Search Results for: China

KEITH NUTHALL
THE REFORM of the European Union’s (EU) hemp and flax fibre sector in 2000 has led to an end of growing short flax and hemp, purely to gain EU production subsidies that were previously available, a European Commission report has claimed.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE ISSUE of the erection by the US government of restrictive quotas on Chinese knitted fabrics, bras, dressing gowns, and robes has divided the US textile and apparel lobbies. The American Apparel & Footwear Association says instead of appeasing vocal textile manufacturers by reimposing quotas on imported from China, the Bush Administration would be better off fostering trade pacts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, is lending US$12 million to China’s Southern Aluminium Industry Company (SAIC) to partially finance the installation of an aluminium hot rolling mill and improve the operation of SAIC’s existing cold rolling and foil mills.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ALL but one of the commonly used forms of asbestos have been added to a United Nations blacklist, enabling countries to block further imports without being challenged in global tribunals such as the World Trade Organisation. Amosite, actinolite, anthophyllite and tremolite were added to the Rotterdam Convention Prior Informed Consent (PIC) list by an intergovernmental negotiating committee, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.…

KEITH NUTHALL
CHINESE supermarket chain Wumart has secured the support of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in its drive to expand, establishing10 hypermarkets, 32 supermarkets and 152 convenience stores in China over the next two years. The IFC is to invest US$6.5 million in Wumart Stores Inc, supporting its international offering on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed expanding import quotas for Chinese shoe exporters to come into effect when the European Union (EU) is expended in membership next year by 10 new member countries from eastern and southern Europe. For instance, quotas for footwear with outer soles of rubber or plastics would rise from 8.474 million to 18.9 million pairs from May and 14.8 million to 33.5 million for slippers and other indoor footwear; five other footwear tariff lines are affected.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE UNITED States is to slap quota limits on imports of Chinese knitted fabrics, brassieres and dressing gowns, because it claims a surge in imports from China has disrupted its markets and could endanger US textile industry employment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission plans to impose until May safeguard duties of Euro 155/tonne on imports of prepared or preserved mandarins, tangerines, satsumas, clementines, wilkings, containing added sugar, except for 11,389 tonnes from China, 906 tonnes from elsewhere and all exports from 130 developing countries.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
DECLARATIONS of intent on tackling climate change are no longer good enough, delegates to last week’s (Nov4-5) Royal Institute on International Affairs/Carbon Trust conference on delivering climate technology was told by a senior executive from Italy’s environment ministry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations (UN) has framed a new anti-corruption convention and its established convention against organised crime is now coming into force. Keith Nuthall examines what this will mean for businesses, banks and governments.

THE COMMERCIAL world is often doubtful about the value of international conventions fighting crime, but their texts do at least reflect a global consensus amongst concerned governments.…