. This alert comes in a new annual report from the EU executive on international trade and investment barriers, looking at developments last year (2016) and upcoming changes.…

SAFETY concerns have been the key driver in rising sales of hair care products in South Korea, new figures suggest. According to market researchers Euromonitor International, the country’s haircare product market grew last year (2016) by 3% year on year to Korean Won KRW1.2 trillion (USD1.1 billion).…

While South Korea has not yet ratified the UN’s Paris Agreement dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, its important automobile industry has been making serious commitments to green practices, including the transition from solvent-based to waterborne coatings.

According to New Jersey, US-based coatings consulting firm Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney, the South Korean passenger car and light vehicle coating market involved supplies of 60,000 tonnes in 2016, and these are becoming increasingly environment-friendly: about one-quarter of basecoats sold are now waterborne.…

THE SYRIAN car sector has been hit hard by the country’s ongoing civil conflict, now into its sixth year. From nearly 90,000 cars being imported into Syria annually before the rebellion against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad started in 2011, imports have now plunged to around 1,000 cars a year.…

KENYA’S EDUCATION MINISTER CALLS FOR LESS GOVERNMENT MEDDLING IN AFRICAN UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

Kenya’s education minister has called for African governments to pull away from direct management of their country’s universities, saying such meddling is unnecessary and can hinder the development of effective management.…

South Korea’s Lotte is to create a new united investment wing, under a major restructuring of the Lotte group. This separate division will assume control of the investment business of Lotte Food Co, Lotte Shopping Co, Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co and Lotte Confectionery Co – although it will formally be owned by Lotte’s confectionery wing.…

Vietnam has an amendment to its criminal code under way that would make the crime of illegal dismissal of employees punishable with a jail term of up to one year. That textile executives could be affected by this draconic measure has followed the Vietnam government adopting a policy principle of “piercing the corporate veil” on January 1 this year.…

South Korea’s ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs announced yesterday (March 13) that it plans to lift chicken import tariffs from early April to stabilise local chicken prices.

These have been rising since the ministry on March 6 banned imports of US poultry after a strain of H7 bird flu virus was confirmed at a Tennessee, USA, chicken farm that supplies poultry major Tyson Foods.…

South Korea on March 21 lifted an import ban on chicken from BRF, a major Brazilian poultry exporter that has been at the center of a food safety scandal involving meatpackers allegedly paying off inspectors to overlook practices including processing rotten meat.…

IMPROVING airport management is often a matter of examining good practice overseas and for airports wanting to improve the time taken to move transfer passengers from one flight to another, their executives might learn from Helsinki Airport.

Finland’s key international airport has the fastest passenger flow in Europe for transfer passengers going on to other European destinations, with a minimum connecting time between flights of just 35 minutes, according to Finavia, the state company that operates Finland’s 21 commercial civilian airports.…

ASIA’S technical textiles sectors continue to grow, fuelled by ready buyers in domestic and overseas markets, but governments can and do help too – keen to promote these sustainable high tech industries.

China is a case in point. Its industry and information technology ministry plus the National Development and Reform Commission in January (2017) jointly issued development guidance for technical textiles as part of China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which runs from 2016-20.…

THE cosmetics sector of South Korea, evaluated at USD12 billion in sales during 2016 by market researcher Frost & Sullivan, has been enduring a tough crash course in political risk since its government agreed to host the US missile-defence system Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD).…

THE USE of airless technology in packaging is largely about zero product waste, preserving product integrity and less packaging material – and it obviously gels well with the growing trend towards sustainability. That explains the uptake in this technology led by cosmetics packaging, industry experts argue.…

THE PAINT and coatings sector in Indonesia looks set to grow significantly in coming years as rising salaries and job creation mean more disposable income for middle class purchases of residential product. The south-east Asian archipelago’s poverty rate has dropped from 17.2% in 2002 to 11.1% in 2015, according to the World Bank.…

South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Il-ho has confirmed that his government has begun drafting a talent-based immigration system to serve as a key driver of economic competitiveness in the future. According to Yoo, the Office for Government Policy Coordination (OPC) has created a task force to counter the country’s demographic changes and plans to produce mid and long-term immigration policies in the first half of the year.…

THE EUROPEAN beef sector must keep its direct payments at a time when the European Union (EU)’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is under review, according to new research highlighted by the European Parliament.

‘The EU cattle sector: challenges and opportunities – milk and meat’ report, published February 27 by the parliament’s agriculture and rural development committee, says these payments play an important part in farm-household income.…

The vice chairman of South Korean electronics giant Samsung Jay Y Lee, was arrested on bribery charges last weel (on February 17) and is being held in custody awaiting a decision on his indictment. Lee, the heir to the family business is accused of paying South Korean won KRW43 billion (USD38 million) in bribes to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of the now-suspended President Park Geun-hye, in return for political favours.…

The Arabian peninsula oil-producing nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have long been considered a lucrative consumer market for international brands. Many businesses flourish in the region and the beauty and personal care product industries are no exception.

According to Euromonitor International, the retail value of the GCC region’s beauty and personal care market was USD9.3 billion in 2016 – member countries are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).…

The South Korean coatings market, estimated by Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney Inc, a New Jersey, USA-based consulting firm for the polymer and chemical industries, at 840,000 tonnes worth USD3.5 billion in 2016, has been challenging for suppliers in 2016-17, as demand is affected by two opposite trends.…

THE HONG Kong and Pakistan government have signed a comprehensive agreement on avoiding double taxation. Pakistani tax paid by Hong Kong companies will be credited against Hong Kong taxes on the same profits, with the reverse applying for Pakistan companies. Pakistan’s withholding tax rates for Hong Kong residents on royalties and fees for technical services (both currently 15%) will be capped at 10% and 12.5% respectively.…

2016 – Winners and losers

RETAILERS & BRANDS

WINNERS

US-based sportswear brand Under Armour delivered its 26th consecutive quarter of 20%-plus revenue growth in the third quarter of 2016, with sales increases across all divisions. Net sales were up 22% in the third quarter to USD1.47bn.…

VIETNAM’S construction and manufacturing sectors are driving demand for paints and varnishes as economic growth remains healthy despite speed bumps this year. While this key south-east Asian emerging market’s economic growth took a hit this year thanks to environmental issues and weak global export demand, the country’s paints and coatings industry continues to grow.…

PHOTOS posted on the Chinese microblog platform Weixin (commonly known in English as WeChat) from the Indonesian holiday island of Bali recently are emblematic of key trends in China’s cosmetics and personal care markets, notably booming ecommerce sales. Over 100 Chinese sales managers – technically self-employed and operating on commission – flew to Bali as guests of USANA Health Sciences Inc, which in 2010 acquired BabyCare Ltd, a China-based direct selling company that develops, manufactures and sells nutritional products.…

ONE of the wealthiest countries in the world, Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was estimated at USD73,653 in 2015, according to the World Bank. Close to 85% of the country’s 2.5 million population are expatriates and this has influenced the skincare products on offer, while high levels of disposable income continue to drive consumption.…

VIETNAM’S construction and manufacturing sectors are driving demand for paints and varnishes as economic growth remains healthy despite speed bumps this year. While this key south-east Asian emerging market’s economic growth took a hit this year thanks to environmental issues and weak global export demand, the country’s paints and coatings industry continues to grow.…

VIETNAM’S construction and manufacturing sectors are driving demand for paints and varnishes as economic growth remains healthy despite speed bumps this year. While this key south-east Asian emerging market’s economic growth took a hit this year thanks to environmental issues and weak global export demand, the country’s paints and coatings industry continues to grow.…

Central Bank theft – casino repercussions: the Philippines

The theft in February of $101m from the Bangladesh Bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank New York in an audacious hack of SWIFT codes saw funds flow to casino accounts at Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in the Philippines.…

Vietnam’ clothing and textile industry has been assessing the impact of losing an anticipated huge garment export boost under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) now that US president-elect Donald Trump has promised to sign an executive order pulling out of the 12-nation trade deal.…

As China’s banks get bigger, they are also drawing the attention of global money laundering investigators. Eyes were certainly focused on Bank of China (BoC) earlier this year: the bank stands accused Florence police and public prosecutor’s office of funnelling EUR4.9 billion from Italy to China between 2007 and 2010 with Italian authorities claiming much of that figure was from the proceeds of crime.…

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.…

The most current pressing issue for Taiwanese human resources executives is arguably the failure of the island’s enterprises to timely craft leadership succession plans. There are the headline-grapping stories such as that of Morris Chang, 85, founder of the world’s largest semiconductor maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd (TSMC), who has held on as chairman and returned as chief executive officer (CEO) in 2009 after having temporarily passed on the position.…

The cosmetics surgery sector in South Korea, the industry’s undisputed bellwether in Asia, expanded strongly in 2015, with the number of total cosmetics surgery procedures growing by 17.9% year on year, to 1.2 million, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) knitted fabric importers are continuing to focus their sourcing overwhelmingly on Turkey, China, and South Korea, according to data released by the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex). With their low production costs, fabric expertise, and advantageous free trade agreements, these countries offer key benefits as a sourcing destination.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) knitted fabric importers are continuing to focus their sourcing overwhelmingly on Turkey, China, and South Korea, according to data released by the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex). With their low production costs, fabric expertise, and advantageous free trade agreements, these countries offer key benefits as a sourcing destination.…

THE ENERGY market in Asia is one of the most dynamic sectors in the region, and so government policy and regulation is having to be nimble and flexible, trying to coax production in a sustainable direction.

Take the deregulation of Japan’s household electricity market, which went into effect on April 1.…

THE UK’s vote on June 23 to quit the European Union (EU) creates deep uncertainty over the shape of future electricity industry regulations in Britain, and the UK’s regulatory relationship regarding power supplies with countries remaining in the EU.

Victory by the ‘Leave’ side in Britain’s in-out referendum enables the UK government to kick off an exit process by invoking Article 50 in the Treaty on European Union, which gives notice that member state wishes to leave.…

South-east Asia is a region that has sharp contrasts in economic development, from between the wealth of Singapore to countries such as Myanmar, where poverty is endemic and consumer markets are relatively undeveloped.

Such contrasts pose challenges for personal care product companies seeking regional strategies to tap the markets of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 10 countries, whose cosmetics suppliers have to comply with the standards of the ASEAN Cosmetics Directive, which was modelled on European Union legislation.…

Liberalising Myanmar’s cosmetics market is expected to grow significantly in coming years as it has one of south-east Asia’s largest populations (53 million people) and a growing middle class. However, however consumer sophistication and spending power remains low compared with many countries in the region – its 2014 gross national income per head was USD1,280, according to the World Bank.…

THE UK’s personal care and cosmetics industry faces uncertainty and potential future trade challenges with the European Union (EU) following the 52% to 48% June 23 referendum vote to leave the EU. “No longer being part of a single market for the free circulation of goods and no longer being a key player in the development of legislation governing those goods will be a major challenge to the cosmetics industry as it will be to all other sectors of the UK industry,” Chris Flower, director-general of the UK’s Cosmetic, Toiletry & Perfumery Association (CTPA), told Soap Perfumery and Cosmetics.…

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 UK’s vote yesterday (June 23) to quit the European Union (EU) creates deep uncertainty over the shape of future food and drink regulations in Britain. The same applies to market access for companies operating from Britain or seeking to export to its consumers.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s trade directorate general and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office have said that they will be assessing the impact of Britain’s anticipated exit from the European Union (EU) on the planned EU-US Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP).…

A new textile training academy in the Javanese city of Solo is an important step towards addressing the critical shortage of middle managers in Indonesia’s garment industry, according to chairman of the Indonesia textile association Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia (API), Ade Sudrajat.…

A SENIOR UK-based defence and security think tank has called on governments, financial institutions and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to take fresh action to stop money being moved to finance illicit nuclear weapon programmes.

