Search Results for: Thailand
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THE OUTSOURCING/NEARSOURCING/RESHORING STRUGGLE WITHIN THE PROTECTIVE AND PERFORMANCE TEXTILE SEGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a reassessment of the model of relying on one or two outsourcing locations. It has demonstrated that when there is a major disruption caused by an emergency as serious as a pandemic, shipping and industrial processing can be disrupted.…
JAPAN’S NASCENT HALAL FOOD SECTOR STRUGGLES TO KEEP AFLOAT THROUGH COVID-19 PANDEMIC, BUT EYES SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Japan may become a significant market for the halal food sector in future, predicts the Japan Halal Association, whose members are looking ahead to sustained growth once the Covid-19 pandemic ebbs. Faslin Mohammed Lafir, head of halal certification and international relations, of the Japan Halal Association, stressed that the country’s Muslim population is around 120,000 individuals at present, with an estimated 10,000 Japanese converting to the religion every year, boosting potential halal sales.…
HALOODIES SET TO RECOVER FROM THE PANDEMIC WITH GLOBAL EXPANSION PLANS
London-based Haloodies (https://haloodies.com/), which claims to be “one of the UK’s most trusted suppliers of Halal meats”, has fought against challenges posted by the Covid-19 outbreak and Brexit though expanding its online sales and reshoring production to Britain. Now, its co-founder and CEO says the company is ready to tap global markets.…
FIGHTING FRAUD IN THE HALAL FOOD INDUSTRY
Fraud in the global halal food sector is emerging as a widespread problem. A series of scandals have rocked the industry worldwide, and shone a spotlight on the difficulty of eliminating non-halal practices from increasingly large and complicated food supply chains. …
MYANMAR POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DISRUPTION PUSHES CLOTHING ORDERS TO NEIGHBOURING CAMBODIA
Cambodian and Myanmar clothing industry leaders have confirmed a shift in manufacturing orders from Myanmar to Cambodia, caused by the economic and political disruption within Myanmar, since the February 1 coup.
Kaing Monika, deputy secretary general for the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, told Just Style that brands were starting to redirect orders to Cambodia, seeking more competitive prices, quality, delivery and compliance, but it was unclear if this would lead to factories moving at this point.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – TAIWAN REVISES CLIMATE LAW TO ENSURE PAINT EXPORTS TO EU AVOID ECO-DUTY
The Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a revision of the island’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Law, partly to help paint and coatings manufacturers maintain access to the European Union (EU) market. The reform will take account of the EU’s planned Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which may levy duties on products the EU deems have been made with excess carbon emissions.…
COVID-19 HAS NOT DETERRED OVERSEAS STUDENTS FROM PREFERRING IN PERSON FOREIGN CAMPUS PLACEMENTS
A comprehensive study of 3,650 students from 55 counties worldwide has indicated that the expansion of online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic has not reduced the attraction of moving countries to undertake in-person higher education in foreign universities and colleges.
Indeed, the study, by IDP Connect, part of Australia-based international student recruitment leader IDP Education, showed that 79% of students questioned were only considering overseas on-campus options.…
CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SUPPLY CHAIN DIGITISATION – DEEP DIVE
INTRODUCTION
Without doubt, the world’s clothing and textile sector is undertaking a technical upgrade that is unprecedented in decades, with new digital systems offering automation and efficient internal controls. As these are worked into the businesses of brands, manufacturers and their suppliers, a new potential emerges, and that is linking these digital systems in a way that could revolutionise efficiencies within the supply chain.…
VIETNAM’S PAINT SECTOR HIT BY COVID-19, BUT LOOKS FORWARD TO MEDIUM-TERM GREEN GROWTH
Covid-19 made 2020 an incredibly disruptive year for the global manufacturing sector and Vietnam’s paint and coatings sector did not escape the pandemic impact. This was despite that this south-east Asian country had an apparently low impact from the disease, with just 9,565 cases (as of June 9, 2021) and just 55 deaths from a 98 million population, albeit with a rash of new cases last month (June).…
ASIAN INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUNDUP - TAIWAN UPGRADES CHEMICAL SAFETY CONTROLS
Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced amendments to the island’s Registration Procedures for New Chemical Substances and Existing Chemical Substances. In addition to delaying a registration period for the standard registration of existing chemical substances in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has added a number of simplified administrative and convenient measures to optimise registration applications, review and reporting requirements.…
ASEAN MOVES FORWARD ON PLANS TO CONNECT SOUTHEAST ASIA POWER SYSTEMS
A south-east Asian regional power grid is moving closer in the latest stage of a phased 10-year plan to bring energy security, accessibility, affordability and sustainability,
New, upgraded, extended, stronger, and more flexible electricity transmission and distribution grids are key to this ongoing programme, helping the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to meet the power demands of population and economic growth, rising urbanisation and affluence.…
CONCERN RISES THAT AMERICAN CLOTHING SUPPLIES MAY SUFFER FURTHER KNOCK FROM SOUTH CHINA COVID-19 OUTBREAK
Apparel and footwear brands, especially those in the United States, may come under increasing distribution strain as an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the Chinese clothing and textile manufacturing hub of Guangdong exacerbates already fraught global logistics. The southern Chinese province recorded 135 total infections over the period June 10–23 and a seven-day average of nine new cases as of June 23, according to data from the USA’s Johns Hopkins University.…
MYANMAR CLOTHING EXPORTING BUSINESS DEPENDS ON SHIPPING
THE MYANMAR clothing industry is struggling to operate effectively as political unrest continues following the seizure of power by the country’s military on February 1.
Garment manufacturers, most of whom have been located in the country’s commercial capital Yangon, had been a major employer and a significant source of foreign currency for Myanmar.…
CHINESE KNITTING MACHINE SECTOR STEAMING OUT OF THE CRISIS
Demand for knitting machines in China has been recovering remarkably fast from the Covid-19 crisis, with Chinese textile factory owners growing bolder in investment decisions, and exports to south Asia growing too.
Chinese knitting machine-makers Suzhou ReHow Machinery Manufacturing and Fujian Taifan Industrial, which supply mainly T-shirt fabrics single jersey circular knitting machines, saw their sales dip in 2020 but not to a dramatically low level.…
MYANMAR CLOTHING EXPORTING BUSINESS DEPENDS ON SHIPPING
THE MYANMAR clothing industry is struggling to operate effectively as political unrest continues following the seizure of power by the country’s military on February 1.
Garment manufacturers, most of whom have been located in the country’s commercial capital Yangon, had been a major employer and a significant source of foreign currency for Myanmar.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUNDUP – EU CONFECTIONERY SECTOR FIGHTS MOVE TO REIMPOSE CONTROLS ON EUROPEAN SUGAR MARKETS
EUROPEAN confectionery and sugar processing associations have appealed to the European Parliament not to reimpose market controls on the European Union’s (EU) sugar sector. MEPs have pressed for new restrictions during the ongoing negotiations about reforming the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).…
EU WTO ROUND UP – PEACE BREAKS OUT IN TRANSATLANTIC FOOD AND DRINK TRADE WAR
PEACE appears to be breaking out between the European Union (EU) and the UK on one side the USA over an aircraft subsidy-prompted trade war that had led to billions of dollars of duties being levied on food and drink exported between these countries.…
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION – PERFORMANCE AND OUTDOOR FABRICS
Environmental regulation is becoming increasingly tight for textile companies and this of special concern for the higher-tech side of the industry where new fibres, chemicals and processes are delivering a cutting edge. This is especially the case for innovative segments such as performance and outdoor materials.…
GRAPHENE HELPING NONWOVENS MANUFACTURERS CREATE MATERIALS THAT CAN KILL VIRUSES, INCLUDING COVID-19
Already described by its proponents as a “wonder material” with numerous applications across the nonwovens sector, researchers now believe that graphene can play a “critical” role in the defeat of the coronavirus pandemic.
From advanced personal protection equipment (PPE) to air and water filtration systems, nonwovens manufacturers around the world have capitalised on this carbon-based material’s anti-viral capabilities to boost their product ranges.…
THE RECP - HOW THE WORLD’S BIGGEST FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WAS SIGNED AND HOW IT WILL CHANGE ASIA
Brief:
This article provides an analysis of why the world’s largest regional trade deal (in population terms) – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – was signed last November (2020). It assesses China’s role in this important political and economic event, and how it reflects its relations with other signatory countries.…
CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN MYANMAR IS GLOOMY ABOUT POST-COUP PROSPECTS
Clothing industry executives and experts within Myanmar have warned that the country’s apparel sector is already suffering because of the February 1 coup, when the military seized power and detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders.
Despite the imposition of a one-year state of emergency, healthcare workers, civil servants and others have launched a civil disobedience movement, with demonstrations being staged nationwide.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – INTEGRATED INDIAN PIGMENT AND RESIN PLANTS TO AVOID EIA ASSESSMENTS
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.…
CORRUPTION REMAINS A MAJOR PROBLEM IN ASIA, SURVEY FINDS
A new Transparency International (TI) survey has reported significant concern in 17 Asian countries (1) that corruption continues to be a problem or is getting worse, undermining equitable access to public services and trust in government. TI’s ‘Global Corruption Barometer – Asia’ (2) found 74% of the 20,000 people surveyed believe that government corruption is a major problem in their country, with 19% of citizens surveyed admitting to paying a bribe and 22% using personal connections when accessing public services in the previous year.…
CHINA PET MATERIALS MARKET FACES NEW IMPORT BAN THREAT
China’s recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials market is heading for another distortion with repercussions for apparel and footwear brands. While the likes of Adidas, Nike and Decathlon continue shifting from virgin fibre to recycled fibre to improve their environmental impact standings, China’s PET market is heading for another distortion, raising the spectre for supply bottlenecks and price increases. …
USA AUTO MAKERS JUGGLE USMCA COMPLIANCE STRATEGIES TO AVOID MARKET DEPRESSING COST INCREASES
USA automotive manufacturers are facing some tough choices when implementing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which entered into force on July 1, to avoid its pressure on costs being reflected in showroom price increases.
The new deal, which replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), requires US, Mexican and Canadian auto manufacturers to increase their USMCA-bloc sourcing to ensure that 75% of a vehicle’s parts are made in a signatory country to benefit from the free trade provisions.…
ASIA PACIFIC PAINT AND COATINGS REGULATORY ROUNDUP – CHINA RELEASES ANTI-VIRAL/BACTERIAL COATINGS STANDARD
THE CHINA Coatings Industry Association on September 14 published a draft standard for the manufacture and sale of antibacterial and anti-viral coatings – a key growth segment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The draft specifies the terms, definitions, requirements, test methods, inspection rules, labelling, marking, packaging and storage of coating products with antibacterial and antiviral properties.…
INDONESIA CHALLENGES LEGALITY OF EU PALM OIL BIOFUEL RESTRICTIONS
A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel will assess whether import restrictions created by the European Union (EU) to reduce the use of carbon-intensive biofuels comply with global trading rules.
The Indonesian government is challenging portions of the EU’s renewable energy directive (RED) linked to EU guidance limiting the indirect land use change (ILUC) of biofuel feedstock cultivation.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP - CHINESE GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES COATINGS SECTOR POLLUTION PROBE
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.…
INTERNATIONAL SUGAR ORGANISATION WANTS TO WORK WITH CONFECTIONERS IN FIGHTING ANTI-SUGAR JUNK SCIENCE
The executive director of International Sugar Organisation (ISO) wants his body “to work more with the confectionery sector”, as it strives to debunk junk science that derides the nutritional value of sugar. José Orive told Confectionery Production that ISO wanted to succeed in presenting “scientific evidence-based information” about sugar’s health impact so the reputation of confectionery products is not “blackened with funky fake data”. …
INTERNATIONAL FOOD BRANDS MAY BENEFIT FROM EASIER ACCESS TO CHINESE CONSUMER MARKETS THROUGH EXPANSION OF CHINA E-COMMERCE ZONES
Representatives of international food brands and analysts have told just-food that China’s State Council’s approval of 46 new pilot zones for companies conducting cross-border e-commerce, a move designed to help the country’s economy withstand the blows landed by the Covid-19 epidemic, also present opportunities to foreign food brands selling to Chinese consumers. …
BRICS COUNTRIES’ CAN SECTORS LARGELY REMAIN OPEN DURING COVID-19 CRISIS AS IMPORTANT PART OF FOOD CHAIN
AS a key part of the food production supply chain, the international can manufacturing and filling industry has largely stayed open, with some exceptions, during the Covid-19 crisis, not just in developed economies, but also in key emerging markets such as the BRICS countries.…
ASIAN PAINT AND COATINGS REGULATORY ROUNDUP - AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES NEW CHEMICAL CONTROL SYSTEM
AUSTRALIA’S existing regulatory framework for importing and manufacturing industrial chemicals, the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) will be replaced by a new system called the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS), starting July 1. The AICIS covers a broad range of chemicals and polymers used in adhesives, paints and solvents among many others. …
USA INDICTMENT DETAILS COMPLEX WEB OF DECEPTION FUNELLING MONEY INTO NORTH KOREA’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMME
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.…
SOUTH KOREAN BEAUTY SECTOR IS STRONG, BUT WILL NEED TO INNOVATE TO COPE SUCCESSFULLY WITH COVID-19 CRISIS
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.…
ASIAN PAINT AND COATING REGULATORY ROUNDUP - INDONESIAN INITIATIVE FOCUSES ON REMOVING LEAD FROM PAINTS
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.…
EUROPEAN NONWOVENS INDUSTRY FOCUSES ON INNOVATION TO STRENGTHEN ITS INTERNATIONAL MARKET POSITION
WORRIES about the future of manufacturing in Europe are certainly not being applied to the continent’s nonwovens industry, which has been growing steadily in recent years. Indeed, last year, the overall production of nonwovens in Europe in 2018 grew by around 1.3% year-on-year to reach 2.76 million tonnes, (the most recent Europe wide figures released by industry association EDANA).…
THE PHILIPPINES READIES A TEXTILE-GARMENT INDUSTRY EXPANSION ROADMAP
The Philippines department of trade and industry is finalising a roadmap to revive the textile and garment industry, devised by the government’s Board of Investment.
Latest drafts of this Textile-Garment Industry Roadmap 2020-2029, which has yet to be formally released, lays out the path for an integrated textile-garment industry, strong linkages between industry, government and private sector, as well as a dedicated trade office.…
JANUARY SEES INCREASES IN MINIMUM WAGE RATES IN OUTSOURCING MANUFACTURIONG HUBS WORLDWIDE
NATIONAL minimum wages have been rising in clothing manufacturing outsourcing hubs around the world, with low and medium-cost manufacturing centres increasing pay rates, as their governments seek to balance the need for export competitiveness with the value of industrial peace to avoid production disruption and the ability to retain experienced staff.…
ASIAN COATINGS REGULATORY ROUND UP – AUSTRALIS DEVELOPS CHEMICAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISK STANDARD
CONSULTATIONS are being assessed in Australia to develop a National Standard for Environmental Risk Management of Industrial Chemicals, which will include coatings and their chemical ingredients, Australia’s department of agriculture, water and the environment has said in a note. The national standard, for which consultations were to end in February, is being designed to ensure that potentially harmful high-risk chemicals are subject to appropriate and consistent environmental controls across the nation.…
INDONESIA'S ROBUST ECONOMIC GROWTH OFFERS MAJOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE COUNTRY'S PAINT AND COATING INDUSTRY
Indonesia’s paint and coatings sector is expected to continue to grow, driven by an expanding middle-class population, the fast-growing construction sector and ambitious government infrastructure projects, encompassing transport networks, energy and utilities.
The south-east Asian country’s paint and coatings market has grown to almost USD2.5 billion in sales revenue in the past year and sales are expected to expand at a fair clip of between 6% and 7% annually in the next five years, according to industry analysts Frost & Sullivan. …
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – MALAYSIA DEMANDS SYSTEM BANKS BOOSTS RESERVES TO PROTECT AGAINST CRASHES
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.…
AIRBUS HIT WITH EUR3.6 BILLION IN COMBINED UK, US AND FRENCH FINES
Airbus is to pay out EUR3.6 billion (USD4 billion) under a trio of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) with British, French and United States authorities that were simultaneously agreed by national courts January 31 as part of a global resolution over bribes to clinch civil and military aircraft sales.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUNDUP – SMALLER JAPANESE PAINT IMPORTERS OFFERED EXEMPTION FROM CHEMICAL DECLARATION LAW
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.…
MAJOR INTERNATIONAL BRANDS USING E COMMERCE LINKS TO MAINTAIN POSITION IN CHINA'S GROWING BEAUTY MARKET
A queue formed at the L’Oréal stand at November’s China International Import Expo fair, in Shanghai: the French firm had set up photo opportunities to appeal the ‘Da ka’ set – Chinese slang referring to generation of selfie-taking youths who seemingly live to photograph themselves at important landmarks.…
ASEAN TEXTILE MANUFACTURING CENTRES UPGRADING BACKWARD LINKAGE TECHNOLOGIES WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF IMPORTS
KEY textile manufacturing countries in southeast Asia are investing in new machinery to upgrade their textile technology, boosting backward linkages as they seek to strengthen and update local supply chains, international trade data shows. While that level of investment in imports seems to have declined in 2018, key textile manufacturing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc countries have been importing millions of dollars of new machinery, helping them make the most of trade deals that can insist in local fabric, yarn and fibre sourcing.…
NONWOVENS PRODUCTION PICKING UP VOLUME, QUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN BOOMING ASIA PACIFIC REGION
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.…
CHINA TEXTILE AND CLOTHING OFFICIALS PUSH GREATER COOPERATION AND INVESTMENT WITH SE ASIAN NEIGHBOURS
China’s state textile planners have announced they are intensifying ties with Mekong River countries within southeast Asia in the textile and apparel sectors, contradicting assumptions that the Chinese government wants to oppose the exodus of production to this region.
On October 21, the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) announced that it would intensify cooperation with the five SE Asian countries who are co-members of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum – Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam (Lancang is the name of the upper Mekong in China).…
MALAYSIA TEXTILE INDUSTRY USES NANOTECHNOLOGY TO LEVERAGE OPPORTUNITIES CREATED BY US-CHINA TRADE WAR
AN INCREASING reliance on using nanotechnology is giving Malaysian textile manufacturers a competitive edge over rival producers in south east Asia, experts claim.
According to Seow Hon Cheong, president of the Malaysian Textile Manufacturers Association, since the US–China trade war began, opportunities for exports by and investments in the Malaysian textile sector have opened.…
VIETNAM’S CAR IMPORTS SURGE AS THAILAND, INDONESIA-BASED MANUFACTURING FINALLY COPES WITH RED TAPE – INDICATING MAJOR POTENTIAL AS FUTURE MARKET
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.…
EU/WTO INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – NEW EU COMMISSION PLOTS LABELLING REFORMS
THE NEW European Commission, which is now expected to assume office on December 1, is expected to push the further harmonisation of European Union (EU) food labelling rules regarding nutrition. Incoming EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, of Cyprus, said she wanted to see the Commission act against pack claims declaring that products were healthy when they contained “a high level of sugar, fat or salt”.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION MAY PUSH HARMONISATION OF SUGAR FOOD LABELLING
THE INCOMING European Commission may seek to further harmonise European Union (EU) food labelling rules on sugar content. This pledge comes from the nominee for new EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, a Cypriot parliamentarian, whose EU role includes being responsible for food safety and standards.…
COMPANIES SHOULD CAREFULLY AND CONTINUOUSLY ASSESS OFFSHORE TAX POLICIES TO PROTECT REPUTATIONS – SAY EXPERTS
COMPANIES using offshore tax jurisdictions need to assess whether their strategies can be branded unethical, as well as illegal, causing them reputational as well as financial damage. They need to assess whether the risk is worth taking. Poorna Rodrigo reports.
The series of data dumps, such as the Panama Papers, and the recent Mauritius Leaks have continued to tarnish the reputation of offshore tax havens, but experts stress that properly used, a positive case can be made for offshore tax policies.…
PHILIPPINES AND THAILAND CONTINUE TRADE LAW BATTLE OVER ACCESS TO THAI TOBACCO MARKET
THE PHILIPPINES and Thailand cigarette industries are still fighting a long trade dispute that has seen litigation rumble through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since 2008. That year, the Philippines government lodged a series of complaints with the WTO’s disputes settlement body (DSB) that the Thai Customs Department had imposed unjust restrictions on imports of cigarettes from the Philippines.…
BRANDS NEED TO BUILD INSIGHT INTO SOUTH ASIA’S EMERGING BEAUTY PRODUCT MARKETS TO SCORE SUSTAINED INCREASED SALES
COSMETICS companies serving the south Asia market may grumble that they are facing challenges, but the reality is the region’s emerging markets offer growth rates that can only be dreamt of in richer countries.
India’s beauty and personal care product market is a case in point.…
VIETNAM’S DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING INDUSTRY ADVANCING INTO NEW ERA
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. …
CHINA’S FINANCE MINISTRY PLOTS LAW PUNISHING LAW BREAKING ACCOUNTANTS
CHINA’S ministry of finance drafted regulations punishing accountants violating national accounting laws. Proposals under public consultation would include blacklisting accountants found guilty of fabricating, hiding or destroying financial reports, books and documents, or telling other accountants to undertake such malpractice. Accountants involved in embezzlement would suffer the same fate.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – CHINA IMPOSES RETALIATORY TARIFFS ON US PAINT EXPORTS
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…
SOUTHEAST ASIA’S AUTO SECTOR STYMIED BY BURGEONING TRADE RED TAPE, EXPERTS WARN
REMOVING non-tariff-barriers (NTBs) impeding the trade in automobiles, parts and materials between the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is key to unlocking the regional automotive industry’s full potential, experts argue. However, they agree that such moves cannot be achieved without short-term pain.…
GLOBAL DECOMMISSIONING INDUSTRY GROWS AS OI AND GAS OFFSHORE STRUCTURES REACH END OF OPERATIONS
A WAVE of oil and gas structure decommissioning in the North Sea, a steady continuing flow in the USA’s Gulf of Mexico fields, and a similar longer-term challenge in south-east Asia are concentrating minds on the infrastructure needed to dismantle such equipment safely.…
CONSUMERS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA’S GROWING BEAUTY MARKET DEVELOP INCREASINGLY SPECIALISED TASTES
SOUTH-EAST Asia’s beauty and personal care product market continues to grow, with more mature markets in the region demonstrating an increasing preference for natural products.
As might be expected, consumers in the wealthy city state of Singapore are especially keen to spend more money on lines with natural ingredients.…
MAJOR COMPANIES FACE STRUCTURAL EXPOSURE TO SOUTH EAST ASIAN ORGANISED CRIME
DOING business in many southeast Asian countries is becoming increasingly challenging, with major companies being exposed to increasingly sophisticated financial crime and widespread corruption. Poorna Rodrigo reports.
COMMERCIAL crime in southeast Asia is fuelled by the fact that it contains wealthy and medium-income well-regulated jurisdictions, alongside weakly-regulated, corruption-heavy poorer countries.…
AMERICA SHOOTS ITSELF IN THE FOOT IN TRADE WAR, FROM WHICH MAJOR CHINESE CLOTHING MANUFACTURERS WILL BENEFIT
THE INTENSIFYING trade war between the USA and China has proved to be an opportunity for some larger Chinese clothing manufacturing firms, some of which had already built capacity overseas, notably in southeast Asia, and Vietnam especially. These companies have been able to adjust to the worsening tariff barriers to the US market for China-sourced exports, whereas smaller companies unable to afford new SE Asia operations have suffered.…
NONWOVENS SECTOR IN MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA STRUGGLES WITH OVERCAPACITY
THE NONWOVENS industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is still struggling with over-capacity, while declining purchasing power has hit the mid- and higher-tier segments, prompting global players to reconsider product offerings.
MENA economies have been impacted by low oil prices and regional instability, with growth forecast at 1.5% this year, down from 1.7% in 2018, according to investment bank JP Morgan.…
CAMBODIA GARMENT FACTORY OWNERS ACCUSED OF DISMISSING EXPERIENCED WORKERS TO AVOID SENIORITY PAYMENTS
Cambodia garment industry associations are accusing factory owners of dismissing experienced workers without paying due compensation, claiming this is a breach of newly introduced legally mandated seniority payments, supposed to be paid from this month. (June)
Cambodia’s Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) president Pav Sina told just-style that that an unnamed “factory located in Damnakthom village, in the capital Phnom Penh has dismissed workers controversially without paying them compensation”, claiming the supplier wanted to evade additional costs from the new payments.…
ANTI-FRAUD AWARENESS AND TRAINING IS A LYNCHPIN OF CORPORATE POLICIES FIGHTING GRAFT AND FINANCIAL SCAMS
ANTI-fraud experts understand that managers always need to be aware of the potential for their organisations to lose money to fraud and corruption. But the fact that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/acfepublic/2018-report-to-the-nations.pdf
estimates an average 5% of public and private revenues are lost to fraud indicates that more awareness is needed.…
ANTI-FRAUD AWARENESS AND TRAINING IS A LYNCHPIN OF CORPORATE POLICIES FIGHTING GRAFT AND FINANCIAL SCAMS
ANTI-fraud experts understand that managers always need to be aware of the potential for their organisations to lose money to fraud and corruption. But the fact that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/acfepublic/2018-report-to-the-nations.pdf
estimates an average 5% of public and private revenues are lost to fraud indicates that more awareness is needed.…
GLOBAL AML/CFT REGIME’S EFFECTIVENESS IN DOUBT AS ITS 30TH BIRTHDAY APPROACHES
This July is the 30th anniversary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which developed its 40 recommendations on anti-money laundering (AML) and nine special recommendations on combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) – but the jury is still out on whether the AML/CFT system it has created is really working.…
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL BEAUTY SECTORS EYE EXPORTS, LEVERAGING LOCAL QUALITY AND INNOVATION
THE LONG lines of customer to the cash register in Inditex stores – the giant Spanish company behind High Street fashion brands Zara, Bershka and Pull&Bear (among others) – are also now buying personal care products as well as clothes. They funnel customers through shelves that are not only bursting with low-cost impulse buys, such as hair accessories, smart phone covers and key rings, but now also Inditex scents.…
MILITARY SECURITY EXPERT ADVISES US CLOTHING SECTOR TO UNDERTAKE DEEP DIVE CRIME ANALYSIS ON SUPPLY CHAINS
THE INTERNATIONAL clothing industry needs to take a holistic and assertive approach to fighting intellectual property theft and counterfeiting, which while can be easier to detect today, because of advances in data analysis, still poses a significant threat, an expert USA seminar was told.…
JAPAN’S TRADITIONAL QUALITY CURRENTLY WINNING ASIAN BEAUTY MARKET BATTLE OVER SOUTH KOREA’S FLASHY INNOVATION
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.…
ASIAN BIOCIDES REGULATIONS ARE TOUGH AND DIVERSE – POSING REAL COMPLIANCE CHALLENGES
BIOCIDAL coating products are some of the most demanding lines to make, sell and import for manufacturers and suppliers as far as regulatory compliance is concerned. Legitimate concerns among environmental health regulators to ensure that biocides only kill the micro- or larger organisms that they target, without unintended damaging side-effects, mean that biocide controls are constantly under review.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – JAPAN BLOCKS LEAD IN PAINTS FOR PUBLIC SECTOR PROJECTS
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.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – MALAYSIA EXTENDS UNPAID TAX AMNESTY
MALAYSIA has extended its grace period for taxpayers who have under-paid in the past, allowing for low penalties should undeclared income be filed on returns this year. This even covers taxpayers who have yet to register with the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia, and those who have registered but have not submitted ITRF/PRF/RPGTRF returns.…
SFO ENDS GSK AND ROLLS-ROYCE GRAFT PROBES
BRITAIN’S Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has closed two long-running major investigations into allegations of corruption and bribery at two of the UK’s largest companies: aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce and medicine manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. Rolls-Royce has been subject to a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), approved in January 2017, where it paid a GBP497.25 million (USD616 million) plus interest penalty and GBP13 million costs (USD16.1 million) over 12 counts of conspiracy to corrupt, false accounting and failure to prevent bribery in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – BREXIT SPARKS CONCERN OVER RELATED EU IMPORT QUOTA REDUCTIONS
TRADING partners with the European Union (EU) are concerned about the EU cutting the size of low duty import quotas once Britain quits the bloc, which it is scheduled to do on March 28.
The EU has released detailed plans to reduce the amount of some goods it allows into the EU, to take account of Britain exiting the single European market.…
MINIMUM WAGE RISE PRESSURES WILL POSE CHALLENGES FOR SOUTHEAST ASIAN MANUFACTURERS IN 2019
INCREASES in minimum wage rates are likely to be of significant concern to brands sourcing from south-east Asia in 2019, with pay on an upward trajectory – although governments’ approaches vary.
