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.
MUSLIM-FOCUSED MEDIA INCREASES DIVERSITY AND CROSS-BORDER REACH THROUGH APPS AND BROADCASTING
The international growth of media content focused on Muslim cultural and Islamic religious interests is burgeoning, with companies expanding the reach of their output across national borders, developing an increasingly comprehensive ecosystem of programming delivered by broadcasting and internet-based apps.
The opening of the Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) bureau of the Annahar Al Arabi digital news platform in January (2022) is one example of such cross-border growth, highlighting an appetite for regionally-relevant content in the Gulf region.…
PLANT-BASED MEAT ALTERNATIVES MARKET IN INDIA
India’s 1.3 billion population with an average age of 29, has been witnessing steady growth in meat consumption. According to an OECD report, India consumed six million tonnes of meat in 2020 (4.6kg per person). Nearly half the population now consumes non-vegetarian meals once a week in India.…
SOUTH KOREA’S DYNAMIC PAINT AND COATING MARKET RECOVERS AFTER COVID-19 DECLINE
South Korea’s paint and coatings market is readying itself for a sustained rebound after 2021 saw it recover from declining sales in 2020 prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. UK-based market researcher Euromonitor International’s Paints and Varnishes in South Korea report published in December 2021 showed that the country’s paints and varnishes production value declined by 0.9% year on year in 2020, to USD6.8 billion, but Euromonitor predicts the industry’s turnover will have fully recovered in 2021 to 2019 levels or beyond. …
INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – ILO FORGES KNITWEAR HEALTH AND SAFETY DEAL IN BANGLADESH
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) to cooperate on boosting the occupational health and safety of workers in the country’s knitwear factories. The work will focus on the 50 member factories of the BKMEA in this globally important knitwear hub.…
GERMAN PAINT SECTOR FACES UP TO SLUGGISH YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH
Continuing supply chain problems, worsened by Covid-19, and price hikes for raw materials have depressed the outlook for sales faced by the German paint business in 2021. Germany’s Verband der deutschen Lack- und Druckfarbenindustrie (VdL), the industry association for coatings, paints and ink production, predicts that overall sales will have fallen 4% in 2021 compared to 2020, partly because because 2020’s DIY boom, fuelled by pandemic lockdown orders, has run out of steam.…
EU REGULATORY ROUND UP – EFSA CRACKS DOWN ON BPA
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared it will impose an effective European Union (EU) ban on using bisphenol A (BPA) to make food contact materials coatings. It is consulting on plans to reduce a tolerable daily intake by consumers of BPA to almost zero – 0.04 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day.…
EU ROUND UP – BULGARIA STRIVES TO FIGHT REPUTATION AS HOTBED FOR CORRUPTION
Bulgaria’s new government has promised to fight corruption and challenge the country’s reputation as the European Union’s (EU) worst blackspot for graft. The new Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov defeated former PM Boyko Borissov last November amidst demonstrations against government corruption.…
CHINA TO SHAKE UP VAPING INDUSTRY WITH STRICT RULES
Chinese e-cigarette companies have long enjoyed a close to regulation-free environment, able to sell products freely, but that is about to change. On November 26, China’s highest government body, the State Council, announced that in future “novel types of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, must comply with the tobacco monopoly law”.…
COMPANIES BALANCE STABLE SUPPLY AND COST CONTROL FACING CHINA’S STRICT COVID RESTRICTIONS
The Chinese government’s policy of pursuing zero Covid-19 cases in China has been causing significant supply chain challenges across all the country’s industries and markets. But in the food industry, companies importing ingredients or frozen foods have had to tackle the toughest issues.…
INDUSTRIAL IOT GIVES FIRST STEPS TO BECOME A GAME CHANGER IN LAUNDRY SERVICES
In an age when competitiveness in the textile and garment manufacturing sector is increasingly measured by sustainability and on-demand production, efficiency in laundering finishing processes plays an important role for production companies. The textile sector has significant improvements it can make in sustainability – a 2017 report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said the textiles industry’s share of the carbon budget, which is the amount of CO2 that humanity can emit while still having a chance to contain global warming, will grow from 2 per cent in 2015 to 26 per cent in 2050 if it failed to make environmental reforms [1].…