A paper from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) has called on governments to start imposing tougher and more comprehensive actions against financial flows that could help build nuclear weapons.…

THE UK’s vote last Thursday (June 23) to quit the European Union (EU) creates deep uncertainty over the shape of future nuclear industry regulations in Britain. The same applies to EU market access for British nuclear fuel and component companies or exporters from the rest of the EU wanting to target British nuclear operators.…

South Korean spandex-manufacturer TK Chemical Corp, an affiliate of the SM Group conglomerate, yesterday (May 26) confirmed to just-style that it will build a 10,000-tonne-a-year spandex plant with an initial investment of South Korean Won KRW80 billion (USD68 million) in Iran.…

Yesterday’s (May 17) easing of US sanctions against Myanmar to improve bilateral trade and allow more financial transactions to take place could result in more US fast-food companies establishing a presence in the former pariah state.

The US treasury, for instance removed seven state-owned enterprises and three state-owned banks (the Myanma Economic Bank, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank), from a blacklist.…

INDONESIAN consumers are becoming increasingly brand-savvy as their incomes surge, driving up the country’s body care product market. As of 2015, this retail segment generated USD169.41 million in sales, and is expected to reach USD245.09 million by 2020, according to Ghina Romani, a researcher with the London-based market intelligence company Canadean.…

Seizures of contraband cosmetics have become an increasingly common sight on local TV in China. A recent case in point (this March – 2016) saw 1,488 boxes of South Korean cosmetics seized from a forty-foot container in the east coast port city of Qinhuangdao, about 300km east of Beijing.…

Chinese consumers’ preference for foreign brand and the sparsity of internationally-recognised domestic brands helps explain why some of the country’s largest personal care product conglomerates have been eyeing foreign acquisitions.

For instance, Shanghai-based Fosun International Ltd purchased Israeli cosmetics maker Ahava this April (2016); while Shanghai Jahwa United Co snapped up UK-based Mayborn Group, manufacturer and distributor of Tommee Tippee baby and child products the same month.…

INDONESIAN consumers are becoming increasingly brand-savvy as their incomes surge, driving up the country’s body care product market. As of 2015, this retail segment generated USD169.41 million in sales, and is expected to reach USD245.09 million by 2020, according to Ghina Romani, a researcher with the London-based market intelligence company Canadean.…

Japan’s struggles with an ageing and declining population have been a frequent sources of angst for many sectors of the national economy in recent years, not least the cosmetics and personal care products industry. And while its domestic sales maintained moderate growth in the three years from 2012, there has been concern about the plateau that Japanese consumers would inevitably reach and the decline that would follow.…

Japan’s struggles with an ageing and declining population have been a frequent sources of angst for many sectors of the national economy in recent years, not least the cosmetics and personal care products industry. And while its domestic sales maintained moderate growth in the three years from 2012, there has been concern about the plateau that Japanese consumers would inevitably reach and the decline that would follow.…

South Korea’s ministry of health and welfare (MOHW) has released new guidelines designed to encourage consumers to balance their diet through eating more grains, fruit and vegetables. The ministry’s advice – released on Monday (April 11) also advises Korean consumers to eat less sugar, sodium and fat.…

South Korea’s food industry will have to follow new government labelling guidelines – part of Seoul’s strategy to encourage healthier eating by consumers. Under the rules released by the ministry of health and welfare (MOHW)on Monday (April 11), nutrition labelling on food packaging, manufacturers of snacks, processed foods and beverages will be required to display the sum of all monosaccharides and disaccharides in products.…

THE VIETNAMESE textile industry and government is planning to overcome poor productivity and a serious shortage of textile and dyeing materials to better leverage Vietnam’s inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.

According to an estimation by the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex), Vietnam will need up to USD15 billion’s investment to bring its mills and dyeing houses to a point where local textile sourcing can facilitate compliance with the TPP’s rules of origins, as regards domestic sourcing.…

Airless packaging producers around the world are increasingly giving brands a cutting edge in market competitiveness – the technology is spreading in North America, Asia and Europe, although it is struggling to find footholds in Latin America.

In the most mature airless packaging markets within north America and Europe, companies have introduced innovations combining airless technology’s protection of product with extra features that allow, for example, more precise application and help brands with customisation.…

With the desire for packaging beauty being an integral part of north-east Asian consumer culture, it is perhaps no surprise that Japanese and South Korean cosmetics companies have led the way with compacts – whose popularity is spreading worldwide.

The ultimate combination of utility and design, when Japanese cosmetics companies start developing a new compact product, its packaging needs to meet two basic requirements: it has to delight the user with the way it looks, and it must be easy and convenient to use.…

WHILE international clothing buyers today have a lot of sourcing choices, this multiplicity of options can bring its own management headaches, making it important that brands make subtle, complex and fluid purchasing decisions to keep ahead of the competition, Global research firm McKinsey’s biannual sourcing survey – last published in 2015 – of chief procurement officers (CPOs) at leading apparel companies is an interesting window onto today’s complex sourcing landscape.…

Boxes are not known for their excitement, but personal care product companies are making secondary packaging more alluring by designing them to give consumers an enticing glimpse of the goods inside. They are also using their collective imaginations to create aesthetically desirable mixes of different materials and textures, maybe combining these with visually arresting spatial design.…

VIETNAM as almost a “sole supplier of textile products” among Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries is banking on the TPP deal to expand its textile market share, according to VITAS – the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association. Moreover, a spokesperson from the association said that “many Hong Kong, South Korean, and Australian firms are developing and planning major textiles FDI [foreign direct investment] in Vietnam to produce yarn and fabric, the supporting textiles industry for apparel production.”…

Chinese tourism is changing the locations where cosmetics are sold internationally – and also changing how corporations are marketing to a savvier and better travelled breed of Chinese consumers, according to a detailed research report by a Hong Kong investment bank.…

Considering the ongoing doldrums within the global economy, 2015 was not a bad year for South Korea’s coatings manufacturers. The sector’s cautiously positive sentiment mainly survived because Korean coatings consumption has been boosted by a domestic construction boom that made up for lacklustre demand from the east Asian export powerhouse’s carmakers and shipbuilders.…

MANUFACTURERS of powder coatings in Asia are creating multiple applications products, such as combined fire retardants and anti-bacterial materials, whilst looking to maximise the use of sustainable ingredients. Producers in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea especially continue to produce innovative solutions.…

If there is one region in the world that could benefit from a rationalisation of corporate governance structure, it is surely Asia, with its shifting sands of complex company ownership structures. Globalisation has only increased the size of subsidiary/parent relationship webs.…

VIETNAM as almost a “sole supplier of textile products” among Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries is banking on the TPP deal to expand its textile market share, according to VITAS – the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association. Moreover, a spokesperson from the association said that “many Hong Kong, South Korean, and Australian firms are developing and planning major textiles FDI [foreign direct investment] in Vietnam to produce yarn and fabric, the supporting textiles industry for apparel production.”…

The beauty and personal care (BPC) market in Italy ended 2015 on a positive note, recording marginal growth in market sales, production and exports, according to a December 2015 report ‘Trends and Investments in the Cosmetics Sector’, released by the national cosmetics trade association, Associazione Italiana delle Imprese Cosmetiche (Cosmetica Italia).…

A year after the Russian rouble suffered its worst single-day drop in exchange rate value in 16 years, Russians are more cautious about buying cosmetics and are showing a tendency to downgrade to cheaper products or seek out sales items. Experts are expecting increased competition in these lower cost segments in the coming years, as well as growing consumer interest in local brands and natural cosmetics. …

If the 2013 and 2014 were all about the rise of South Korean personal care product brands in China, then 2015 was the year that regional currency wars and weaker economic sentiment at home dictated how Chinese consumers spent on cosmetics and toiletries.…

IT has been a tough year for China’s growing economy, which has experienced some unexpected faltering in 2015, but facial care product sales have continued to surge ahead.

Retailers of these products have posted strong and sustained growth rates, increasing by 8% in the whole of 2014 to Chinese Yuan Renminbi – CNY142 billion (USD22.1 billion) and are estimated to have grown by another 10.2% in 2015, to CNY (also known as RMB) 156.4 billion, according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…

AUTOMAKERS in Europe are looking at what potential benefits they could draw from a future upgrade of a 15 years’ old free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Mexico.
The two sides announced on Monday (May 11) that they are planning to start negotiations later this year, making it more comprehensive involving more regulatory harmonization than the existing deal that largely focused on tariff reduction: “We are aiming for an EU-Mexico deal that is comparable to the one with Canada and to the one to be concluded with the US”, the EU trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said, speaking in Brussels.…

Manufacturing powerhouse South Korea began its cap-and-trade system on January 1, 2015 as a part of an overarching goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4% reduction below 2005 emissions levels. If achieved, that would leave emissions at 30% lower in 2020 than they would be if current increases are maintained.…

A WIDE range of flavouring innovations continue to emerge in the global confectionery and sweet bakery industry as brands look to differentiate themselves with new formulations, unusual concepts, and novel natural products. Speaking to Confectionery Production, Lindsey Bagley, a UK-based technical consultant to the global food industry, observed that extensive research is taking place in the flavouring industry.…

The business outlook for South Korea’s coatings manufacturers was a mixed bag last year, with demand from some key buyers, such as construction, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and automakers, slightly increasing, but demand from shipbuilders has fallen. According to estimates made by Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney Inc, a New Jersey, USA-based consulting firm for the polymer and chemical industries, consumption of coatings in South Korea in 2014 reached 1.8 billion wet formulated pounds, valued at USD3.3 billion.…

DESPITE a recent report from the European Commission claiming the European Union (EU) 2011 Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea was behind a 90% hike in car exports to the Asian nation by July 1, 2014, South Korean manufacturers consider the agreement beneficial to both parties.…

Of all the countries that made up the old Soviet Union, the central Asian republics have proved the slowest to open up to the outside world. For the personal care product industry, this represents opportunities, but also significant hurdles and barriers.…

The secretary of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association has told just-style that she doubts demands from striking textile and clothing workers in her country will be met.
Khine Khine Nwe, also joint secretary general of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), said: “When we consider rising living costs in Yangon, then yes, the workers’ demands are reasonable.…

The European Union’s (EU) executive, the European Commission has used its competition law powers to open up a multi-billion dollar race for the huge global market for intelligent chassis systems and advanced collision-avoidance technology. Its regulatory starter pistol has been the terms it has imposed on German firm ZF, of Friedrichshafen, for its planned acquisition of TRW, based in Detroit.…

SOUTH Korea’s personal care product industry is credited with developing the sheet mask, a facial covering made from microfiber, paper or hydrogel, impregnated with skincare products – and this delivery method is still popular with Korean consumers.
Indeed, in South Korea, spending on sheet masks grew 11.6% in 2014 to South Korean Won KRW80 billion (USD72.34 million), following a 9.3% decrease in spending in 2013.…

COSMETICS and personal care product packagers are creating innovative designs to attract consumers, using labelling and decoration that appeals to multiple senses. Packagers have also faced challenges related to selling products online, developing new strategies to convey the same appeal and information to consumers from a web page as on the shelf.…

The Egyptian energy sector is facing numerous challenges in the immediate and long-term, mirroring how the country is struggling to secure political stability. Insufficient power supply is resulting in sporadic power cuts in the major cities, driving up sales of private generators.…

Japan’s confectionery manufacturers have a reputation for being creative when it comes to new product lines, and when it comes to bubble gum and chewing gums, companies will need all the innovation they can manage. Domestic sales in the segment have been falling sharply.…

THE SOUTH Korean men’s toiletries market in 2014 grew to a value of USD221.81 million and a volume of 28.25 million units. New data from market research provider Canadean Ltd shows 2014 year-on-year increases in value of 6.9% and volume of 5.6%.…

DAYS before the beginning of the year, when Cambodia increased the minimum wage to US$128 per month, hundreds of employees of a South Korean-owned garment factory rallied in front of Seoul’s embassy, calling for an intervention in their dispute with factory management.…

Roaming fees, net neutrality and radio spectrum are set to be the main regulatory issues related to M2M (machine-to-machine) and IoT (Internet of Things) discussed by European Union (EU) member states in 2015, say Brussels sources.