For some governments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, raising minimum wage serves as a populist measure (for instance by Thailand’s military government, whose supporters will face an election this year), while for others, an annual review is a statutory requirement, for example, in the Philippines.…
THAILAND’S ROBUST ECONOMY REFLECTED BY GROWTH IN BURGEONING PAINT AND COATINGS SALES
AS the second largest economy within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, Thailand remains a key market in the region for paint and coatings sales. Regarding sales of home paints and coatings, including lacquers and varnishes, London-based market researcher Euromonitor International says that sales have been growing strongly.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP - RETALIATORY DUTIES ON USA CONFECTIONERY AND INGREDIENTS EXPORTS CHALLENGED AT WTO
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) Disputes Settlement Body (DSB) has approved establishing disputes settlement panels ruling sought by the USA on whether retaliatory duties imposed by the European Union (EU), Canada, China, and Mexico on US confectionery and sweet bakery and associated ingredient exports, imposed in response to America’s controversial steel and aluminium tariffs, break WTO rules.…
ASIAN PAINT AND COATINGS REGULATORY ROUND UP – VIETNAM RAMPS UP ANTI-LEAD IN PAINTS EFFORTS
THE VIETNAM Chemicals Agency us ramping up efforts to remove lead from paints in Vietnam – officially requesting to be considered a partner in the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paint, a voluntary partnership formed by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).…
AIRPORT OPENS IN INDIAN HIMALAYAN STATE OF SIKKIM
THE FIRST civilian airport to operate in the Himalayan Indian state of Sikkim has started operations. Building Pakyong Airport, near the state capital Gangtok, has been an engineering challenge for Indian contractor the Punj Lloyd group, which needed to build an 80.3 metres-high reinforcement wall to stabilise the surrounding mountainous terrain.…
TRADE WAR RAISING THE SPECTRE OF FRAUDULENT TEXTILE-GARMENT SHIPPING FROM CHINA TO US VIA SE ASIAN ROUTES
IN its trade war against China, the Trump administration in the USA has added tariffs on a wide range of upstream textile inputs and fashion-related consumer products, raising the spectre of fraudulent rerouting of Chinese textile-garment products through neighbouring regions, notably south-east Asia.…
ASIA WAKING UP TO CRYPTOCURRENCY – GOVERNMENTS SEEK TO REDUCE MONEY LAUNDERING THREATS
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.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – CHINA PLANS TO HIT AMERICAN CONFECTIONERS WITH TARIFFS
THE CHINESE government has directly targeted the American confectionery and related ingredients sector in its latest tit-for-tat response in the trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump. Beijing has highlighted these goods as products that may become subject to retaliatory tariffs, should the USA impose a threatened third list of duties on Chinese tech, drafted over alleged thefts of American IP.…
OPTIMISM FOR TEXTILE INDUSTRY AS INDONESIA-EU FTA APPROACHES
NEGOTIATIONS for a free trade agreement between Indonesia and the European Union (EU), which will pave the way for greater opportunities for the textile and garment sectors, are entering a final phase, the head of Indonesia’s textile industry association said.
“Negotiations are entering the sixth round.…
MALAYSIA GARMENT MAKERS WORRY ABOUT PLANNED MINIMUM WAGE HIKE
THE MALAYSIAN government has approved a new minimum wage of Malaysian Ringgit MYR1,500 (USD368) for the private sector, but the new wages floor will be phased in gradually.
“If we push for higher minimum wages, cost of production will go up and we will not be competitive,” Malaysia’s Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the country’s national news agency, Bernama, today.…
AS US-CHINA TRADE SPAT HEATS UP, THE PHILIPPINES ANTICIPATES CHINESE GARMENT INVESTMENT WAVE
Signs of an accelerating relocation of garment investment from China to the Philippines are emerging, amidst the US imposing an additional 10% duty on textile and some clothing products from China. The Chinese government retaliation of an additional 25% duty on US cotton imports making raw material sourcing for China-based manufacturers more expensive has also raised the cost of doing business in China.…
ASIA PACIFIC PAINT AND COATINGS REGULATORY ROUND UP – INDIA PAINT SECTOR EXEMPTED FROM KEY BIOCIDE CONTROLS
INDIA’S paint industry has been exempted from a mandatory biocide registration requirement under the national Insecticides Act (1968) if the biocides are used as a dry film preservative. However, new guidelines issued by Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) in June have told the Indian paint industry that they must use registered biocide products at recommended dosages, or protective labelling rules will kick in.…
JAPAN PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT GROWS THROUGH EXPORT BOOM
Japan’s personal care sector experienced continued growth in 2017, with shipments surpassing Japanese Yen JPY1.6 trillion (USD14.34 billion) during the year to record a new record high. Virtually every sector recording an increase in sales on the previous year. Figures for the January-April period of 2018 suggest that this positivity is being carried over into this year, boding well for Japanese personal care product companies.…
EU PROJECTS TO TACKLE COUNTERFEIT TEXTILES FROM SE ASIA
EUROPEAN Union (EU) customs’ long-standing struggle with counterfeit textile products coming from south-east Asia and the resulting economic losses have sparked the EU to invest in two initiatives aiming at preventing the trade of fake goods.
IP Key South East Asia (IP Key SEA) and ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU (ARISE Plus), both launched this April, will be strongly promoting the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights in the textile and other impacted sector.…
SOUTHEAST ASIA FACES UP TO LOOMING OIL AND GAS DECOMMISSIONING CHALLENGE
THE ASIA-PACIFIC (APAC) region’s oil and gas sector faces an unprecedented level of decommissioning for which it is under-prepared and lacks experience, analysts have warned. Unclear regional government regulations coupled with a lack of local expertise mean that companies and regulators face a steep learning curve, high initial costs and the potential for mistakes, according to the consultancy group Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis.…
ASIA PACIFIC’S DIVERSE NONWOVENS PRODUCTION GROWS SUSTAINABLY, AS LOCAL DEMAND DIVERSIFIES
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.…
SOUTH EAST ASIA MAYBE COMPLEX REGIONAL MARKET, BUT GROWTH IN SALES IS BEING WITNESSED ACROSS THE REGION
SOUTH-EAST Asia maybe a diverse and hence complicated region in which to market personal care products, but the growth in sales in all its countries make it an attractive target for beauty brands.
The Philippines is a case in point. The gross domestic product (GDP) of this 103 million people archipelago recorded 6.7% GDP growth in 2017, and the World Bank projects it to grow further at an annual rate of 6.7% in both 2018 and 2019, before settling at 6.6% in 2020.…
PAKISTAN’S TEXTILE INDUSTRY FOR AVAILABILITY OF RAW MATERIALS TO BOOST VALUE-ADDED EXPORTS
PAKISTAN’S textile industry associations have urged their government to provide “an enabling environment” and relax import duties on raw materials to encourage exporters and boost value-addition for the country’s struggling textile industry.
Reacting to Sindh province governor Mohammad Zubair’s remarks in which he highlighted the importance of the industry adding value to its products to boost textile exports, association leaders say his comments are unfounded as manufacturers are doing their best but battling high production costs, against which they have campaigned long and hard.…
MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA EXPAND DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING – BUT GROWTH IS SLOW
MALAYSIA has long positioned itself as a higher-tech source of textile manufacturing and so it is maybe no surprise that it has been growing its digital textile printing segment.
That has been to the benefit of key Japan-based digital imaging and printing solution supplier Epson, which currently claims a Malaysian market share of 87% – based on data harvested last year (2017).…
REGULATORY CONVERGENCE OF COSMETICS LEGISLATION WILL HAPPEN – BUT SLOWLY, SAY EXPERTS, COSMETICS EUROPE MEETING HEARS
ACHIEVING regulatory convergence in the USD465 billion global cosmetics industry (Euromonitor 2017 figures) is an important long-term goal, industry experts agreed at European personal care product association Cosmetics Europe’s June 13-14 annual conference 2018 in Brussels. Europe is a key market for this industry – providing EUR77.6 billion’s worth of personal care product sales last year, and supporting more than two million jobs, said Cosmetics Europe president Loïc Armand, also president of L’Oréal France.…
THAILAND HOPES JOINING TRADE DEAL WILL BOOST CHANCES OF US EXPORT SUCCESS
THAILAND needs to join the 11-nation Asia Pacific trade deal – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – “as soon as it can” so that the kingdom can lift its declining garment and textiles sales to the key American market once again, an industry expert said.…
JAPANESE BEEF PIONEER CREATES OLIVE-FED WAGYU INDUSTRY
Wagyu beef produced from olive-fed cattle on a remote island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea is experiencing exponential demand at home and abroad thanks to its healthy fats and ‘umami’ (savoury) flavour.
The meat, which was first produced in 2016, gained national recognition last year (2017) at the Wagyu Olympics, Japan’s premier beef show, where it received a ‘fat quality award’.…
PROPOSED NEW SE ASIAN TRADE DEAL SHOULD BOOST TEXTILE SECTOR – BUT IMPACT WILL BE UNEVEN, SAY EXPERTS
EXPERTS have expressed mixed reactions on how a proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), now years in the making, could help revive the garment and textile sector in South East Asia.
The 16-member bloc that includes the 10 ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and six other countries – Australia New Zealand, China, India, Japan and South Korea – have been negotiating the deal since November 2012.…
SOUTH KOREA’S COSMETICS WEATHERING POLITICAL HEADWINDS WITH MORE PERSONALISATION AND MULTI-STEP ROUTINES
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.…
NEW TAX REGIME MAKING A DENT IN PHILIPPINE AUTO BOOM
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.…
TAX INCENTIVES WELCOMED BY INDONESIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY LEADERS
TEXTILE industry representatives have welcomed an anticipated move by the Indonesian government to make new corporate income tax cuts to boost investment and make its manufacturing industry – notably textile and clothing manufacturers – more competitive both at home and overseas.…
DELTA GALIL - INNOVATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME, SAYS CEO
IF there is a quality that gives many Israeli companies an edge internationally, it is innovation. And this trait can certainly be said to run through the work of Israeli apparel major Delta Galil, based in Caesarea, northern Israel.
“We could not succeed if we were not innovative” said Isaac Dabah, the company’s CEO of Delta Galil, in an exclusive interview with just-style, held at his office.…
THAI COATINGS SECTOR DISPLAYING CONTINUED ROBUSTNESS
THAILAND maybe in political stagnation, with its military government unlikely to stage elections until November at the earliest, but its paint and coatings market is expanding robustly. Demand for coatings in Thailand, during the whole of 2017, was estimated at 510,000 tonnes worth USD1.5 billion, according to US-based consultancy for the chemical industry Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – SINGAPORE BUDGET PUSHES MAJOR TAX REFORMS
SINGAPORE is to levy good and services tax (GST) on imported services from January 1, 2020, to help city state e-commerce service providers compete with foreign suppliers. B2B imported services will be taxed via a reverse charge mechanism. The move was announced in the government’s 2018 budget, that was announced on February 19.…
THAILAND HAS POTENTIAL TO BE NEW SE ASIA REGIONAL KNITWEAR MANUFACTURING HUB
WITH full supply chains and innovative products, Thailand’s knitwear industry is thriving, making the country a nucleus for fashion manufacturing in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Thai Garment Manufacturers Association (TGMA) executive director Chartchai Singhadeja said: “Thailand’s strength lies in our full-value supply chains, starting from fibres to yarns and fabrics, then apparel and clothing within the fashion industry.”…
BANGLADESH MAKING INROADS INTO LINGERIE AS CHINA SHIFTS GEAR
LURED by a shifting global market and better margins, Bangladesh’s apparel producers are rushing into the lingerie space, predicting Chinese manufacturers will secure fewer export orders for these lines as their costs rise.
This new niche opportunity for the Bangladesh industry is fortuitous, as it dovetails with the country’s textiles and clothing makers’ core strategy of moving from their traditional low-cost growth pillars, such as t-shirts, shirts, trousers, jackets and sweaters.…
CHAROEN TO INVEST IN BUILDING SEVERAL POULTRY BREEDING RAISERS IN RUSSIA
The Thailand-based agricultural holding Charoen Pokphand Foods has announced plans to invest up to Russian Roubles RUB2.5 billion (USD44.5 million) to build two poultry breeding units in Russia this year (2018). The first will be established at Charoen’s existing Severnaya poultry farm, a major production centre in the St Petersburg region (oblast).…
LAW ENFORCERS SEEK TO EXTRADITE FRAUDSTERS THROUGH TREATY AND DIPLOMATIC MUSCLE, AS INTERNATIONAL CRIME PROLIFERATES
FINANCIAL fraud, as all practitioners know, has become increasingly international, a trend that will doubtless continue. For law enforcers based on national units of theoretically sovereign countries, this poses challenges, and one particularly tough nut to crack are procedures to extradite suspects to face trial in the country where their alleged victims reside.…
WESTERN COUNTRIES INTRODUCING DPAS 25 YEARS AFTER USA – BUT CAUTION ABOUNDS IN ROLL-OUT
DEFERRED Prosecution Agreements (DPAs), that allow companies and individuals that admit to wrongdoing and cooperate with investigators to pay a fine and avoid prosecution, are becoming increasingly common worldwide. Enabling wrongdoers to avoid being debarred from bidding for many contracts and providing law enforcers with a commitment that companies and individual fraudsters will avoid fraud in future, DPAs offer benefits for police and suspects.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – MALAYSIA ISSUES NEW GUIDANCE TO BOOST SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT
THE SECURITIES Commission Malaysia (SC) has issued Guidelines on Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) Funds to boost the growth of green investments in the country. The advice follows Malaysia issuing in July the world’s first green sukuk (Islamic bond).
The new advice applies to conventional as well as Islamic sustainable finance, including unit trust funds, real estate trust funds, exchange-traded funds, and venture capital and private equity funds.…
CHALLENGES OUTLINED FOR HR TEAMS TO HELP TACKLE WEAK PENSION SCHEMES ACROSS ASIA
THE HUMAN resources sector has been urged to put pressure on governments and investment fund managers in Asia to strengthen pension provisions as they deal with the consequences of rapidly aging populations.
And HR and economics experts have warned that corporate HR teams have a critical role to play in educating the workforce about the extent, however limited, of their pension provision and working with company bosses to strengthen policies within their organisations to compensate for the lack of robust schemes in existence.…
EU SUGAR QUOTAS MAY BOOST PRODUCTION IN THE SHORT TERM – BUT LONG-TERM IMPACTS REMAIN UNCLEAR
It has been weeks since quotas limiting European Union (EU) sugar production were scrapped on September 30, and while its impact has yet to become clear, experts agree that EU output will rise, at least in the short term. The EU executive, the European Commission is predicting that EU sugar production will increase 20% in the coming year.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – HK REGULATORS INSIST ON EFFECTIVE CYBERSECURITY MANAGEMENT
HONG Kong regulators have laid down binding rules on financial institutions insisting that they practice effective cybersecurity management. The special administrative region’s (SAR) Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued ‘Guidelines for Reducing and Mitigating Hacking Risks Associated with Internet Trading’ requiring all licensed or registered internet traders to implement 20 steps to reduce cyber-attack vulnerabilities.…
MORE CREATIVE SKILLS REQUIRED TO ENSURE BEST POSSIBLE LABOUR OPPORTUNITIES IN ASEAN REGION
THE MEMBER countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) need to expand the remit of current skillsets identified in the grouping’s blueprint to ensure greater labour mobility during the fourth industrial revolution, according to a leading economist in the region.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY UPDATE - ECHA WARNS OF MAJOR CHEMICAL TRADING RULE CHANGES FOLLOWING BREXIT
THE EUROPEAN Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has warned of the major impact on British and other European Union (EU) knitwear companies, especially brands with integrated upstream fabric and finishing units, should the UK quit the EU as planned, on March 29, 2019.…
HONG KONG STARTS TO WORRY ABOUT TRADE-BASED MONEY LAUNDERING
AS one of the world’s leading financial centres and a traditional bridge to mainland China for international business, Hong Kong has long been in the crosshairs of global money laundering investigations.
Hong Kong featured in the infamous ‘Russian laundromat’ scandal, uncovered by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), that saw USD20 billion moved out of Russia between 2010 and 2014 through a web of shell companies.…
LAOS OFF TO A LATE START TO ESTABLISH ADEQUATE AML CONTROLS
LAOS, or the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), with its population of just 7 million, is the least developed member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a communist one-party state where corruption is rampant and transparency scarce. …
MALAYSIA’S RECORD ON AML IS PATCHY BUT PROGRESSING, EXPERTS SAY
MALAYSIA is making progress in combating money laundering but political interference is still a problem in implementing policies and enforcing laws, experts have told Money Laundering Bulletin.
A dynamic upper middle-income country (USD9,850 per head gross national income in 2016, says the Word Bank), some of Malaysia’s ML and TF [terrorist financing] risks derive from its geographic position.…
MYANMAR MOVES FORWARD ON AML REGIME, BUT INFORMAL PAYMENTS A REAL CHALLENGE
MYANMAR has made impressive progress towards building a system meeting international standards to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. But huge swathes of the economy still lie outside regulatory control, and rapid modernisation presents the authorities with fresh challenges.
The country’s ethnic and political fragmentation, with 14 states and regions with extensive powers, and its location in the opium-producing ‘Golden Triangle’ region, including Thailand and Laos, make it particularly vulnerable to the illicit drug trade and its associated dirty money flows.…
THAILAND OFF MONEY LAUNDERING BLACKLIST, BUT CONCERNS ABOUT POLICING OF AML LAWS REMAIN
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). …
INDIA BEAUTY INDUSTRY SUFFERS FROM DEMONETARISATION AND GST, BUT UNDERLYING GROWTH LOOKS SOLID
India’s robust cosmetics and personal care industry, that according to the Indian Beauty & Hygiene Association (IBHA) generated annual sales of USD8 billion in 2016, is facing severe supply chain disruption and the closure of smaller brands. Continuous double digit annual growth registered during the last decade by the industry – noted by figures from the ministry of commerce’s India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) – has now been severely disrupted by a series of radical regulatory measures.…
PAKISTAN TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS WARN POSSIBLE THAI FREE TRADE DEAL MAY NOT DELIVER MORE SALES
THE PAKISTAN textile industry is worried that a potential trade free trade deal with Thailand, now under discussion, may cause more harm than good to Pakistani manufacturers. Thai and Pakistan government negotiators are preparing for what maybe the final round of talks to forge a free trade agreement (FTA) between these two textile producing countries, with a deal potentially being signed in January.…
ROYAL SEAL OF APPROVAL FOR AUTHENTIC THAI SILK TRADITIONS TO BE UPHELD TO BOOST ECONOMY
THE PRODUCTION of Thai silk is rising fast as demand for this luxury fabric increases worldwide. Thailand is the fourth largest producer of silk in the world, having produced 202,073 tonnes in 2015, as reported by the International Sericultural Commission. Thai silk output has increased from 2011’s 130, 286 tonnes; rising to 2012’s 152,910 tonnes; 159,737 tonnes in 2013; and 178,058 tonnes in 2014.…
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: THAILAND’S TOP RECRUITERS GIVE TIPS TO ASPIRING HR PROFESSIONALS
A STRONG sense of strategic business acumen as well as personnel management experience is becoming important for successful human resources professionals to steer Thailand towards sustainable economic growth, recruitment experts suggest.
The country suffers from a shortage of skilled HR professionals because historically as an academic pursuit at university, it has trailled behind other subject areas so there has been little formal training available before now.…
JAPAN DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION TARGETS TRAINING OF MIDDLE MANAGEMENT FOR GROWING MYANMAR
Training middle managers is a priority for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the key emerging market of Myanmar, if this economic development organisation is to effectively support the country’s economic growth, according to JICA officials.
The agency’s work in Myanmar has traditionally focused on preventing major infectious diseases, creating infrastructure and growing economic capacity but, with the country being restricted by a dearth of professional and experienced talent, more aid is being channelled into nurturing human resources.…
VIETNAM TEXTILE EXPORTERS LOOK TO ASIA TO BOOST SALES
VIETNAM’S textile and clothing and textile sector is looking to sell more product into Asian markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, while solidifying its traditional export bases like the US and EU, the latest trade data indicates.
Last year, Vietnam exported USD2.28 billion’s worth of clothing and textiles to South Korea – a 7.45% gain compared with 2015, according to Vietnam customs data analysed by the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS). …
HONG KONG COSMETICS AND PERSONAL CARE SECTORS THRIVING BUT FACE CHALLENGE TO RETAIN CHINESE VISITOR INTEREST
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.…
CAMBODIA LAUNCHES KEY MINIMUM WAGE TALKS AS VIETNAM PAY DISCUSSIONS MOVE AHEAD
CAMBODIA’S tripartite talks that will set a new minimum wage limit for 2018 for the country’s garment and textile sector opened yesterday (Sept 25).
The three parties, representing government, industry and unions, however proposed three different monthly wage floors. Cambodia’s ministry of labour and vocational training suggested a minimum clothing and footwear sector monthly wage of USD162.67 and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia proposed USD161 – but unions have pushed for USD176.25-a-month, up from the current USD153 (and USD140 in 2016), Sokny Say, secretary general of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) told just-style. …
CAMBODIA’S WEAK AML SYSTEMS CRITICISED BY INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS
THE IMPOVERISHED south-east Asian kingdom of Cambodia shares porous borders with the significantly more dynamic economies of Thailand and Vietnam, is notorious for corruption, has a large casino sector and generates significant earnings from illegal exports.
This precarious mixture of factors has since 2012 consecutively earned Cambodia a spot in the Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index (from the Basel Institute on Governance) top-10 risk jurisdictions for money laundering.…
CAPITALISING ON THE SILVER WORKFORCE AND OTHER INNOVATIVE METHODS CONSIDERED TO TACKLE AGEING TALENT TSUNAMI
AN ELDERLY person at home is like a living golden treasure. So runs an oft-quoted Chinese proverb – but Hong Kong is starting to ponder its worth in the wake of a warning that the city faces an “ageing tsunami” along with much of the region where innovative plans are being considered to tackle the looming crisis.…
NEW GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO TACKLE GENDER PAY GAP ENCOURAGES HR COMMUNITY TO ACT SWIFTLY
THE EAST and south-east Asia HR sector is feeling the heat more than ever to plug the region’s gaping gender pay gap in the wake of a new initiative – launched on the fringes of the UN general assembly in New York last week (September 18).…
THAILAND REINING IN UNCHECKED LABOUR FLOW WITH HELP OF NEIGHBOURS
THE Thai government will enact new labour laws on January 1, 2018, among the most draconian changes being that business operators using services from unregistered brokers to seek illegal migrant workers can be subject to human trafficking charges punishable by a jail term of between three and 10 years and/or a fine of THB600,000 to THB1 million (USD18,100-USD30,000) per worker.…
INDONESIA TEXTILE FACTORIES MUST IMPROVE ITS DESIGNS
INDONESIAN textile factories must improve their production of motif designs and colours to satisfy domestic consumers and boost local sales, said textile retailers at south-east Asia’s busiest garment and textile market in Jakarta’s Tanah Abang district. “We expect producers make more unique textile motifs, so customers will have more choices, which they will like,” said Eryanto, a trader who has been working for about 11 years at the Arjuna Bombay textile shop at Tanah Abang Block A market.…
VIETNAM’S MIDDLE CLASS SEEKS BETTER QUALITY, WIDER VARIETY IN LOCAL TEXTILE MARKET
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.…
OPERATION RENEGADE YIELDS IMPORTANT COUNTERFEITING INTELLIGENCE IN ONGOING GLOBAL STRUGGLE AGAINST FAKES
A MAJOR international anti-counterfeiting action ‘Operation Renegade’ did not just seize more than 70,000 counterfeit auto spare parts, oil and air filters, grills, and fuel pumps, and nearly 600 cylinders of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants, it yielded valuable anti-smuggling and counterfeiting information.…
SOUTH EAST ASIA PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT MARKETS GROW – BUT DIVERSITY IN TRENDS STILL SIGNIFICANT
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.…
HR EXPERTS SAY SINGAPORE NEEDS TO WORK HARDER TO TACKLE GENDER PAY INEQUALITY
AN EXPERT from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has told businesses in the city state that they need to work harder to ensure they pay women and men equally for the same for level of work.
Its call came after a study found that Singapore’s gender pay gap has not improved in the last decade.…
HR EXPERTS SAY THAI GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO PROMOTE DIGITAL EDUCATION TO CREATE 4.0 WORKFORCE
HUMAN resources experts in Thailand have called on the country’s military government to reorient the education system so that students become more adept with digital technologies, bringing such skills to the workforce once they graduate.
They have commented after the release of findings by AlphaBeta – a Australia and Singapore-based strategic and economic advisory – which put Thailand at 10th place on overall digital ranking of Asia-Pacific countries, just ahead of Vietnam.…
CHINA’S SAIC LOOKS ABROAD TO EXPAND SALES AS DOMESTIC MARKET GROWTH TAILS OFF
CHINESE customers bought 28 million vehicles in 2016, up 7.3% from 2015, which saw a year-on-year growth of 4.7%, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. However, such sales were largely stimulated by tax incentives released by the Chinese government in 2015 to encourage the sales of low-emission cars.…
ASIA-PACIFIC GROWTH AND INNOVATION INSPIRES INVESTMENT INTO REGION’S NONWOVENS SECTOR
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.…
MONGOLIAN CASHMERE SALES GROW, BUT INDUSTRY STRUGGLES TO MAINTAIN QUALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
MONGOLIA remains one of the world’s key global production centres for cashmere, and its importance seems to be growing, with its cashmere garment exports increasing – total 2016 overseas receipts were USD9.6 million, up 196% since 2009.
Demand is driven by Mongolian goat fibres’ unique characteristics, most importantly of which its length of 38-45cm and thin microns facilitating the manufacturing of garments with higher quality than those made from Chinese and Afghan goat fibres. …
GOVERNMENT URGED TO TRANSFORM TRAINING TO EQUIP WORKFORCE FOR INDUSTRY 4.0
TRAINING in a broader skills set will be key to the successful integration of Cambodian workers in the new industrial revolution if the country’s labour market is not to be decimated by automation, experts have warned.
As ASEAN nations embrace Industry 4.0, some countries, like Cambodia, are concerned that while this disruption will bring great opportunities, it will also negatively impact its traditional labour market, forcing people out of jobs.…
CHALLENGES OUTLINED FOR HR TEAMS TO HELP TACKLE WEAK PENSION SCHEMES ACROSS ASIA
THE HUMAN resources sector has been urged to put pressure on governments and investment fund managers in Asia to strengthen pension provisions as they deal with the consequences of rapidly aging populations.
And HR and economics experts have warned that corporate HR teams have a critical role to play in educating the workforce about the extent, however limited, of their pension provision and working with company bosses to strengthen policies within their organisations to compensate for the lack of robust schemes in existence.…
CHINA CAAC SAYS CHINESE AIR TRAVEL IS INCREASING TO ‘BELT AND ROAD’ COUNTRIES
THE CIVIL Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has claimed that its government’s policy of forging transport links with countries in central Asia, south and south-east Asia, Africa and Europe (the so-called ‘belt and road’ plan) is promoting air travel between China and these states.…
PLANNED SOUTH AFRICAN AUDIT FIRM ROTATION SPARKS DISCORD AMONG ACCOUNTS
THE PLANNED introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation (MAFR) by the South African Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) has sparked widespread dissention within the country’s business and accounting communities This is despite that the reform’s goal is to strengthen auditor independence and audit quality and that there are some calls for the move to be brought forward from the current introduction date of April 1, 2023.…
VIETNAM WORKS TO BOOST PARTS PRODUCTION TO STRENGTHEN OVERALL AUTO SECTOR – BUT IS IT TOO LATE?
VIETNAM is working hard to develop an upstream parts manufacturing base, but this goal is proving hard to achieve and meanwhile, regional liberalization through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is threatening the country’s auto assembly segment.
In many ways, it is crunch time for Vietnam’s auto sector.…
RUSSIA GOVERNMENT PLOTS BOOST TO RARE EARTHS PRODUCTION
The Russian government has told Industrial Minerals of its plans to help boost rare earth element (REE) production across Russia in upcoming years.
The government is initially setting aside USD350 million for direct and indirect support for the sector, said an official at the ministry of industry and trade.…
JAPAN’S INNOVATIVE COSMETICS SECTOR SEEKS OVERSEAS SALES AS DOMESTIC SALES CORE STARTS TO SHRINK IN NUMBERS
Japan’s cosmetics and personal care market is holding steady, although there are concerns that stability is being supported by strong consumption by the burgeoning number of tourists visiting the country combined with a weak yen. USD1 bought Japanese Yen JPY117 in December compared JPY100 in July, although it has since recovered to JPY110 (April).…
GREENWASHING THREATENS BOOMING NATURAL AND ORGANIC COSMETICS MARKET IN ASIA
A STAGGERING 62% of Asia-Pacific consumers (including China and India) buy natural and organic cosmetics and another promising 32% are keen to buy them – making the region a hotspot for manufacturers of such lines. But this impressive growth also has made the region a perfect breeding ground for greenwashing, experts warned.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE BACKS CHINA’S ‘BELT AND ROAD’ INITIATIVE
HONG Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will ease listing requirements for certain infrastructure companies, notably those involved in projects aiding the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative. This aims to promote transport infrastructure helping move Chinese goods to central Asia, southeast Asia, Africa and Europe.…
UNICEF WELCOMES NEW THAI INFANT FORMULA MARKETING RESTRICTIONS
An announcement of a new law that will control marketing promotions of food for infants and toddlers in the Royal Gazette of Thailand is expected soon, then to become effective in 60 days, UNICEF Thailand has confirmed to just-food.
