Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BROAD political agreement on the operation of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change has been achieved in Bonn, Germany by 186 participating nations, but without the participation of the US.

Original targets were scaled down to ensure the participation of Japan, Canada and Australia in the deal, who secured concessions on so-called carbon sinks; they can now gain credits to emit more gases through re-vegetation and effective management of forests and farmland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a series of legal proceedings against EU Member States, which it claims have broken oil-related directives.

It has decided to take Italy to the European Court of Justice over its special tax on engine lubrication oils, which Brussels claims contravenes EU excise duty laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN OPTIMISTIC long-term view of oil company prospects is found in the latest World Commodity Survey, from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD).

It has suggested that oil production will surge in the next two decades and also that petroleum companies will take advantage of new technology to establish a commanding presence in renewable energy sectors.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo, Sri Lanka
THE TIMBER industry in Sri Lanka is to be given a boost with the setting up of a Dedicated Economic Centre in Lunawa, in the Colombo capital district of Sri Lanka.

Construction should begin start by the end of August for what is being called a one-stop-shop for the industry, which will include sales points and an exhibition centre, as well as centralised facilities for the seasoning of timber, polishing and stripping.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISMANTLING of the Indonesian price regulator APKINDO and short-termist over-production in the south east Asian country has been blamed by the United Nations as the source of continual instability in world markets for this key timber product. Since the abolition of the organisation, said the new 2000-2001 World Commodity Survey from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTAD), “the plywood market has witnessed extremely volatile prices.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
AN AUTOMATIC tree crusher, called Green Breaker GF, has been developed by Sanyo Kiki Co. Ltd., of Japan. The hydraulic drive device is mounted on a specialist farm tractor unit. Its feed system incorporates fine speed adjustment and allows the selection of optimum chip sizes.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A JAPANESE company, Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd., and the Japanese Forest and Forest Products Research Institute, have jointly established a new technique to recover and reuse roots and branches of felled trees for the greening of newly developed residential regions.…

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.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union’s Council of Ministers has decided to suspend the collection of anti-dumping duties on imports of cotton-type bed linen from India following a determination by the World Trade Organisation that the EU had failed to take all relevant factors into account when it originally imposed the levies in 1997.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a formal state aid investigation into payments from the German government of Euro 7.83 million, which were paid to bankrupt Saxony textile company Erba Lautex GmbH and its successor Neue Erba Lautex GmbH.

Brussels is also taking Germany to the European Court of Justice, alleging that it ignored a previous order, banning the payment of Euro 61.36 million to Erba Lautex.…