Search Results for: hong Kong

BY MARK GODFREY

AS CHINA’S stimulus-primed economy rebounds, increased local emphasis on environmental and quality specifications is playing into the hands of foreign brands like PPG Industries and Akzo Nobel.

"The whole industry is facing consolidation, changing needs from customers, and stricter environmental requirements," said Mike Horton, head of architectural coatings and automotive refinish coatings for the Asia Pacific region at PPG.…

BY ANDREW SALMON

AFTER passing the fortress-like medieval gate of Namdaemun, visitors enter central Seoul’s traditional shopping quarter: a jumbled maze of stalls and alleyways. A 15-minute walk through the raucous bustle of this 600-year old market, leads to its modern equivalent: The neon-lit, pedestrianised square mile of Myeong Dong.…

BY DINAH GARDNER

BURMA is both a dream and a nightmare for energy companies. First, it is undoubtedly resource rich. According to the BP Statistical Review, the country had 0.49 million cubic metres (17.5 trillion cubic feet) of proven natural gas reserves at the end of 2008, roughly the same as Vietnam.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has warned that the amount of counterfeit medicines being smuggled into the European Union (EU) is increasing sharply. In its latest report on fake products, it warns that when compared to 2007, there were 57% more interventions by EU customs teams to seize counterfeit drugs, and a "remarkable" 118% increase in the number of fake medicines seized – to 8.8 million items.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES, in Paris; LEE ADENDORFF, in Lucca, Italy; KARRYN MILLER, in Tokyo; and LUCY JONES, in Dallas

IT almost seems commonsense to say that an industry providing such a human product as clothing has to take account of cultural sensibilities in target markets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THERE has been an increase in the proportion of counterfeit shoes seized in Europe made in China – up to 93.4% of all seizures in 2008 – the European Commission has revealed. This was up from 79.6% the previous year.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

WHO regulates money laundering at the stock exchange listings of companies around the world? If this is a beguilingly simplistic question, then the answer is anything but.

The reply depends not only upon which country one is referring to but also on which companies list in which market and in which stock exchange sector.…

BY WANG FANGQING

GONE are the days when it was only rich developed country markets which punished cigarette sales with high duties. In the past six months, the biggest (and gloomiest) news for China’s cigarette manufacturers has been the change in consumption tax (an excise tax) – it was raised as high as 56% depending on the tobacco product, along with an additional 5% ad valorem wholesale price-based tax.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

FACED with a global recession caused partly by commercial financial crime, governments have been pushed into taking action against tax evasion in recent months by ending the practice of banking secrecy. Is it the end of the road for tax havens as protected jurisdictions where illicit transactions can hide?…

BY MARK GODFREY

IN terms of suicides by migrant workers, "Hong Kong risks becoming another Gulf," claims their representative in the territory. Comparing reported incidents with accidental deaths and suicides by workers in Gulf Arab countries, Mia Sumiati, a coordinator of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Organisation (IMWO) in Hong Kong, noted an increase in suspicious deaths or proven suicides amongst the 140,000 strong Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.…