Search Results for: America

The Cayman Islands is on the cusp of being removed from the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) grey list, where it has languished since January 2021, after it completed 63 reforms required by the global AML body. A final inspection by FATF officials was staged this month (September) (1), with the British overseas territory looking to be removed by the next FATF plenary in October (2023).…

High inflation forces consumers and businesses to change their behaviours – and not always in positive ways: fillers for example, have sometimes been reducing the amount of food in cans, while maintaining the size of the packaging, and their prices. Unsurprisingly, this ‘shrinkflation’ has upset consumers and their representatives, highlighting a potential lack of transparency.…

Bangladesh’s globally important knitwear sector is facing a multifaceted crisis as work orders are falling, political instability and related diplomatic pressure is soaring, while the industry struggles to diversify its output as calls intensify for it to increase workers’ salaries. 

At the heart of the crisis are concerns that the country’s is losing ground in key Western markets.…

High inflation forces consumers and businesses to change their behaviours – and not always in positive ways: fillers for example, have sometimes been reducing the amount of food in cans, while maintaining the size of the packaging, and their prices. Unsurprisingly, this ‘shrinkflation’ has upset consumers and their representatives, highlighting a potential lack of transparency.…

South America often eschews regional economic trends, with countries having sharply diverging fortunes, reflecting their contrasting economic interests and performance, as well as differing political records and policies. The paint and coating sector is not insulated from these trends, and while global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine affect all national markets and producers, in South America, the impacts are often manifested differently across the continent.…

The Canadian automotive import market is becoming an increasingly important to USA-based assemblers, with USD17.2 billion’s worth of American-made cars, SUVs and light trucks sold in Canada in 2022, according to federal government figures issued from Ottawa. That is up from USD14.2 billion in 2021 and higher than pre-Covid-19 sales – USD14.6 billion in 2018 and USD13.8 billion in 2019.…

Ford of Canada workers within the Unifor union have voted narrowly to approve a three-year contract to September 2026, with a 15% pay rise over the term, and the first pension improvements since 2005. Following past negotiating rounds, this pattern setting agreement should be mirrored in Canadian labour deals now to be negotiated by Unifor with GM and Stellantis.…

The North American automotive sector is innovating to overcome a sharp shortage in technicians repairing and maintaining vehicles for dealerships, fleets and repair shops, making training more accessible, targeting women and veterans and – in Canada – recruiting overseas talent.

In the US, the TechForce Foundation, a non-profit guiding auto techs into training and jobs, warned there were 56,214 unfilled positions across America carried over from 2021 to 2022 (1).…

An increasing push for decarbonisation in North America is opening more opportunities for the production and sale of soybean oil, canola oil and other bio-based fats and oils.

Rising demand from the domestic energy sector is increasingly leading the US oilseeds, oils and fats industry to re-valuate the value of their products as feedstock for renewable fuels and biodiesel.…

The Indonesian government is looking to actively support the country’s textile and clothing industry as it faces a downturn in exports, depressed by soft economies in overseas markets facing high inflation and interest rates.

Trade has indeed fallen, said the Indonesia industry ministry, which told Just Style of a decline in both exports and imports in the first half of this year (2023), with clothing and textile exports dropping by 18.7% and imports by 19.8%.…