The new European Commission, which took office on November 1, inherited a full in-tray from its predecessor, notably having to pilot the ‘connected continent’ package through the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.…

THE SOUTH Korean cosmetics sector is hoping that a new bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) struck between its country and China in November will ease sales of their products into the world’s largest market.

This is despite the fact that the deal did not make much headway in reducing Chinese duties, given the FTA leaves cosmetics in a ‘hyper-sensitive goods’ category for Beijing.…

THE MANILA-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has urged Cambodia to upgrade its manufacturing sector, including by developing textile production and finishing, to successfully transition from a low-income to a middle-income country, according to the bank’s November report.

In its ‘Cambodia: Diversifying beyond garments and tourism – country diagnostic study’, the bank noted the key challenge in the survival of the country’s garment sector was the country’s focus on low-value, labour-intensive cut-make-trim activities.…

US meat exporters are to launch inexpensive cuts of American corn-fed beef in the Taiwanese market, with demand for premium products being depressed by soaring prices for American beef, accompanied by lacklustre consumer spending power on the island. The US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) recently partnered with a Taipei five-star hotel to promote plate fingers, petite tenders, and clod hearts, which with prices between Taiwan New Dollars TWD250 (USD7.91) to TWD550 (USD17.41) per kilogramme would roughly cost half the price of the currently popular rib eye, fillet, and boneless ribs.…

Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the continuing conflict in the east of Ukraine overshadowed international events last year. But Russia’s cosmetics industry has proved resilient and even maintained ties with Ukraine.

Despite the concerns and challenges, the forecasts for the calendar year 2014 are buoyant.…

CHINA’S huge cosmetics market remains a battleground for the world’s multinational personal care product players and they are still more than holding their own against local manufacturers and brands, especially in higher end segments.

The country’s overall cosmetics and personal care product market was worth Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY274 billion (USD44 billion) in 2013, according to data provided by market analysts Euromonitor International.…

THE RESPONSIBILITIES of Singapore accountants to report suspicions that their clients maybe involved in money laundering or terrorist finance have become tougher since November 1. New guidelines released by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) have strengthened requirements for accounting firms to establish anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) controls.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) seems to have sparked a regulatory trend with its REACH chemical control system, with more and more countries in Asia adopting REACH-inspired chemical management laws. Thus textile finishing units, companies and suppliers will have to pay increasingly close attention to chemical regulations in Asia-Pacific countries such as China and South Korea.…

SOUTH Korea clothing executives have welcomed the bilateral free trade agreement signed on Tuesday (November 11) between China and South Korea, telling just-style this should ease the export of South Korean clothing exports to China. No details on rules of origin and duty elimination have been revealed, but South Korean textile industry insiders are nonetheless optimistic.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) might have been making the regulatory heavy weather with its REACH chemical control system, but paints and coatings companies increasingly have to pay close attention to developing chemicals regulations in Asia-Pacific countries such as China and South Korea.…

THE CLOSE relationship between the textile sectors of Vietnam and South Korea could be intensified by the end of the year, with the two countries’ governments saying they want to conclude a bilateral trade deal this year.

Talks have been ongoing since September 2012.…

NORTH Korean textile product exports to China are expected to quadruple to USD800 million by the end of 2014 from 2010, according to the Seoul-based Korea International Trade Association (KITA) – giving Chinese clothing firms a welcome supply of cheap fabric.…

Although the outgoing European Commission president José Manuel Barroso on his late-August visit to Vietnam presented the planned European Union (EU)-Vietnam free-trade agreement (FTA) as a nearly finalised deal – and Vietnamese state media predict the signing will happen in October – the Vietnamese textile industry is still unsure about the FTA’s potential impact.…

South Korea is a society that values image and status. It is said that looking good is a sign of your respect towards others. Men and women of all ages in the country typically place great emphasis upon looks; personal grooming and beauty routines are of utmost importance. …

Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems help apparel companies share information more efficiently and plan for future lines more accurately as time-to-market shrinks.

Software such as the WFX Cloud PLM helps speed up companies’ processes from product concept and design to delivery at stores, said Jatin Paul, CEO of WFX (World Fashion Exchange).…

Tech-savvy South Korean publishers were out in force at the Beijing Book Fair this weekend hoping to strike sales and partnerships. South Korea’s e-book players looking for partnerships in China have an edge, said Kim Tae-won, head of ebook sales at Seoul-based Book n Book.…

EXHIBITORS at two key international textile and shoe exhibitions in Vietnam have spoken personally to WTiN.com on the value of investing time and money appearing at such shows.

The Vietnam International Exhibition on Garment Manufacturing Equipment and Fabric 2014 was organised concurrently with the International Shoes and Leather Exhibition 2014 in Ho Chi Minh City from July 16 to 18.…

AN INFLUX of big-brand café and convenience retail chains is whetting China’s appetite for sweet bakery, including in smaller cities. Brands are diversifying and moving upmarket, offering coffee and seating.

Take Beijing’s Beixinqiao, in the city’s older quarter, a busy intersection of residential blocks and a hub for restaurants and youth-focused fashion stores.…

THE HONG Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) has welcomed the launch by the Hong Kong government of proposals to reform the special administrative region’s regulatory regime for auditors of listed companies and other organisations.

There will be three months of consultation (ending September 20) on the proposals whose goal is enhancing the independence of Hong Kong’s audit regulators.…

AFTER in November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) smashed into the Philippines’ Visayas island chain, killing 6,000 people and destroying or damaging about 1 million homes, plus schools and other infrastructure, a lot of repainting and recoating was required.

However, while the country’s government spoke of committing some USD8 billion for reconstructing and rehabilitating the devastated areas, nine months on, few replacement housing units have been built, indeed some May local press reports suggest none at all have been constructed.…

A SUPERVISOR of an American company in Vietnam’s Binh Duong Province has told just-style how she saw demonstrations against foreign ownership of clothing and textile companies turn into ugly riots. But industry insiders in other Asian countries claim the resulting damage will not seriously deter future foreign investment.…

Foreign companies setting up production bases in Vietnam will have to take additional care when hiring staff because of a new labour law decree, a union official has told just-style.

Dr Tran Thi Thanh Ha from the labour relations department of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour stressed that the new ‘Decree No 03/2014’, which came into force on March 15 (2014) would increase controls strengthened last year by another law (Decree No.…

The reorientation of South Korea’s steel plate makers towards clients making marine installations for offshore oil and gas companies might guarantee future business, but there is a risk of falling margins, a report has warned.

UK-based energy industry market researchers and consultants Douglas-Westwood has warned especially that such energy work can need eight to ten times less plate per USD of order value compared to conventional ships.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Trade Centre (ITC) and the Cambodian ministry of commerce are trying to revive Cambodia’s silk production sector, as the country is importing almost all its total 400 tonnes annual raw silk requirement.

Currently, only five tonnes of Cambodian silk, which is noteworthy because of its natural yellow colour, is produced in the country each year.…

At this year’s Vietnam Textile & Garment Industry Expo, which bills itself as “the biggest and the most important event in the textile and garment industry of Vietnam”, only 60 of the 502 companies exhibiting were Vietnamese. WTiN.com visited the show, in Ho Chi Minh City, last month noting that 283 exhibitors were Chinese companies, with fabric, accessories and machinery manufacturers of 22 other countries making up the rest.…

A FREE trade agreement signed between Canada and South Korea could see increased investment by the nuclear fuel hungry Korea in Canada’s abundant uranium resources.

The agreement – inked on March 11, and Canada’s first with an Asian country – lays down rules on how South Korean investments should be made in Canada, with a focus on boosting transparency and predictability, according to a note from the Canadian government Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).…

An official at the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) has predicted to Steel First that the trade agreement struck between Canada and South Korea on Tuesday could increase demand for Korean-made steel.

The official, who had worked on the trade deal talks, explained that there were currently “no fixed plans” to create Korean car plants in Canada and also that any increased demand for Korean cars in Canada arising from the deal would probably not be met by the two Korean-owned plants in the USA (in Georgia and Alabama.)…

A TRADE agreement struck between Canada and South Korea this week (Tuesday March 11) has raised fears in the Canadian automobile about a potential increase in South Korean automotive exports.

Upon the agreement’s ratification (which may happen within a year), South Korea will remove all existing tariffs, including on all passenger cars and light trucks (8%) and all automotive parts (3% to 8%) exported from Canada.…

THREE of the world’s biggest marine coatings markets – China, South Korea and Japan – have a lot in common even though they face diverse market conditions across Asia, according to market analysts. China’s shipyards will power growth in the Asia-Pacific marine coatings market, but it is the major international coatings companies and their China-based joint ventures that remain in prime position to benefit, according to new research from consultancy Frost & Sullivan.  …

CANADIAN industrial mineral producers look set to benefit from a new free trade deal signed by their government with South Korea. Canada’s key potash sector is welcoming the agreement.

With South Korea being a key developed target market, lacking many mineral resources and needing to fertilize a strong agricultural sector, Canada already has a healthy industrial mineral trade with South Korea.…

The Aluminium Association of Canada has welcomed the striking of a Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement, saying it will help its industry boost sales to South Korea.

Once the deal has been ratified (probably within a year), 98.7% of tariffs levied on metal and minerals traded between the two countries will be eliminated.…

CANADIAN meat exporters have welcomed a Canada-South Korea free trade agreement announced yesterday (March 11), saying it will boost trade and help them compete for sales in South Korea’s often wealthy markets.

“The absence of an FTA [free trade agreement] with Korea was causing substantial and growing prejudice to the Canadian pork industry due to the tariff rates since all of our key competitors in South Korea have FTAs in place,” said Jean-Guy Vincent, chair of the Canadian Pork Council.…

South Korea’s plans to drastically cut the number of university places in the country over the next decade, because of declining population rates, has caused unease and disquiet within the country’s higher education. The South Korean minister of education Seo Nam-soo has said the government plans to cut 160,000 university places by 2023.…

Lotte Confectionery is to set up a second new plant in India to manufacture Choco Pie chocolate covered cream-filled biscuits, the South Korean company’s most popular snack brand in India.

