Search Results for: America

A FREE trade zone system in Egypt, linking its businesses with Israeli suppliers, is being targeted by Chinese companies wanting to access the USA, as the Trump trade war risks exports to America through standard channels. The resulting investment has been welcomed in Egypt, but some clothing and textile industry commentators are warning that large Chinese firms could muscle out local players unless Egyptian businesses are given time to mature.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) food and drinks sector will have to prepare itself to find alternative materials to plastics, after the European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers struck a deal on approving European Commission proposals to ban single-use plastics. Under a new directive – now on track to receive formal approval by this summer (2019) – the EU will ban the use of such materials where alternatives are easily available and affordable.…

EMBATTLED Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has launched appeal proceedings against a mammoth USD4.69 billion judgement as it fights on to salvage its reputation amid increasing claims its Baby Powder causes cancer.

Dubbed by one attorney as the biggest public health scandal after tobacco, the American personal care product giant is currently fending off almost 12,000 other lawsuits.…

EASTERN Europe remains a highly diverse market, where major beauty brands must think strategically to achieve economies of scale and a regional presence that really deliver profits. This is also a region where some markets are significantly bigger than others – with Russia and Poland being key targets.…

GERMANY’S paint and coatings sector seems set in stasis, with 2018 expected to be another year with a slight market downturn. That said, increased interest in sustainability continues to drive the demand for more ecologically friendly products.

Given the sluggishness of overall sales, the German industry has viewed with relief results from 2018’s third quarter, where the national coatings and printing ink sector saw a rise in exports.…

It is hard to avoid either a cosmetics store or an advertisement for one in Chinese cities today. A mind-boggling wave of new retailers set up by investment firms to cash in on the cosmetics and personal care boom are eagerly seeking franchisees around the country.…

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.…

The approval last week by the outgoing ‘lame duck’ Congress of the United States of an USD867 billion 2019 Farm Bill, which allocates subsidies to American farmers, has greeted with relief and enthusiasm by US meat and livestock producers.

With President Donald Trump expected to sign the bill into law this week, the certainty injected into the industry through this five-year spending plan is cheering farmers, including meat producers, who have seen steep declines in prices and revenues as a result of the US trade dispute with China.…

THE DUTCH Caribbean continues to have a weak reputation for fighting money laundering, and to a lesser extent terror financing, with the US 2017 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) highlighting weaknesses in its three autonomous jurisdictions. See https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/268024.pdf

Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are ‘countries’ within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with their own prime ministers, while less populous islands Bonaire, St Eustatius (Statia) and Saba are municipalities, with fewer powers vested in their island councils, and the Dutch government being responsible for enforcing international anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) norms.…

CHINESE exports of knitted fabrics have been hit by major USA duties in the latest round of tit-for-tat tariffs imposed in the countries’ ongoing trade war. China exported USD470 million’s worth of knitted and crocheted fabrics to the USA in 2017, according to international trade data.…