His follows the kingdom’s National Legislative Assembly had voting unanimously on April 5 to enact the Control of Marketing of Infant and Young Child Food Act.…
TEXTILE EXECUTIVES RISKING JAIL OVER CONTESTED SACKINGS UNDER NEW VIETNAMESE LAW AMENDMENT
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.…
VW CLOSE TO PAKISTAN TRUCK AND VAN ASSEMBLY DEAL, CLAIMS GOVERNMENT AGENCY
THE CHIEF executive of a major Pakistan government economic development agency has told wardsauto that Volkswagen has made significant progress in talks to establish new manufacturing production in this key south Asian market’s port city of Karachi. The latest fruit of the business-friendly policies pursued by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, “Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is in final talks with Premier Systems Private Limited – the authorised importer of Audi vehicles in the country – to set up a manufacturing/assembly plant for its Amarok and T6 (transporter range) models and Volkswagen,” Tariq Ejaz Chaudhary, CEO of Pakistan’s Engineering Development Board told wardsauto.…
CAMBODIA’S PROSPECTS AS A TEXTILE PURCHASER IN 2017 ARE UNCLEAR SAYS INDUSTRY BOSS
Cambodia’s garment industry is in a curious situation, with statistics indicating that export earnings from this key Asian fabric and yarn buyer are on the rise, despite evidence that overseas sales should actually be falling. According to one industry insider, this makes it difficult to project how the Cambodian clothing sector will perform in 2017 and hence how much it will spend on supplies.…
VIETNAM LAWYERS WARN CORPORATE CLIENTS THAT CRIMINAL AND LABOUR LAW CHANGES COULD SPARK JAIL FOR MANAGERS
Companies in Vietnam have been warned they are at risk of seeing their executives going to jail over contested sackings following anticipated new national penal code sanctions.
Law firm Duane Morris Vietnam LLC is warning its corporate clients that the crime of illegal dismissal of employees can now earn their executives up to one year in prison.…
DERISKING CONTINUES, ALTHOUGH AML BODIES ARE PRESSING BANKS TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS
THE DE-RISKING by major banks through cancelling correspondent banking relationships (CBRs) has started to raise such alarm that anti-money laundering institutions are starting to advise against such caution.
“There has been international pressure to make banks think twice about turning down customers and not just have blanket bans on certain jurisdictions or certain types of institutions,” said Sarah Ouarbya, partner in Mazars, one of the UK’s largest accountancy firms and an international specialist in audit, tax and advisory services.…
CHINA MAY GET BETTER ACCESS TO EU POULTRY MARKETS AFTER WTO RULING
China may have forced the European Union (EU) to grant additional low tariff quotas, improving Chinese poultry exporters EU market access – albeit just for food containing processed duck. A ruling released yesterday (Tuesday March 28) by a World Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes settlement panel has ruled that the EU had insufficiently considered China’s poultry exporting prowess when allocating these quotas in 2012.…
TECHNICAL TEXTILE DEVELOPMENT FAST-TRACKED BY PROACTIVE ASIAN GOVERNMENTS
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.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP - ASEAN AUDIT GROUP LAUNCHES PROGRAMME TO REDUCE INSPECTION FINDINGS IN REGION
THE ASEAN Audit Regulators Group (AARG) and the big-four audit firms have agreed a measurable goal to improve audit quality within south-east Asia. The project involves Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand; along with Malaysia’s Audit Oversight Board, Indonesia’s Finance Professions Supervisory Centre, Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission.…
GROWING BANGLADESH MIDDLE-CLASS BOOSTS DEMAND FOR QUALITY WESTERN CONFECTIONERY
EVERY time apparel industry executive Israfil Alam and his wife buy groceries, one item doesn’t elude them: chocolate for their 13-year-old son Isman Sayer.
“Isman’s favourite is Kit Kat Chunky,” Alam, a Dhaka-based general manager at knitwear maker Magpie Group, told Confectionery Production.…
THAILAND NEEDS TECH-SAVVY WORKFORCE TO DRIVE GROWTH SAYS CENTRAL BANK
THE BANK of Thailand is pushing for Thailand to better educate its workforce to cope with digital development, with a lack of research and development (R&D) investment being blamed economic stagnation within this southeast Asian country. The call comes as Thailand’s GDP per capita was just USD5,814.77 (World Bank figures for 2015) when China’s was USD8,027.68.…
GROWING BANGLADESH MIDDLE-CLASS BOOSTS DEMAND FOR QUALITY WESTERN CONFECTIONERY
EVERY time apparel industry executive Israfil Alam and his wife buy groceries, one item doesn’t elude them: chocolate for their 13-year-old son Isman Sayer.
“Isman’s favourite is Kit Kat Chunky,” Alam, a Dhaka-based general manager at knitwear maker Magpie Group, told Confectionery Production.…
EU/WTO INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU CANADA CETA DEAL COULD BOOST TRANSATLANTIC CONFECTIONERY TRADE
THE TRADE in confectionery products between the European Union (EU) and Canada is likely to increase now the European Parliament has approved the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
The vote – on February 15 (2017) – follows years of detailed negotiations and means that large sections of this trade deal can now come into force, maybe as early as April, as long as Canada stages its own vote in time.…
TRUMPIAN TRADE REVOLUTION SPELLING TROUBLE FOR APPAREL SOURCING IN ASIA
As US President Donald Trump has been wasting no time carrying out his campaign pledges to undo long-standing American trade ties, the Asian apparel industry and the US retailers it supplies have ample reasons to be on edge.
Signs are particularly worrisome for apparel players sourcing from Vietnam, a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the unratified 12-nation deal that will now not include the USA after Trump extracted America from its commitments via a January 23 presidential memorandum.…
EVIDENCE OF ROLLS-ROYCE’ CORRUPT DEALINGS RELEASED AS JUDGE MANDATES BRITAIN’S LARGEST EVER COMMERCIAL CRIME PENALTY
A JUDGE yesterday (January 17) approved Britain’s largest ever commercial crime enforcement action – a GBP497.25 million (USD616 million) plus interest and GBP13 million costs (USD16.1 million) deferred prosecution agreement with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench division, agreed the penalty for Rolls-Royce, covering covers 12 counts of conspiracy to corrupt, false accounting and failure to prevent bribery.…
TRUMP’S DECISION TO CUT TPP AN OPPORTUNITY, SAYS EUROPEAN DAIRY INDUSTRY
UNITED States (US) President Donald Trump’s decision on January 26 to sign an executive order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should provide opportunities for European Union (EU) dairy exporters, according to European dairy experts.
“From an EU dairy perspective, we would hope that the European Commission will continue to make an effort in our European trade negotiations, especially with Japan,” Alexander Anton, secretary general of the European Dairy Association, told Food & Drink Technology News.…
INDONESIAN BATIK PRODUCERS PREFER ONLINE MARKETING TO BOOST SALES
Indonesian batik producers are turning to social media to boost sales, helping them maintain production when not only standard marketing and distribution channels are not delivering enough revenue but standalone websites and major e-commerce sites.
Rusydi Bawazir, producer of Nargis Batik Podhek, from Madura, East Java province, started online marketing three years ago by using website: nargis.web.id.…
CLOTHING SECTOR GLOBAL REVIEW OF THE YEAR – 2016
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 PAINTS AND VARNISHES 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.…
VIETNAM MUST GET SMARTER ON HR AS GROWING ECONOMY PULLS IT TOWARDS MID-INCOME STATUS
HUMAN resources specialists are advising Vietnam’s government and private sector to get smarter over their personnel policies if it wants to maintain the productivity improvements that have helped pull this southeast Asian country out of poverty.
A report released in October (2016) by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) on the issue has cited research from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to highlight Vietnam’s strong record: the report notes that Vietnam’s productivity grew 184% from 1991-2012, far surpassing Thailand’s 85%, Singapore’s 81% and Malaysia’s 80% growth over the same period.…
MALAYSIA TOLD TO IMPROVE LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has urged Malaysia to reverse a trend of 15 years of low labour productivity by improving education and labour skills – helping the country meet its government goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020.…
VIETNAM’S PAINTS AND VARNISHES 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.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – SUGAR PRODUCERS WANT EU PROTECTION MAINTAINED, DESPITE TRADE DEAL TALKS
THE INTERNATIONAL Confederation of European Beet Growers (CIBE) and the European Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS-Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre) have jointly called on the European Union (EU) to continue protecting producers with import tariffs, even as the EU negotiates 12 trade deals affecting the food industry.…
VIETNAM’S PAINTS AND VARNISHES 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.…
KORDSA REINFORCES INNOVATION IN THE TURKISH TEXTILES MARKET
A global player in the textile tyre, composite and construction reinforcement technologies market, Turkey’s Kordsa Global is benefiting from a new research initiative as it seeks to remain a world leader in the market of tyre reinforcement technologies.
Keen to reinforce its own position as an innovator, in 2014 Kordsa Global entered into a partnership with Sabancı University to create the Composite Technologies Centre of Excellence.…
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA CONTINUES TO OFFER GLOBAL COSMETICS SECTOR PROSPECT FOR RAPID GROWTH
SUB-Saharan Africa offers the personal care product a real chance to see solid and steep growth in sales in upcoming years, with the region’s middle class growing in size and prosperity, served by international brands boosting their retail presence, especially in larger urban markets.…
SPORTSWEAR MANUFACTURERS STRUGGLING TO UTILISE MOST MODERN ROBOTICS
The world’s leading sportswear brands and manufacturers are struggling to equip their factories with the robotic cyberphysical systems (CPS) element of Industry 4.0 processes, at least in the near term, a major international conference has heard.
Last week’s World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) Manufacturers Forum in Taichung, Taiwan, (held on November 15-16), played host to delegates from 20 countries representing brands such as adidas, Nike and Giant Bicycles, market-leading manufacturers such as Taiwan’s footwear specialist Pou Chen, as well as academics and Industry 4.0 experts.…
LACK OF SKILLED LABOUR IS A PRESSING ISSUE FOR THAI BUSINESSES
THE SHORTAGE of skilled labour is the “second most pressing issue next to political instability” that is hindering growth in Thailand manufacturing firms, a Bangkok-based World Bank expert has told People Management.
Indeed, the south-east Asian country’s skilled labour shortage has been getting worse: for example, the number of weeks it takes to fill a vacancy for a skilled worker in Thailand has increased from about five weeks on average in 2007 to about eight weeks in 2015, said the World Bank’s east Asia and Pacific programme leader for poverty and human development Lars Sondergaard.…
ASEAN’S TALENT MOBILITY INITIATIVES ARE CHALLENGING, SAY EXPERTS
The Association of South East Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) “large structural differences in the education system” are challenging the 10 country group’s efforts to harmonise skills across the board, an expert from Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) has warned. His comments follow the August launch of an initiative to benchmark tourism industry skills in the 10-member bloc.…
SPEED AND INNOVATION NEED TO MESH TO GET PARALLEL TIME-TO-MARKET AND COST SAVINGS
Fast fashion is all about getting product to market quickly without over-spending. And while new technologies such as digital printing machinery can speed up the process, they can also add cost.
Guido Schlossmann, president and chief executive officer of Thailand-based consultants Synergies Worldwide, stressed to just-style that the key issue is getting the balance right.…
ASIA PACIFIC TECHNICAL TEXTILES PRODUCTION BOOMS – WITH HIGHER COST COUNTRIES INVESTING IN INNOVATION
THE ASIA-PACIFIC region has been regarded as the workshop of the world for most of the 21st century, and this is especially true for the technical textile sector, where output has continued to grow, partly fuelled by growing regional demand.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – SINGAPORE SIGNS KEY FINANCIAL ACCOUNT DATA SWAP DEALS
SINGAPORE has signed deals allowing for the automatic exchange of financial account information with two key trade partners – Britain and Australia. The agreements were struck by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) with the UK’s Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).…
THAI TEXTILE INVESTMENTS COULD BE KEY TO BUILDING VIETNAM BACKWARD LINKAGES
THAILAND’S strong upstream and mid-stream textile sectors can gain significantly by investing in Vietnam, setting up plants in the country ahead of the key Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal coming into force, Thailand textile industry experts have said.
Thailand’s “textile bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing sectors can benefit by investing in Vietnam,” a spokesperson from industry organisation the Thailand Textile Institute’s textile policy research and information service department said.…
ONLINE PACKAGED FOOD SALES SET TO TAKE OFF IN THAILAND
Thailand’s online packaged food market is small, but growing fast. Indeed, online sales of packaged food in Thailand are expected to grow dramatically by 2020 as Internet penetration increases and traffic in major cities makes in-person shopping inconvenient. Just over 40% of Thailand’s population can access the Internet at home, up from just 22.4% in 2010, according to the World Bank.…
THAI APPETITE FOR PREMIUM PACKAGED FOOD GROWING
A slowly recovering economy and a string of political crises may have weakened consumer spending in Thailand, but appetite for packaged premium brands, remained strong, according to industry experts. Overall, packaged food sales (retail and food services including premium) soared from USD8.06 billion in 2011 to USD 11.07 billion in 2015, according to data from London-based market researcher Euromonitor International, with sales projected to continue to grow through 2020, albeit at a slower pace.…
READY-TO-EAT GROWTH UNSTOPPABLE IN THAI FOOD LANDSCAPE
Demand for ready-to-eat meals is growing continuously in Thailand on the back of drastically changing lifestyles in the kingdom. As an ever greater share of the population lives in the condominiums of Bangkok’s sprawling suburbs; rural areas turn into industrial clusters; traffic jams worsen; and more family members work outside, the retail value of ready-to-eat meals is forecast by London-based market researcher Euromonitor International to grow this year by 9.9% year-on-year to Thai Baht THB7.4 billion (USD213.4 million) after having expanding in value at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 13.5% from 2010-14, according to another London-based market researcher, Mintel.…
PACKAGED HEALTH FOOD IN THAILAND STILL AWAITING THE STARTER’S GUN
The market for packaged food with health claims is still small in Thailand, with the organics food sector being particularly tiny. But functional food sales growth rates have been picking up markedly on the back of an aging population translating into increasing awareness of health problems, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – SINGAPORE SIGNS KEY FINANCIAL ACCOUNT DATA SWAP DEALS
SINGAPORE has signed deals allowing for the automatic exchange of financial account information with two key trade partners – Britain and Australia. The agreements were struck by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) with the UK’s Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).…
THAI PERSONAL CARE MARKET UNFAZED BY ECONOMIC DOLDRUMS
Although the economy of Thailand has been lacklustre amid serious political uncertainty following a military coup in 2014, the Thai personal care market has continued to display resilience. According to UK-based market researcher Euromonitor International, Thai retail sales of colour cosmetics in 2015 grew by 7.5% year-on-year to the equivalent of USD583.6 million, compared to 2.8% in the economy overall (following 0.8% in 2014).…
ASIA - FUTURE OF HR
WORKFORCE DEMOGRAPHICS
East Asia is a very varied region in terms of economic development. Take the 10 members of trade bloc ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations): with 632 million people, demographics greatly vary, from aging Singapore and Thailand, to the younger and emerging economies of Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.…
ETHIOPIA LAUNCHES LARGEST ECO-INDUSTRIAL PARK IN AFRICA
Ethiopia’s government is promoting what it says is Africa’s largest eco-industrial park dedicated to textile and garment production. The Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP), boasting state-of-the-art water recycling facilities, has attracted major textile producers from Asia and the US including American clothing giant Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH).…
NEW TEXTILE MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATION CHARGED WITH GROWING MYANMAR BACKWARD LINKAGES
Myanmar has launched an association for textile manufacturers aiming to build a vibrant industry from its current small base of factories and traditional manufacturing.
The Myanmar Textile Manufacturers Association (MTMA) was launched in July, with support from the country’s ministry of industry.…
ASIAN PACIFIC NONWOVENS SECTOR SEEING A BOOST DESPITE TROUBLED TIMES
THE ASIA Pacific region remains the workshop of the world in terms of nonwovens production, and it is not only China’s producers who are growing, local suppliers are feeding growing domestic markets for nonwovens products elsewhere in east and southeast Asia.…
BANGLADESH MULLS REGULATION OF FOREIGN POULTRY GIANTS
Bangladesh is mulling controls over foreign investors in the country’s growing poultry industry after local rivals have said they fear being swallowed by overseas companies.
The country’s state minister for fisheries and livestock Narayon Chandra Chanda said that there was concern that Bangladesh poultry farmers could lose trade if competition was unchecked: “We’re still observing … There should be a guideline,” he told GlobalMeatNews without giving further details.…
MYANMAR GARMENT MANUFACTURERS LOOK FOR BOOST FROM TEXTILE ASSOCIATION
A Myanmar Textiles Manufacturers Association has finally been launched, following years of discussion about creating an upstream textile-specific body in this fast developing south-east Asian country.
Finished garment exports from Myanmar have more than doubled from 2011-12 to 2014-15, from USD497 million to USD1.02 billion according to statistics from the country’s Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).…
MALAYSIA PAINT SECTOR VIEWS BIGGER PROFITS AS MAJOR MALAYSIAN CONSTRUCTION PLANS PUSH AHEAD
MALAYSIA may have its political struggles, with current Prime Minister Najib Razak at loggerheads with predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, but its economic progress seems sound, being reflected in a healthy and growing market for paints and varnishes.
According to London-based market researcher Euromonitor International, especially bouyed by growth in plastics and construction, Malaysia’s paint and varnish producers will see their turnover grow by an average of 8% over the period of 2015 -2025.…
IN VIETNAM, COATINGS DEMAND EASILY OUTPACING STRONG ECONOMIC GROWTH
Vigorous expansion of export-oriented manufacturing and construction in 2015 spurred the fastest GDP growth in Vietnam in seven years, at 6.7% year-on-year, according to the Asian Development Bank. And although coatings consumption correlates generally well with economic growth, in Vietnam the 2015 year-on-year coatings production increase outpaced general economic expansion – it rose 11.1% year-on -year in 2015, to Vietnamese dong VND13 trillion (USD587 million), according to market researcher Euromonitor International.…
EXPERIMENTING THE KEY TO FULFILLING GROWTH POTENTIAL IN INDIAN HAIR PRODUCTS
INDIA’S 1.3 billion population and a rapidly growing economy provides ideal conditions for the spread of its hair care products market, which, according to market researcher Euromonitor International, is growing at an annual rate of 8%, with sales of USD3 billion in 2016.…
JAPAN PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR HAS WEAK YEAR, BUT HOME-BASED PAINT SALES OUTLOOK IS POSITIVE
Paint and varnish manufacturers in Japan experienced a disappointing 2015, with sluggish purchasing from the construction and automotive sectors translating into meagre 0.3% growth over the fiscal year. Analysts predict that growth will pick up in the short term, in part as a result of a spike in demand from the construction sector ahead of Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympic Games – although industry players are concerned about the longer-term outlook for the sector.…
THAI AUTO SECTOR AWAITING SHOT IN THE ARM AMID PROSPECT OF TARIFF-FREE EXPORTS TO VIETNAM
Thailand-based automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are set to benefit from the expansion of an existing auto tariff-free zone to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in 2018. These would then join this ASEAN-linked trading zone’s member countries Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to forge an ASEAN-wide automotive market bloc.…
VIETNAM TEXTILE SECTOR FACES CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES FROM FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS
VIETNAM’S textile sector faces significant challenges as it seeks to profit sustainably from new commercial opportunities offered by international trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a major industry conference has been told. The Vietnam Textile Summit 2016 was held from June 29-30, at The Reverie Saigon, an upscale hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).…
PACTICS’ NEW CAMBODIA FACTORY TO PRODUCE TEXTILES WITH SUBLIMATED PRINTING
SHANGHAI-based microfibre and fabric accessories maker Pactics Group is set to open a new factory in Cambodia using innovative digital heat-transfer ‘sublimated’ printing – that allows brightly-coloured high quality prints on fabric.
The new factory, under the company’s ‘Raytecs’ division, will be located in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh-based produce women’s activewear, swimwear, apparel and other sublimated printed premium products: “We are a boutique manufacturer of sublimated activewear, apparel and premium sublimated products,” the group’s president and owner Piet Holten told WTiN.…
THAILAND AND MYANMAR BOOST CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION ON MIGRANT LABOUR –
On a June state visit to Thailand, Myanmar leader, its State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi signed a series of agreements on migrant labour and cross-border cooperation with her Thai counterparts. The three pacts – Agreement on Cross Border between Thailand and Myanmar; a Memorandum of Understanding on Labour Cooperation; and an Agreement on Employment of Workers – will help to regulate and offer legal protections and other services to the enormous and often exploited Myanmar-born labour force in Thailand.…
ASEAN SINGLE MARKET’S EFFECTS ON MEAT AND LIVESTOCK UNDERMINED BY NON-TARIFF BARRIERS AND SMUGGLING
THE COMMON market launched on January 1 by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has so far failed to promote a sustainable increase in legitimate intra-ASEAN meat and livestock trades. Instead, imports from outside the bloc, domestic production and US dollar-based smuggling continue to thrive, say experts.…
SOUTHEAST ASIA PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT MARKETS GROWING IN SCALE AND SOPHISTICATION
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.…
ASEAN AUTOMOTIVE TRADE DEAL COULD CONCENTRATE AUTO TRADE PRODUCTION IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
Asian paint and coatings manufacturers are set to benefit from the expansion of an existing automotive tariff-free zone spanning Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.…
ASIAN REGULATORY ROUND UP – SINGAPORE TO ADOPT BEPS STANDARDS
SINGAPORE has promised that it will implement the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD). The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has said it accepts profits should be taxed where real economic activities generating them are performed and where value is created.…
THAILAND’S CPF AIMS TO CAPITALISE ON MAJOR CHICKEN PLANT INVESTMENT
Thailand-based agro-industrial conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) has told just-food it is negotiating with major chicken brands, having opened a new chicken processing plant in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, this month (June). Sanjeev Pant, senior vice-president of the food business of CPF (India) Pvt Ltd said: “This new plant has been established with an investment of around USD20 million and is undoubtedly the best chicken processing plant in the country.”…
MYANMAR’S NEW CAR MARKET HELD BACK FOR NOW, BUT FUTURE GROWTH APPEARS PROMISING
Liberalising Myanmar’s potential market for new cars is significant, but growth is currently hampered by regulatory uncertainty. Although it has a population of 51 million, only 5,000 new passenger cars were sold in the country during the last financial year.
“The future is very good, potentially.…
MYANMAR’S MEAT MARKET SHOWS SIGNS OF GROWTH
THE INFLUX of foreign tourists and investment to once-isolated Myanmar has resulted in an increasing demand for meat, while a limited manufacturing base is presenting new opportunities for international suppliers.
Almost 90% of Myanmar’s population are Buddhist and almost a third live below the poverty line; factors which have historically kept meat consumption levels low.…
MYANMAR’S BRANDED FOOD MARKET SET TO GROW
The boom in tourism in Myanmar has inflated local demand for international food brands, as the local branded food manufacturing base remains very limited in scope. Tourism is expected to continue to grow due to the country’s first democratically elected government coming into power last month (April).…
DETAILED PLANNING AND EFFECTIVE SUPPLY CHAIN PARTNERS AMONG SOLUTIONS FOR AVOIDING DISRUPTIONS
FORWARD planning; managing supply chain partners well and staying on top of potential regional issues such as changes in weather or currency values can help apparel and textile companies avoid key supply chain disruptions such as out-of-stock situations, eroded margins and missed market opportunities.…
WITH SANCTIONS EASED, MYANMAR’S FAST-FOOD MARKET LOOKS RIPE FOR GROWTH
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.…
MYANMAR’S NASCENT ACCOUNTANCY PROFESSION SET FOR STANDARDS BOOST
MYANMAR, the world’s newest democracy, is taking steps to improve its financial reporting. Its reforms are new – as befits a country that saw its first and only stock exchange – the Myanmar Securities Exchange Centre (MSEC) – open on March 25.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – INDONESIA AND EU WILL COMBINE EFFORTS TO MAKE PALM OIL SUSTAINABLE
EUROPEAN confectionery manufacturers and the Indonesian government have agreed that they need to work together to ensure that 100% of all palm oil is made sustainably in future. At an April debate hosted at the European Parliament by British conservative MEP Julie Girling, Indonesia’s ambassador to the European Union (EU) Yuri Thamrin said: “We are ready to consider good cooperation projects with our partners in Europe to attain 100% sustainable palm oil and overcome all impediments.”…
CAMBODIA’S FIRST ABATTOIR READYING FOR THE STARTER’S GUN
Cambodian meat distributor SLN Meat Supply Pty Ltd has confirmed to GlobalMeatNews that it will start operating a major industrial slaughterhouse this summer. The 11,000-square-metre factory is being built alongside National Road No 3 in Preah Sihanouk province, on the Gulf of Thailand.…
RUSSIAN ENERGY MERGERS PROCEED, BUT MOTIVES ARE SOMETIMES MURKY
The world of mergers and acquisitions in the Russian oil and gas sector can sometimes be as opaque as a matryoshka doll: political interference and considerations are often almost as important as business ones; and takeovers can fall through at the last moment, even as parts of the Russian state’s energy holdings discuss mergers with private national players.…
PHILIPPINES GARMENT SECTOR’S LACK OF TEXTILE BACKWARD LINKAGES RENDERING TRADE DEAL USELESS
An anticipated boost for garment exports has failed to materialise since the Philippines was granted Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) by the European Union (EU) in December 2014. Receiving GSP+ status meant that a total of 6,274 Philippines export products were given duty-free access to the EU market.…
SOLAR ENERGY IN CHINA GROWING AND EVOLVING, BOOSTING DECENTRALISED POWER
China has overtaken Germany to become the world’s number one producer of solar energy. Driven by the Chinese government’s urgent quests for energy security and the elimination of extreme urban air pollution, solar installations in China generated 43 gigawatts (GW) in 2015, exceeding German production, according to China’s National Energy Administration.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU SUGAR INDUSTRY WANTS GLOBAL AGREEMENT LIMITING SUBSIDIES
THE EUROPEAN Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS) and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) have called for the European Union (EU) to push for a global agreement ending all subsidies and other trade-distorting policies affecting the sugar sector.…
INDONESIA COATINGS SECTOR GROWS STRONGLY AS COUNTRY’S HOUSING, AUTOMOTIVE AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECTORS EXPAND
Rising affluence, together with growth across feeder industries are translating into solid results for the Indonesian coatings sector. The paints and varnishes market in the country generated sales of Indonesian Rupiah IDR24,733 billion (USD1.9 billion) in 2014 according to the latest data available from market researcher Euromonitor International.…
BRANDS INCREASINGLY CONSIDER SOURCING CLOSER TO HOME
With fast fashion demands growing and China’s costs rising, sourcing closer to home is certainly becoming a more commonly considered option for brands, speeding up clothing and textile supply chains, being particularly beneficial for smaller producers, according to experts. Companies sourcing locally can have faster turnaround times, potentially better relationships with suppliers, and greater quality control.…
FAKE KNITWEAR PRODUCTS FLOOD INDIAN MARKET FROM PUNJAB MANUFACTURING HUB, SAYS REPORT
Counterfeit knitwear and garments are flooding the country’s markets, according to accountants Grant Thornton and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and clothing industry concern is growing about the role of north Indian knitwear hub of Ludhiana.…
CHINESE TOURISM SHIFTS GEARS TO ESPECIALLY BENEFIT JAPAN, KOREAN BRANDS
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.…
WILDLIFE CRIME INCREASINGLY RUN BY INTERNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIMINAL NETWORKS
An unprecedented spike in rhino poaching has not only threatened the existence of the charismatic species but also shone a spotlight on the highly organised criminal networks responsible. Wildlife crime is no longer seen as victimless or offering little reward but authorities are fighting back with some innovative tactics, reports Mark Rowe. …
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – HONG KONG BUDGET INCLUDES TAX CUTS
The Hong Kong government has announced its 2016 budget which includes a salaries tax reduction of up to HKD20,000 (USD2,574), increasing personal allowances and offering a rates waiver within its 2016-17 budget. The government has also announced a 75% profits tax reduction up to a ceiling of HKD20,000; waived business registration fees; and released a technology voucher programme assisting small-and-medium sized businesses.…
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES IN ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
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.…
OECD SAYS AUTO MANUFACTURERS CAN PROFIT FROM FOLLOWING TOUGHER GREEN REGULATIONS
Automotive industry experts seem to agree – past concerns that tough environmental laws could force auto-manufacturing from a green jurisdiction to a country or region with laxer controls, no longer see to apply.
In doing so, industry specialists are backing the conclusions of a new report from the world’s largest think-tank, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), which said following tighter environmental rules can be good business.…
MYANMAR PLOTS ITS OWN BORDER TEXTILE HUB TO RIVAL THAILAND INDUSTRIAL ZONE MAE SOT
THE MYANMAR government is pushing ahead with developing a textile and clothing industry hub at Myawaddy, just over the border from key Thailand manufacturing zone Mae Sot, which has prospered from access to cheap Burmese labour and Thai tax breaks.
