Search Results for: Brazilian

THE WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) Disputes Settlement Body (DSB) has approved establishing disputes settlement panels ruling sought by the USA on whether retaliatory duties imposed by the European Union (EU), Canada, China, and Mexico on US confectionery and sweet bakery and associated ingredient exports, imposed in response to America’s controversial steel and aluminium tariffs, break WTO rules.…

AN INDUSTRIAL chemical used to make paints, primers, varnishes and coatings should be regarded as carcinogenic and regulated accordingly, a European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) committee has concluded. Its committee for risk assessment (RAC) said that exposure butanone oxime carried this risk as well as causing drowsiness or dizziness if swallowed and being harmful in contact with skin, could cause damage to the upper respiratory tract after a single exposure and damage to the blood system through prolonged or repeated exposure.…

WITH an estimated USD1.5 trillion lost to the global economy because of bribes, the World Bank is pushing for a diverse array of technology to be deployed – it is a call being answered with anti-graft systems being installed worldwide.

Reducing corruption “is a priority” for the World Bank, it said in a briefing note in September 2017.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Mercosur negotiators went into crucial trade talks in Uruguayan capital Montevideo September 10-14, cheered on by automakers on both sides who want a deal, even though there are tough technical issues to resolve. The round is another bid to smash the deadlock over a future trade pact between the EU and the four founding Mercosur nations – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. …

BRAZILIAN state energy giant Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has settled bribery charges with USA and Brazilian law enforcement agencies, agreeing to pay an eye watering USD1.78 billion to resolve outstanding accusations.

However, USD933.4 million of this will be credited by the USA’s Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to Petrobras, taking into account money disgorged under a previous settlement of a securities class action lawsuit in the United States.…

THE CHINESE government has directly targeted the American confectionery and related ingredients sector in its latest tit-for-tat response in the trade wars launched by US President Donald Trump. Beijing has highlighted these goods as products that may become subject to retaliatory tariffs, should the USA impose a threatened third list of duties on Chinese tech, drafted over alleged thefts of American IP.…

THE NONWOVENS sector has always been at the cutting edge of materials production, and so established developed economy manufacturers have often had the edge. But with global markets integrating, and emerging economies becoming increasingly sophisticated, new nonwovens manufacturing bases are growing all the time.…

Cotton industry analysts have said the clothing industry should not overreact to a major hike in Chinese cotton futures contracts, following years of stockpiling the fibre by China buyers, even though they accept market uncertainty has been driving up prices.

Contracts have been purchased covering more than 361,000 bales of US cotton for 2019-20, according to US Department of Agriculture data which “would be enough to make 400 million t-shirts,” the Wall Street Journal suggested in an article on June 10, adding: “China has never booked that much cotton that far in advance at this time of year, in data going back to 1998” and has now become a “major consumer” of US cotton.…

THE LATIN American personal care product market, buffeted in recent years by economic and political instability, looks back on track, with trouble-spots such as Venezuela being very much an exception to overall progress.

Data released by market researcher Euromonitor International has said that the region’s beauty and personal care product sales in 2017 topped USD65 billion in 2017, growing by 42.5% between 2012 and last year.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has released an ambitious policy plan designed to steer the industry towards sustainability. Called the Berlin Declaration, having been released at the fourth World Cocoa Conference, of governments, farmers, traders, grinders, processors, manufacturers, researchers, trade unions, civil society organisations, trade unions, consumer organisations, it says higher farm gate prices should be paid.…