The new USD50 million unit in Rothak, Haryana province, will be ready by February 2015 and will supplement production from Lotte’s existing plants near Chennai and Nellikuppam in south India.…

TURKEY’S tobacco leaf industry enjoyed a boom year in 2013, with total tobacco production for the 2012 crop (purchased in 2013) up 52.6% to 69,348 kilogrammes (kg), according to data from Turkey’s Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority (Tütün ve Alkol Piyasası Düzenleme Kurumu – TAPDK).…

PLANS to open more branches of foreign universities in South Korea Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) are back on track, say managers of the development. The US-based George Mason University, and the University of Utah, and Belgium-based Ghent University, are planning to open branches at Incheon this year (2014).…

THE GOVERNMENT of South Korea is expected to announce a new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard this coming year, which could increase target performance to 20km/liter, wardsauto has learnt. A senior official at the transportation energy team of the Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO) expects the change to have a positive impact on the industry by encouraging manufacturers to develop more fuel efficient vehicles, including hybrids, electrics, and clean diesels.…

INCREASINGLY stringent regulations governing the cold chain transport of medicines for human use are tipped to become a major driver for the uptake of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology by pharmaceutical suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to a recent report published by industry analysts Frost & Sullivan, America and Europe currently divide the biggest slice of market share in the global market for cold chain RFID.…

THE LAST few years have brought significant changes to the apparel sourcing landscape in Asia. The era of Chinese low-cost apparel manufacturing is well behind us, and several countries have stepped up to claim their part of the manufacturing pie.

Apparel industry analysts say that although China’s dominance continues, a clear segmentation in Asia is now taking place.…

WHILE Australia’s healthy economy is the envy of most countries in the world, and obviously this boosts the personal care product industry in the country – there are concerns that retailers and brands are over-charging consumers. Indeed, Australian consumers are paying as much as 50% more for the same cosmetics as United States and European consumers, according to a recent investigation by Australia’s consumer organisation Choice.…

WHILE the European Union’s (EU) ban on sales of cosmetics with ingredients tested on animals was imposed as recently as March 2013, its impact has been felt as far away as east Asia.

Japan’s cosmetics firms, for instance, prepared well in advance for the change in legislation.…

THE GOVERNMENT of South Korea is expected to announce a new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard this coming year, which could increase target performance to 20km/liter, wardsauto has learnt. A senior official at the transportation energy team of the Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO) expects the change to have a positive impact on the industry by encouraging manufacturers to develop more fuel efficient vehicles, including hybrids, electrics, and clean diesels.…

Lump new car sales with the larger used car market, which accounts for around 60 percent of total sales, and overall sales are down 7 percent on last year, according to the Automobile Importers Association.

Yet while a drop in second-hand car sales is a boon to dealerships – and an environmental plus when it comes to the country’s carbon emissions, with fewer fuel-inefficient clunkers on the roads – the market has gone through a radical change in recent years that can be summed up in one word: downsizing.…

FORD is pressing United States and European Union (EU) negotiators involved in the world’s largest ever bilateral trade talks to write promises not to manipulate currency exchange rates into the resulting agreement, its executives have told wardsauto.

In a private briefing, executives from the US car giant said they wanted to create a global precedent by writing these commitments into the planned EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).…

India’s target for increasing its steel production capacity to 142 million tonnes by 2017 is unlikely to be achieved because of regulatory roadblocks and iron ore supply disruptions, experts have told Steel First.  

“New steel projects in India are not getting [regulatory] clearances and therefore in the next two to three years, only 15 to 20 million tonnes of new capacity would be added to the existing 90 million tonnes,” said Giriraj Daga, an analyst with Nirmal Bang Securities [SPELL CHECKED] in Mumbai.…

THE EUROPEAN Research Council (ERC) will be able to recruit top young scientists from South Korea following an agreement signed by the European Commission and the South Korean government last Friday (Nov 8) in Brussels.

The agreement will make it easier for South Koreans to join research teams led by ERC grantees and be funded by the ERC for six to twelve months.…

A powerful panel of United Nations experts called yesterday (October 1) on India’s central and state governments to halt the construction of a steel plant in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. The group claimed at an announcement in Geneva that the project, promoted by South Korean multinational steel corporation Posco, would displace more than 22,000 people and disrupt the livelihoods of thousands more in surrounding areas.…

In an operation of almost military-like ruthless efficiency, labourers from the public works department ripped down the comfortable wooden straw-padded home of Canada’s national kitties and abducted the occupants, dumping them with unnamed volunteers to live a comfortable exile somewhere in Ottawa.…

THE DEMAND for lithium from large batteries designed to store and redistribute electricity from the grid could surge if a British pilot project proves a success. It involves building Europe’s largest lithium battery, at southern England’s Leighton Buzzard at a cost of British Pounds GBP13.2 million (USD20.4 million).…

FRANCE and Japan have two of the world’s most powerful personal care product sectors, but their companies fare quite differently when trying to sell into each other’s markets. The glamour of the French industry is a strong calling card in Japan, while Japanese manufacturers must work harder to persuade French consumers to buy their wares because of their technical excellence.…

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.…

THE NEGOTIATIONS for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and the United States, which started this month in Washington DC (July 8), could push the world towards a truly global vehicle regulatory system for the first time, according to EU sources close to the negotiations.…

WHILE the European Union’s (EU) auto sector is happy to see its trade imbalance with South Korea decreasing two years into the controversial free trade agreement (FTA) linking these two vehicle-making powerhouses, European car makers complain that they are still struggling to access the South Korean market.…

As befits a country as connected online as South Korea traffic controls in its capital Seoul are organised centrally and in an integrated way. As one of the world’s largest cities, with a population exceeding 10 million, Seoul has notoriously heavy traffic.…

PLASTICS companies have not responded comprehensively to requests from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) that they register certain ingredients and polymers in the now completed second registration process under European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH. ECHA says that by the May 31 deadline for registering chemicals made, used or imported in quantities of 100 tonnes or more, there were 984 substances left unregistered that companies had earlier promised to register.…

SOUTH Korea’s paint and coatings sector displayed sturdy stability in 2012, weathering an ongoing global economic slowdown that has affected growth rates in Asia, as well as Europe and north America. However the industry is worried about a new environmental law that has been inspired by the European Union’s (EU) REACH legislation.…

Personal care product investors and traders are eyeing Burma with a “gold rush mentality,” Marita Schimpl, head of qualitative research and new business development at Yangon-based Myanmar Survey Research (MSR), has told Soap Perfumery and Cosmetics.

Now that Burma has opened up to trade and investment and international sanctions are falling away because of democratisation, Ms Schimpl said: “Everyone thinks they can’t miss out.…

PAINTS and coatings companies have not responded comprehensively to requests from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) that they register certain coatings ingredients in the now completed second registration process under European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH. ECHA says that by the May 31 deadline for registering chemicals made, used or imported in quantities of 100 tonnes or more, there were 984 substances left unregistered that companies had earlier promised to register.…

ALTHOUGH China is known for skilled workers making clothing for big brand names, the country still relies heavily on imports when it comes to high performance nonwovens used in the medical, automotive, environmental protection and other fields, according to Beijing-based China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA).…

With 53,000 North Korean workers failing to show up for work at the inter-Korean Kaesong industrial complex since Tuesday, the area’s key clothing and textile manufacturing plants have ground to a halt. The industrial park in North Korea’s border city of Kaesong houses 123 South Korean companies that employ North Koreans as manufacturing sector laborers.…

IT is said that should the ravens that live in the Tower of London fly away, then the British monarchy will fall. What does this say, then about Canada’s own political talisman – the stray cats of Parliament Hill? For these indomitable semi-feral mousers, for decades parliament’s unpaid rat catchers – were given their marching orders this winter.…

THE NEW South Korea government of Park Geun-hye, 61, the country’s first woman president, looks unlikely to waver from its predecessor’s staunch support of the ambitious South Korean nuclear energy programme.

Ms Park has not explained in detail how she will run her country’s atomic energy industry.…

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.…

WHILE it is always sensible to handle reports emerging from North Korea with care, it appears undeniable that the country does manufacture cosmetics and other personal care products and could, if current hopes of liberalisation are ultimately realised, become a new market for international players.…

WITH the global hunt for new rare earth reserves intensifying, claims from North Korea that its prospectors have identified 20 million tonnes of rare earth metal reserves have raised more interest than most statements from this isolated communist state.

Such statistics are usually taken with a pinch of salt, but around the same time South Korea’s Bank of Korea released data suggestion its northern neighbour had mineral deposits – including rare earths – worth around USD6 trillion.…

BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN ADDIS ABABA

The leader of Ethiopia’s clothing and textile sector has claimed eight South Korean companies are to open textile and garment plants in his country, in a new industrial park close to the capital Addis Ababa.…

BY JENS KASTNER, IN TAIPEI

Facing a fragile global economy, rival South Korea’s aggressive free trade agreement (FTA) strategy, as well as an appreciating local currency, Taiwan’s textile and apparel manufacturers have placed their bets on innovation. And indeed, their strong focus on upgraded and functional textiles appears to be paying off.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

THE EUROPEAN automotive industry has welcomed a ground-breaking initiative announced today by the European Union’s (EU) executive that future planned EU free trade agreements would be assessed for their potential damage to Europe’s auto sector, before negotiations begin in earnest.…

BY MARK ROWE

NORTH Korea, the world’s most secretive state and the focus of many international diplomatic headaches, has an unexpectedly burgeoning sector: the country’s knitwear industry.

As one might expect for this tightly and centrally planned economy, the knitting industry is controlled by the central communist government: all knitting mills and factories are controlled by the Knitting Industry Management Bureau.…

BY MARK ROWE

The cosmetics market for Asian men is thriving where other sectors struggle. "Men’s skin care products appear to exist in a different economic world to much of rest of the industry," said Diyva Sangameshwar, a spokeswoman for market researchers Euromonitor based in Singapore.…

BY HELEN CLARK, IN HANOI

Fast food consumption has risen quickly in Vietnam. With rapid economic growth in the past decade or more and a rising middle class in the cities with more disposable income many foreign chains have opened up in recent years.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

THE EUROPEAN Commission, the European Union’s (EU) executive body, is handicapping Europe’s automotive sector with unrealistic carbon reduction demands, while risking more mid-market import competition with free trade deals, the chief of Europe’s auto industry has warned.…

BY JENNIFER CHANG, IN SOUTH KOREA

THE KOREA Trade Commission (KTC) has dismissed fears for the future of South Korean pork processing after an indigenous company blamed falling sales on cheap European imports following a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU).…

BY MARK GAO, IN BEIJING

More than two-thirds of Chinese airports, most in smaller regional centres rather than China’s mega-cities, last year lost a combined Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY2 billion (USD313 million). Yet there will be no let up in the construction of new regional airports in China, given government has dubbed the civil aviation sector as a "strategic industry".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission will postpone auctioning pollution permits sold under its emissions trading scheme (ETS) to potential further price falls, but has not decided how many allowances will be sold later. ETS permit prices are already depressed as Europe’s economic woes left oil and gas users with unused rights to emit carbon.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, IN LONDON, AND JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO

EUROPE’S carmakers are setting out tough pre-conditions to anticipated negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Japan over a free trade agreement (FTA). The two sides have just finalised a "scoping exercise" setting out goals for an FTA and the EU auto sector is laying down some red lines, worried about unfair competition if European tariffs on Japanese autos are lowered or scrapped in a free trade deal.…

BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN BOLIVIA

THE INDUSTRIAL production of lithium carbonate and lithium-ion batteries in Bolivia has moved a step closer following the formation of a joint venture between Bolivia’s state-owned mining corporation Comibol and a South Korea consortium led by the country’s state-run mineral development corporation Korea Resources Corp.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, IN CAPE TOWN

SOUTH Africa has deposits of rare earth elements (REEs) to rival that of Australia, and the country is poised to take advantage of this increasingly strategic resource, according to Mintek, the government’s mineral technology organisation.…

BY KITTY SO

THE EUROPEAN Commission has hailed a 120% increase in European Union (EU) pork exports to South Korea in the first year of a free trade agreement (FTA) that reduced tariffs for pigmeat.