This has long annoyed Myanmar government officials, who decided they wanted to build an industrial zone on their side of the border.…
JAPAN DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONS AIM TO BOOST PAKISTAN TEXTILE EXPORTS
JAPANESE development agencies are working to increase the level of textile imports sourced from Pakistan. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), based in Yokohama, is presently in discussions with the government of Pakistan about ways in which Japanese overseas development aid might be best put to use to assist this sector – of critical importance to the overall Pakistani economy.…
BRUSSELS AIRPORT TO EXPAND CONNECTOR TO NON-SCHENGEN FLIGHTS
THE NUMBER of mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong and Macao is set to fall sharply, and while Chinese travellers are becoming more enamoured with longer-haul destinations such as Australia and the US, worries over safety is weakening demand for visiting France.…
FACING WAGE HIKES IN 2016, ASEAN GARMENT MANUFACTURERS TRY LIFTING PRODUCTIVITY VIA AMBITIOUS TRAINING PROGRAMMES
MANY garment manufacturers in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) block will have to cope with raises to the minimum wages in 2016. The move comes as ASEAN launches its Economic Community (ASEAN EC) on December 31, easing labour movement across the region.…
KOBE EYES STEEL WELDING SALES IN BANGLADESH’S SHIPBUILDING SECTOR
Japan’s Kobe Steel’s (Kobelco) has entered the Bangladesh market as it aims to gain a toehold in the south Asian nation’s growing shipbuilding sector, focusing on high titanium oxide-based welding rods designed to connect mild steel sheets. The third-largest steel maker in Japan, annual revenues of USD16 billion has already delivered 100 tonnes of welding electrodes, which will be marketed among shipbuilders by its local partner TSI Marine Ltd.…
THAI TOBACCO SECTOR COMPLAINS TO TJI ABOUT NEW TOBACCO REFORMS
After the Thai military staged a coup and overthrew the country’s interim government in May 2014, many in the country’s tobacco industry wondered what policies the new regime would bring to one of the Asia’s more tightly regulated tobacco marketplaces.
One year later, the ruling junta sent a powerful signal that they would be carrying forward the tough anti-smoking measures of previous regimes.…
ASEAN AIR TRANSPORTATION SECTOR HAS HOMEWORK AHEAD TO HIT AMBITIOUS SINGLE AVIATION MARKET GOAL
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an increasingly dynamic and affluent 10-member bloc with a population half the size if China’s, plans to achieve a single aviation market (SAM) by the end of 2015 as a part of its broader ambition to launch its ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).…
EPSON F-ACADEMY HELPS THAI FASHION SECTOR RAISE STANDARDS THROUGH DIGITAL PRINTING
While countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia have a hold on global low-cost garment manufacturing, Thailand’s garment industry has found it needs to move up the international value chain to thrive – promoting digital technology is a priority means to this end.…
THAILAND TO UNDERGO MAJOR TAX REFORM
In the past decade, Thailand has undergone a serious of political upheavals, coups and reversals of power that have left deep divisions within the country. But while opposing factions are still arguing about the future direction of the country, there is one point on which almost every side in Thailand can agree: the Thai tax system is sorely in need of an overhaul.…
ASEAN COMMON PROSPECTUS RULES MEMORANDUM SIGNED
AN AGREEMENT on streamlining reviews in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand of offers or listings of equity or plain debt securities has been secured. It has been written into a memorandum of understanding designed to promote common prospectuses in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).…
VIETNAM TEXTILE EXPO GROWTH IS BAROMETER FOR TPP DEAL ANTICIPATIONS
Vietnam held its annual Vietnam Saigon Textile & Industry Expo in combination with the Vietnam Saigon Garment & Accessories Machinery Expo from April 9-12, the double event serving as a barometer for the sectors’ high expectations about the country joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.…
SPECIALIST GROUP AIMS TO KEEP IKAT SILK DYEING TRADITION ALIVE IN CAMBODIA
A SPECIALIST silk organisation is working to keep alive the traditional process of Cambodia Ikat silk dyeing. It involves yarns being tied into segments and dyed separately – using all natural dyes before hand-weaving these into patterned fabric. The process, said Seila Polham, the founder of Khmer Artisanry, is “complicated and time consuming” – but it is what sets this traditional segment of textiles in Cambodia apart from machine-produced chemical dyed silk widely available in the market.…
BOVINE MEAT GREY MARKET FLOURISHES BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA
A GREY market trade in bovine meat products between India and China is flourishing, globalmeatnews.com can reveal. Meanwhile, the Indian government is pressing China to allow official access for Indian beef, pork, goat and lamb exports, which it claims have been blocked on alleged health grounds.…
EU LIKELY TO RESIST CHINA WTO CASE OVER POULTRY IMPORTS
The European Commission looks set to resist a World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute over European Union (EU) poultry product tariffs brought by the Chinese government. A spokesperson the Commission’s trade directorate general told globalmeatnews.com that contested EU changes to its duty regime were in “strict compliance with WTO rules”.…
THAILAND FASHION PROJECT SEEKS TO VERTICALLY INTEGRATE LOCAL CLOTHING INDUSTRY
THAI authorities are teaming up with one of the country’s leading fashion media publishers to develop and promote the local fashion industry from materials to design.
‘Thai Touch: The Integrated Fashion Project,’ was launched in March by the department of industrial promotion (of the ministry of industry) and Post International Media Co Ltd – the publisher of Thai versions of magazines such as ‘Elle,’ ‘Elle Men’ and ‘Marie Claire.’ …
THAILAND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT SECTOR PUSHES AHEAD, DESPITE COUNTRY’S POLITICAL TURMOIL
With the implementation of the 10-nation ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Community scheduled for the end of 2015, Thailand’s cosmetic industry is hoping to capitalise on a liberalised common market and streamlined regulatory procedures to boost growth at home and abroad. …
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – BRUSSELS PROBES CARGILL-ADM CHOCOLATE DEAL
THE EUROPEAN Commission may block or impose conditions on a planned acquisition by US-based Cargill of the industrial chocolate business of its American rival Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The European Union (EU) executive’s directorate general for competition has opened an in-depth investigation into the deal, to assess whether it could damage the availability of reasonably priced supplies of this key confectionery input.…
JAPAN POULTRY GIANT MULLS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO BOOST INDIAN EXPORTS
Tokyo-based Mayekawa Manufacturing Co is in talks with officials of India’s Andhra Pradesh state government to bring Japanese technology to the state’s large poultry industry. N. Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, visited Japan in November and met with representatives of Japan’s largest poultry processing machinery manufacturer.…
GERMAN-MADE CARS TOP THE EU CONSUMER DANGER LIST IN 2014
GERMAN-made automobiles were the largest source of reports regarding potentially dangerous motor vehicles made to the European Union’s (EU) RAPEX consumer alert network in 2014, analysis of its data shows.
There were 194 notifications to the system relating to automobiles and parts last year, the fourth largest category following toys (650), clothing and textiles (530) and electrical appliances (217).…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – ASEAN COMMON PROSPECTUS RULES MEMORANDUM SIGNED
AN AGREEMENT on streamlining reviews in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand of offers or listings of equity or plain debt securities has been secured. It has been written into a memorandum of understanding designed to promote common prospectuses in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).…
CONSTRUCTION BOOM BOOSTS CAMBODIAN PAINT SECTOR
CAMBODIA’S paint and coating sector is experiencing robust growth according to leading companies, making strong sales to a booming construction industry, which flourished in 2014. Rising urban incomes, a flourishing tourism industry, foreign investment in condominiums, and Chinese and Japanese inward investment in light manufacturing have all contributed to this growth.…
CAMBODIA: ‘KRAMA’ SCARVES’ GROWING INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
THERE is growing international demand for Cambodia’s traditional ‘krama’ scarves from Europe – especially from Germany and Italy. And the bulk of the country’s nearly 50,000-60,000 annual ‘krama’ exports go to these two countries, the Cambodian Craft Corporation executive director Seung Kimyonn told WTiN.com.…
PHILIPPINE KNITWEAR SECTOR HOPING FOR OLD GLORY AFTER INCLUSION IN PREFERENTIAL EU TARIFF SCHEME
The Philippines’ once formidable knitwear sector has been shrinking in size in the past two decades, but the Pacific archipelago’s inclusion in the European Union’s (EU) Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) preferential tariff scheme from January 1 is now filling remaining manufacturers with some hope for another heyday.…
BANGLADESH POULTRY PRODUCERS AIM TO CREATE MAJOR EXPORT SALES
INDUSTRY leaders, researchers and scientists wound up a three-day international poultry show and seminar in Dhaka on Saturday (February 21), vowing to improve food safety to help create a substantial Bangladesh processed chicken export sector by 2018.
The president of the World’s Poultry Science Association (NOTE SPELLING IS CORRECT – ‘WORLD’S’), Bangladesh branch Moshiur Rahman said local producers are planning to start exporting frozen chicken in between two-to-three years’ time, mainly targetting the Middle East, where millions of ex-patriot Bangladeshis live.…
SECONDARY PACKAGING ADVANCES GIVING PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT COMPANIES A MARKETING EDGE
IN the highly competitive cosmetics and personal care market, producers of secondary packaging are creating ever more advanced, innovative shapes and decorations to attract consumers. Whether it conveys a message of sustainability, luxury, or simplicity – secondary packaging continues to play a crucial role, often communicating multiple ideas and emotions to consumers in an instant.…
VIETNAM PAINT SECTOR GROWS, BUT NEED BACKWARD LINKAGES
With 685 million wet pounds of coatings sold for USD730 million in 2013, the Vietnam market consumed only a tiny fraction of Asia-Pacific region’s total of 36 billion wet pounds sold for USD50 billion that year, according to Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney, Inc, a New Jersey, USA-based consulting firm for the polymer and chemical industries.…
MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE AND STRIKES TROUBLE CAMBODIAN GARMENT FACTORIES
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.…
KIMLENG KHOY – FROM KHMER ROUGE SURVIVOR TO DELOITTE COUNTRY DIRECTOR
The panoramic view from D22, a chic new restaurant and skybar, offers the local executive Deloitte has tapped to head up their Cambodian expansion a quick insight into a rapidly developing Phnom Penh. Once a low-lying urban sprawl, Cambodia’s capital city has begun to develop a skyline, with a handful of high-rise towers already in place and several more green-tarped construction projects underway.…
ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY WILL BE LAUNCHED IN 2015 – BUT INDONESIA MAINTAINS ITS ORE EXPORT BAN
2015 will be an important year in southeast Asia, with the launch of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) in December. But analysts question whether the region’s non-ferrous metal giant Indonesia is ready to integrate its industry with those of its neighbours.…
CAMBODIA STRUGGLES TO DEVELOP PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTING SECTOR – BUT PROGRESS IS BEING MADE
While Cambodia’s GDP growth over the past two decades has been tremendous, averaging 7.6% per year since 1995, Cambodia remains a developing market and its accounting industry is still very much a work in progress. One person deeply involved with helping push its accounting world forward in Cambodia is 40-year-old Kimleng Khoy.…
KIMLENG KHOY – FROM KHMER ROUGE SURVIVOR TO DELOITTE COUNTRY DIRECTOR
The panoramic view from D22, a chic new restaurant and skybar, offers the local executive Deloitte has tapped to head up their Cambodian expansion a quick insight into a rapidly developing Phnom Penh. Once a low-lying urban sprawl, Cambodia’s capital city has begun to develop a skyline, with a handful of high-rise towers already in place and several more green-tarped construction projects underway.…
MULTINATIONALS STILL DOMINANT IN CHINA’S MAJOR PERSONAL CARE MARKET
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.…
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LOSE MORE FROM TAX EVASION THAN THEY GAIN IN AID - GFI
Tax evasion drained a record USD991.2 billion in illicit financial flows from developing economies in 2012 – facilitating crime and corruption, according to a new study by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington DC-based research and advisory organization. “To put this in perspective, the cumulative total of official development assistance to the developing countries in this report… was just USD809 billion,” said a GFI note.…
ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY LIKELY TO PROMOTE MINERALS TRADE
WITH just over 12 months to the launch of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC), experts anticipate that the European Union-style economic union will promote trades in industrial minerals.
The 10 ASEAN nations have been moving towards a more cohesive approach to minerals trading for many years.…
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT MARKET IS KEY GLOBAL GROWTH ZONE
One of the biggest expanding markets for cosmetics and personal care products is sub-Saharan Africa. A key exporter to the region, L’Oréal has estimated that the overall African beauty and personal care market generated EUR6.93 billion (USD8.61 billion) in 2012, growing at between 8% and 10% annually, compared to a global market growth rate near 4%.…
JAPAN MANUFACTURERS INNOVATE TO SEIZE MARKET SHARE IN SHRINKING DOMESTIC MARKET
Consumers in Japan are notoriously fickle and constantly in search of the next greatest product – and in a nation that takes its food very seriously, that applies doubly to the confectionery sector.
Sales of ice cream have been strong in recent years and continue to grow, although chocolate confectionery sales came to Japanese Yen JPY342 billion (USD2.95 billion) in the calendar year 2013, a minor contraction on the previous year – blamed on poor weather during the traditionally busy summer months.…
ASEAN COMMON MARKET LAUNCH UNLIKELY TO MEAN A BIG DEAL FOR TOBACCO INDUSTRY
By the end of next year, the increasingly wealthy 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc aims to establish its own European Union-style common market for its combined population of 600 million.
Experts say that the new ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is expected to deepen cohesion and liberalisation within a regional market that has already made significant strides in removing trade barriers that can impact tobacco product sales.…
TOUGH TIMES FOR THAI PAINT SECTOR AS COUNTRY STRUGGLES WITH POLITICAL TURMOIL
Thailand’s paint and coating industry is facing a challenging time as its country grapples with economic and political difficulties. Thailand’s economic growth has slowed significantly over the last two years. GDP expanded by 6.6% in 2012, as the country recovered from the devastating floods of 2011, which hit northern, north-eastern and central Thailand, as well as parts of Bangkok.…
NEW WIDODO GOVERNMENT MUST BOOST TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE TO IMPROVE TEXTILE LOGISTICS SAYS CONSULTANT
THE GOVERNMENT of Indonesia’s new President Joko Widodo — who was inaugurated on Monday (Oct 20) — will need to invest heavily in infrastructure to boost the country’s textiles and broader manufacturing sector, according to a senior industry consultant.
“The major challenge presented by Indonesia’s poor infrastructure are shared by every industry,” Keith Loveard, senior risk analyst, at Jakarta-based Concord Consulting.…
KIKKOMAN CORPORATION REMAINS A TOP JAPANESE FOOD PRODUCER AMIDST CHANGING GLOBAL MARKETS
CHANGING demographic patterns in the domestic market are driving innovation at Japan’s largest producer of soy sauce and seasonings, while growing overseas demand means that the Kikkoman Corporation is actively looking to raise its international profile, according to Noriaki Horikiri, president and chief executive officer of the company.…
BANGLADESH KNITWEAR SECTOR DEEPENS ITS SUSTAINABILITY WITH BACKWARD LINKAGES
THE STRENGTH and diversity of Bangladesh knitwear producers’ supply chains is one reason why this key outsourcing location is so popular with international brands. And indeed, attention to the supply chain is the mantra of Bangladesh knitwear boss Mohammed Abdul Jabbar.…
SUCKLER COWS SECTOR COULD BE HIT BY EU-US TRADE AGREEMENT, STUDY SAYS
THE CONCLUSION of a Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the US could have serious adverse consequences for the EU suckler cows sector, European experts claim. A new study presented yesterday (Wednesday) in the European Parliament in Brussels argues US-sourced beef imports could increase in volume and fall in price.…
TEXTILE INDUSTRY STILL AWAITING CLARITY ON FORTHCOMING EU-VIETNAM FTA
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.…
AUSTRALIAN COTTON INDUSTRY ANTICIPATES REDUCED YIELD IF NO BREAK IN DROUGHT
Australia’s cotton industry is anticipating a significantly reduced yield in the 2014/15 harvest if the ongoing drought in the country’s cotton-growing regions does not ease.
Adam Kay, CEO of peak industry body Cotton Australia, told just-style.com that if the very dry conditions continued, preliminary forecasts were for a total harvest of around 2.5 million bales in the 2014/15 season, compared to the nearly 4 million bales harvested in 2013/14.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP - ASEAN CIS, ETC
THE ASSOCIATION of Southeast Asian Nations – ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) has announced that the ASEAN framework for cross-border offerings of collective investment schemes (CIS) is now operational in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The regulatory system allows fund managers working from these member jurisdictions to offer locally constituted schemes, such as unit trust funds, to retail investors in other member jurisdictions, using a streamlined authorisation process.…
ASEAN PREPARES TO BOOST ACCOUNTANT MOBILITY
With less than one-and-a-half years until the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) creates its own European Union (EU)-style single market, the bloc is about to sign off on a ‘mutual recognition arrangement’ (MRA) on accountancy services. This is designed to help the mobility of accounting professionals wanting to work across the 10 member states, and all their governments bar the Philippines (expected to sign in October) have now signed up.…
VIETNAM’S TEXTILE AND GARMENT INDUSTRY NOT PREPARING FOR ASEAN COMMON MARKET
The Vietnamese textile and garment industry has yet to prepare comprehensively for the onset of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Economic Community (AEC) next year. “We are not aware of any AEC impact studies, and I cannot even provide an educated guess,” an otherwise helpful representative of a Vietnamese textile association in Ho Chi Minh City told WTiN.com.…
EXPO HEARS INCREASING CALLS FOR CAMBODIA TO GROW TEXTILE, KNITWEAR AND NONWOVENS BASE
EXHIBITORS at this week’s trade show in Phnom Penh, the Cambodia International Textile & Garment Industry Exhibition, called on the country to diversify into textile manufacturing, knitwear, finishing and other supporting industries.
Cambodia’s USD5.5 billion garment industry is a mainstay of the country’s economy, accounting for some 80% of exports.…
ASEAN WHITENING AND ANTI AGING SEGMENT FACES 2015 ECONOMIC COMMUNITY LAUNCH
SKIN whitening and anti-ageing products represent key growth segments for cosmetic manufacturers targeting expanding and increasingly integrated markets in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Indeed, producers of these products are set to benefit from a single ASEAN port of entry when the fully integrated ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is launched next year (2015).…
ADULT INCONTINENCE PRODUCT MARKET MAJOR GLOBAL GROWTH AREA FOR NONWOVENS
One consequence of the ageing population in many parts of the world is a significant increase in demand for nonwoven adult incontinence products, notably adult nappies. Indeed, in Japan, which has one of the most rapidly ageing populations, there have been reports of adult diaper sales exceeding those of babies for some manufacturers.…
INDIA CONFECTIONERY AND BAKERY SECTOR STRUGGLES TO RAISE STANDARDS TO CONSOLIDATE EXPORT SALES
INDIAN confectionery and sweet bakery producers are struggling to gain lucrative export markets due to the lack of proper domestic food regulations, the country’s poor infrastructure and the high cost of borrowing money.
“Not much is exported to the developed world from India because our laws are not harmonised with that of other countries,” said Harsh Arora, president of the Indian Confectionery Manufacturers’ Association.…
VIETNAM’S COATINGS SECTOR RIDING THE JAPANESE FACTORY INVESTMENT WAVE
VIETNAM’S production of powder coatings and liquid protective coatings has in the past been a small part of the country’s paint and coatings output – but foreign investment maybe about to change that. The country has around 80 coatings manufacturers, who have together manufactured a relatively meagre 30,870 tonnes of these specialist products, generating USD91 million’s worth of revenue in 2012, according to the most recent data made available by market researcher Frost & Sullivan.…
INDONESIA YARN DUTY COULD DAMAGE TEXTILE SECTOR WARNS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
A proposed antidumping duty on imported yarns being considered by the Indonesian anti-dumping agency (KADI) could increase production costs, eroding Indonesia’s competitive edge, the chairman of the Indonesian Textiles Association (API) Ade Sudrajat has warned.
The committee’s inquiry was sparked by a petition from a group of Indonesian yarn producers, including Indorama and Asia Pacific Fibers, who say they are being undercut by foreign companies aggressively entering the market, selling yarn below cost price and allegedly breaking World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations.…
SHOW EXHIBITORS EXPLAIN VALUE OF INVESTING IN DISPLAY STANDS AT VIETNAM TRADE EVENTS
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.…
MALAYSIA, THAILAND DETERMINED TO INCREASE SALES IN GLOBAL HALAL FOOD MARKET
The global market for halal food is expected to grow from USD698 billion in 2012 to reach USD830 billion in 2016, according to Malaysia’s department of Islamic development, and manufacturers in its country and neighbouring Thailand are competing to service this demand.…
INDIA FATTY ALCOHOL DUTY PLANS SPARK ARGUMENTS BETWEEN PRODUCERS AND USERS
INDIA’s new government may impose a 20% anti-dumping duty on saturated fatty alcohols from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – an important raw material for shampoos and cosmetics. Administrative proceedings that may spark the creation of this tariff started in this February, before the May general election, which brought the current BJP administration to power.…
JAPANESE PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR GROWS, ALTHOUGH SALES TAX RISE MIGHT CAUSE TEMPORARY SALES DIP
JAPAN’S paint and coatings industry is continuing its steady recovery after a trying five years in the aftermath of the global economic crisis, although companies and analysts believe that the sector will see some gradual shifts in focus in the years ahead.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP – SINGAPORE AGREES FATCA COMPLIANCE DEAL
SINGAPORE and the United States have negotiated an agreement that will force Singaporean financial institutions to declare money held in the city state by American citizens and residents. The deal will help Singapore comply with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which says all financial institutions outside the USA must regularly submit such information to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).…
INDONESIA ENERGY PUSH TO PROMOTE ONSITE POWER, COGENERATION AND SMALL PLANTS
Energy production and distribution is often the bedrock of sustainable economic development, and for an archipelago such as Indonesia, onsite power and small grids will always be the most sensible option. The government of south-east Asia’s most populous country has released a Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development (MP3EI) whose goal is developed economy status by 2025.…
MYANMAR SEEKS FOREIGN INVESTMENT, BUT WILL NOT INSIST ON INTERNATIONAL ETHICAL STANDARDS
Experts at an international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) meeting yesterday (June 26) warned that developed world clothing companies implementing international ethical standards when investing in Myanmar would probably compete with Asian companies who ignore such guidance.
Participants at the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct (June 26-27) in Paris discussed how the OECD’s ‘guidelines for multinational enterprises,’ which includes responsible business conduct could promote responsible investment in Burma.…
EU REVISES GUIDE PRICES FOR POULTRY IMPORTS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has revised guide prices for a range of poultry imports – if the value of exports exceed these levels, the European Union (EU) can impose additional duties on their sale.
Under the new rules, which should come into force in July, the EU has set a representative price for 100 kilograms of frozen chicken legs coming from Brazil at EUR135, while 100 kg of frozen boneless cuts coming from Argentina have been given a guide price of EUR294; from Brazil EUR220.50; Chile EUR315.70; and Thailand EUR254.60.…
NONWOVENS COMPANIES OFFER LIGHTWEIGHT DURABLE MATERIALS TO AUTOMOBILE MAKERS
Nonwovens are taking on an increasingly important role in creating more sustainable vehicles, particularly in interiors, offering lightweight materials reducing fuel usage, recyclability, and the use of green feedstocks such as plant and waste food material.
The US-based global Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) estimates there was about 560,000 tonnes of nonwovens in global automotive usage in 2013, said Dave Rousse, INDA’s president.…
JAPAN FOOD MANUFACTURERS TARGET INCREASINGLY WEALTHY SOUTHEAST ASIA
JAPANESE food manufacturers are targeting south-east Asia as key export markets, leveraging their products’ sophisticated, fashionable and healthy image. Indeed, with a significant proportion of south-east Asian consumers becoming richer, the perception that Japanese brands can be relatively expensive can help marketing and certainly not harm sales, they say.…
THAI GARMENT MANUFACTURERS FEAR MARTIAL LAW WILL AFFECT TRADE NEGOTIATIONS
Critical trade negotiations for the Thai textiles and garment industry may be at risk following the declaration of martial law on Tuesday, according to the country’s garment manufacturers’ association. After months of political impasse, Thailand’s military imposed martial law on May 20 (Tuesday) in response to the threat of civil war and the overthrow of the government.…
SINGAPORE AIMS TO BOOST ITS INTERNATIONAL AML REPUTATION
SINGAPORE has been working hard to lose its past reputation for lax anti-money laundering (AML) controls.
Its ‘steering committee for combating money laundering and terrorist financing,’ jointly headed by the ministry of home affairs, ministry of finance, and the monetary authority of Singapore (MAS) published the country’s first ‘national risk assessment report’ on money laundering and terrorist financing in January 2014.…
INDIA STEEL SECTOR OPTIMISTIC AS MODI WINS ELECTION
India’s steel industry is anticipating progress under the incoming Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi, which it hopes will boost domestic steel demand and improve the supply of raw materials.
“The entire investment cycle in the steel capacity has to be reinvigorated,” said Abhishek Poddar, partner at consultants AT Kearney India, “if the infrastructure span, real estate and automotive sectors improve, then the demand for steel itself will automatically go up.”…
ITC TRIES TO REVIVE CAMBODIA’S SILK INDUSTRY
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.…
CAMBODIA COULD DOUBLE GARMENT EXPORTS IF BACKED BY LOCAL TEXTILE PRODUCTION: GMAC
CAMBODIA’S thriving garment industry could double its exports if the country’s local textile production is ramped up, Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) chairman Van Sou Ieng has told WTiN.
“The industry could expect an increase in export figures by 100%” if local textile and yarn production was expanded, Mr Ieng said.…
LUXURY BRANDING MAY SAVE TRADITIONAL VARANASI SILK SECTOR
INDIA’S holy city of Varanasi is also a traditional centre for the luxurious ‘Banarasi’ silk weaving industry. After securing Indian geographical indication rights for its products under a ‘Banaras Brocades and Sarees’ registration in 2009, the largely cottage-based industry is now gearing up to enter the international branded luxury market.…
BANGLADESH APPOLLO ISPAT SECURES JAPAN COIL SUPPLIES FOR 2014-5
Bangladesh flat-steel product major Appollo Ispat has renewed a hot rolled coil supply memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation and the Marubeni-Itochu Corporation.
“The demand for steel products is rising, even in rural areas,” Abdur Rahman, deputy managing director with Appollo Ispat Complex Ltd, told Steel First.…
CONSUMER WIPES MAJOR NONWOVENS GROWTH AREA
GROWTH in the global nonwoven consumer wipes market is set to slow over the coming years, although a number of trends are encouraging brands and manufacturers in particular product segments such as baby wipes and anti-bacterial surface care products. Meanwhile, a growing range of innovations are emerging focused on producing flushable wipes.…
NEPAL’S CHYANGRA PASHMINA SET TO GROW
NEPAL pashmina fibre is “exotically delicate, weightless and the finest natural insulation fibre of the world,” according to the Nepal Pashmina Industries Association’s (NPIA) general secretary Vijoy Kumar Dugar. This reputation has helped Nepal producers carve out a niche markets for pashmina knitwear and traditional shawl exports.…
COSMOPROF AND COSMOPACK HIGHLIGHT SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING SOLUTIONS, LOOKS AHEAD TO 2015 TRENDS
Innovations in sustainability for cosmetics and packaging were highlighted at the 47th Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna (April 4-7), in Italy. From natural, innovative materials to using traditional materials specifically designed to protect sustainable and organic products, Cosmoprof and its related Cosmopack exhibition emphasised the latest in cosmetics and personal care innovations, and offered a look at trends to come in 2015.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – SUGAR SECTOR WANTS OUT OF TRANS-ATLANTIC TRADE DEAL
REPRESENTATIVES from Europe’s sugar industry want sugar to be excluded from the current free trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union (EU). Speaking at an EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) briefing in Brussels, Oscar Ruiz de Imaña – the deputy director general of the European Association of Sugar Producers (CEFS), warned of the uncertainties in the sugar markets on both sides of the Atlantic.…
CONSTRUCTION BOOM IN MYANMAR’S PAINT AND COATINGS INDUSTRY
MYANMAR’S booming construction industry is spurring rapid growth in the country’s paints and coatings sector, as a steadily increasing number of foreign firms attempt to stake out a share in a market that was, until relatively recently, decidedly lacklustre.
The Burmese construction industry is currently valued at USD3 billion and is forecast to grow to USD4.2 billion by 2016, according to a February 2014 report by the financial advisory firm New Crossroads Asia.…
CONSTRUCTION BOOM IN MYANMAR’S PAINT AND COATINGS INDUSTRY
MYANMAR’S booming construction industry is spurring rapid growth in the country’s paints and coatings sector, as a steadily increasing number of foreign firms attempt to stake out a share in a market that was, until relatively recently, decidedly lacklustre.
The Burmese construction industry is currently valued at USD3 billion and is forecast to grow to USD4.2 billion by 2016, according to a February 2014 report by the financial advisory firm New Crossroads Asia.…
ASIA REGULATORY ROUND UP - SINGAPORE BEEFS UP ACCOUNTING REGULATOR
THE SINGAPORE Parliament has beefed up the powers of the country’s accounting regulator, especially over corporate service providers. MPs passed an accounting and corporate regulatory authority (amendment) bill, which will insist corporate service providers be registered as filing agents, able to help companies with their establishment, legal advice, regulatory filings, office hosting and secretarial services.…
PT KANSAI’S YONEHARA IS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT INDONESIA’S COATING SECTOR PROSPECTS, DESPITE RISES IN WAGE COSTS
THE FOURTH largest country in the world by population, with an expanding middle class, Indonesia is an attractive base for many of the world’s global paints and coatings companies.
