Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
CHINA WTO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA is to reserve the right to maintain its state tobacco monopoly under the agreements that it has struck to secure World Trade Organisation membership, which has been approved after 15 years of often intense negotiations. Tobacco is one of only a limited number of sectors, where China has insisted on maintaining exclusive state trading controls, other industries include cereals, fuels and minerals.…
CANADA LIGHTS
BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADA’S tobacco industry is risking a political struggle by missing a deadline, set by the federal government, to remove terms such as “light” and “mild” from cigarette packets, claiming that more time is needed to properly inform consumers on a new system that would replace the traditional descriptions.…
GUINNESS NAMIBIA
Keith Nuthall
GUINNESS UDV is perfecting the brewing of Guinness and Kilkenny at Namibian Breweries with an eye to allowing the south west African brewer to offer these brands under licence to the regional markets of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.…
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
Keith Nuthall
DIPLOMATS will try this month to resolve a dispute over the authority of a planned global register of geographical indications for wine and spirits, such as Champagne or Scotch. Meeting at the Council for Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights at the World Trade Organisation on September 19-21, they will debate whether entries on register should merely be informative or whether they should entail legal protection.…
KINGSWOOD MILD
BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
SOUTH African Breweries, (SAB), has reported that it has successfully completed tests of its new mild stout draught called Kingswood premium. Testing was carried out at thirty Johannesburg and Pretoria pubs. Early results indicate that the brand has been well received but no final decision as yet has been undertaken to begin rolling it out across the country.…
MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST
BY KATE REW
HAS a former molecular biologist used his special knowledge to solve the riddle of producing what is, in effect, a quality Tuscan wine, from a Californian vineyard?
Ten years ago, regional winemakers failed to produce a popular local version of Tuscan Sangiovese, partly because they picked the grapes too early, according to Jeff Brinkman, current winemaker at Atlas Peaks vineyard, Napa Valley.…
FRUIT JUICES
Keith Nuthall
MEP’s have voted for legal limits to be applied to the content of certain on additives or pollutants in drinking water used for the dilution of commercial fruit juices. In amendments to a proposed fruit juice directive, the European Parliament voted for tight controls on the presence of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride and electrical conductivity in juice water.…
HEALTH SUPPLEMENTS
BY ALAN OSBORN
LABELS on drinks sold as health supplements – which contain “healthy” vitamins or minerals – will have to carry specific information as to content and usage under an EU directive approved by EU ministers in a “political agreement” today Thursday.…
COTT DEAL
BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
CANADIAN soft drinks giant the Cott Corporation has announced that it will invest US$29.5 million in cash, to form a new business venture with Polar Corp., an independent beverage supplier from Worcester, Massachusetts, in the USA.…
CHINA WTO
BY ALAN OSBORN
DETAILS on the agreement reached by China on the terms of its accession to the World Trade Organisation, thereby opening up the world’s potentially largest consumer market to international drinks manufacturers, distributors and retailers, have been revealed in a briefing paper.…