Speaking to the Meat Trades Journal, Roger Waite EU agriculture spokesperson said: "It seems as if a good part of it may be linked to the FTA…"

A European Commission communiqué said pork exports to South Korea had "grown faster than average" compared to other exports, citing almost Euro EUR200 million in new trade for pork alone.…

BY KARRYN MILLER, IN HANOI

WITH similar tropical and sub-tropical climates giving personal care product consumers some similar requirements as regards skin care, the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region could be regarded as one by lazy marketers.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

SOUTH Korea’s paint and coatings market may be mature but that has not stopped it from showing steady growth. According to business research firm Timetric, which has a South Korea office, the country’s architectural paint market was worth USD582.9 million in 2010 and USD600.8 million in 2011.…

BY HANA KAMARUDDIN, IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Students in some Asian countries, such as Japan, Indonesia and South Korea now earn credit hours for voluntary work, an incentive that builds volunteering into the university assessment system and promotes community work as an integral part of higher education, a conference has been told.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES

THE UNITED States government has told the Meat Trades Journal that there should be no reason why countries should ban its beef imports following the discovery of its first BSE case in six years, in California. Of all major US trade partners, only two South Korean retailers and Indonesia have thus far suspended American beef imports.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

A STROLL through Myeong-dong, one of Seoul’s busiest shopping districts, gives a good idea of the magnitude of the popularity of South Korea’s cosmetics and skincare industry: according to the Korea Tourism Organisation there are approximately 1,000 cosmetic shops and hundreds of skincare stores within this small quadrant, alone.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, IN BRUSSELS

Improving research cooperation between South Korea and the European Union (EU) was a key focus of a summit in Seoul this week (Wednesday, 28 March). In a speech in South Korea, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso noted higher education links between both sides were weak: "There are fewer researchers from South Korea participating in EU research programmes than researchers from many other countries."…

BY KARRYN MILLER

IF any two countries could be deemed vulnerable to Chinese dominance of rare earth supplies, it surely has to be east Asia’s high tech exporters par excellence Japan and South Korea. From smart phones to electric cars, these two Asian nations continue to drive technology forward, but with rare earths an essential component of many electronic goods, these Tokyo and Seoul are scanning the region for new sources of these key minerals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PHARMACEUTICAL Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) organisation has called on the South Korean government to make its system of reimbursing patients for medicines more transparent now the US-South Korea free trade agreement is in force (from March 15).…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

DESPITE winning import duty concessions under the newly enforced free trade agreement between the US and South Korea, American beef producers will still not be able to export beef over the age of 30 months. The import of older beef remains banned under Korean health rules to prevent the spread of BSE.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT

WHILE the Iraqi government has implemented regulations that are both anti-money laundering (AML) and for combating the financing of terrorism (CTF), it has had lacklustre results in enforcement due to ongoing instability in the country. Corruption and endemic smuggling are also major problems.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN ABU DHABI

IT sounds completely bizarre, given their dominant role as global energy players, but the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are facing a chronic energy shortage, with domestic demand growing by an estimated 8.5% and investment in power systems failing to keep pace.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

TUNISIA

Of all the countries disrupted by the Arab Spring revolts in 2011, Tunisia liberated itself in the swiftest and most business-friendly fashion. This key European supplier rid itself of despotic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January14, and one week later, its textile and clothing sector was back at work.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS and WANG FANGQING

THE PURCHASE of yarns, fibres and other materials from developing countries for rich country-controlled garment manufacturing has long been a cost-effective business practice; however, many factors – including high shipping costs, and delays in supplies – have caused companies in recent years to look for a supply chain that is closer to home.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

VIETNAM’s cosmetics industry is almost unrecognisable now compared to 10 years ago: back then, prestigious Western beauty products were nowhere to be found on Vietnam retailers’ shelves, and it was South Korean cosmetics products that were considered luxurious in the communist country’s market.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CONCERNS within the European auto industry about the trade deal initialed last October by the European Union (EU) and South Korea have been addressed today (Wednesday) at the European Parliament. Meeting in Brussels, its international trade committee gave its approval to draft legislation, allowing the swift reintroduction of trade barriers, should the deal create a surge in Korean car exports to Europe.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

SOUTH KOREA: Student stress fuels suicides as standards rise

Karryn Miller

A spate of suicides amongst South Korean students has fuelled fears that the country’s higher education system is too tough, with pressures increasing as universities seek to compete with institutions overseas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and DAVE YIN

THIS has been the year where the European Union (EU) considered imposing a draconian origin labelling law that would have been a major headache for knitwear manufacturers and retailers. In the winter, the European Parliament was seriously discussing insisting on a regulation forcing knitwear and crocheted clothes and accessories imports into the EU to carry country of origin labels.…

BY WANG FANGQING, MINI PANT ZACHARIAH, KARRYN MILLER and KEITH NUTHALL

EMERGING market coatings exporters sometimes claim tough environmental rules in rich jurisdictions are nothing but a form of protection. And while such arguments can always be contested, it is certainly true that the European Union’s (EU) ongoing and longstanding biocide review will throw up obstacles to Asia-Pacific coatings manufacturers wanting to secure sales in Europe.…

CZECH PAINTS SECTOR BACK ON TRACK

THE CZECH paints industry last year experienced a second difficult year in a row – although it was not as bad as in 2009. Sales fell 14% year-on-year compared to 2009, but market players believe that the worst is over.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

AS production costs rise and environmental regulations tighten worldwide, manufacturers in the clothing and textile industry are looking for ways of dealing with their production waste as economically as possible. That, however, can never mean simply choosing the cheapest option, rather the smartest.…

BY Karryn Miller

An innovative foreign higher education park scheme in South Korea is set to proceed, even though the worldwide recession has caused some overseas universities to postpone plans to locate branches at the Songdo Global University Campus.

Full report on University World News site.…

By Karryn Miller

Inter-racial marriages may be on the rise throughout Asia but they still hold a minority position. Homogenous countries like Japan and Korea are slowly adapting to the idea of mixed families but legally and socially there is room for improvement.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

Kurdish Iraq tobacco market is Middle East black market hub

International tobacco companies entered Kurdish Iraq after the US-led invasion. But political instability has made this a tough market to operate in. Black market trades thrive. And there are a wide variety of brands from around the world available.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, WANG FANGQING

AUTO dealers in Britain will certainly see the affect of the European Union’s (EU) recent signature of a free trade deal with South Korea. Once ratification procedures have been cleared, the EU’s import duties on cars made in South Korea (mostly 10%) will disappear within 60 days.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THE CEO of a Hyundai-Beijing Auto joint venture has told wardsauto that while three out of 10 cars sold globally will be sold in China by 2015, sales will be dominated by car-markers who get key emerging trends in the country’s provincial markets right.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THE KNOWING, slightly sinister smile is instantly recogniseable. But instead of slaying rebels Huang Xiao Ming is shilling Olay men’s moisturiser and deodorant. Huang’s face is recognizable to Chinese who’ll have seen it plastered on billboards nationwide promoting the 2009 blockbuster The Message, a spy thriller set (as many films are in China’s state-controlled film business) during the fight against Japanese occupation.…

BY BILL CORCORAN, DINAH GARDNER, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, KEITH NUTHALL

IF there is one good indicator that niche spirit markets are developing in emerging markets, it surely has to be sales of single malt Scotch. And by that rough and ready yardstick, such markets are well on their way.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL

SOUTH Korean steel giant POSCO has received European Commission regulatory clearance for its takeover of Daewoo International, a move that will boost its sales networks and help it diversify into non-ferrous metals. The decision by Brussels, which nodded though the deal via its streamlined simplified merger review procedure, comes days after the inking of an agreement in Seoul.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PLANNED takeover of Daewoo International by South Korean steel giant POSCO will see the merged company move into natural gas production. POSCO will expand Daewoo energy interests, exploring for natural gas in Myanmar and Peru and oil in Vietnam.…

BY WANG FANGQING

LOTTE Confectionary, the Seoul-based subsidiary of South Korea’s top food conglomerate the Lotte Group, has opened a its first Russian food plant in Obninsk city, 102 km southwest of Moscow. It will manufacture Lotte’s signature Choco Pie confectionery to supply Moscow and the Ural-Siberian area, said Lotte’s spokesman.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, MJ DESCHAMPS

EUROPEAN car makers will push for additional changes to the controversial European Union (EU)-South Korea free trade agreement when it is placed before the European Parliament for ratification. The spokesperson for the European automobile manufacturers association ACEA Sigrid de Vries told wardsauto it wanted the deal’s text revised to help Europe’s auto sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Organisation for Standardization (ISO) is developing standards for natural gas fuelling stations to help promote vehicles using this alternative fuel. A new committee ISO/PC 252 will coordinate the work, developing two standards: on fuelling stations for compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).…

BY MARK GODFREY

ANYONE familiar with Beijing’s nightlife scene will have noticed a sure rise in the number of women smokers over the past couple of years. An increase in the number of women smokers, from a small base, has encouraged a local cigarette industry facing a public ban on smoking in public places in 2011 as well as rising taxes and an anti-smoking lobby growing in assertiveness.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) auto dealers importing South Korea-made cars in future beware – if they sell too many, punishing import duties may make them too expensive for average consumers. The European Parliament has to ratify a trade deal struck last year lowering tariffs for commerce between the EU and South Korea and is worried an influx of cheap South Korean car imports could harm European manufacturers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has reimposed for five years – albeit at a lower level of 19% – anti-dumping duties on silicon exported to the EU from China and South Korea. Ministers acted because of concerns removing the tariffs would allow unfair undercutting of EU producers.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

AS trade barriers continue to diminish, clothing brands are becoming more global. However it is not as easy for the sizes of their goods to be quite as worldly. International players need to adapt their fits for different target markets but that level of adaptation varies by country.…

By Karryn Miller, International News Services

Inter-racial marriages may be on the rise throughout Asia but they still hold a minority position. Homogenous countries like Japan and Korea are slowly adapting to the idea of mixed families but legally and socially there is room for improvement. In these countries acceptance of multicultural couplings goes from one extreme to other being both a source of glamour and a point of discrimination.