Mr Yoichi Yonehara took over the helm at PT Kansai Prakarsa Coatings two years ago and in that time he has had the opportunity to witness not only a coatings industry in evolution but also a country in a period of great change.…
BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR ASEAN PAINTS SECTOR AS ECONOMIC COMMUNITY DEADLINE APPROACHES
AS the 2015 deadline for the full integration of the ASEAN economic community (AEC) approaches, it is becoming clear that while trade and standards harmonisation is right on target (and in some sectors well advanced) among member nations, the infinite details of this process for the coatings sector will be a work in process for many years to come.…
BANGLADESH STEEL INDUSTRY AWAITS BOOST FROM PLANNED SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES
Bangladesh is pushing ahead with its plan to pick contractors to build two economic zones in Chittagong district, which could further boost its fast-growing steel industry.
Muhammad Abdus Samad, secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority, told Steel First it will invite expressions of interest from contractors following a study released in February that found the sub-districts of Mirershrai and Anowara, near Chittagong “suitable” for clustering heavy industries, such as steel and shipbuilding.…
MYANMAR PRODUCERS OF INDIGENOUS TEXTILE EAGER TO EXPORT BUT LACK INFRASTRUCTURE
As Myanmar’s economic and political reforms continue at a steady pace, its indigenous traditional textiles could become commercialised. Myanmar does not yet systematically export its traditional fabrics and there are no official associations to promote the industry. It currently relies largely on tourists for small-scale revenues.…
CAR MANUFACTURING WILL NOT DISAPPEAR FROM EUROPE DESPITE DIFFICULTIES, SAYS ACEA NEW BOSS
WHATEVER happens in Europe, an automobile manufacturing base will always be needed on the continent, Erik Jonnaert, the new secretary general of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) told wardsauto in his first interview since taking office in October 2013. (THAT’S WHAT WE WERE TOLD – BUT WE’RE DOUBLE CHECKING THIS AND WILL ADVICE MONDAY)
“I don’t think there should be any fear that we will evolve towards a situation where all manufacturing would move out of Europe,” he said, convinced that vehicle manufacturing still had a role to play on the continent despite historically low sales and increased competition from Asia.…
BANGLADESH LOOKS TO ITS LAURELS AS ASIAN KNITWEAR RIVALS POWER UP
SOURCING in Asia has been a merry-go-round for many buyers in recent years. As the era of low-cost Chinese manufacturing draws more or less to a close, several countries have leveraged their low cost labour to capture a significant volume of the world’s lower end knitwear manufacturing, while others have sought to extend their reach into higher value-added manufacturing by investing in infrastructure and training.…
BANGLADESH LOOKS TO ITS LAURELS AS ASIAN KNITWEAR RIVALS POWER UP
SOURCING in Asia has been a merry-go-round for many buyers in recent years. As the era of low-cost Chinese manufacturing draws more or less to a close, several countries have leveraged their low cost labour to capture a significant volume of the world’s lower end knitwear manufacturing, while others have sought to extend their reach into higher value-added manufacturing by investing in infrastructure and training.…
THAI CLOTHING INDUSTRY WARNS POLITICAL CRISIS COULD DEPRESS FUTURE EXPORTS
Thailand’s garment industry has not yet felt an economic impact from the country’s ongoing political unrest, but the unstable environment presents a serious challenge moving forward, a senior industry figure told just-style.
Chartchai Singhadeja, director of the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association’s Overseas Trade and Investment Centre, said that large-scale manufacturers are fulfilling existing export orders without a notable drop off.…
BRAZIL TO HOST TEXTILE FAIRS FEATURING INNOVATIONS, LATEST TRENDS
BRAZIL-based textile industry conferences in 2014 will focus on innovation, with the country’s fabric sector seeking to trade up to higher end products.
Fairs such as Première Vision, have been growing in size. The bi-annual event was staged this month in São Paulo from January 21-22, with a follow up meeting from November 4 to 5.…
MALAYSIAN FINISHING INDUSTRY OUTLOOK OPTIMISTIC DESPITE CHALLENGING CLIMATE
A country famed for its beautiful traditional ‘batik,’ Malaysia is also home to a highly specialised textiles industry and these niche skills may prove vital for the country’s numerous finishing factories in what is shaping up to a challenging year. Economists are predicting a general slowing of the Malaysian economy, with average real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the next five years estimated in Q4 2013 at 3.4%, revised down 0.2% from Q4 in 2012 (slightly slower than the Asian average of 3.7%), according to the Ifo Institute for Economic Research/International Chamber of Commerce’s World Economic Survey of business experts published in November last year.…
EASTERN EUROPE COSMETICS SALES STILL SLUGGISH – WITH SALES TRENDS STARTING TO MIRROR WESTERN EUROPE
THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.
Across a wide range of countries – for instance – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia – the retail value of the beauty and personal care products market has remained at around Euro EUR10.70 billion in both 2012 and (according to provisional data for these five countries by market analysts Euromonitor International) in 2013; and is forecast to grow to EUR10.85 billion in 2014.…
MALAYSIAN FINISHING INDUSTRY OUTLOOK OPTIMISTIC DESPITE CHALLENGING CLIMATE
BY LEE ADENDORFF
A country famed for its beautiful traditional ‘batik,’ Malaysia is also home to a highly specialised textiles industry and these niche skills may prove vital for the country’s numerous finishing factories in what is shaping up to a challenging year.…
EASTERN EUROPE COSMETICS SALES STILL SLUGGISH – WITH SALES TRENDS STARTING TO MIRROR WESTERN EUROPE
BY MARK ROWE; JONATHAN DYSON, in Zagreb; and ANDREW KURETH, in Warsaw
THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.…
MARKET SEGMENTATION INCREASINGLY EVIDENT IN ASIA CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR
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.…
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND - A WORLD APART IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC?
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.…
MYANMAR’S TEXTILE INDUSTRY IS SLEEPING GIANT PREPARING TO WAKE
THE LIBERALISATION taking place in Myanmar has been making the global textile and clothing sector excited about the country’s thus far untapped potential to export indigenous and mainstream textiles. Aung Min, research director of the business insight and social insight department at the Myanmar Marketing Research and Development Co.…
MYANMAR’S TOBACCO INDUSTRY RIPE FOR GROWTH
ANTICIPATED market liberalisation in democratising Burma is enticing global tobacco companies such as British American Tobacco (BAT) to sell and manufacture cigarettes in Myanmar. However, rampant smuggling of duty-free cigarettes into the country and the dominance of low-end local brands pose a challenge to legitimate business ventures.…
THAILAND’S TAX BREAKS MAP CHANGES IN INVESTMENT POLICY
THAILAND’S new tax incentive scheme, due to take effect in just over a year, is provoking mixed reactions from tax experts and foreign investors.
As the country looks to move away from low-cost, low-value, environmentally damaging manufacturing industries towards those that might foster a sustainable, knowledge-based economy, Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) has drawn up a new investment promotion policy that will go into effect in January 2015.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – EU-CANADA TRADE DEAL WILL HELP CONFECTIONERS
EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Canadian confectioners can look forward to increasing their trans-Atlantic trade once a new free trade agreement between the EU and Canada comes into force, probably in 2015.
The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), announced on October 18, will remove most tariffs for confectionery and sweet bakery products imposed by both sides on each other’s exports.…
INDONESIA TEXTILE SECTOR BOSS PREDICTS STEADY EXPORT GROWTH, ESPECIALLY IN ASIA
THE CHAIRMAN of the Indonesian Textile Association (API – or Asosiasi Pertekstilan Indonesia) has told WTiN.com that it is anticipating steady growth in exports of Indonesian textiles and garments over the next few years. Expansion in Japan, the Middle East and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets would prove increasingly important, he predicted.…
CHINA OUTSOURCING SECTOR NEEDS TO ADAPT TO THRIVE, CONFERENCE TOLD
China’s textile industry must create new competitive advantages to compete with emerging low-cost producers such as Vietnam and Bangladesh in today’s tough export climate, according to a senior official with the China National Textile and Apparel Council.
“It’s clear from the trade data that apparel exports in low-cost countries including Vietnam and Bangladesh are growing faster than those in China and we must increasingly look to expand the value of exports rather than rely on bulk selling at low prices,” said Liu Yaozhong of the council’s international trade office at a seminar during the Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics trade show Tuesday.…
MALAYSIA TARGEST SUSTAINED GROWTH IN OIL AND GAS RESERVES
PETRONAS, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas (O&G) company, plans to increase the country’s O&G production and resource addition at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% over the five years 2013 through 2017.
This target follows Petronas’ announcement in January 2013 of plans to spend MYR186 billion (USD56.7 billion) on the country’s O&G sector over the next five years, and to increase significantly its production activities for both hydrocarbons.…
ASIAINFO-LINKAGE HELPS TELCOS TO HARNESS BIG DATA, WHILE REDUCING ‘BIG BROTHER’ SNOOPING FEARS
THE BIG question for mobile operators today is how to make an honest buck tomorrow, when Internet connectivity is getting so fast, over-the-top (OTT) service providers are becoming increasingly competitive. Some specialists predict operators will essentially become utilities, offering basic network services, leaving the cream to content and OTT companies.…
MANUFACTURERS SEEK IMPROVEMENTS IN SPEED, PRESSURED BY FAST FASHION RETAIL
To meet apparel and textile brands’ desire to move into fast fashion, manufacturers have begun to embrace new production processes that improve efficiency and performance. Apparel and textile manufacturers have been slower than many other manufacturing industries to embrace supply chain improvements in speed, but are now succumbing to pressure from brands moving into fast fashion retail.…
DIVERSE MOBILE COMMS SERVICES POSE CHALLENGES TO AIRPORT MANAGERS
MOBILE communication services have become a significant focus for airports worldwide regarding improving passenger experience, especially as the use of interconnected smart devices has boomed. Airports have been building on previous services, such as improving and expanding their wireless internet coverage and working with airlines to allow for flight check-ins via mobile communication devices.…
ASIAN TEXTILE FIRMS GO GREEN AND SAVE MONEY
IF there is one country where the need to improve environmental performance in clothing and textile production is clear it is surely Bangladesh. With more care and attention paid to industrial processes and premises comes improved safety and working conditions, and after the recent factory collapse and fire, Bangladesh knows it has to raise its game.…
PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT SECTOR SEEKS GREENER PACKAGING, BUT THE WAY FORWARD IS COMPLEX
may be a big concept, but the road to making personal care product packaging greener is made of small incremental steps that can both provide green marketing benefits and reduce costs.
Recent innovations include reducing the size of containers, while maintaining the volume of product they hold, alongside innovations in using renewable resources and keeping packaging waste out of landfills.…
SUSTAINABILITY may be a big concept, but the road to making personal care product packaging greener is made of small incremental steps that can both provide green marketing benefits and reduce costs.
Recent innovations include reducing the size of containers, while maintaining the volume of product they hold, alongside innovations in using renewable resources and keeping packaging waste out of landfills.…
COSMETICS MARKET IN BURMA IS GROWING FAST – BUT OBSTACLES REMAIN
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.…
INDONESIA'S COAL PRODUCTION BOOMS WHILE MINING LAGS
INDONESIA’S mining industry is richly endowed with natural resources. United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports stress how the country ranks among the world’s leading producers of tin, copper and nickel, with sizeable reserves of other key ores such as bauxite, gold and silver.…
– DRINKS PACKAGERS LOOK TO COMMUNICATE BETTER WITH CONSUMERS
Drinks packaging design has always been about communicating with consumers – whether it is broadcasting a brand image or delivering information. And with new technologies aiding communication in many ways, interaction is a key theme with international beverage packaging designers today.…
CHINA UNDER PRESSURE TO SEEK LESS DRAMATIC ANTI-FRAUD PENALTIES, WHILE JAPAN PUSHED TO TOUGHEN PUNISHMENTS
CHINA and Japan offer two contrasting case studies in the punishment of fraud: while China is under pressure to dial down penalties from their past severity; in Japan, there have been moves to make punishments tougher.
Certainly China cannot get much tougher, given the death penalty is available to judges for fraud.…
LIVING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGING SOURCING EQUATION
THE EVER-CHANGING sourcing equation is a challenge to the global garment and textile industry supply chain. There is talk of moving production back home to western countries – bringing it closer to market- but its viability is being questioned. Meanwhile in Asia, where the majority of clothes are currently produced worldwide, the sourcing landscape is changing, experts say.…
OECD WORKING GROUP PUSHES AGAINST GRAFT – BUT MANY GOVERNMENTS TURN BLIND EYE TO FOREIGN BRIBERY
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has made a lot of noise about its anti-bribery convention. But some countries are failing to comply, and where others do – otherwise honest companies can lose trade. David Hayhurst and Keith Nuthall report.…
BRUSSELS TO PREVENT CHINESE STEEL FASTENER EXPORTERS FROM EVADING ANTIDUMPING DUTIES
The European Commission wants an existing definitive anti-dumping duty of 24.7% imposed on imports into the European Union (EU) of some China-made stainless steel fasteners to be extended to similar exports from the Philippines. The concern is that Chinese exporters have illicitly used certain Filipino companies to export these stainless steel screws and bolts, including wood screws and self-tapping screws, to the EU as Philippines-made, to avoid the duty.…
EUROPEAN NON-FERROUS METAL INDUSTRY WELCOMES EU-THAILAND FREE TRADE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS
Eurometaux, the organisation representing the interests of the European non-ferrous metals industry, has welcomed the launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Thailand. “We believe this is something that will boost the trade potential between the EU and Thailand and will open the market,” Elena Vyboldina, Eurometaux’s trade and economy manager told Metal Bulletin.…
EU-THAILAND FREE TRADE AGREEMENT MAY LEAD TO LIFTING OF EU MARBLE, GRANITE STONES IMPORTS BAN ON THE THAI MARKET
NEGOTIATIONS for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Thailand, removing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, may erase restrictions on exports of cut and polished marble and granite stones from the EU to Thailand.
At the moment European exporters of these minerals, as well as other monumental or building stone, need prior authorisation from the Thailand ministry of commerce.…
EUROPEAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY UNSURE WHETHER EU-THAILAND FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WILL HELP ITS EXPORTS
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) textile and clothing industry is unsure whether it stands to benefit or to lose from a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between EU and Thailand, for which negotiations were announced earlier this month (March 6). “The Commission still needs to launch the public consultation to hear the industry views,” Luisa Santos, head of international trade at the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) told just-style.…
INDUSTRIAL MINERALS
Industrial minerals production in Malaysia is growing strongly, meeting increasing demand within the country driven largely by its rapidly developing economy. According to figures from Malaysia’s department of minerals and geoscience and the department of statistics, total industrial minerals production in Malaysia grew 10.7% to 207.6 million tonnes in 2011 – the latest year for which comprehensive figures are available – with the total value growing 16.5% to Malaysian Ringgit MYR3.3 billion (USD1 billion).…
ASIA OLEOCHEMICALS SECTOR DIVERSIFIES PRODUCT RANGE – CONFERENCE TOLD
THE ASIAN oleochemicals industry is introducing an increasingly diverse range of product innovations, and looking at different ways to utilise feedstock, as it looks to combat key industry challenges such as high stocks, low utilisation rates, market volatility and environmental issues.…
THAILAND ACCEPTS EU BEEF IMPORTS – BUT BRUSSELS STILL HAS CONCERNS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed Thailand lifting its longstanding ban on bovine product imports from European Union (EU) member states, but has complained that Bangkok is insisting on expensive inspections for approved exporters.
Live cattle, beef, veal and other bovine products from Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia and Spain have been prevented from entering Thailand since 2001 over concerns about BSE.…
EU-THAILAND FREE TRADE AGREEMENT EXPECTED TO ELIMINATE IMPORT TARIFFS FOR EU STEEL
A free trade agreement (FTA) resulting from negotiations announced last week between the European Union (EU) and Thailand is expected to eliminate import tariffs still imposed on some European steel products, such as flat-rolled products of non-alloy steel and bars and rods.…
COSMETICS PRODUCTION IS DEVELOPING IN NORTH KOREA, WESTERN EXPERTS AGREE
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.…
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – MAJOR TRADE DEALS SOUGHT BY EU WITH USA AND JAPAN
EUROPEAN Union (EU) confectionery manufacturers and their suppliers stand to boost their export sales and reduce import costs with the launch of talks to forge the two largest bilateral trade deals ever sought by the EU – with the USA and Japan.…
THAI COSMETICS SECTOR FUELLED BY MAJOR GROWTH IN MALE GROOMING
MAJOR new opportunities are emerging for both international and domestic cosmetics brands in Thailand, due to strong economic growth, increasingly sophisticated consumers, and a vibrant market in which new products and innovations are leading to growing competition.
The economy in Thailand, with 70 million consumers, is a key mid-sized and medium-income market, and has recovered strongly from the severe floods in 2011 that affected much of the country, with GDP growth forecast at 5.7% for 2012.…
PROGRESS IN POLISH NUCLEAR PROGRAM, FOLLOWING A DIFFICULT 2012
AFTER months of speculation about the future of Poland’s nuclear program, the New Year has brought an encouraging sign of progress.
On January 9, PGE EJ 1, the special purpose vehicle handling the construction of Poland’s first of two planned nuclear power plants, announced the result of a public tender to select a contractor to assess possible sites, looking at a shortlist of three.…
EU-JAPAN FTA EXPECTED TO BENEFIT EU NONWOVENS ROLL GOODS OVER CHINESE ONES
A POTENTIAL free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and Japan, for which negotiations will start in earnest this year, could give an advantage to EU exporters of nonwovens roll goods compared to rivals in China and others Asian countries.…
ASEAN: VERTICAL INTEGRATION AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP NEED TO GROW
THE CREATION of a harmonised customs system within the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015 should be better exploited by its regional clothing and textile industry through better vertical integration, a conference was told this week.…
EU MINISTERS APPROVE LATEST EFFORT TO SOLVE PROBLEMS OVER BRAZILIAN AND THAI POULTRY EXPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved detailed poultry trade agreements with Thailand and Brazil that will tighten EU import rules, calming concerns that previous agreements were too vague and were being exploited by exporters. The new deals are supposed to fulfill commitments made by the EU at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to allow certain amounts of processed poultry meat from both countries into Europe.…
THAILAND GARMENT SECTOR LOOKS TO DIVERSIFY EXPORT MARKETS
BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN BANGKOK
THAILAND’S textile and garment industry is aiming to diversify its export markets as it faces a significant drop in demand from its key American and European Union (EU) markets.
Thai garment exports for 2012 are forecast to fall by 10% to USD2.8 billion, while the country’s textile exports for 2012 are expected to dip by 15% to USD3.5 billion, according to figures from the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association (TGMA).…
INTERPOL AND EUROPOL RAIDS NET ILLEGAL MEAT PRODUCTS IN 29 COUNTRIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
Counterfeit, mislabelled and substandard meat products have been seized in an international police operation spanning 29 countries, coordinated by Interpol and European police agency Europol. Sausages, ham, lamb, chicken and beef were seized, a Europol spokesman told globalmeatnews.com.…
LOSERS
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
China
Between the worsening Eurozone crisis dampening demand in key export markets, sourcing rivals from neighbouring countries becoming increasingly competitive, the strengthening Chinese yuan and rising labour costs, analysts warned in August that Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers’ business would struggle for the rest of 2012.…
CHANGE IN EU GSP SYSTEM TO IMPACT EUROPEAN INDUSTRIAL MINERALS
BY CARMEN PAUN IN BRUSSELS
THE EUROPEAN Commission is hoping that the recent overhaul of the European Union’s (EU) Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) will increase the flow of rare earth metals and aluminium oxide into the EU. Concerns persist about supplies of these important industrial minerals.…
THAILAND PAINT SECTOR ROBUST AS COUNTRY RECOVERS FROM 2011 FLOODS
BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN BANGKOK
THAILAND’S first-car purchase subsidy scheme, in which tax rebates are paid to first-car owners, has provided a major boost to Thailand’s paint and coatings sector as the country’s economy continues to recover from the devastating floods of 2011.…
EU CONFIRMS BEEF EXPORTERS AS LOSERS IN NEW GSP LOW DUTY REGIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed key beef exporters Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay will be excluded from the European Union’s future GSP low import duty regime for emerging markets, as they are now too rich to benefit. Brussels has released a list of countries that will qualify for this special status and the Brazilians, Argentines and Uruguayans are not included, along with middle-income countries such as Venezuela, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and others.…
FACING WTO DISPUTES, MORE CHINESE MANUFACTURERS TURNING TO EMERGING MARKETS
BY WANG FANGQING IN SHANGHAI
China’s clothing and textile industry – already undermined by rising costs and competitors snapping at its heels – is especially vulnerable to fallout from a World Trade Organisation dispute (WTO) brought last week by Mexico.
It claims that Chinese government subsidies and tax-breaks for its textile and clothing sector break WTO agreements – and if a disputes settlement panel, Beijing will be under pressure to end these.…
NEW OUTSOURCING PLAYERS CHALLENGE EXPORT GIANTS
BY POORNA RODRIGO AND MUNZA MUSTAQ, IN COLOMBO
Of course the BRICs countries are far from being the only emerging market suppliers for the global apparel sector – and a knot of competitors such as Bangladesh and Vietnam have long been vying for business.…
CHINESE CLOTHING AND TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS SEE MORE ORDER LOSSES THROUGH 2012
BY WANG FANGQING, IN SHANGHAI
Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers are expecting to struggle for business in the rest of 2012, with the worsening Euro crisis dampening demand in key export markets and improving sourcing rivals from neighbouring countries becoming increasingly competitive.…
FRENCH HALAL C&T MARKET TOUGH TO CRACK
BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS
CHANTAL Ronceray is targeting fast growth in turnover at Jamal Paris, a small but ambitious halal cosmetics products company she co-founded in 2007. It is an act of faith in the long-term potential for sales among France’s 4.7 million Muslims, Europe’s largest such population.…
SOUTHEAST ASIA COSMETICS MARKET HAS MANU COMMON CHARACTERISTICS, DESPITE WIDE VARIATIONS IN CONSUMER WEALTH
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.…
SUSTAINING UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY-COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
BY HANA KAMARUDDIN IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA
SUSTAINING university-industry-community initiatives beyond the first flush of enthusiasm is a key challenge for all partners involved, delegates at a key Asian higher education conference have said. Related issues of passing on know-how, gaining and keeping community support, and funding were common sustainability themes among attendees at the recent AsiaEngage Regional Conference on Higher Education – Community – Industry Engagement at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on the outskirts of capital city Kuala Lumpur.…
PERU'S INKABOR DIVERSIFIES AND GROWS AS BORATES MARKET EXPANDS
BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN AREQUIPA, SOUTHERN PERU
PERU’S Inkabor, one of the world’s leading borates producers, is significantly increasing its product range as it capitalises on growing demand in several key sectors, senior managers told Industrial Minerals. Speaking at its Rio Seco boric acid and borax plant in Arequipa, southern Peru, Flavio Magheri, Inkabor managing director, said that Inkabor’s sales grew by 15% in 2011, with 10% growth forecast for 2012.…
THAILAND'S PAINT SECTOR RECOVERS FROM MAJOR FLOODS AND POLITICAL UNREST
BY KARRYN MILLER
THAILAND has not had the easiest time over the last few years. Political unrest first deterred people from visiting the country in 2010. And last year, floods from the north spilled into greater Bangkok and its environs. Citizens and businesses have suffered.…
MYANMAR'S CLOTHING INDUSTRY HAS TOUGH ROAD TO FOLLOW TO BECOME NEW ASIAN OUTSOURCER
BY KARRYN MILLER AND JEN SWANSON, IN YANGON
MYANMAR’S clothing industry looks set to grow as the country once shunned by the west starts to reform. Following pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from house arrest in November 2010, the government has taken steps to boost foreign relations and attract investors from abroad?although…
INTIMATE INNOVATIONS: HONG KONG CONFERENCE SHOWCASES INNOVATION, GREEN EFFORTS OF LOCAL APPAREL SECTOR
TWIN concerns of innovation and cost control were on the agenda at the recent International Symposium of Intimate Apparel at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Themed the ‘Next Generation of Eco-friendly Lingerie Fashion,’ the day-long event on March 26 heard from local experts on the role for smart textiles and the commercial prospects for eco-friendly materials.…
EU ROUND UP - PLASTICS COMPANIES HANDLING DANGEROUS CHEMICALS FACE NEW EU CONTROLS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PLASTICS companies in the European Union (EU) storing potentially dangerous chemicals on their premises will have to by 2015 abide by tougher management standards preventing industrial accidents. This is because the European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council of Ministers have struck an agreement on the contents of a new law – the Seveso III directive – that will include new safety rules for chemical-using businesses.…
7-ELEVEN DENIES RUSSIA EXPANSION
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
DESPITE recent rumours in Russian media that 7-Eleven, the US-based international chain of convenience stores, would be expanding into Russia, the company has denied the claims.
"There is no basis of foundation about 7-Eleven developing in Russia," a spokesperson for the company told just-food from its Texas, USA, headquarters.…
2011 REVIEW OF THE YEAR - CLOTHING AND TEXTILE SECTOR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RETAIL – WINNERS AND LOSERS
WINNERS
MARKS & SPENCER
Times may still be tough in its home British market, but M&S showed forward-thinking foresight in 2011- on sourcing transparency and the environment: potential key issues for future consumers.…
FLOODING IN THAILAND TAKES TOLL ON TEXTILE INDUSTRY
BY MARIANNE BROWN
ACCORDING to the latest figures from the Thai Garment Manufacturer Association, more than 160 companies in Thailand’s textile industry are now reeling from widespread flooding which has crippled the country over the last few weeks. About 22 textile companies and 142 garment companies in Thailand have been hit by floods, the association’s secretary general Mr Yuttana Silpsarnvitch told just-style.…
UNIQLO'S AMBITIOUS EXPANSION PLANS OFFER GREAT OPPORTUNITY, BUT ALSO RISK SAY ANALYSTS
BY JULIAN RYALL
UNIQLO thinks big, talks big and has big ambitions – and analysts believe the company does indeed have what it takes to become the biggest clothing retailer in the world within the next decade.
It will clearly face a series of obstacles on its way to that title.…
POLITICIAL INSTABILITY HAS NOT PREVENTED THAI COATINGS MARKET EXPANDING AND GREENING
BY KARRYN MILLER
DESPITE the political unrest that has plagued Thailand this year and in 2009, and 2010; the country’s economy has stayed reasonably strong. Key players in the paint and coatings market have responded, expanding their product range.
According to Chroong Kanjchanapoomi, managing director of Netherlands-based paint and coatings giant AkzoNobel Thailand, the growth of the Thai paint industry has closely tracked that of the country’s GDP, increasing as the economy grows – indicating the importance of the domestic market in this middle-income south east Asian country.…
STABLE POOR STATES HAVE ABILITY TO PASS LAWS AND CREATE FIU'S, BUT STRUGGLE WITH IMPLEMENTING SYSTEMS
BY MARIANNE BROWN
STABLE large developing countries have obvious advantages over small states and those facing civil conflict, in terms of creating effective anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) systems. But given many are today in the throes of rapid economic growth and transformation into consumer societies, their governments have a lot of priorities to juggle, and keeping close tabs on dirty money might not be one of them.…
FUJI OIL TO OPEN R&D CENTRES IN THAILAND AND CHINA TO PUSH SALES
BY WANG FANGQING
Major Japanese oils and fats manufacturer Fuji Oil is to open two research centers in Bangkok, Thailand, and Guangzhou, south China, in August, targeting local bakery snacks manufacturers. "The two research centres will help our local clients develop new products through designing menus using our products, such as margarine and cream," said a Fuji spokesman, adding the two centres themselves would not develop final consumer brands.…
SWEAT RELEASES NANOSILVER FROM CLOTHES SAY THAI RESEARCHERS
BY MARK ROWE
HUMAN sweat can release impregnated silver nanoparticles from t-shirts and other garments, according to evidence gathered by researchers at Thailand’s National Nanotechnology Centre. "The study could be useful to evaluate potential human risk when [consumers are] exposed to silver nanoparticles from textile materials," said Dr Rawiwan Manirantanachote, head of nano safety and risk assessment at the centre.…
EU MINISTERS ABANDON ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES ON FRAGRANCE FIXATIVE COUMARIN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has repealed Euro EUR3,479-per-tonne anti-dumping duties imposed on imports into the EU of the fragrance fixative coumarin from China, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The reason, said a European Commission note was that "the sole producer of coumarin, which constituted the EU industry…decided to discontinue production of coumarin…at the end of August 2010."…
SOUTH EAST ASIA LOOKS TO NUCLEAR ENERGY DESPITE EARTHQUAKE FEARS
BY MARIANNE BROWN and KEITH NUTHALL
A CHINK of light in the gloom spread over the nuclear industry by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster can be seen to the south, where south-east Asian governments seem keen to push ahead with their nuclear expansion plans regardless.…
BRUSSELS LAUNCHES PROBE OF COST OF EU ANIMAL WELFARE RULES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a Euro EUR1.5 million study into concerns that European Union (EU) animal welfare and food safety rules could harm the global competitiveness of EU meat and other livestock sectors.
