Search Results for: japan

KEITH NUTHALL
JAPAN has been criticised by the Textile Monitoring Body of the World Trade Organisation for failing to establish new liberalised quotas for imports of Chinese silk yarn and fabric by the start of this financial year. In a paper issued at a recent meeting, the TMB said that it was “particularly concerned” at the omission, and said that in future it expected to be “informed by Japan as soon as possible on the timing of the annual consultations between Japan and China, as well as on the trade levels to be determined for both silk yarn and silk fabric for the Japanese fiscal year 2002.”…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
JAPAN’S Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. has said that it intends to follow up its planned merger of three group refineries by expanding exports of gas oil, fuel oil and other petroleum products by 50 percent in fiscal year of 2003, the Shipping & Trade news has reported.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED States has launched initial WTO disputes proceedings with Japan, which it claims is unfairly restricting the import of American apples. Meanwhile the US has banned the import of Spanish clementines.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FINANCED global action plan to improve safety in the nuclear energy sector has been approved in principle by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of countries have pledged around US$4.6 million to fund its programmes, although this falls far short of the US$12 million price tag claimed by the IAEA, which also wants a fund of US$20 million established to handle security emergencies.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE JAPANESE electronics giant Sharp says it has created an air conditioner that not only cools your office but also rids a room of nitrogen oxide, a substance found in cigarette smoke. A test conducted by Japanese Government scientists found that the air conditioner was able to regulate the balance of positive and negative ions floating in the air and remove virtually all traces of nitrogen oxide the within 12 minutes.…

BY MARK ROWE
A ROW over dealership rights could lead to a permanent parting of the ways for Malaysia’s Oriental Holdings and Honda. Oriental was sole distributor for Honda cars until last July, when Japan’s second biggest carmaker took back those rights to form a local unit, giving it direct involvement in Malaysia’s market.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SOME sensible words were spoken recently by the EU’s agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler on the way forward for farmers. His starting point was the quality of farm produce. Noone is going to say that quality has ever been far from farmers’ minds, but until recently it wasn’t really the first consideration.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DRAFT recommendations on improving the treatment of oil spills have been agreed by the International Maritime Organisation, during the UN agency’s third research and development Forum on High Density Oil Spill Response.

Experts present discussed the particular problems posed by this kind of pollution, including its high viscosity and tendency to sink.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRINTING equipment and supplies imported from the United States are to be a focus of retaliatory tariffs imposed by the European Union following the erection of controversial ‘safeguard’ duties by Washington to protect its steel industry.

The European Commission has announced that it is asking EU ministers to approve a selected range of products, where the levying of duty will cause the most pain to US exporters, in a bid to try and force the Bush administration to lift its tariffs.…

BY MARK ROWE
TOYOTA Motor Corp plans to buy Chinese parts to make cars in its operations in China as a way to cut costs, instead of shipping them in from Japan. Toyota would procure discount door parts and materials including steel sheet from China’s leading steel-maker, Shanghai Baoshan Iron & Steel.…