In Japan a popular reality TV series “Okusama wa Gaikokujin” (literally my wife is a foreigner) held a prime-time spot in 2006 and 2007. Each episode focused on a mixed family and how the foreign wife coped with Japanese life. The series may have sated Japanese people’s curiosity about intercultural couples but in the process it separated inter-racial marriages from other marriages making them appear novel, different, and sometimes even strange.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

ACCORDING to the Korean Paint & Printing Industry Cooperative (KPIC), South Korean paint and coatings sales hit US$3 billion in 2008, up 4% from the previous year. KPIC accredited the boost to an increase in sale prices due to higher raw material costs, rather then profits however.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

After the disappointment of the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, global warming campaigners have hoped UN climate change talks at Cancun, Mexico in December will thrash out a viable successor to the Kyoto agreement, which ends in 2012.…

BY JULIAN RYALL

JAPANESE industries in general have had a tough past couple of years and the cosmetics sector is no exception. That said, manufacturers here have largely stressed the positive and developed a range of innovative new products that meet the needs of ever-more demanding consumers and opened up new product areas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a European Commission proposal erasing a trade loophole that has enabled Chinese exporters to the European Union (EU) of steel ropes and cables to evade an anti-dumping duty by illicitly diverting supplies through South Korea.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed erasing a trade loophole that has enabled Chinese exporters to the European Union (EU) of steel ropes and cables to evade an anti-dumping duty by illicitly diverting supplies through South Korea. It has asked the EU Council of Ministers to extend the Chinese 60.4% duties to cover steel ropes and cables exported from South Korea – regardless of whether they are South Korean-made.…

BY JULIAN RYALL and KARRYN MILLER

RETAINING a competitive advantage in a saturated market is never an easy task but the job becomes even more challenging during a financial slump. East Asia’s most developed countries Japan and South Korea have a strong record in technical innovation and their paint and coatings companies always bear close examination for inventions and good practice.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, FRANCES WANG, AHMAD PATHONI, WILLIAM BARNES, KARRYN MILLER and KEITH NUTHALL

THE PEOPLE of Okinawa are famous – even in ageing Japan – for their longevity. The women of this sub-tropical chain of islands have the longest life expectancy in the world, at nearly 89 years, they have the lowest mortality rate from chronic diseases linked to ageing and the highest ration of centenarians in the world – nearly six times the rate in other industrialised nations.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR, FRANCES WANG, RAGHAVENDRA VERMA and KARRYN MILLER

The Asian beer market, having overtaken Europe, is now the largest in the world, according to Japanese brewery Kirin. The region accounts for 31.7% of global consumption, compared to 30.8% for Europe, claims the annual report from the Kirin Institute of Food and Lifestyle.…

BY ANDREW SALMON

TO assess the state of financial sanctions and how they are affecting Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, the first man to ask is an unassuming-looking Englishman named Nigel Cowie. "We have not been affected [by the latest sanctions] in terms of the need for increased compliance," said Cowie, CEO of Pyongyang-based Daedong Credit Bank.…

BY WANG FANGQING

ASIA is opening up to the wider world culturally and its hair styles are becoming more varied as a result, allowing personal care product companies to sell a wider range of hair care lines.

With growing attention paid to appearances, Chinese consumers, for instance are spending more on their hair care.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD, ANCA GURZU, GAVIN BLAIR and KEITH NUTHALL

NEW technologies devour new resources and the move towards hybrid and electric vehicles could make some currently impoverished countries rich. As the world moves away from fossil fuels, the soft metal lithium will become increasingly in demand as a critical component of auto batteries for green cars.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA and KEITH NUTHALL

COUNTRIES that start exporting cars to Britain usually have a tough time convincing consumers about the quality of their vehicles. Remember the Skoda and skip jokes? Well, no one makes those anymore. Korean cars used to have a reputation for being cheap rubbish.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round in the doldrums this year, the European Union (EU) has been focusing on bilateral trade deals and European confectionery producers will benefit.

The most important of recently struck agreements has been an EU-South Korea trade deal, which will create a virtual free trade zone between the signatories.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, WANG FANGQING, and ANCA GURZU

FOR consumers, sizing is easy – you know your size and you can tell if it has changed. But for knitwear manufacturers exporting internationally, sizing correctly for various regions can be a frustrating task.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and KARRYN MILLER

THE AMERICAN and South Korean auto sectors are closely watching the outcome of informal talks between their governments over removing trade barriers within the 2007 US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, which still requires ratification. The deal was negotiated by the old Bush administration, and is now being reviewed by Obama team, ahead of any renewed ratification push in the US Congress – with the auto sector being a key focus.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE VALUE of the Turkish tobacco market is projected to increase by 8% in 2009, up from Turkish Lira (TL)18.596 billion (Euro 8.4 billion) in 2008 to TL 20.160 billion (Euro 9.1 billion) on the back of industry price increases and a rise in excise tax in June, according to British American Tobacco (BAT).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit the paint and coatings sector in Europe and South Korea. Notably, upon ratification of the agreement, 6.5% duties on EU imports of South Korean-made paints and varnishes, (based on synthetic and chemically modified polymers), will be scrapped, as will 6.5% tariffs on prepared driers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit the garden trade sector in Europe. Notably, upon ratification of the agreement, duties on EU imports of South Korean orchids will disappear: they are currently 9.6%, as are duties for hyacinths, narcissi and tulips imported from that country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DRINKS industry could benefit strongly from a new South Korea-European Union (EU) trade agreement, the European Commission has revealed. Releasing details of this comprehensive deal, Brussels has shown how duties on a wide range of drinks products traded between the parties will vanish upon ratification of the agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

TIME was when video games were simple pastimes, basic computer fun with classics such as ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’. But that is ‘so 1980s’. In the 21st century, the games of choice are interactive and involve spending money – the name is massively multiplayer online games (MMOG).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN packagers and converters will be able to source materials and equipment more cheaply from South Korea in future because of a new free trade agreement negotiated with its government by the European Union (EU).

The deal scraps import duties levied by the EU (and South Korea) on many products and materials traded between them, and should, claims Brussels, stimulate commerce: "The agreement will create substantial new trade in goods and services (up to EUR 19 billion for EU exporters, according to one study)…"

Most paper and card, including paper and card sacks and bags made in South Korea, are already imported into the EU duty free, but that is not the case for other packaging materials.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

TAKE a stroll through any of South Korea’s Lotte department stores on the weekend and you could be mistaken that the recession has ended. It is here you’ll see droves of affluent consumers inspecting the latest in luxury fashion before snapping it off the shelves.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Automobile Manufacturers Association (EMEA) estimates the cost of importing cars from South Korea could fall by as much as Euro 1,000 per vehicle – maybe more – following a European Union (EU)-South Korea free trade agreement, initialled on Thursday (15-10).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit the textile and clothing dying and finishing trade sector in Europe and South Korea. Notably, upon ratification of the agreement, duties on EU imports of South Korean-made acid, basic and reactive dyes will be scrapped – they are currently 6.5%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The deal will essentially make pharmaceutical trades between the two parties duty free – as many medicines are already traded between the EU-South Korea without tariffs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit the plastics sector in Europe and South Korea. Upon ratification of the agreement, duties on EU imports of most plastics products will disappear.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Automobile Manufacturers Association (EMEA) has condemned a European Union (EU)-South Korea free trade agreement, initialed today (15-10), for giving Korean automakers an unfair advantage in EU markets.

At the heart of ACEA’s concern is a "duty drawback" provision allowing South Korean manufacturers to reclaim duties paid on imported car parts and components from low-cost neighbouring countries such as China, while benefiting from the scrapping of EU customs duties for assmbled vehicles.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit knitwear manufacturers and retailers in Europe and South Korea. Upon ratification of the agreement, duties on EU imports of most clothing products from this key trading partner will disappear.…

BY KARRYN MILLER, KEITH NUTHALL and ALAN OSBORN

DESPITE following the global trend of increasing anti-smoking campaigns and placing stronger warning labels on cigarette packets, tobacco sales in South Korea are not declining. In fact, the industry has seen a slow but steady rise in total sales over the last few years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit personal care product manufacturers.

Many duties charged on essential oils imported into the EU from South Korea will disappear – for instance on citrus fruits (7% not deterpenated; 4.4% deterpenated); clove, niaouli and ylang-ylang (not detepenated) 2.9%; and others.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how the new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit textile and clothing manufacturers in Europe and South Korea. Upon ratification of the agreement, duties on EU imports of most clothing products will disappear.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN plant sector could benefit significantly from a new South Korea-European Union (EU) trade agreement, the European Commission has revealed. Duties on construction equipment made in South Korea and exported to the EU will vanish upon ratification of the agreement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled details of how a new South Korean-European Union (EU) trade agreement will benefit the nuclear energy sector in Europe and South Korea – boosting trade in equipment and fuel inputs. Notably, upon ratification of the agreement, 5.7% duties on EU imports of South Korean nuclear reactors will disappear, as will 3.7% tariffs on machinery and apparatus for isotopic separation, (and parts); fuel elements and nuclear reactor parts; and 2.7% duties on a wide range of water boilers that could be fitted into EU nuclear power plants.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PERSONAL care product sector should prosper from a new India and South Korea trade deal. It reduces import duties on exports from both countries of cosmetics, scents, personal soaps and chemical ingredients. Assuming it is ratified, South Korea has promised to phase-out duties over five years on Indian exports of most cosmetics, shampoos, hair creams perfumes and toilet waters; erasing them upon ratification for eye make-up, lipstick, hair lacquers and rinses.…

BY ANDREW SALMON

AFTER passing the fortress-like medieval gate of Namdaemun, visitors enter central Seoul’s traditional shopping quarter: a jumbled maze of stalls and alleyways. A 15-minute walk through the raucous bustle of this 600-year old market, leads to its modern equivalent: The neon-lit, pedestrianised square mile of Myeong Dong.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE OIL and gas sector should prosper from a new India and South Korea trade deal. It confirms various market access commitments, such as supplying oil pipelines and employing South Korean or Indian oil engineers. It also reduces mutual duties for petroleum oils, LNG, biofuel feedstocks such as palm oil, vegetable oil, and other industry products.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

A CENTURY-OLD, India’s first steel plant set up by the industrial group of Tata in the eastern town of Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) is not only the leading supplier of high quality steel to the country’s auto industry, it is expanding.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the [South] Korean Institute of Criminology have signed an agreement to develop an Asian judicial cooperation unit, modelled on the European Union’s (EU) Eurojust network. It would link prosecutors, special investigators, legal assistance and extradition authorities across Asia to help fight organised crime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PUBLISHING sector should prosper from a new India and South Korea trade deal, the latest major bilateral agreement made while the World Trade Organisation struggles to frame a universal treaty on liberalising commerce. This agreement between New Delhi and Seoul reduces import duties on exports traded between both countries of books and publishing materials.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA and KARRYN MILLER

AUTOMOBILE executives in South Korea and India are busy analysing the detail of a freshly inked Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the South Korean and Indian governments. The initial impact remains unclear but it is likely that early beneficiaries will be South Korean-owned auto plants in India who will be able to import some key parts more cheaply, because of some handy duty cuts.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

IN Chinese herbal medicine it is believed that the quality of the skin reflects the quality of a person’s health. With this in mind caring for the skin – both inside and out – has long been held in high esteem in China.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES, in Paris; LEE ADENDORFF, in Lucca, Italy; KARRYN MILLER, in Tokyo; and LUCY JONES, in Dallas

IT almost seems commonsense to say that an industry providing such a human product as clothing has to take account of cultural sensibilities in target markets.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, in London; RUSSELL BERMAN, in Washington DC; JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo; RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi; BY WANG FANGQING, in Shanghai; EMMA JACKSON, in Ottawa; KARRYN MILLER; and KEITH NUTHALL

THE AUTOMOBILE sector maybe one of the most globally integrated manufacturing industries on the planet, but national governments (or continental bodies in Europe) still hold sway regarding regulation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MAJOR South Korean polyester staple fibre producer has won a four-year legal battle to reduce anti-dumping duties imposed on exports to the European Union (EU). Seoul’s Huvis Corporation claimed 5.7% duties imposed in 2005 were unfair, and following legal challenges, the EU Council of Ministers has ordered a reduction to 3.9%, giving the manufacturer a competitive edge.…

BY MARK GODFREY

WITH the global recession raging across most of the world, Bangladesh’s knitwear sector is maintaining a strong commercial position and looks better geared to survive the economic downturn than some of its regional competitors. Orders have only dipped marginally say local knitwear producers.…

BY MARK GODFREY

INVESTMENT in Bangladeshi dyeing capacity appears stalled as growth in the country’s garment exports slows. Prices for imported dyes are also dipping. Yet given long-term steady growth expected in the country’s apparel industry, there are opportunities for dye importers.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

VEHICLE sales in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plunged by up to 45% in the first two months of the year compared to 2008, according to Ford, a remarkable change in fortunes from the years of double-digit growth when the US$3.6 billion sector was one of the fastest growing in the world.…

BY JULIAN RYALL

THEY may be putting off the new car purchase and the long-haul holiday this year, but Japanese consumers are finding that they cannot do without all their little luxuries.