Brussels has asked research teams to bid for a major study comparing compliance costs for EU and non-EU country meat producers.…
PACIFIC OCEAN RARE EARTHS COULD BE PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE TO RECOVER WARN EXPERTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL, DAVE YIN and WANG FANGQING
A GOOD deal of excitement has been created by the announcement this week in the UK academic journal Nature Geoscience that significant deposits of rare earths have been found in the Pacific Ocean floor.…
HOW THE FASHION INDUSTRY IS GRAVITATING TOWARDS A 360 DEGREE DESIGN PROCESS
BY MJ DESCHAMPS
ALTHOUGH the manufacturing and design side of fashion is not always as full of glitz and glam as runway shows or haute-couture magazine spreads, the clothing industry is incorporating some pretty spacy IT to make the end product look flawless – and fit correctly.…
BRUSSELS BACKS INTERNATIONAL POLYESTER DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL commercial deal creating a global player in the polyester market has been given regulatory approval by the European Commission. It has allowed a takeover of German polyester producer Trevira by Thailand’s Indorama and Italy’s Sinterama. All three companies have different roles within the polyester sector: Trevira produces and supplies polyester textile chips, staple fibres and filament yarns; Indorama manufactures polyethylene terephthalate resins, preforms and bottles; while Sinterama manufactures polyester filament yarns for home textiles, apparel, the automotive and other manufacturing industries.…
FORGING 10 COUNTRIES INTO ONE ASEAN MARKET IS TOUGH TASK FOR SOUTHEAST ASIA COSMETICS INDUSTRY
BY KARRYN MILLER
THE ASSOCIATION of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) covers 10 distinct countries, each with a unique culture, mirroring the personal care product markets of the European Union (EU). However, these nations do share some similarities – and maybe more than northern, southern and eastern Europe, especially when it comes to what ASEAN consumers have inside their cosmetics cabinets.…
EU PLOTS OFFICIAL GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is plotting a standardisation of Chinese traditional medicine, so it can gain greater acceptance in Europe. The GP-TCM project has been allotted Euro EUR995,100 in Brussels money, with researchers from China, 13 EU member states, Australia, Canada, Norway, Thailand and the USA assessing the status of these medicines worldwide.…
WORLD TOURISM ORGANISATION HELPS ENERGY SAVING IN THAI HOTELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROJECT reducing carbon emissions and energy use by Thailand hotels on the Andaman Sea was successful said participant the World Tourism Organisation. It and the Thai government conducted energy audits, inspiring hotels to install new heat pumps, solar hybrid power systems and efficient pool pumps, saving 385,000 kWh/year energy consumption and 192CO2 tonnes/year in emissions.…
JAPANESE NOODLE-MAKER NISSIN FOODS ENTERS VIETNAM
BY WANG FANGQING
Nissin Foods Holdings, the Japan-based instant noodle manufacturing multinational, will invest about Japanese Yen JPY 3.4 billion (US dollar USD41.5 million) to build an instant noodle plant in Vietnam to meet growing demand in this key emerging market.…
DESPITE VIGOROUS GROWTH, SUPPLY CHAINS REMAIN BIG ISSUE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, INDIA
BY MARK GODFREY
VIGOROUS economic growth and stimulus spending in key growth markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and India is ensuring Asia remains a bright spot in the global US dollar USD100 billion paint and coatings sector. Yet in terms of raw material supplies, south-east Asia and India are not as geared towards production as China, which has been ramping up chemicals refining capacity largely through ventures between local and multinational firms.…
VIETNAM PAINT INDUSTRY SURGES FORWARD, IGNORING THE RECESSION
BY KARRYN MILLER
DESPITEthe global economic downturn of the last few years Vietnam’s paint industryhas continued to experience growth.According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office234,000 tonnes of paint was produced in Vietnam between January 2010 and November 2010.In the same period last year production was at 181,200 tonnes.Sales…
TOYOTA WORKS HARD TO DESIGN MID-MARKET CAR FOR INDIA'S SPECIAL CONDITIONS
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
ATTEMPTING to symbolize the Indian essence of Toyota’s latest sedan made for India’s burgeoning auto market, a Japanese dancer performed classical Indian dance at a special launch concert in the IT hub of Bangalore. The Japanese auto giant will be hoping that the ‘Etios’ will marry high tech and Indian consumer preferences, as a culmination of a four-year-long development process that cost US dollars USD700 million and involved more than 2,000 engineers.…
VIETNAM PAINT INDUSTRY SURGES FORWARD, IGNORING THE RECESSION
BY KARRYN MILLER
DESPITE the global economic downturn of the last few years Vietnam’s paint industry has continued to experience growth. According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office 234,000 tonnes of paint was produced in Vietnam between January 2010 and November 2010.…
USE NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS TO FIGHT ASIAN CORRUPTION
BY MUNZA MUSHTAQ
Asia has long been accused of fostering corruption and governments have often turned a blind eye, while their countries grow richer. One answer is increasing the role of non-state actors in dealing with the problem. Munza Mushtaq reports from the 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand.…
THAI FLOODS THREATEN CLOTHING MANUFACTURING
BY KARRYN MILLER
THE THAI Garment Manufacturer Association’s secretary general has told just-style that the flooding in and around Thailand’s capital Bangkok has hit at least four large clothing factories, while the country waits to see if protective walls surrounding the city hold.…
EZAKI GLICO BUILDS NEW TOKYO-AREA FACTORY
BY WANG FANGQING
JAPANESE snacks manufacturer Ezaki Glico has started to build a new factory on October 5 in Kitamoto city, Japan’s Saitama Prefecture, to serve Greater Tokyo and seven nearby prefectures – easily the country’s largest market. The new factory will manufacture snacks such biscuits, cookies and chocolate, and is scheduled to start operations in spring 2012.…
LAOS AIRPORT GETS UPGRADE WITH THAI HELP
BY MICHAEL MACKEY
LAOS’ Pakse Airport has been upgraded following a low-interest loan of Thai Baht THB 320 million (US dollars USD10.6 million) from Thailand’s Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA).
"Our government helped Laos to develop Pakse airport with a loan", confirmed an official with Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation.…
GEORGIA BOOSTS WINE QUALITY TO FIND NEW NON-RUSSIAN MARKETS
BY MARK GODFREY
GEORGIA’S wine industry took every opportunity to bask in the limelight when the 2010 International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) Congress was staged in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi. Opening the June congress, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) even took the opportunity to praise local product as a "freedom wine", boasting that Russia’s four-year ban on Georgian wine has only improved its quality.…
BIG COMPANIES ORGANISE CAREFULLY TO HANDLE VARIED ASIAN COSMETICS PACKAGING
BY KARRYN MILLER
WHEN it comes to cosmetics, people from east, southeast, and south Asia may have overlapping beauty needs. But given the diversity of the region, it is no surprise to say personal care companies can not use a ‘one size fits all’ strategy.…
GLOBAL - DEMAND FOR 'NATURAL' DRINKS INGREDIENTS RISING IN MATURE DRINKS MARKETS
BY ALAN OSBORN, KARRYN MILLER, GAVIN BLAIR, KEITH NUTHALL
MOST drinks manufacturers would bridle at the accusation that they used anything unnatural to make their products: after all poisoning consumers is bad for business. But in the world of marketing, everything is relative, and some ingredients are so fresh and untainted with processing chemicals that they can, simply, be sold as being more ‘natural’ than standard inputs.…
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PAINT COMPANIES CAPTURE ASEAN MARKET WITH HUB-AND-SPOKE MODEL
BY MARK ROWE
IN the truly global market of the paint industry, nowhere has the maxim of work local, sell local, been adhered to more rigorously than in southeast Asia. The region’s paint market is fiercely competitive, driven by developed nations such as Singapore and populous rapidly developing countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.…
BHUTAN: Future higher education hub of Asia
Kencho Wangdi
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is renowned for its untouched mountainous beauty. It is also known for its political innovation: it tobacco sales ban and use of ‘gross national happiness country’ as a yardstick for development. But it may soon become known as a higher education hub of Asia, if current plans go well.…
MAJOR DAIRY EXPANSION PLANNED BY THAILAND'S CP MEIJI
BY MICHAEL MACKAY
THAILAND’S CP Meiji is to invest up to Thai Baht THB 800 million baht (US dollar USD26 million) to increase capacity at its Saraburi plant, senior company officials have told just-food. The central Thailand factory currently produces 200 tonnes of dairy products daily and although the scale of the expansion is not yet finalised, "we are going to be bigger" said one manager.…
TAILOR-MADE OECD-LINKED ANTI-BRIBERY ADVICE ADOPTED BY ASIA-PACIFIC GROUP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUP of 28 governments from the Asia-Pacific region has adopted advice on the criminalisation of bribery drafted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Couched as a ‘Thematic Review on Criminalisation of Bribery’ this detailed set of guidelines was adopted in September by the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific, meeting in Kuala Lumpur.…
EMERGING MARKETS OFFER VARIED SOURCE OF NOVEL NATURAL INGREDIENTS
BY DINAH GARDNER, PACIFICA GODDARD, KARRYN MILLER
AS the ranks of China’s middle class swell, their desire for leading healthier lifestyles – including what they drink – is also growing. Manufacturers have a wealth of ingredients from which to pick. Not only can they use globally-renowned healthy choices such as fruit juices and mineral-enriched drinks, they also have thousands of herbs, roots, flowers and fruits popular in Chinese medicine to choose from as ingredients and additives.…
SOUTHEAST ASIA COSMETICS SECTOR STILL DEVELOPING, DESPITE THE RECESSION
BY KARRYN MILLER, AHMAD PATHONI, MARK ROWE
SOUTHEAST Asia is a growing and diverse market for international personal care product brands, despite the challenges (and some losses) cased by the recession. The region contains relatively rich emerging markets (and the very rich city state of Singapore), and its major poorer countries, notably Vietnam and Indonesia are growing fast and emerging robustly from the recession.…
OLAF NAILS BIGGER FRAUDS BY IGNORING SMALL CASES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IMAGINATION and guile continue to help fraudsters milk hundreds of millions of Euros from the European Union’s (EU) well-stocked budgets, explains the latest report from EU anti-fraud agency OLAF, writes Keith Nuthall.
OLAF spends a lot of money sniffing out fraud in the institutions and programmes of the EU and the payment of duties earmarked to fund this spending.…
ROBOTS INCREASINGLY IN DEMAND IN ASIA-PACIFIC PAINT AND COATINGS SECTOR
BY EMMA JACKSON
PAINT companies looking for an edge may very well find themselves turning to robots, as the industry in the Asia-Pacific region increasingly embraces automation. Cost effective, efficient and consistent, robots are indeed replacing employees in paint manufacturing processes and applications of coatings to products such as cars and machinery.…
SUSTAINABLE SILK FROM SE ASIA COULD SUSTAIN THE REGION'S ENTIRE SILK INDUSTRY
BY KARRYN MILLER
SILK is deeply ingrained in the cultures of south-east Asian countries. "In Laos every stitch of clothing used to be made of silk, even baby diapers," said Mark Sloneker, founder of sustainable, fair-trade website Orijyn (www.orijyn.com), which sells Laotian silk products abroad.…
HIGH NOON FOR THE FUTURE OF ASBESTOS IN A TOWN CALLED ASBESTOS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TOWN of Asbestos in French-speaking Québec, Canada – named after the mineral that underpins its economy – is waiting to see whether its provincial government will approve a Canadian dollar CAD58 million (US dollar USD56 million) loan enabling an underground mine to tap an immense deposit.…
GLOBAL SECTION - SIZING REMAINS A HEADACHE FOR GLOBALISING CLOTHING INDUSTRY
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.…
BURMA'S RECENTLY EXPANDED RANGOON ABOUT TO BE ECLIPSED BY NEW NAYPYIDAW CAPITAL
BY MARK GODFREY
EVEN as the Burmese government embarks on construction of an airport in its middle-of-nowhere capital Naypyidaw, traffic remains underwhelming at the county’s main international hub in Rangoon, officially known as Yangon.
Officially opened in May 2007, Yangon International Airport has so far struggled to justify its ambitious capacity of 2.7 million passengers per year set by Burma’s (official name Myanmar) Department of Transportation, which oversees the country’s airports.…
SUSTAINABLE SILK FROM SE ASIA COULD SUSTAIN THE REGION'S ENTIRE SILK INDUSTRY
BY KARRYN MILLER
SILK is deeply ingrained in the cultures of south-east Asian countries. "In Laos every stitch of clothing used to be made of silk, even baby diapers," said Mark Sloneker, founder of sustainable, fair-trade website Orijyn (www.orijyn.com), which sells Laotian silk products abroad.…
GLOBAL - INTERNATIONAL AUTO MANUFACTURERS WORK TO REDUCE CO2 EMISSIONS
BY JULIAN RYALL, FLORENCE LABEDAYS, KARRYN MILLER and KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE the slow progress to replace the Kyoto Protocol, auto manufacturers are well aware that they will come under increasing pressure to reduce the CO2 emissions of their models and their manufacturing process.…
COUNTRIES EDGE TOWARDS DEAL ON GLOBAL TREATY ON TRADE IN ILLICIT TOBACCO PRODUCTS
BY DANIEL PRUZIN
REPRESENTATIVES from around 160 countries are moving toward clinching a deal on new World Health Organisation (WHO) Protocol on Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, which could be wrapped up within the next 12 months. Unlike its predecessor, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (under whose authority this latest agreement is being negotiated), the protocol is something of a mixed blessing for the tobacco industry.…
FAMILYMART BOOSTS GLOBAL OUTLETS
BY GAVIN BLAIR
JAPAN-BASED convenience store operator FamilyMart plans to increase its number of outlets worldwide to 25,000 by the 2015 fiscal year, from its current 16,000 stores, according to its president Junji Ueda. The biggest increase will be in China, where it will boost its stores from 360 to 4,500 – centred on Shanghai, where the port-city has the infrastructure and distribution facilities to support the expansion.…
CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS INDUSTRY AND MARKET
BY PACIFICA GODDARD
The carbonated soft drink segment has suffered recently in the United States and Europe, as consumers have become more health conscious and switched to less sugary alternatives, but in Latin America carbonated beverages have continued to perform well.…
VIETNAM KNITWEAR SECTOR BOOMING - DESPITE GLOBAL RECESSION
BY KARRYN MILLER
VIETNAM has worked hard to convince foreign companies they should look past neighbouring China for their knitwear needs. Through an increasing commitment to quality, along with strong government support, Vietnamese knitwear firms are starting to see the fruits of their labour and tags ‘made in Vietnam’ are becoming more common both domestically and abroad.…
ASIA COSMETICS COMPANIES USE NATURAL TRADITIONAL INGREDIENTS TO GAIN EDGE
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.…
ASIA BEER MARKET IS WORLD'S NUMBER ONE AND SET TO CONTINUE GROWING
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.…
TOUGHER TIMES LOOM FOR CHINA'S BIOFUELS BUSINESS
BY MARK GODFREY
CHINA has been nothing but ambitious on its biofuels targets, and although its long term goals are impressive, short term food shortages will probably stunt growth. A lengthy drought last year in the country’s central provinces has hurt grain output, while more recently the return of inflation in December 2009 is likely to convince Beijing to keep in place a ban on new capacity for processing grain or corn for biofuels.…
WTO TELLS USA TO REFORM ANTI-DUMPING ASSESSMENT OF THAI PLASTIC BAG EXPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel has told the USA that it should reform its assessment of anti-dumping duties on Thai exports to America of Polyethylene retail carrier bags. Concluding that the USA had "acted inconsistently with [the WTO’s] Anti-Dumping Agreement" by rounding down valuations of Thai exports or ‘zeroing’.…
GLOBAL ROUND UP OF 2009 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE NEWS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…
DEMAND FOR BAN ON SOUTH ASIAN COTTON EXPORTS
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA
AN INDIAN textile mills federation is demanding an immediate ban on cotton exports as weak production in the country is leading to a "grave situation" for industry supplies. The Southern India Mill Association says a delayed monsoon and heavy floods in many cotton growing areas may lead to a 10% lower output in the world’s second largest producer of cotton.…
THE DANGERS OF DOING BUSINESS WITH BURMA
BY DINAH GARDNER
BURMA is both a dream and a nightmare for energy companies. First, it is undoubtedly resource rich. According to the BP Statistical Review, the country had 0.49 million cubic metres (17.5 trillion cubic feet) of proven natural gas reserves at the end of 2008, roughly the same as Vietnam.…
COSMETICS MARKETERS MUST SENSE NATIONAL DEMAND TRENDS WITHIN REGIONAL THEMES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
BY WILLIAM BARNES
IN the good old days in south-east Asia, a market stallholder might hope to capture the neighbourhood cosmetics market with a simple range of soap, talc, lipstick (usually red) and cheap perfume.
The typical female routine was clean yourself, calm and whiten the face with talc, then add a dash of lipstick.…
AIRPORTS BOTH CONTROL POINTS AND CONDUITS FOR SWINE FLU
BY MARK ROWE
AIRLINES and airports are perfect carriers for infectious diseases and have helped swine flu to spread around the world within a matter of weeks, to the extent that it is now classified as the first pandemic of the 21st century.…
SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT IN EMERGING ECONOMY AND POORER COUNTRIES BECOMES INCREASINGLY UNEVEN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT has long been outmoded and inaccurate to split the world into two camps: industrialised developed economies, and largely agricultural developing countries. The growth of the 1990s and the current decade means there is a wide range of social and economic sophistication and wealth amongst the poorer of these two old-fashioned categories.…
DRINKS COUNTERFEITING POSES HEALTH RISKS TO CONSUMERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
COUNTERFEITERS often claim their crime is victimless – the only losers are rich corporations who enjoy healthy profits anyway from their brands. But what if you drink the fake, and it kills you? It happens, Keith Nuthall explores the murky world of drinks counterfeiting.…
PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT INDUSTRY FIGHTS TO PRESERVE ITS REPUTATION AGAINST COUNTERFEITERS AND PIRATES
BY KEITH NUTHALL, JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo, EMMA JACKSON and LEAH GERMAIN
TIME was when counterfeit personal care products were commonly crude fake perfumes pedalled in markets and workplaces during the Christmas and other festive periods to bargain hunters who knew they were buying rubbish.…
TOUGHER LAWS NEEDED TO FIGHT CONSTANTLY ADAPTING DRINKS COUNTERFEITERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL and EMMA JACKSON
COUNTERFEITERS often claim their crime is victimless – the only losers are rich corporations who enjoy healthy profits anyway from their brands. But tell that to the families of the 1,069 duped Moscow consumers who died after becoming intoxicated by counterfeit alcoholic beverages in the city during 2008, according to the Russian capital’s board of health.…
CHINESE MANUFACTURERS MEET EU BAN ON ANIMAL TESTS
BY WANG FANGQING
CHINESE manufacturers have told Soap Perfumery & Cosmetics they see no threat in the newly-effective ban, under the European Union’s (EU) revised cosmetics directive (76/768/EEC), on all the animal tested cosmetics and personal care products sold in the EU.…
JAPANESE CONFECTIONERY INDUSTRY ROBUST IN RECESSION
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.…
SRI LANKA LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED TO ENSURE MAXIMUM SECURITY AT ITS AIRPORT
BY MUNZA MUSHTAQ
As Sri Lanka’s military makes its final thrust against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the country’s government is trying hard to ensure the safety of its only international airport and its passengers, because of an enduring risk of attack from the separatist group.…
THAILAND'S COATINGS SECTOR MUSCLES THROUGH ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL TURMOIL
BY MARK ROWE
DESPITE the worldwide economic gloom (and the country’s own political woes), Thailand’s paint industry appeared vibrant right up to and including the final quarter of 2008, with a raft of expansion plans, significant investment and takeovers in an active market.…
COMPANY REFORM HAS HELPED SHISEIDO GET IN SHAPE FOR THE RECESSION
BY JULIAN RYALL
WHILE other companies are suddenly looking to cut overheads, trim the fat from their operations or find other ways to batten down the hatches to survive the global economic turmoil, Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido Co. claims it sees the downturn as an opportunity.…
IFC BACKS THAI AND LAO OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank will invest up to US$25 million to finance oil and gas exploration in Thailand and Laos by London-based Salamander Energy. The IFC will acquire minority interests in a Laos Savannakhet production-sharing contract and northeast Thailand concessions.…
NEW INTERNATIONAL MOUNT FUJI SHIZUOKA AIRPORT OPENS THIS JUNE
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.…
BANGLADESH DYE MARKET BOOMS AMIDST TEXTILE AND CLOTHING EXPANSION
BY PAUL COCHRANE
BANGLADESH’S US$100 million annual dye and associated chemicals market has reported double digit growth over the past three years on the back of the rapid expansion in the ready made garments and knitwear sectors.
"Bangladesh is a growing market for dyeing, especially since 2005 as more factories are opening," said Wohid Uddin Mahmud, managing partner in Technocrat Enterprise, agent for textile dyeing, washing and laundry machines for Italy’s Flainox, the US’s X-Rite and South Korea’s DaeLim Starlet.…
DRINKS PRODUCTION AND MARKETING RULES SEEK TO BALANCE PROTECTING EXCELLENCE WITH LIBERATING COMMERCE
BY ALAN OSBORN
INTRODUCTION
About 10 years ago the American distiller JB Wagoner decided to market a fiery liquor made from the cactus-like agave plants growing in the hills on his estate at Temecula in California. He called it "temequila." It soon became known as "the American tequila," proving indistinguishable in taste, texture and effect from the well-known Mexican drink.…
POOR AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE IN AFGHANISTAN DISCUSSED BY ICAO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AIR traffic is moving inefficiency over the strategic air space controlled by Afghanistan, an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) meeting has heard. Mohamed Khonji, ICAO regional director Middle East warned an air traffic flow management task force meeting in Cairo that: "Despite the continued and valued efforts made by Afghanistan to accommodate the requirements of civil traffic the limited availability of ATS routes and flight levels across the Kabul FIR continues to remain as a ‘bottleneck’ in the civil traffic flows."…
CULTURALLY DIVERSE SOUTH EAST ASIA OFFERS MARKETING CHALLENGES FOR COSMETICS COMPANIES
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.…
UNDERSTAFFING MAKES BHUTANESE NURSES' DAILY TOIL A REAL GRIND
BY KENCHO WANGDI
LIKE other nurses in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, religion played a part in convincing Dechen Om that she should become a nurse.
A Buddhist, like most of her co-patriots, she believed that by becoming a nurse she would get the chance to serve ill people and earn good karma so in the next life she would be born into a good family.…
THAI TOBACCO MONOPOLY SETS SIGHTS ON EASTERN EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE THAILAND Tobacco Monopoly (TTM) has sets its sights on securing export markets in eastern Europe, planning to launch new brands in the region, with a special focus on Poland and Russia. Looking to offset declines in sales in the Thai domestic market, the state-owned trading company noted that cigarette trading restrictions were weaker in parts of eastern Europe than in Thailand.…
THAILAND LAUNCHES AWARENESS PROJECT PROMOTING THE VALUE OF TREES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THAILAND has made a significant step forward towards helping the UN Environment Programme achieve its goal of planting one tree for every person on earth (around seven billion) by 2009, launching its own national ‘Plant for the Planet, Plant for the Future’ campaign.…
NUMBERS OF COUNTERFEIT PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS SEIZED IN EU FALLS BY QUARTER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NUMBER of counterfeit personal care products seized by European Union (EU) customs teams fell by a quarter in 2008, compared to 2007, the latest European Commission figures claim. There were still many fake cosmetics, perfumes and personal soaps discovered however – 4.58 million items, in 2,134 cases however.…
CHINA STRUGGLES TO SQUARE ITS BIOFUEL PRODUCTION PLANS WITH GLOBAL INCREASES IN FOOD PRICES
BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing
WORRIES about inflation and food shortages have left the Chinese government struggling to balance efforts to temper inflation with its ambitious biofuels development programme. Increasing demand for food and biofuels in China have been a key driver in increasing global consumption of fats and oils at an average 4% per year according to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).…
DEMAND FOR WHITENING COSMETICS EXPANDING BEYOND ITS EAST ASIAN BASE, SAYS KANEBO
BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo
THE OBSESSION among many European women for tanned skin is fading, particularly among women in their late 30s, according to a new study by Japan’s Kanebo Cosmetics, meaning there is a small but growing market for whitening products.…
SOUTH ASIAN KNITWEAR INDUSTRY HAVING MIXED FORTUNES AS GLOBALISATION INTENSIFIES
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.…
WTO'S DOHA DEVELOPMENT ROUND APPROACHES END GAME - FOOD AND PACKAGING IMPORT DUTIES POISED TO TUMBLE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FOOD and drink manufacturing industries could get a big shot in the arm this year, if the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) seven-year-old Doha Development Round reaches a successful conclusion, as planned. If it does, all import duties on their products traded worldwide would be significantly reduced and there is a chance many of them could be eliminated altogether.…
GLOBAL - UN-sponsored responsible business education initiative takes off
By Keith Nuthall
A UNITED Nations-sponsored global initiative to encourage business schools to teach and promote social and environmentally responsible commercial practices has gathered a critical mass of support. More than 100 business schools worldwide have now signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Initiative.…
SOUTH KOREA FISHING INDUSTRY STRUGGLES TO SUPPLY GROWING DOMESTIC MARKET
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).…
EU MINISTERS ASKED TO EXTEND COUMARIN DUTY TO INDIA, THAILAND, INDONESIA, MALAYSIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that Euro 3,479/tonne anti-dumping duties on exports into the European Union (EU) from China of anticoagulant precursor coumarin be extended to cover cargoes from India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Brussels fears that dumped Chinese exports are being diverted through these countries to evade the duties.…
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION ROUND-UP - NEW MAURITANIA AGREEMENT NEGOTIATED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW fishing agreement has been negotiated between the European Commission and Mauritania, slashing maximum catch allowances, after an earlier deal was poorly exploited by European Union (EU) fishermen. Under the replacement agreement – which should run from this August to July 2012 – catch quotas for EU vessels in Mauritania waters will fall by 25% for cephalopods; by between 10% and 50% for demersal species (mainly shrimp and hake); and by 43% for small pelagic fish.…
WTO PANEL RULES AGAINST US SHRIMP ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel has ruled that United States anti-dumping duties on shrimp exports from Thailand break WTO fair trade rules and will have to be amended or scrapped.
