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.
FRENCH RUM
Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that EU ministers approve an application from France to extend for another seven years the right to reduce the rate of excise duty applied in mainland France to traditional rum from the French overseas departments of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and Guyane.…
SWEDEN TAX
BY ALAN OSBORN
SWEDEN has been told by the European Commission to end its favourable tax treatment of beer compared to wine or face legal action at the European Court of Justice.
Under the Swedish alcohol tax regime, wine in the 8.5 per cent to 15 per cent abv band bears tax at about four times the rate for beer in the three per cent to five per cent range, even though it has only three times as much alcohol.…
SRI LANKA
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE, in Columbo, Sri Lanka
A BILL banning advertising of alcohol in Sri Lanka has been adopted by country’s cabinet, following debates lasting nearly two years between health and drinks industry campaigners. The bill will now have to be submitted to the country’s parliament.…
MOLSON SHARE PRICE
BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
MOLSON shareholders were given good tidings at an annual shareholders meeting in Montreal, where it was reported that the Canadian beer giant made profits of CAN$133.9 million for the year ended in March, compared to a loss of CAN$44 million last year.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has tried to make up for its failure to strike fishing access deal with Morocco by forging an improved agreement with its north African neighbour Mauritania which Brussels claims its “the most important with a third country” that it has made.…
MAPLE SYRUP
BY MIKE FOX
MAPLE syrup producers in Quebec are still using the banned chemical
paraformaldehyde, a practice which neighbouring Vermont fears could undermine the pure image of the product. The disinfectant helps increase production significantly.
A survey of 50 producers by Health Canada revealed 21 using the chemical.…
SUGAR REFORMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPROMISE deal has been struck in Brussels over a transitional regime for the European Union sugar industry, which will last until July 2006, when a comprehensive review is expected to have taken place.
The European Commission had been pressing to deep cuts in market supports, but these have been resisted by some Member States, who are represented on the EU Council of Ministers, which approved the final agreement.…
INDIA EXPORTS
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE HIGH production cost of sugar within India is a major stumbling block to the export of an existing large surplus, the country’s Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, Shanta Kumar has said at a press conference.…
IRON PILLS
BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKE
THE KEE Pharma company, of India, has unveiled a new palate-friendly iron pill, Poliron, in chocolate and mixed fruits flavours. Iron pills are generally bitter to the taste, but important in India, where 55 per cent of the population, largely women and children, suffer from anaemia.…
US SUGAR DEBATE
BY KATE REW
AMERICAN consumers continue to pay high prices for sugar products despite the fact that prices of sugar beet have hit devastatingly low levels at the farm gate, according to the President of the American Sugarbeet Association, Ray Van Driessche.…