For the 25th consecutive month, confectionery sales increased in Japan in January.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

SOUTH Korean confectionery producer Orion Corporation is planning to construct a factory in the Russian city of Tver, northwest of Moscow. This follows the signing of a US$95.2 million agreement with the regional government, said a spokesman for the local governor’s office.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

JAPAN’S 98th airport, Mt Fuji Shizuoka Airport, is set to open on June 4, 2009: despite the launch being delayed twice. The initial March opening was moved back because the owner of 150 nearby trees refused to chop them down or even shorten them.…

BY GAVIN BLAIR

ONE of 10 recipients of the ‘Monument of the Millennium’ awards by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Kansai International Airport (KIX) has also been referred to as, ‘one of the world’s most attractive white elephants’. An undeniable triumph of human ingenuity, the sheer scale and ambitiousness of its construction, combined with ineffective central planning, continue to provide its greatest challenges.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY’S tobacco market, the eighth largest in the world and valued this month at GBPounds 6 billion in consumer price turnover by British American Tobacco (BAT) has contracted by 5% over the past year following the imposition of a nationwide smoking ban.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

AN ADDITIONAL power generation capacity of 78,000 MW with an emphasis on hydro and low-carbon power generators such as solar and wind energy, with an investment of US$250 billion: this is what India aims to achieve by 2012 to narrow down the huge demand and supply gap that has lead to chronic power shortages in a rapidly growing economy.…

BY ANDREW CAVE and KARRYN MILLER

FACING a looming energy crisis, the battle to produce lithium ion batteries to power hybrid and battery cars is heating up. Germany’s Robert Bosch and Samsung of South Korea recently formed a joint venture SB LiMotive Co to compete with the likes of BorgWarner, Johnson Controls, TRW and Continental.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has swiftly approved the re-establishment of anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester staple fibres from Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Ministers agreed with the European Commission that lifting them would lead to further dumping of this yarn on EU markets.…

BY WILLIAM BARNES

A WOMAN brushes past palm fronds into the pastel lights of a busy Bangkok salon. At the counter she turns what looks to be a flawless, ivory face towards a woman in a vaguely medical uniform: "Aiyee! I am getting so old.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed re-erecting anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester staple fibres from Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea after concluding that lifting them would lead to further dumping of this yarn on European Union (EU) markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CHANGE in methodology calculating anti-dumping duties levied on a South Korean fibre manufacturer has led to these tariffs being struck down at the European Court of Justice. Its Court of First Instance has ruled the European Commission and the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers broke EU anti-dumping procedures by switching mathematical formulae between the ‘input’ to the ‘residual’ method when assessing whether Huvis Corp was dumping cut-priced polyester staple fibres on EU markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE HEAD of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear energy department has predicted the number of nuclear power reactors worldwide will increase 60% by 2030. Speaking at the 30th Anniversary Symposium of Korean Nuclear Power Generation, in Seoul, South Korea, Yury Sokolov said nuclear power "has the potential to be a significant, reliable, sustainable and environmentally friendly energy source that can contribute to providing access to affordable energy services…" However, to achieve this, the sector needed to tackle a number of challenges he stressed, such as guaranteeing uranium production; tackling waste management and fuel cycle problems; improving public acceptance; and integrating new nuclear power providers within international networks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SOUTH Korea has recalled its Tokyo ambassador over the ownership of some Sea of Japan islands geologists think could lie amidst natural gas fields. Seoul claims a new Japanese schoolbook alleges Japanese sovereignty over the Dokdo (in Korean) or Takeshima (in Japanese) islands.…

BY DOMINIQUE PATTON and KARRYN CARTELLE

EAST Asian markets are increasingly important to global haircare manufacturers, with growing prosperity enabling many more women to buy the products they really want for their hair. As a result, major companies really need to pay attention to what east Asian women want.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF, in Lucca, Italy

OF the 3,000 students who will graduate from fashion school this year in the UK, only 500 will find jobs in the clothing and textile sector. They may be highly creative and excellent designers, but this is not always what the industry wants: many fashion producers say British graduates are ill-prepared to compete and adapt to a workplace characterised by overseas manufacturing bases, highly computerised environments and complex logistical production scenarios.…

BY DOMINIQUE PATTON, in Beijing; and RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi

AS developed world clothing brands increasingly outsource production to emerging market countries, the demand for designing talent close to these growing manufacturing centres is growing. But how reliable is the source of creativity and are there sufficient numbers of designers in China, India and elsewhere for the big brands to start thinking about shifting creative aspects of their operations overseas as well as basic production?…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi; SAEED AKHTAR BALOCH, in Lahore; and KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo

THE SOUTH Asian knitwear industry is experienced mixed fortunes at present, with the impact of China’s production boom and the global liberalisation of the textile sector still changing sub-continental fortunes.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE

AS the world’s wild finfish and seafood stocks continue to dwindle and environmental pressure for sustainable fishing practices rises, South Korea’s fishing fleet is adjusting with the times.

South and North Korea’s combined expansive coastline spans 8,693 kilometres (South Korea’s mainland alone commands 2,413km).…

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 PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait City and Beirut

THE AUTO sector and market of the Middle East’s Gulf region experienced yet another boom year in 2007 on the back of high oil prices, a rising population and strong economic growth. But although sales were uniformly high among the six Gulf Arab states that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait had a noticeably slower year, particularly for American and European brands.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

A YEAR after China began enforcing its Law of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Money Laundering – effective from January 2007 – observers are wary about the ability of the country’s understaffed enforcement agencies to keep pace with huge inflows of questionable funds into China’s booming economy.…

BY MARK ROWE

VIETNAM is a country enjoying an extraordinary boom. Cities teem with cars and a seemingly infinite number of motorcycles, whilst new offices and advertising hoardings are erected daily, symbolising a new era for the country and good news for the paint industry.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE

THE SIGNING of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between South Korea and the United States is expected to fuel an already booming seafood trade. And with the Koreans having a host of other FTAs in the works, it appears this seafood-producing nation will use free trade agreements to push its seafood products to every continent.…

BY ANDREW SALMON, in Seoul

THE WORDS ‘nuclear’ and ‘Korea’ automatically conjure up images of Kim Jong-il’s underground atomic weapons programs, but south of the heavily militarised border, it is South Korea that has quietly built up one of the world’s most competitive nuclear industries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is to open negotiations with European and Asian automobile manufacturing associations to press for all major car-makers to install the pan-European in-vehicle emergency communications system eCall. Brussels wants this to become a standard option in all new cars from 2010, as way of kick starting a system it values highly and has promoted enthusiastically, but whose take up has been anaemic.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Yunnan province, China

"MEDIOCRITY and non-merit are wrong!" The resolute call to excellence in Chinese characters greets visitors the lobby of the twenty floor hemispherical office tower to which visitors to Yuxi Hongta cigarette plant.

Run by the state-owned Hongta group, the Yuxi plant hires a staff of 2,500 to produce an annual 2.5 million cases of cigarettes, including iconic local brands like Yuxi, Hongmei and Hongtashan, as well as Imperial Tobacco’s West brand.…

BY DINAH GARDNER, in Macao

IT’S the world’s biggest casino. With 1,150 gaming tables and 3,400 slot machines, the US$2.4 billion Venetian Macau Resort opened its doors last month [August 28] in Macau, a special administrative region (SAR) of China near Hong Kong.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE

AS paint and coatings demand abroad looks increasingly enticing, players in the South Korean paint and coatings industry are expanding their global reach, seeking to improve brand recognition and their sales prospects.

With limited growth potential predicted among players in the mature South Korea domestic market, companies are also looking to emerging paint and coatings technologies and other areas within the Asia-Pacific region to drive sales forward.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

SLATED European Union (EU) free trade agreements (FTA) with South Korea, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will dramatically boost commercial activity in the leather industry if the agreements are passed, claims a study by Copenhagen Economics for the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has authorised the European Commission to negotiate a renewal of Euratom’s agreement to supply nuclear technology to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO), which had funnelled equipment to North Korea prior to its development of nuclear weapons.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has authorised the European Commission to negotiate a renewal of Euratom’s agreement to supply nuclear technology to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO), which had funnelled equipment to North Korea prior to its development of nuclear weapons.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PREFERENTIAL access to USA clothing markets has been granted to South Korea manufacturers under a new free trade deal agreed between Washington and Seoul. American clothing and textile manufacturers will watch for any surge in South Korean exports, so they can invoke a special safeguard, allowing tariffs to protect US production if imports of particular lines proliferate.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE
SLATED European Union (EU) free trade agreements (FTA) with South Korea, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will dramatically boost commercial activity in the leather industry if the agreements are passed, claims a study by Copenhagen Economics for the European Commission.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing
CIGARETTE counterfeiters have borne the brunt of recent Chinese government efforts to curb the country’s rampant trade in fake goods. However, Beijing’s recent efforts to rationalise and modernise the country’s cigarette industry – by some measures, the world’s largest – have unwittingly aided the counterfeiters.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE
ASIA’S paint and coatings industry may be growing but South Korea’s share of the market is on the decline. Indeed, the South Korea sector’s annual sales of US$3 billion make a small contribution to the global industry, where demand is predicted to reach US$83 billion this year.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing
CIGARETTE counterfeiters have borne the brunt of recent Chinese government efforts to curb the country’s rampant trade in fake goods. However, Beijing’s recent efforts to rationalise and modernise the country’s cigarette industry – by some measures, the world’s largest – have unwittingly aided the counterfeiters.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Dubai and Manama, Bahrain
THE CAR market in the Arab Gulf, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is experiencing stellar growth across the board, fuelled by a surge in population and strong economic growth.

In the last five years, the UAE market has grown by over 300% to reach 2.5 million cars on the road, said Guy Edmunds, General Manager of Honda.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AMERICAN clothing and textile manufacturers will be watching for any surge in South Korean exports to the USA, following the recent trade deal agreed between Washington and Seoul, and they can invoke a special safeguard, allowing tariffs to protect US production if imports of particular lines proliferate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BID by a South Korea fibre exporter to have low melt polyester staple fibres (LMP) excluded from existing European Union (EU) antidumping duties on synthetic polyester staple fibres (PSF) has been refused by the European Commission. These particular duties are levied on exports from China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus and South Korea, but South Korea exporter and producer Saehan Industries Inc claimed LMP should be excluded, claiming they “have different basic physical and chemical characteristics and end-uses” to other PSF types, having “inherent binding properties.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend between Euro 200 and 230 million to Canadian dominated Ambatovy Minerals SA and Dynatec Madagascar SA to develop and operate a new large-scale open pit lateritic nickel ore mine in Madagascar.…

BY ANDREW SALMON, in Seoul
LAST October, South Korea was admitted as an observer to the world’s premier group of money laundering fighters – the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and given the nation’s recent moves to strengthen its anti-money laundering regime its path to full membership in approximately two years appears smooth.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo
JUST as they are inventive in the world of business, the Japanese can be similarly clever when it comes to getting around inconvenient regulations on commerce, reports Julian Ryall, in Tokyo.