ENDS…
WTO ROUND TO SLASH - EVEN REMOVE - FISH AND SEAFOOD IMPORT DUTIES WORLDWIDE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FISH and seafood processing industry could get a big shot in the arm this year, if the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) seven-year-old Doha Development Round reaches a successful conclusion, as planned. If it does, all import duties on fish and fish products traded worldwide would be significantly reduced and there is a chance they could be eliminated altogether.…
WTO ROUND TO SLASH - EVEN REMOVE - TEXTILE AND CLOTHING IMPORT DUTIES WORLDWIDE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is a curious quirk of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it considers fish and fish products to be industrial goods, while almost anything else edible is regulated as the fruit of agriculture – but this anomaly may help the fishing sector this year.…
THAILAND PAINT INDUSTRY PUSHES AHEAD, DESPITE EXTERNAL, FINANCIAL AND POLITICAL SETBACKS
BY MARK ROWE
LIKE the majority of industries in Thailand, the paint and coatings sector has endured a roller coaster ride in recent years. Having put the disruption caused by the 1997 financial crisis firmly behind it, the military coup of 2006 further unsettled affairs.…
COMMERCIAL CRIME IS A KEY PLANK OF THE TAMIL TIGERS RENEWED OFFENSIVE IN SRI LANKA
BY KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo
SRI Lanka’s Tamil Tigers have stepped up commercial crime across continents to fund what they call the "final war" of separation, now the formal ceasefire with the govern,ent has ended. But, the foundation to pursue such sophisticated crime was laid during Sri Lanka’s highly internationalised peace process, reports Keith Noyahr from Colombo.…
SUPPORTERS OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION REGISTER PUSH FOR APPROVAL AHEAD OF DOHA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…
SUPPORTERS OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION REGISTER PUSH FOR APPROVAL AHEAD OF DOHA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…
THE MIDDLE EAST: A HUB FOR FAKE CAR PARTS
BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Kuwait
THE MARKET for fake car parts in the Middle East is rising at an alarming pace, now accounting for an estimated 30% of the region’s US$11 billion parts sector. In a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, the Middle East was highlighted as a central market in the US$16 billion global trade in fake auto parts, which is growing at an estimated 9-11% a year.…
WTO CONCERNS RAISED OVER REACH COMPLEXITY, AS CHEMICAL CONTROL SYSTEM GETS INTO GEAR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIPLOMATIC grumbles are emerging about the European Union’s (EU) REACH chemical control system, claiming its complexity could break EU commitments under the being made at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) technical barriers to trade agreement. A meeting of the WTO technical barriers to trade committee heard Argentina, Brazil, the USA, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Chile, China, Mexico and Thailand raise concerns that REACH could impose illegally difficult tasks on exporters.…
SUPPORTERS OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION REGISTER PUSH FOR APPROVAL AHEAD OF DOHA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…
WTO CONCERNS RAISED OVER REACH COMPLEXITY AS EU SYSTEM GETS INTO GEAR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIPLOMATIC grumbles have started to emerge about the European Union’s (EU) REACH chemical control system, with claims being made at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) its complexity could break EU commitments under the WTO’s technical barriers to trade agreement.…
WTO CONCERNS RAISED OVER REACH COMPLEXITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIPLOMATIC grumbles have started to emerge about the European Union’s (EU) REACH chemical control system, with claims being made at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) its complexity could break EU commitments under the WTO’s technical barriers to trade agreement.…
WTO CONCERNS RAISED OVER REACH COMPLEXITY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CLAIMS are being made at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that the complexity of the European Union’s (EU) REACH chemical control system could break EU commitments under the WTO’s technical barriers to trade agreement. Argentina, Brazil, the USA, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Chile, China, Mexico and Thailand claim REACH could impose illegally difficult tasks on exporters.…
SOUTH KOREA PAINT AND COATINGS INDUSTRY MOVING UP MARKET TO BOOST SALES
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.…
FAO DEVELOPS INNOVATIVE PROJECTS TO BOOST THE AQUACULTURE INDUSTRY WORLDWIDE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MANY international organisations have an impact on the fish farming sector, although with quite a narrow remit, drawing up specialist health and environmental standards for the industry, for instance. However, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has a broader role, with freedom to pursue a wide variety of imaginative schemes.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PREDICTS LEATHER COMMERCE GAINS FROM ASIA TRADE DEALS
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.…
EU COMMISSION SAYS CLOTHING COUNTERFEITING IS ON THE INCREASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BOOM in counterfeit clothing accessories being smuggled into the European Union (EU) has overshadowed a fall in the trade in fake sportswear, according to the latest figures from the European Commission. It says EU customs officials seized 30 million items of clothing and accessory fakes last year, up 175%.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PREDICTS INCREASED CLOTHING COMMERCE THROUGH ASIAN TRADE DEALS
BY PAUL COCHRANE
SLATED European Union (EU) free trade agreements (FTA) with South Korea, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries would dramatically boost commercial activity in the clothing, textile and apparel sectors if the agreements are passed, European Commission analysis says.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PREDICTS INCREASED CLOTHING COMMERCE THROUGH ASIAN TRADE DEALS
BY PAUL COCHRANE
SLATED European Union (EU) free trade agreements (FTA) with South Korea, India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries would dramatically boost commercial activity in the clothing, textile and apparel sectors if the agreements are passed, European Commission analysis says.…
SHISEIDO CLAIMS SUCCESS IN DISCOVERING 'GOLDEN' MAGNESIUM, CALCIUM SKIN FORMULA
BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo
IT comes in a stunning multi-layered Perspex box that combines traditional elements of Japanese design with contemporary materials, the trays sliding out and each lotion held in a delicate, individual jar. But it is the contents of those jars, as well as the spray canister, that really has the scientists at Shiseido Co.’s…
SHISEIDO CLAIMS SUCCESS IN DISCOVERING 'GOLDEN' MAGNESIUM, CALCIUM SKIN FORMULA
BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo
IT comes in a stunning multi-layered Perspex box that combines traditional elements of Japanese design with contemporary materials, the trays sliding out and each lotion held in a delicate, individual jar. But it is the contents of those jars, as well as the spray canister, that really has the scientists at Shiseido Co.’s…
GERMANY'S GRETHER LOSES TRADEMARK APPEAL
BY PAUL COCHRANE
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Court of First Instance of the European Communities has rejected a bid by German cosmetics manufacturer Grether to prevent the EU-wide registration of the ‘FENNEL’ trademark by Thailand’s Crisgo for compact powder, lipstick, eye-shadow, eye-liner, blusher, nail polish and mascara’.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PREDICTS LEATHER COMMERCE GAINS FROM ASIA TRADE DEALS
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.…
EU COMMISSION SAYS CLOTHING COUNTERFEITING IS ON THE INCREASE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BOOM in counterfeit clothing accessories being smuggled into the European Union (EU) has overshadowed a fall in the trade in fake sportswear, according to the latest figures from the European Commission. It says EU customs officials seized 30 million items of clothing and accessory fakes last year, up 175%.…
GERMANY'S GRETHER LOSES TRADEMARK APPEAL
BY PAUL COCHRANE
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Court of First Instance of the European Communities has rejected a bid by German cosmetics manufacturer Grether to prevent the EU-wide registration of the ‘FENNEL’ trademark by Thailand’s Crisgo for compact powder, lipstick, eye-shadow, eye-liner, blusher, nail polish and mascara’.…
ISO PLANS FISHING AND AQUACULTURE STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (ISO) (NOTE: It uses the American spelling for its name) is staging a meeting this October of a new technical committee charged with creating technical good practice standards for the aquaculture and wild fish sectors.…
ISO PLANS FISHING AND AQUACULTURE STANDARDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Organization for Standardization (ISO) (NOTE: It uses the American spelling for its name) is staging a meeting this October of a new technical committee charged with creating technical good practice standards for the seafood industry’s aquaculture and wild harvested arms.…
PHILIP MORRIS RELEASES GLOBAL COUNTERFEITING INTELLIGENCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PHILIP Morris International (PMI) has released a detailed intelligence dossier on cigarette and other tobacco product counterfeiting, in a bid to encourage the international cooperation it deems necessary to effectively fight this crime. The report highlights 17 countries around the world where it thinks cigarette counterfeiting is a particular problem and where the cigarette company has specific advice: Latvia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Egypt, Belize, Panama, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Ghana.…
USTR REPORTS WARN OF CONTINUING WORLDWIDE COUNTERFEITING THREATS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States Trade Representative (USTR) has released a series of detailed reports outlining the threats posed by counterfeiters worldwide and the inability of many governments to fight the problem.
Its sheaf of intelligence includes comprehensive warnings from cigarette giant Philip Morris, a company that has adopted a high profile in fighting counterfeiters and smugglers.…
EU LAUNCHES EU PET PROTECTIVE DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has re-imposed definitive antidumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, as proposed by the European Commission.…
USA CLOTHING FEDERATIONS CALL FOR GLOBAL ANTI-COUNTERFEITING ACTION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN AMERICAN anti-piracy group has warned that the Czech Republic and Costa Rica have joined the well-known major sources of counterfeit clothing such as China and Brazil. And in a report, the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition adds that the “vast majority” of pirated clothing exported from the Czech Republic was actually made in China.…
EU MINISTERS APPROVE ASIAN PET PROTECTIVE DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has re-imposed definitive antidumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, as proposed by the European Commission.…
SOUTH-EAST ASIA COSMETICS INDUSTRY STARTS HARMONISATION PROCESS
BY MARK ROWE
INTERNATIONAL cosmetics companies are increasingly casting an eye over south-east Asia. In the middle of the first decade of the 21st Century it would appear to offer all things to all companies.
With Asia (including nearby China) representing half of the world’s population and an economic growth rate ranging between 5 and 10%, many companies are interested in entering or developing these markets.…
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PUSHES FOR RENEWAL OF PET ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced plans to reimpose definitive antidumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of certain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan. The original duties were imposed in 2000 and were to lapse, but the Polyethylene Terephthalate Committee of Plastics Europe called for their reimposition, claiming the “expiry of the measures would… result in a continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury to the EU industry.”…
OLAF BUSTS RULES OF ORIGIN FRAUDS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) anti-fraud agency OLAF has helped uncover three rules-of-origin frauds costing EU coffers millions of Euros. In one case, an OLAF-German police inquiry has uncovered the loss of Euro 50 million in duties by the illicit rerouting of Chinese energy-saving lamps via Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Tunisia to evade 66.1% anti-dumping duties on China-made lamps; Euro 7 million of avoided taxation has been recovered.…
THAILAND AND EU STRIKE DEAL OVER POULTRY EXPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has now struck a deal with Thailand, increasing its previously disputed rights to export salted poultrymeat and cooked chicken into the European Union (EU). As with the recent announcement regarding Brazil, the agreement solves a long running World Trade Organisation (WTO) battle.…
BRAZIL - THAILAND POULTRY EXPORTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has struck a deal with Brazil, increasing its rights to export 335,000 tonnes into the European Union (EU) of salted poultrymeat, turkey meat preparations and cooked chicken meat. Brussels has made a similar agreement with Thailand regarding it exporting 252,000 tonnes of salted poultry meat and cooked chicken meat to the EU.…
WTO EXTENDS FREE-TRADE WAIVER FOR BLOOD DIAMOND CONTROLS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) has exempted from its standard free trade rules for a further six years countries involved in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme combating ‘blood diamond’ sales.
Its current waiver was to expire December 31 and protects trade restrictions undertaken by participating countries preventing rough diamonds being exported to non-signatory states.…
EU WARNS OF CONTINUING COUNTERFEIT CLOTHING BOOM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a continued boom in counterfeits of clothing and accessory products entering the European Union (EU), with more than 10.9 million fake items seized by customs officials last year. This is 140% more than the numbers of seizures in 2004.…
EU WARNS OF INCREASED CLOTHING COUNTERFEITING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned of a continued boom in counterfeits of clothing and accessory products entering the European Union (EU), with more than 10.9 million fake items seized by customs officials last year. This is 140% more than the numbers of seizures in 2004.…
THAILAND PUSHES USA INTO WTO SHRIMP BATTLE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel should start work this month on Thailand’s claims that USA anti-dumping duties on its shrimp exports break WTO rules. Washington has resisted Bangkok’s bid for a panel, but it cannot stop its formation, likely to be approved on October 26.…
THAILAND PUSHES USA INTO WTO SHRIMP BATTLE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) disputes panel was to be authorised as Fish Farming International went to press, adjudicating on Thailand’s claims that USA anti-dumping duties on its shrimp exports break WTO rules. Washington has resisted Bangkok’s panel bid, but its authorisation was anticipated on October 26.…
AIDS DRUGS ARE AFFORDABLE SAYS WORLD BANK REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE THAI government and the World Bank are claiming that developing countries can afford to treat AIDS patients with free anti-retroviral drugs. In a joint report, they note that of the estimated 40 million people worldwide infected with HIV, only 700,000 people are being treated with the new therapy.…
EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS APPROVES CHINA, THAILAND PLASTIC BAG ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PARIS (ICIS News)–Rates of anti-dumping duties set this week by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers for imports into the EU from China and Thailand of plastic sacks and bags have been detailed by minutes released in Brussels today (26 Sept).…
MIDDLE EAST LUXURY LEATHER GOOD DEMAND INDIA PAKISTAN PRODUCTION
BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
STRONG demand for leather luggage in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is lining the pockets of tanners in Italy, Pakistan and Thailand.
According to a recent global online survey by marketing data company AC Nielsen, the UAE ranks among the top five countries worldwide for luxury branded luggage bags.…
WTO EU SUGAR LIBERALISATION DEADLINE
STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRALIA, Thailand and Brazil have claimed at the World Trade Organisation that the European Union has missed a May 22 deadline to reduce sugar subsidies to WTO norms, despite the EU agreeing recent reforms to its sugar regime.…
GM FOODSTUFFS CONTROLS EUROPEAN COMMISSION REPORT/REFORMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed reforms to the scientific basis and transparency of decisions on approving or banning genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in foodstuffs. This follows concerns from member states that too many GM products are being approved for sale in the European Union (EU).…
INDIA PAINT INDUSTRY FEATURE
BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi
THE INDIAN economy is booming and so, as a result, is the country’s US$1.8 billion paint and coating industry, which registered a 10 to 12% annual growth for third consecutive year, taking 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2004-05 into account.…
THAILAND RESEARCH INSTITUTE FORGERY CASE ECJ FRANCE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A THAILAND research agency has lost a long legal battle to force the European Commission to act against a French academic it claims duped them out of a Brussels grant. The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), of Pathumthani, a non-profit-making technological and research agency, failed to persuade the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to declare invalid a Euro 27,481 payment made in 2002.…
MALAYSIAN PAINT/COATINGS INDUSTRY FEATURE - AUTOMOTOBILE COATINGS, WATER PIPE COATINGS
BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
RECENT positive advances in the paint and coatings industry symbolise general satisfaction with Malaysia’s business outlook. It might not have the cheapest labour in Asia but the workforce is skilled, productive and highly competitive. Access to infrastructure (especially ports) for exports is also reported to be good.…
WTO SUMMIT HONG KONG - INDUSTRIAL GOODS SERVICES LIBERALISATION DOHA DEVELOPMENT ROUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUTO manufacturing firms will be closely monitoring next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Hong Kong for signs that the WTO’s long-running Doha Development Round talks are about to crack open national automobile markets. Key auto industry countries – the US, the European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India and Brazil – have been making steady progress this year in identifying non-tariff barriers to trade they would like to remove, such as burdensome customs procedures, technical engineering rules and licences.…
GM RICE CHINA THAILAND BIOTECHNOLOGY FEATURE
BY TAMARA VANTROYEN, in Hong Kong
CHINA looks to be a likely candidate for the first country in the world to approve genetically modified rice, despite the fact that the State Agricultural GM Crop Biosafety Committee, a technical body which evaluates GM rice for research, did not approve the idea at its three-day meeting in Beijing, December 10-12, 2005.…
WHO ANTI-VIOLENCE PUBLIC HEALTH STRATEGY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) has welcomed the spread of programmes tackling violence as a public health priority instead of just a crime problem, with the WHO saying such an approach fosters effective holistic policies. A recent conference, the 2nd Milestones of a Global Campaign for Violence Prevention, in San Francisco, co-hosted by the WHO and the California Wellness Foundation, heard of many new national models.…
STAINLESS STEEL FASTENER ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES - CHINA INDONESIA TAIWAN THAILAND VIETNAM - COUNCIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain stainless steel fasteners and associated parts (bolts, nuts, etc) from Taiwan (23.6%), China (27.4%), Indonesia (24.6%), Thailand (14.6%) and Vietnam (7.7%), with lower duties for some companies cooperating with a European Commission inquiry into the problem.…
STAINLESS STEEL FASTENER ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES - CHINA INDONESIA TAIWAN THAILAND VIETNAM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed imposing definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain stainless steel fasteners and associated parts from Taiwan (23.6%), China (27.4%), Indonesia (24.6%), Thailand (14.6%) and Vietnam (7.7%). Stainless steel products covered are wood screws, self-tapping screws, screws and bolts without heads of stainless steel, slotted and cross-recessed screws, hexagon socket head screws and hexagon bolts.…
EU LEATHER GLOBAL MARKET REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STEEP decline in sales of European Union (EU) finished leather to its number one market, the United States, has been highlighted by a comprehensive report on the global leather (and textile) market written for the European Commission.…
BONELESS CHICKEN CUTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ATTEMPTS to change a ruling in the long-running WTO dispute over EU customs classification of frozen boneless chicken cuts have largely failed. Notably, Brazil and Thailand did not persuade the WTO appellate body to rule cuts with 1.2% or more salt content be classified ‘salted’, rather than ‘frozen’, (attracting higher duty), not just 1.2%-3% content cuts.…
ASEAN DISASTER MANAGEMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ASSOCIATION of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed how its member governments should cooperate in the event of a major disaster, such as another Tsunami or earthquake. The international organisation, which includes such major countries as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, has approved a comprehensive deal that lays down how they should mitigate disaster damage, reducing the insurer payouts in a region increasingly interested in insurance.…
ASEAN COOPERATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINES and minerals ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed wide-ranging cooperation plans to promote their respective mining sectors. At the first of a series of ministerial meetings, (in Sarawak, Malaysia), an ASEAN Minerals Cooperation Action Plan (AMCAP) 2005-2010, containing 19 actions was approved.…
ASIA/PACIFIC GROUP ON MONEY LAUNDERING
BY MATTHEW BRACE
FIGHTING money laundering is about getting your hands dirty. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) may pronounce global standards that it would like jurisdictions to follow, but all governments need help, and often regional bodies are better placed to do the detailed work than more remote global organisations.…
ASEAN COOPERATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINERALS and mines ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed wide-ranging cooperation plans to promote their respective mining sectors. At the first of a series of ministerial meetings, (in Sarawak, Malaysia), an ASEAN Minerals Cooperation Action Plan (AMCAP) 2005-2010, containing 19 actions was approved.…
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ASSOCIATION of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has agreed how its members should cooperate in a major disaster, such as another Tsunami. Countries including Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand approved a comprehensive deal on how they should coordinate military and civil emergency services.…
TSUNAMI WARNING
BY ALAN OSBORN
INSURERS should have a much clearer idea of the risks involved in extending cover to the areas hit by the tsunami at the end of last year following agreement by 23 Indian Ocean nations to share data and set up seven regional warning centres.…
SUGAR THINK-PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
IT won’t be long now before British and other European sugar beet growers find out exactly what kind of future they have – and even, in some cases, whether it’s worth them staying in the game at all.…
DELOITTE & TOUCHE - TSUNAMI
BY ALAN OSBORN
SUDDENLY accountants are being held in unusually high esteem and it’s all because of their work in connection with the relief effort for victims of the Boxing Day tsunami. To date some Pounds 4.7 billion for the stricken countries has been raised worldwide but nothing like that sum has yet got through to the people affected; some of it stolen perhaps and some of it wasted, but a lot of it bogged down in inadequate financial infrastructures: step forward the big multinational accountancy firms who have provided staff, management and professional advice and training, a good deal of it on a pro bono publico basis.…
WTO SUGAR APPEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GLOBAL sugar industry will scrutinise the text of an appeal verdict issued yesterday (28-4) by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), confirming an earlier decision that European Union’s (EU) existing sugar subsidies break WTO rules. The European Commission has already accepted the decision, which is important, because it will on June 22 publish detailed reforms and EU agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has responded: “I will take account of this verdict when I finalise the reform proposals”.…
TASMANIAN METALS BOOM
BY MATTHEW BRACE
TASMANIA’S non-ferrous metals industry is enjoying a welcome resurgence with strong production targets for the next five to ten years.
Miners in Australia’s island state are reluctant to call it a “metals rush” but it is the most significant set of resource finds for more than 100 years.…
SINGAPORE/MALAYSIA/INDONESIA
BY MATTHEW BRACE
SINGAPORE’S economy is rejuvenating after the horrors of early 2004 when the threat of terrorism (both internationally and closer to home in South East Asia), and then the SARS virus hit the city state hard, shrinking demand for construction and hence the amount of money to be made by the coatings sector.…
THAILAND DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A THAILAND steel company has escaped from having to pay 58.9% anti-dumping duties on exports to the European Union (EU) of certain iron or steel tube or pipe-fittings. Benkan Co. Ltd, of Prapadaeng-Samutprakarn, has been exempted from the duties since 2000, which were renewed for other Thai producers in 2003.…
TASMANIAN METALS BOOM
BY MATTHEW BRACE
TASMANIA’S non-ferrous metals industry is enjoying a welcome resurgence with strong production targets for the next five to ten years.
Miners in Australia’s island state are reluctant to call it a “metals rush” but it is the most significant set of resource finds for more than 100 years.…
FISCHER BOEL INTERVIEW
BY DAVID HAWORTH
RURAL development will be the CAP’s cornerstone for at least the next decade in its twin ambitions of creating regional growth and supporting farmers who need to modernise, promises the recently arrived European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner, Mrs Mariann Fischer Boel.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has moved to extend its control of fishing in the Baltic Sea, following the accession of four Baltic eastern European states to the EU last year. With Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania becoming member states, the Baltic is largely an EU zone, excluding small stretches of Russian territorial waters – off Kaliningrad and St Petersburg.…
FISCHER BOEL INTERVIEW
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels
SUGAR quotas covering imports from some of the world’s poorest economies are not a feasible option, according to the European Union’s (EU) Commissioner for agriculture, Mrs Mariann Fischer Boel.
She told Confectionary Production at her Brussels office that such quotas would inevitably mean higher prices with consequent damage for the Union’s sugar producers and for the industry, especially where they were set at a lower level than national consumptions.…
TSUNAMI PREFERENCES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced plans to bring forward by three months – to April 1 – its planned introduction of tariff preferences for developing countries for those states affected by the Tsunami disaster. European Union (EU) tariffs cuts will follow for a wide range of food products exported by India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand.…
WTO SUMMIT HONG KONG - INDUSTRIAL GOODS SERVICES LIBERALISATION DOHA DEVELOPMENT ROUND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUTO manufacturing firms will be closely monitoring next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Hong Kong for signs that the WTO’s long-running Doha Development Round talks are about to crack open national automobile markets. Key auto industry countries – the US, the European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India and Brazil – have been making steady progress this year in identifying non-tariff barriers to trade they would like to remove, such as burdensome customs procedures, technical engineering rules and licences.…
BIRD FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A BAN on imports into the European Union (EU) on poultry meat or poultry from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, China, Vietnam, Pakistan and Malaysia has been extended until this September, because of concerns that bird flu is still present in these countries.…
GM RICE CHINA THAILAND BIOTECHNOLOGY FEATURE
BY TAMARA VANTROYEN, in Hong Kong
CHINA looks to be a likely candidate for the first country in the world to approve genetically modified rice, despite the fact that the State Agricultural GM Crop Biosafety Committee, a technical body which evaluates GM rice for research, did not approve the idea at its three-day meeting in Beijing, December 10-12, 2005.…
THAILAND PLANNING
BY MARK ROWE
THE FEDERATION of Thai Industries has called for Thai planning rules to encourage industrial development around airports, notably promoting an “aerotropolis” within 30 kilometres of the country’s new major Suvarnabhumi airport, boosting jewellery, information technology and other light industries.…
THAILAND CENTRE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation conference centre for the Asia-Pacific region has been opened. Its meetings will promote safety in this region’s increasingly busy airspace.…
COUMARIN 1
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that a Euro 3,479 per tonne anti-dumping duty on coumarin imports from China is extended to shipments from India or Thailand to prevent Chinese exporters illegally diverting this additive to avoid the tariff.…
CHINA/JAPAN
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.…
WTO QUOTAS: THE END
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FORMAL decision has been taken by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers to abolish all remaining textile and clothing import quotas for World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries from January 1. It means 210 quotas affecting exporters from Argentina, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand will go.…
UN ORGANISATIONS FEATURE MONEY LAUNDERING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS a truly global criminal problem, it is only right that fighting money laundering is a key priority of the United Nations (UN). Its general assembly and key committees have made declarations and approved conventions on the subject, and its specialist agencies have also devoted time, money, specialist staff and energy to fighting the problem.…
COUNTERFEITED GOODS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has identified eight priority countries as sources of counterfeit goods as the focus of special diplomatic efforts to pressure their governments to deal with the problem. China, Thailand, the Ukraine, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, South Korea and Indonesia will receive encouragement and advice on fighting counterfeiting.…
CITES MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL trade controls have been imposed on some plants and trees with medicinal properties, to guarantee their future abundance for the pharmaceutical industry. A conference of parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Trade (CITES), in Bangkok, staged in Thailand, strengthened rules on trading medicinal plants, including hoodia, used in diet pills; the desert-living cistanche, a natural tonic; and the Chinese yew tree, which boasts cancer-fighting properties.…
SUGAR RULING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU has appealed against a WTO ruling that its sugar exporters are getting more subsidies that they should under global trade rules. However, the ruling, now confirmed by the WTO, could help the European Commission push its reforms of the EU sugar common market organisation onto unwilling member states.…
BIRD FLU CONCERN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating concerns that the first human-to-human transmission of bird flu has occurred in Thailand. It is sending scientists to check whether two recent cases were caused by a “non-sustained, inefficient, dead-end street human-to-human transmission,” or if the virus had mutated sufficiently to spread rapidly amongst humans.…
FISCHER-BOEL HEARING
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) incoming agriculture Commissioner signalled a tough approach to New World wine and spirit producers who exploit traditional European geographic names on wine products after she takes up her post on November 1.…
BIRD FLU - HUMAN TRANSMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) is investigating concerns that the first human-to-human transmission of bird flu has occurred in Thailand, sending scientists to check two recent cases. The WHO’s influenza coordinator Dr Klaus Stöhr said they wanted to establish whether they were caused by a “non-sustained, inefficient, dead-end street human-to-human transmission,” or whether the virus had mutated sufficiently to spread rapidly amongst humans.…
BIRD FLU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POULTRY sector worldwide is being threatened with a major loss of consumer confidence, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) investigating concerns that the first human-to-human transmission of bird flu has occurred in Thailand. It is sending scientists to check whether two recent cases were caused by a “non-sustained, inefficient, dead-end street human-to-human transmission,” or the virus had mutated sufficiently to spread rapidly amongst humans.…
SUGAR THINK PIECE
BY ALAN OSBORN
IT’S not quite “back to the drawing board chaps” for sugar reform in the European Union (EU) now that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has formally ruled against the present system but some new thinking is surely needed – and quickly.…
SUGAR SUBSIDIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Commission arguments backing its proposed reform of the EU sugar regime have been strengthened by an interim decision by the World Trade Organisation that EU subsidies to the sugar sector are illegal. The claim was brought by Brazil, Thailand and Australia.…
ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT could be the most underestimated commercial crime in the world, the illegal trade in wildlife and their products. Some estimates put its value at US$5 billion-a-year, but governments do not really seem to care. Keith Nuthall reports.…
BIRD FLU LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SUSPENSION of chicken product imports into the European Union (EU) of chicken products and birds from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China, South Korea and Vietnam will remain until March 31, 2005. The extension, (from December), of the bird flu ban was confirmed by the EU’s Standing Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health.…
BIRD FLU LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SUSPENSION of chicken product imports into the European Union (EU) of chicken products and birds from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China, South Korea and Vietnam will remain until March 31, 2005. The extension, (from December), of the bird flu ban was confirmed by the EU’s Standing Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health.…
SUGAR RULING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WTO disputes panel has ruled that EU sugar subsidies break global trade rules, although the European Commission is expected to appeal. The case was brought by Brazil, Thailand and Australia and the ruling follows the announcement of reforms to the EU’s sugar market system.…
AVIAN FLU BAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU import bans of poultry products from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China, South Korea and Vietnam have been extended to December 15 by the European Commission over continuing bird flu concerns.…
WTO SUGAR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Commission arguments backing its proposed reform of the European Union (EU) sugar regime have been strengthened by an interim decision by the World Trade Organisation that existing EU subsidies to the sugar sector are illegal. The claim was brought by Brazil, Thailand and Australia.…
BIRD FLU - ASIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for human flu vaccines to be given to all poultry slaughterhouse workers, following the reemergence of bird flu in three Asian countries: Vietnam, China and Thailand. The FAO said research showed the virus was more widespread than previously thought and was unlikely to be “eradicated soon”.…
AVIAN FLU BAN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IMPORT bans into the European Union (EU) of poultry products (and poultry) from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China, South Korea and Vietnam have been extended to December 15 by the European Commission. The existing restrictions were to expire on August 15, but Brussels is still concerned about bird flu in these countries.…
ATC PHASE OUT ATTACK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ATTACK has been made on the United States, European Union (EU), and other textile importing jurisdictions for waiting until the last minute to abolish most restrictive quotas under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Textile and Clothing.…
ASBESTOS CLOSURE
BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA’S largest producer of chrysotile asbestos fibres, LAB Chrysotile, has announced it will indefinitely shut one of its two mines near Thetford Mines, Quebec, this November. The company has blamed the closure of its Black Lake mine, which will result in 450 job losses, on a high Canadian dollar in comparison to the US dollar and tough international competition.…
USA MONEY LAUNDERING REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…
BIRD FLU PANDEMIC
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BIRD flu outbreak that has paralysed global poultry markets could spark a related deadly human influenza pandemic, for which preparations must be laid, a World Health Organisation (WHO) summit has concluded. “We have seen how many countries were preparing for terrorism and bioterrorism and we wish to point out that Mother Nature is the biggest bioterrorism of all,” said participant Dr Angus Nicoll, director of England & Wales’ Public Health Laboratory Service’s communicable disease surveillance centre.…
MYANMAR FEATURE
BY MARK ROWE
WHEN anti-money laundering officials draw up their lists of most notorious nations, Burma – or Myanmar by its official name – is routinely identified as one of the murkiest epicentres of money laundering. Ignore the fact that Burma has only been classified as a non-cooperative country or territory (NCCT) by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) anti-money laundering body for just three years.…
BIRD FLU PANDEMIC
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BIRD flu outbreak that has paralysed global poultry markets could spark a related deadly human influenza pandemic, for which preparations must be laid, a World Health Organisation summit has concluded. “We have seen how many countries were preparing for terrorism and bioterrorism and we wish to point out that Mother Nature is the biggest bioterrorism of all,” said participant Dr Angus Nicoll, director of England & Wales’ Public Health Laboratory Service’s communicable disease surveillance centre.…
BIRD FLU LATEST
BY KEITH NUTHALL AND MARK ROWE
THE SPREAD of the bird flu virus is still not under control, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned, pointing to new outbreaks amongst poultry in Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Laos. The FAO said that more than 80 million chickens have so far been culled, excluding those in China: (Indonesia 15 million; Thailand 30 million; Vietnam 30 million; and Pakistan, 4 million).…
THAI STAINLESS STEEL PRICE RISE
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S Thainox Steel Ltd has received approval from the country’s Commerce Ministry to increase the price of its stainless steel by 28 per cent to Baht 105.94 per kilogramme (GBPounds 1.85). Steel product makers have been lobbying to have government-regulated price ceilings lifted, citing raw material costs that are at 10-year highs.…
THAI FARM COVER
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND is to make it compulsory for poultry owners to buy insurance to cover the spread of several critical diseases on their livestock. The insurance will be required in order for farmers to obtain loans to rebuild or upgrade their chicken farms as a result of the bird flu crisis that has spread across Asia.…
BIRD FLU - THAILAND
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S Prime Minister has suggested the country’s bird flu crisis may mean the end to traditional open-air poultry farms. Thaksin Shinawatra said open-air farms were significantly more susceptible to the spread of bird flu than modern, closed-system farms.…
BIRD FLUE ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL and MARK ROWE
THE STANDING Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health of the European Union (EU) has extended until August 15 the suspension of EU imports of fresh chicken meat and chicken products from Thailand because of the bird flu outbreak.…
THAILAND STEEL
BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI steel industry has called for the country’s domestic ceiling price of finished steel products to be lifted to ease threats of a shortage. Local manufacturers fear that a shortage of locally made steel products is possible because the price of imported steel slab used as raw material has jumped by 75 per cent to US$450 per tonne, from US$250 a year ago.…
PLASTIC BAGS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed the permanent abolition of anti-dumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of sacks and bags made of polyethylene or polypropylene from China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Its move follows a U-turn by the European Association for Textile Polyolefins (EATP), which had in 2002 requested a review into the impending expiry of the duties on behalf of its members (who comprise 32.03 per cent of total EU production).…
BAY OF BENGAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SOUTH Asia regional meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has agreed to set up a Central Reporting Agency (CRA), which would evaluate ground and airborne ADS/CPDLC systems performance in an operational trial for the Bay of Bengal area.…
RING BINDER SCAM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s anti-fraud agency OLAF has revealed a lucrative scam involving the illicit import into Europe of millions of Chinese ring-binders. These were falsely labelled as having been made in Thailand, enabling their manufacturers to evade 78.8 per cent anti-dumping duties imposed on Chinese manufacturers who have been exporting cut-priced ring-binders to Europe, harming local manufacturers.…
COUNTERFEIT ACCESSORIES
BY ALAN OSBORN
A SIGNIFICANT increase in the number of seizures of counterfeit accessories and clothing by European Union (EU) customs officials in 2002 has been reported by the European Commission, which says that the trend has continued, and in some cases accelerated, in the current year.…
INDONESIA SUGAR
BY MARK ROWE
INDONESIAN parliamentarians have called for ban on sugar imports until February to stabilise the tumbling domestic price of the commodity. Sugarcane farmers have complained about low-cost sugar imports from Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.…
INDONESIA SUGAR
BY MARK ROWE
INDONESIAN parliamentarians have called for ban on sugar imports until February to stabilise the tumbling domestic price of the commodity. Sugarcane farmers have complained about low-cost sugar imports from Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.…
FRAUD REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRAUD is centre stage again in European Union (EU) news, following a series of high profile scandals, for instance in Eurostat. Now OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud agency has produced an annual report showing that it is detecting more irregularities.…
THAILAND CHICKEN - WTO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE THAI government has formally requested that a World Trade Organisation disputes panel rules over the whether European Union’s customs coding for Thai frozen boneless salted chicken cuts is legal. They had been classified as salted meat (duty 15.4 per cent), now they are classed as frozen chicken, higher duty of Euro102.4/100 kg.…
EAST ASIA ICAO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) meeting has supported a plan to boost civil airliner access to Afghanistan airspace, offering new choices for long-haul flights from southern and east Asia to Europe. ICAO’s coordination meeting on reduced vertical separation (RVSM) implementation for the Bay of Bengal and India backed an International Air Transport Association (IATA) proposed traffic orientation scheme for commercial flights crossing the Kabul FIR.…
SUGAR PANEL CREATED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…
DRINKS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL in Paris, ALAN OSBORN in London, MARK ROWE in Singapore, ED PETERS and DON GASPER in Hong Kong, RICHARD HURST in Johannesburg, MONICA DOBIE and PHILIP FINE in Montreal, MATTHEW BRACE in Brisbane and ALEX SMAILES in Port of Spain.…
FILAMENT YARN DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved European Commission proposals to abandon moves to extend existing anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester textured filament yarn (PTY) from Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia beyond 2005 and 2006, when the tariffs are due to expire.…
RUSSIA - THAILAND
BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA has called on Thailand to cut import tariffs on non-ferrous and ferrous metals to help boost trade between the two countries. Alexei Kudrin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance said that if tariffs were lowered, Russia would increase imports, particularly of non-ferrous metals, steel and iron, which constitute the lion’s share of Thai imports from Russia.…
THAILAND COUNTERFEITS
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND is planning to amend its copyright act in a crack down on counterfeiters who plague the textile and clothing industry. Under the plan, violators of Thai copyright laws will no longer be able to negotiate out-of-court settlements.…
SUGAR PANEL CREATED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…
PTY DUMPING DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MOVES by the European Commission to extend anti-dumping duties on imports into the European Union (EU) of polyester textured filament yarn (PTY) from Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have been abandoned. This follows a note from (CIRFS) the International Rayon and Synthetic Fibres Committee that it was formally withdrawing a request for expiry reviews of the anti-dumping measures that could have led to their extension.…
THAILAND PRAWN PROTESTS
BY MARK ROWE
THAI farmers of black tiger prawns have launched a series of protests across the country calling for a ban on cheap imports of prawns from neighbouring countries. The farmers are angry that the prawns are simply processed and re-exported, undercutting their own market in the process.…
THAILAND EXPORTS
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S leather goods exports have slipped for the third consecutive year, as manufacturers of international brands of leather goods move away from the country to tap cheaper labour costs in China. Exports are expected to fall below last year’s total value of Baht 70 billion (US$1.6 billion), according to the Thai Leather Goods Association, which said that the SARS virus and the Iraq war had further added pressure to the market.…
EU - WTO SUGAR CASE CLAIM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is opposing the launch of a WTO case by Brazil, Australia and Thailand against EU sugar subsidies, claiming that the a successful challenge would undermine the trade preferences given to Europe’s sugar imports from poorer African, Pacific and Caribbean.…
THAI EXPORTS
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S shoemakers have been told they must create a niche market of intricately designed products or rise losing their global market share to China and Vietnam where costs are lower. The Thai Footwear Association said the country should make a virtue of the fact its shoemakers had greater skills than their Asian counterparts.…
EU - WTO SUGAR CASE CLAIM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is opposing the launch of a WTO case by Brazil, Australia and Thailand against EU sugar subsidies, claiming a successful challenge would undermine trade preferences given to Europe’s sugar imports from poorer African, Pacific and Caribbean.…
THAI POULTRY EXPORTS
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE THAI Broiler Processing Exporters Association has predicted a significant rise in Thailand’s chicken exports, following the recent relaxation of European Union health checks on their products. This follows the tightening of controls locally. Association president Anam Sirimongkolkasem (CORRECT SPELLING) said exports could now reach around 500,000 tonnes this year, up from 464,243 tonnes in 2002.…
SUGAR EXPORTS
BY MARK ROWE
THE FIRST meeting of the world’s five largest sugar exporters has agreed to co-ordinate efforts to boost prices in the commodity’s international market from current record lows. Meeting in Bangkok, representatives of Thailand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Guatemala agreed to speed up co-operation and seek to lift world prices without raising domestic retail prices.…
THAI POULTRY
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THAILAND’S agriculture officials are predicting that their country’s chicken exporters will eat into key Asian and European markets, because of bans imposed on Chinese exports following its recent outbreaks of bird flu. Japan imposed a temporary ban after detecting the virus in Chinese duck products and the Netherlands’ chicken flu outbreak will also boost Thai exports, Bangkok officials say.…
ASIA ROUND UP - HARRY POTTER
BY MARK ROWE
WHEN the first two Harry Potter novels hit Singapore shelves, only 200 copies were sold. Now, the battle for sales resembles that between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Members of staff from the Kinokuniya bookstore, dressed as wizards shouted “Harry Potter books this way!”…
EU - WTO SUGAR CASE CLAIM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is opposing the launch of a WTO case by Brazil, Australia and Thailand against EU sugar subsidies, claiming a successful challenge would undermine trade preferences given to Europe’s sugar imports from poorer African, Pacific and Caribbean.…
THAILAND TAXIS
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND is promoting the use of natural gas-powered taxis to improve its environmental record. Purchasers will be offered cheap loans and technical and logistical support for using clean-burning natural gas.…
THAILAND STEEL DEMAND
BY MARK ROWE
LEADING Thai car and electrical appliance manufacturers have said they are prepared to switch to direct imports of cold-rolled steel amidst a looming shortage and expected subsequent price rise for domestic hot-rolled coils, a raw material for cold-rolled sheets.…
US-VIETNAM DEAL
BY PHILIP FINE
THE US government has signed a bilateral textile pact with Vietnam that gives the south-east Asian country the most generous access to the American market ever granted in an initial two-country agreement, according to a critical American Textile Manufacturers’ Institute (ATMI).…
ANTI-DUMPING DUTIES - PIPES ETC
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has agreed a complicated, but flexible, set of anti-dumping duties to be levied upon certain flat rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel from Bulgaria, South Africa, Serbia & Montenegro and Taiwan; plus certain iron and steel tube and pipe fittings from Thailand, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and Slovakia.…
THAINOX
BY MARK ROWE
Thainox Steel, the largest stainless steel manufacturer in Southeast Asia, expects to boost output this year and increase profits, defying the continuing decline in global stainless steel prices. Output at the company’s plant in Rayong, Thailand, is expected to top 160,000 tonnes, up 10,000 tonnes from last year.…
SUGAR EXPORTS
BY MARK ROWE
THE FIRST meeting of the world’s five largest sugar exporters has agreed to co-ordinate efforts to boost prices in the commodity’s international market from current record lows. Meeting in Bangkok, representatives of Thailand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Guatemala agreed to speed up co-operation and seek to lift world prices without raising domestic retail prices.…
THAI WINE CHALLENGE
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S wine industry, which could charitably be described as embryonic, has been given a significant boost after the country’s government announced it would start issuing quality assurance kite marks for producers.
The move is designed to help the best of Thailand’s wine makers compete in the international market by enabling them to promote their wines using kite marks which can be recognised and understood by international consumers and wholesalers.…
THAILAND - WTO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE THAI government has launched disputes proceedings at the World Trade Organisation over the reclassification of European Union’s customs coding for frozen boneless salted chicken cuts. In the past, they were classified as salted meat (duty rate15.4 per cent), now they are classed as frozen chicken at the higher duty of Euro102.4 per 100 kg.…
THAILAND CONTRACTS
Keith Nuthall
A CONSORTIUM led by Italian-Thai Development plc (ITD) and two Japanese contractors has been awarded the contract to build runways at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi International Airport. Construction is due to be completed by April 2005. In a statement to the stock exchange of Thailand, ITD said that the consortium, IOT Joint Venture, would be signing the contract with the New Bangkok International Airport Co (NBIA).…
MILLENNIUM EDUCATION GOALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS with many projects inspired by the start of the next 997 years and the last three, the framing of the United Nations’ (UN) Millennium Development Goals was an ambitious enterprise.
Imposing statistically measurable targets for international organisations and national governments in making improvements in global poverty, education, gender equality, health, the environment and education, they have proved tough to attain.…
MALAYSIA FEATURE
BY MARK ROWE
IT is only four letters long but for a little word AFTA is having a big impact on the Malaysian tobacco industry. AFTA, the impending free trade block for south-east Asia, is forcing the Malaysian tobacco industry, widely regarded as having the most sophisticated (and expensive) leaf production and manufacturing infrastructure in the region, to radically overhaul the way it goes about its business.…
FOOT AND MOUTH - ASIA
BY MATTHEW BRACE
INDIA, Thailand, Pakistan, New Zealand, Australia and nine other countries in south and south-east Asia are to better control foot-and-mouth disease, by strengthening links between national laboratories. Notably, a new regional reference laboratory in Thailand will be established, sending out affordable test kits to countries that cannot usually afford them.…
TUNA - THAILAND
BY MARK ROWE
DEMAND for fresh tuna from Kingfisher Holdings, one of Thailand’s largest canned tuna exporters is set to increase, with the company predicting its revenues will double to US$400m by 2006, following a US$23m investment programme to build a 4,500-tonne cold-storage plant and a frozen food plant.…
THAILAND BROILER
BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI broiler chicken processing industry is to cut chick production by 15 per cent to respond to falling poultry prices in both the domestic and international markets. The Thai poultry industry has suffered 20 per cent price slumps for 10 consecutive months, with major causes including global oversupply and the discovery by the EU of banned chemicals in Thai exports last year.…
PIPE DUTY REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has abandoned a review of European Union (EU) anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of threaded malleable cast-iron tube or pipe fittings from Brazil, the Czech Republic, Japan, China, South Korea and Thailand, after affected exporters failed to assist Brussels its investigators.…
FISH FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN and MARK ROWE, in London, MONICA DOBIE and PHILIP FINE in Montreal, MATTHEW BRACE in Brisbane, and RICHARD HURST in Johannesburg
Introduction
Europe
Cuts to EU catch quotas
New sources of fish
Affect on fish producers
Wild alternatives to cod
Farmed cod
North America
USA – Healthier local stocks
USA – Demand up
USA – Fish imports
Canada – Farmed fish exports
Canada – GM issues
Australasia
Australia – New wild sources
Australia – Aquaculture
Australia – Wild fish innovation
Australia and New Zealand – sustainability
South Africa – Export increase and conservation
Japan – Local and regional supply
Japan – Maintaining quality
Japan – Non-Asian sources
Introduction
ONCE it was said, cod was so abundant that fishermen in some parts of the world boasted they could walk on the backs of the fish to find their catch.…
MOSLEM CHICKEN BAN
BY MARK ROWE
A MOSLEM consumer group wants Malaysia to ban chicken imports from China, Thailand and the Philippines because of health and religious concerns. The Malaysian Muslim Consumer Association claims that raw chicken from China contained traces of a toxic antibiotic banned by Malaysia’s health ministry and that Chinese slaughtering methods were questionable from a religious point of view.…
THAI SUGAR
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S artificially low domestic retail sugar prices may rise for the first time in four years to cushion the impact of rising production costs, according to the country’s Cane and Sugar Board. The current price is Baht 14.25 (37US cents).…
THAI GEOGRAPHIC INDICATIONS
BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI government has drawn up legislation to protect the traditional names in Thailand’s drinks market of goods such as French Champagne and Scotch whisky. The Geographical Indication Bill was drafted to meet Thailand’s obligations under the World Trade Organisation’s trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement.…
RICE FUNGUS
BY MARK ROWE
RESEARCHERS in Thailand have discovered a fungus parasite on fragrant rice that could be further developed for cosmetic products such as soaps. The fungus can produce a pandanus leaf smell that contributes to the rice’s aromatic quality and the finding could lead to the developments in the cosmetic industry for applications that include face powders, scents and oils, according to scientists at the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Bangkok.…
THAILAND - LEATHER
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A FORMER president of the Thai Leather Goods Association has said that the Thailand leather industry has to improve its designs to more effectively compete globally. Sunanta Wuthisakul said that this would build upon the standard product quality of local manufacturers, which in general “currently met international standards,” notably those of the big brands which use Thai leather.…
THAI ORCHIDS
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A TAIWANESE flower producer seeking permission to grow orchids on 112,000 hectares of land to the north of Bangkok has been told by the Thai government that it will have to find a majority Thailand business partner to proceed.…
THAI SUGAR
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S artificially low domestic retail sugar prices may rise for the first time in four years to cushion the impact of rising production costs, according to the country’s Cane and Sugar Board. The current price is Baht 14.25 (37US cents).…
RICE FUNGUS
BY MARK ROWE
RESEARCHERS in Thailand have discovered a fungus parasite on fragrant rice that could be further developed for cosmetic products such as soaps. The fungus can produce a pandanus leaf smell that contributes to the rice’s aromatic quality and the finding could lead to the developments in the cosmetic industry for applications that include face powders, scents and oils, according to scientists at the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Bangkok.…
THAI LABOUR CASE
BY MARK ROWE
ILLEGAL migrant workers working in slave-like conditions for just US1$ a month in a garmant factory in Thailand have won compensation worth a total of US$53,000. The 30 ethnic Karen women, many aged under 18, worked at the Bang Bon factory from 7am to 9pm without any holiday.…
EU DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain welded tubes and pipes, or iron or non-alloy steel from Czech Republic, Poland, Thailand, Turkey and the Ukraine. The proposal follows the imposition of provisional duties in March.…
ILLEGAL PLANT TRADE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RICHES that can be made from the illegal ivory trade are well known, but what of illicit imports and exports of rare flowers. Shipping protected orchids to Europe, Japan and north America can make criminals a lot of money.…
SOUTH-EAST ASIA
BY MARK ROWE
MONEY launderers looking to process their criminal gains look favourably upon south-east Asia. Authorities in the region are under-funded and overworked, while cash-transactions are a cultural norm, making it easy to ensure that money you would prefer not to be traced can simply disappear, with little likelihood that anyone will have the time to investigate the transaction.…
SPS COMMITTEE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…
THAI CANNERIES
BY MARK ROWE
THAI canneries are looking to invest in re-exporting north American wild salmon as a means of boosting revenue. Companies are planning to promote exports of wild salmon, which have been processed in Thailand in favour of farmed salmon, usually supplied from Norway, Chile and Scotland.…
SUGAR PRICES
BY MARK ROWE and RICHARD HURST
WORLD sugar prices are heading for a three-year low and are projected to fall below six US cents a pound as a result of record harvests in a number of countries, particularly in Brazil, which is accused of “over-production.”…
THAILAND STAR
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank’s International Finance Corporation has agreed to reschedule US$204 million of its loans to Star Petroleum Refining Company Limited, Thailand, which is 64 per cent owned by Chevron-Texaco. The Thai company’s overall debt is US$549 million.…
WHO GONG
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORLD Health Organisation boss Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland has presented international football federation FIFA with her Director General’s Award for opposing tobacco use, following the banning of smoking and cigarette advertising at this year’s World Cup. Previous recipients of the award have included the King of Thailand and the current Foreign Minister of South Africa.…
THAILAND - MALAYSIA
BY MARK ROWE
THE THAI-Malaysian gas pipeline, a joint project between Thailand’s PTT Plc and Malaysia’s Petronas, has been approved by the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The pipeline was originally due to go into operation this year, with the first stage expected to cost US$1 billion but has been plagued by political wrangling.…
ISLAMIC FINANCE
BY MARK ROWE
THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund is to help set up an Islamic Financial Services Board to regulate and lay down standards for financial transactions throughout the Islamic world. A key aim of the project is to incorporate the special insurance tenets that exist in the Islamic business world into the wider capitalist system.…
CAMBODIA
BY MARK ROWE
CAMBODIA’S increasingly stable political environment has led to an unexpected boom for the air industry in south-east Asia, with carriers moving quickly to increase the frequency of their routes to the country.
The main interest focuses on the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, one of the great sights of Asia, with the Cambodian tourism authorities announcing a US$73million plan to redevelop Siem Reap airport near the temple ruins.…
WTO ROUND CONFERENCE
BY MARK ROWE
IT may have taken riots in Seattle and Genoa but the World Trade Organisation has finally come out all compassionate. The theory is simple. Most of the world’s poor are in developing nations. Many of those in greatest poverty are farmers.…
GM CHINA
BY MARK ROWE
THE CHAIRMAN of General Motors China has warned that neighbouring south-east Asia’s home grown car industry will in future find itself squeezed by stiff competition from the emerging giant next door. China’s expanding middle class, robust economic growth and low rates of vehicle ownership means that car makers in south-east Asian countries such as Thailand will be hard pressed to compete in the growing Chinese market, according to Phil Murtaugh, chairman of General Motors China.…
NISSAN - THAILAND
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
Japan’s Nissan Motor Ltd has begun exporting vehicles from plants in Thailand to Indonesia as part of a plan to make the south-east Asian kingdom its main supplier of vehicles in the region. Nissan plans to take advantage of the fact that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is lowering duties on locally made vehicles to increase shipments in the region of passenger cars and pickup trucks from Thailand, and commercial vehicles from Indonesia.…
THAILAND ADD
BY MARK ROWE
Villages from two nearby communities fear the project will cause subsidence, spread salty dust over a wide area and lead to an increase in the salinity levels of the soil, making it harder to grow crops. Local protesters in Udon Thani say salt sediments and saline wastewater from the ore processing plants could damage farmland and water sources.…
THAILAND STORY
BY MARK ROWE
JAPANESE companies Tomen and Toyota Tsusho are to supply four million tons annually of high quality low-sulphur from the Australian company Oakbridge Ltd to fuel a controversial coal-fired power plant in Thailand. The coal has been chosen because it contains significantly less sulphur than domestic coal used in Thailand and should minimise sulphur oxide emissions.…
THAILAND - USA
BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND has threatened to launch a disputes proceeding involving the United States at the World Trade Organisation if Washington goes ahead with plans to grant tariff privileges to footwear exports from South American countries. The US is to waive duties on footwear in ex-change for co-operation in suppressing drugs in the region but the Thais say their footwear industry will suffer heavily.…
THAI SUGAR
BY MARK ROWE
SUGARCANE production in Thailand’s Buri Ram province has been seriously affected by water shortages and disease, planters say. More than 50 per cent of the province’s cane crop has already been wiped out with the loss put at US$40 million.…
ASIA RESIDUES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to order tests on all imports of shrimps from Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, (Burma),and poultry from Thailand to ensure antibiotic residues do not exceed EU health limits, following concerns raised by spot-checks on cargoes from these countries.…
SE ASIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered tests on all imports of shrimps from Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, (Burma), and poultry from Thailand to ensure antibiotic residues do not exceed EU health limits, following concerns raised by spot-checks.…
THAI ETHANOL
BY MARK ROWE
GOVERNMENT authorities in Thailand are to draw up a series of incentives to attract investor support for crop-based ethanol production. The Thai National Energy Policy Office (Nepo) is to examine the details of developing ethanol-blended fuels as an alternative to petrol and diesel oil.…
CARTOON LICENCING
BY MARK ROWE
THE EAST Asian rights holder for cartoon characters such as Garfield is to lower prices for copyright products including books and comics in a groundbreaking attempt to combat rampant counterfeiting and piracy in Thailand. RM Licensing, which is based in Hong Kong, has said that the prices of licensed items will never be more than five per cent higher than the market price of fake products in Bangkok.…
THAI MOONSHINE
BY MARK ROWE
FIVE hundred whisky producers in Thailand have been threatened with arrest after they protested against laws they say discriminate against small-scale liquor producers. The men set up their bootleg equipment in the centre of the town of Buri Ram and sold it publicly, in defiance of police.…
THAILAND - US
BY MARK ROWE
THE UNITED States faces another World Trade Organisation battle over tariffs, this time with Thailand over Washington’s intention to waive clothing duties on exports from South American countries. The Thai government has warned that its industries will suffer heavily if the US waives duties on garments and footwear exported from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.…
RUSSIA CHICKEN
BY MARK ROWE
THE RUSSIAN government has banned imports of American chicken amid concerns about the number of chemicals used in the US poultry market. American suppliers had commanded a 50 per cent share of the Russian chicken market, estimated at two million tonnes a year.…
LEAD PETROL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MORE than 300 environmental experts at a World Health Organisation-supported meeting in Thailand have called for Asian governments to quickly restrict and ban leaded petrol. Researchers from Thailand’s Mahidol University released research on lower lead blood contamination in Bangkok children after the introduction of unleaded petrol.…
THAI CHICKEN
BY MARK ROWE
BETAGRO, one of Thailand’s biggest agribusiness groups, has spent US$ 170 million on expanding chicken production, focusing on chicken sausages and balls for export. This follows a growth in demand in China, due to an outbreak of bird flu, and in Europe, because of the BSE epidemic.…
ASIA CHECKS
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to order tests on all imports of shrimps from Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, (Burma), to ensure antibiotic residues do not exceed EU health limits, following concerns raised by spot-checks on cargoes from these countries.
Results showed unsatisfactory contamination of shrimps from Vietnam and Thailand by Nitrofuran, veterinary drugs banned for food producing fish and animals in the EU on health grounds, including a possible increased cancer risks through long-term consumption.…
THAI DUMPING
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.…
THAI DUMPING
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.…
THAI PETROCHEMICAL
BY MARK ROWE
CREDITORS of Thai Petrochemical Industry have refused a request by Thailand’s largest loan defaulter for an extra year in which to raise US$200 million from asset sales. Two of the company’s creditors vetoed a request for an extension until the end of 2002, said an official at creditor-appointed manager Effective Planners Ltd.…
BMW WOMAN
BY MARK ROWE
BMW has appointed a woman to head its Asian head office in Singapore, a move unprecedented in the history of the country. Birgit Maier is set to take up the position of managing director of BMW Asia in April, replacing the present chief, Felix Herrnberger.…
THAI SKI
BY MARK ROWE
THAI-JAPANESE joint venturers have floated a plan to turn a hillside in northern Thailand into one of the world’s most unlikely ski venues. Leisure Patine International Co Ltd, which has previously developed ice rinks in Thai shopping centres, has suggested that Japanese snow-making machines could be used to establish a ski slope near the town of Chiang Mai, a place better known as a haven for European and Australian backpackers.…
SHAGGY DOG STORY
BY MARK ROWE
THE KING of Thailand has become involved in a landmark trade ruling that could have major implications for Thailand’s huge trade in counterfeit T-shirts. The Thai Intellectual Property department has ruled that the manufacturer of a T-shirt carrying the picture of a stray dog adopted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej has copyright of the image for the rest of their life – and for a further 50 years beyond that.…
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
The following communication, dated 6 December 2001, from the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated pursuant to Article 21.6 of the DSU.
Status Report on the Implementation of the Recommendations and Rulings in the Dispute “Thailand – Anti-Dumping Duties on Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non-Alloy Steel and H-Beams from Poland” (WT/DS122) On 5 April 2001, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) adopted1 the Appellate Body Report and the Panel Report, as modified by the Appellate Body Report, (the Reports) in the dispute Thailand – Anti-Dumping Duties on Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non-Alloy Steel and H-Beams from Poland (WT/DS122), recommending that the DSB request that Thailand bring its anti-dumping measure found in the Reports to be inconsistent with the Agreement on the Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement), into conformity with its obligations under that Agreement.…
THAILAND V POLAND
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-DUMPING duties imposed by Thailand on imports from Poland of angles, shapes and sections of iron or non-alloy steel and H-beams are to be maintained, despite Bangkok losing a World Trade Organisation disputes appeal earlier this year.
It had stated that Thailand should amend its duties, finding their imposition to be “inconsistent” with the rules of the WTO anti-dumping agreement.…
THAI PRAWNS
BY MARK ROWE
SHIPPING live prawns in a hibernated state to Europe is being promoted in Thailand as a means of combating increased export competition from regional neighbours. Thai exporters are being encouraged to explore the possibility of shipping live tiger prawns to Europe by keeping the cargo in hibernation.…
LANKA WALLTILE
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
LANKA Walltile Ltd of Sri Lanka has recorded a gross sales increase of 1.25 per cent in 2000-2001, despite a boom of imports of cheap tiles from India, Thailand and India in the Sri Lankan market.…
BANGKOK
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
A CONSORTIUM led by Thailand’s Italian-Thai Development Plc has won a tender to construct the passenger terminal at the country’s second international airport, Nong Ngu Hao. The group had submitted the lowest bid at 36.67 billion Baht, the Thai government said.…
ANTI-DUMPING - CABLES
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.…
WTO COMPONENTS
Keith Nuthall
A DEAL has been stuck at the World Trade Organisation’s goods council, which will extend the time that eight developing countries can erect trade barriers to restrict the import of components for automobile manufacturing, to promote local engineering companies.…
THAI FLINT LIGHTERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A THAI flint lighter manufacturer is likely to escape having to pay the stiff 51.9 per cent EU anti-dumping duties payable on most exports of the product from Thailand, having proved that its low prices are due to lower costs, rather than unfair trading practices.…
ANTI-DUMPING - STEEL ROPES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that the EU Council of Ministers imposes definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of certain iron or steel ropes and cables from the Czech Republic, (47.1 per cent), Russia, (50.7 per cent), Thailand, (42.8 per cent), and Turkey, (31 per cent).…
TRIPS COUNCIL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUP of developing countries has said that progress towards creating differential pricing arrangements for pharmaceuticals should not undermine the right of their governments to authorise the emergency production of drugs, as well as parallel imports of low cost lines.…
INDONESIA & THAILAND
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has voted to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester textured filament yarn from Thailand and Indonesia. Thai companies will have to pay additional duties of 20.2 per cent, with ministers approving lower duties for two companies, namely Tuntex (Thailand) PLC, (6.7 per cent) and Sunflag (Thailand) Ltd, (4.8 per cent).…
INDONESIA & THAILAND
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has voted to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of polyester textured filament yarn from Thailand and Indonesia. Thai companies will have to pay additional duties of 20.2 per cent, with ministers approving lower duties for two companies, namely Tuntex (Thailand) PLC, (6.7 per cent) and Sunflag (Thailand) Ltd, (4.8 per cent).…