THEY may be better behaved than many of their counterparts in the rest of Asia, but many Japanese corporations have a very different attitude to breaking the rules than they did before the country’s recent “lost decade” of economic stagnation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed extending a 49% anti-dumping duty levied on Chinese exports to the European Union (EU) of silicon to consignments from South Korea, to block an alleged origin fraud. Following an investigation into a leap in South Korean silicon export volumes and claims "of [duty] circumvention", through transhipment via South Korea, the Commission has concluded "there was insufficient cause" to explain the trade pattern change "other than the imposition of [China-paid] anti-dumping measures."…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo

ON October 9, North Korea carried out its notorious nuclear test in a mine shaft some 240 miles to the north of Pyongyang. The North Korean government proclaimed the test to be successful and an "historic event."…

BY ALAN OSBORN

Brussels has expressed disappointment at the European motor industry’s voluntary efforts to curb CO2 emissions from new cars and has raised the prospect that legislation, possibly involving tax disincentives, may now have to be considered. The voluntary commitment made in 1999 by the European, Japanese and Korean car manufacturers was to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in new cars to 140g/km by 2008/09 but new figures released by the European Commission show that in 2004 the average level was still 161g/km.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to boost to the Russian car market by pumping up to Euro 300 million into the Russian Standard Bank, financing existing auto loans, and enabling the bank to make Euro 300 million’s worth of new car loans – worth more than 30,000 smaller autos.…

BY MARK ROWE

ACCESSION to the European Union (EU), with its attendant necessity to comply with environmental directives, along with a surprising surge in water-based coatings, have combined to make the past year an eventful one for the Polish paint industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINESE exporters have been fraudulently routing clothing and textile exports via Hong Kong and South Korea to evade quota limits imposed last year, following the ‘bra wars’ spat with the European Union (EU). Swedish government figures claim Hong Kong clothing and textile exports to the EU rose by 234% in the past year, which would mean every Hong Konger was employed in the textile industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CHINESE exporters have been fraudulently routing clothing and textile exports via Hong Kong and South Korea to evade quota limits imposed last year, following the ‘bra wars’ spat with the European Union (EU). Swedish government figures claim Hong Kong clothing and textile exports to the EU rose by 234% in the past year, which would mean every Hong Konger was employed in the textile industry.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus

FOLLOWING a sizeable reduction in import duties last year, Syria’s fledgling car market has grown by up to 60% in under a year.

A mere decade ago Syria’s roads were full of ageing cars, such as 1950s and 1960s Chevrolets, Dodges and Plymouths that were either lovingly maintained or had had one paint job too many.…

BY STEVEN SWINDELLS, in Johannesburg

SECURITY specialists and risk assessors will be increasingly in demand within oil majors seeking to tap sub-Saharan Africa’s oil and gas riches in the next few years, experts say, with available resources and political uncertainty growing in an uneasy parallel.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo

THE HEADLINES in the Japanese press in recent months are likely to have

piqued the interest of anyone looking for a destination where ill-gotten

gains can be made to appear legitimate, let alone the concern of global

money-laundering authorities.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo

THE HEADLINES in the Japanese press in recent months are likely to have

piqued the interest of anyone looking for a destination where ill-gotten

gains can be made to appear legitimate, let alone the concern of global

money-laundering authorities.…

BY DAVID EIMER, in Beijing

"Build nuclear power, enrich the people", proclaim the billboards at China’s Qinshan nuclear facility in the south-eastern province of Zhejiang. Qinshan, a 120 kilometres south of Shanghai, is the centre of China’s nuclear sector and home to five of the country’s nine operational reactors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

JAPAN and South Korea have struck a deal solving a long-running World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute over Japanese restrictions on imports of South Korean laver seaweed. Seoul has argued that Japan’s import quotas of this product break Tokyo’s WTO commitments under the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is considering an application for the creation of three new civil aviation routes linking the Russian far east and South Korea, crossing North Korean air space over the Sea of Japan. An ICAO meeting concluded that the “extreme high cost of fuel has elevated this to an urgent request”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LITTER collection and refuse disposal can pose environmental health hazards, so surely cities and towns would be cleaner if waste was sucked underground by a futuristic sucking mechanism. Sounds like the 22nd century, but actually, Swedish firm Envac Centralsug is already offering such a service.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ International Seabed Authority has delayed agreement of new regulations governing how metal ore mining companies would explore and exploit deep seawaters for hauls such as polymetallic sulphide nodules and cobalt-rich crusts. These mineral resources are rich in copper, iron, zinc, silver, gold and cobalt; sulphides are found around volcanic areas and crusts on oceanic ridges.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ International Seabed Authority has postponed agreement of new regulations governing how mining companies would explore and exploit deep seawaters for hauls such as polymetallic sulphide nodules and cobalt-rich crusts. These mineral resources are rich in copper, iron, zinc, silver, gold and cobalt, with the sulphides being found around volcanic areas and the crusts on oceanic ridges.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has rebuffed calls from the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) for increased European Union (EU) tariff protection against dumped styrene-butadiene-styrene thermoplastic rubber (SBS), an adhesive ingredient. Furthermore, it has proposed abolishing existing anti-dumping duties on the product on Taiwanese producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD’S crime-fighting great and good met in Bangkok in April, at the United Nations’ 11th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. They decided rich countries should better help the poor to fight organised crime. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of polyester staple fibres from China and Saudi Arabia. It has also proposed extending (at a lower level) duties imposed against South Korea in 2000 and scrapping 13% duties levied since 1999 on Taiwanese exporters, who are now dumping at very low levels, said the Commission.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has toughened anti-dumping duties levied on imports from South Korea and Taiwan of synthetic textile ingredient polyethylene terephthalate (PET). European Commission inquiries had showed existing duties insufficient to protect EU producers from cut-priced Korean and Taiwanese PET competition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE JAPANESE government has warned that anticipated increased airspace capacity on the route between its Fukuoka air traffic control zone and that of Shanghai, in China, may not be available next year. Reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) services are being introduced on flight path A593 between Japan and China, but not on the SADLI section adjoining Chinese and North Korean airspace.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has rebuffed calls from the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) for increased European Union (EU) tariff protection against dumped styrene-butadiene-styrene thermoplastic rubber (SBS). Furthermore, it has proposed abolishing existing anti-dumping duties on the product on Taiwanese producers.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE MOST fortified frontier in the world, Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, (DMZ) is being touted by the (South) Korea National Tourism Organisation as a future destination for wildlife eco-tourism. The DMZ, an area of land four kilometres wide and 250 kilometres long divides North and South Korea across the Korean Peninsula.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE MOST fortified frontier in the world, Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, (DMZ) is being touted by the (South) Korea National Tourism Organisation as a future destination for wildlife-based eco-tourism. The DMZ, a strip of land four kilometres wide and 250 kilometres long divides North and South Korea and is littered with countless numbers of land mines, a no-mans-land since the end of the Korean War more than 50 years ago.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
VEHICLE manufacturers will be required to introduce new bumper and bonnet designs to reduce the risk of serious injury in collisions with pedestrians and cyclists, the European Commission announced yesterday (Thursday 20 – 2), dashing manufacturers’ hopes that a voluntary deal would suffice.…

BY MARK ROWE
BEAUTY is not only in the eye of the beholder but all also in the milk that we pour in our tea or cereal. At least, that’s what a South Korean milk company would like us to believe.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation’s executive board has chosen its nominee to become the new director general of the UN agency. He is WHO insider South Korean Dr Jong-Wook Lee, director of the organisation’s Stop TB programme and the former head of its Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunisations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined Ajinomoto Co. Inc. of Japan and South Korean companies Cheil Jedang Corp. and Daesang Corp respectively Euro 15.54 million, Euro 2.74 million and Euro 2.28 million each for participating in a price-fixing cartel in the flavour enhancer nucleotides.…

BY MARK ROWE
A SOUTH Korean firm has begun selling canned “clean air,” tapping into mounting environmental concerns about industrial and car pollution in the capital Seoul and other major cities. Officials at CJ Corp said that it was the first company to market natural air, as opposed to processed oxygen or perfumed air in South Korea.…

BY ALAN OSBORN AND PHILIP FINE

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s competition authority has cleared the purchase

by General Motors of a series of production and sales outlets of the South

Korean car manufacturer Daewoo.

GM is to acquire some of Daewoo’s production facilities for passenger cars

and light commercial vehicles in Korea and Vietnam together with sales

subsidiaries in Austria, the Benelux region, (Belgium, Netherlands and

Luxembourg), France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
The European Parliament has accepted last year’s voluntary agreement between the European Commission and the European Automobile Manufacturers Association on pedestrian safety, so long as Brussels proposes a Framework Directive underpinning the deal with legal commitments.

The move is seen as a compromise between MEP’s opposing a detailed Directive laying down specific rules on car design and those in the European Parliament that do not trust carmakers to introduce measures to protecting pedestrians.…

BY MARK ROWE
DAEWOO Shipbuilding Marine Engineering Co, the world’s second largest shipbuilder, has won a US$426 million order so supply an oil and gas rig to Angola. The South Korean firm said it would build the rig in the west African state for US oil giant ChevronTexaco Corp by the end of 2003.…

Keith Nuthall
THE VOLUNTARY strategy on pedestrian safety design standards for motor vehicles adopted by the European Commission with the European, Japanese and South Korean auto manufacturers has been undermined by a key European Parliament committee, which has called for EU legislation on the subject.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI government has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties between five and 25 per cent on hot and cold rolled steel products from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Germany, launching a definitive duty inquiry. Preliminary investigations by a government committee concluded that hot-rolled steel in sheets and coils, cold-rolled steel in coils, coated steel and stainless steel from these countries were being dumped in Thailand.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE INTERNATIONAL Atomic Energy Agency has made its first visit to a nuclear establishment in North Korea since 1994, when the isolationist Asian state withdrew its membership of the agency.

The visit is understood to have been facilitated by the North Koreans’ desire to move ahead with their stalled plans for the development of two light water nuclear reactors.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI government has imposed provisional anti-dumping duties between five and 25 per cent on hot and cold rolled steel products from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain and Germany, launching a definitive duty inquiry. Preliminary investigations by a government committee concluded that hot-rolled steel in sheets and coils, cold-rolled steel in coils, coated steel and stainless steel from these countries were being dumped in Thailand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States has lost a disputes panel case at the World Trade Organisation over definitive safeguard duties that it had imposed on imports of circular welded carbon quality line pipe from South Korea.

Although the panel rejected a number of South Korean complaints, it upheld enough of them to conclude that the US should “bring its safeguard measure into conformity with its WTO obligations.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development has developed what appears to be the rather unlikely plan to lend US$25 million to a South Korean-owned shipbuilding firm, in a bid to increase its industrial capacity. Although the proposed loan would actually be spent on boosting Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering’s operations in Mangalia, a Black Sea coast town in Romania, near the Bulgarian border, the bank is said to be aware of the political sensitivities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports into the EU of certain steel and iron cables from the Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey and Thailand.

Its decision – by the written procedure used during Brussels’ summer break – follows an inquiry, which “confirmed” concerns that the sale of cut-priced cables from these countries was harming EU producers.…

Keith Nuthall
BY start of the next decade, all petrol engine automobiles driving in the European Union will have to run on sulphur-free fuel, if EU ministers back fresh proposals from the European Commission.

It wants sulphur to be banned from petrol in the EU by 2011, and has proposed that sulphur-free petrol and diesel should be made available in every Member States from January 1, 2005.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SOUTH Korean government is continuing to bankroll its shipbuilding industry, allowing its companies to continue dominating this international sector, on the basis of unfair trading practices, a European Commission report has alleged. It noted that last year saw an significant expansion in shipbuilding orders worldwide, but that the 56 per cent rise in orders “benefited South Korean yards,” which increased their market share, rather than EU shipbuilders, whose share remained static.…