Search Results for: China

BY MARK GODFREY

THE BUREAUCRATS and engineers who run China’s booming hydropower sector will be in listening mode in April when the world descends on Beijing for the second International Conference on Hydropower Technology & Equipment. The theme of this year’s government-sponsored gathering – ‘Sustainable China Hydropower Industry’ – reflects worries about the environmental impact of recent massive hydropower projects in China.…

By Eric Lyman, in Poznan, Poland, for ISN Security Watch

 As countries battle to come up with a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions in 2009, attention will almost surely begin to focus on two main players that hold the fate of the international process in their hands: the US and China.

December’s United Nations negotiations on climate change in Poznan, Poland, concluded with relatively little progress. Delegates voted to activate a fund to help poor countries adapt to the changing climate, for example, but they did not approve a mechanism to put cash in the fund.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

THE MIDDLE East and North Africa region (that economists like to award the acronym ‘MENA’) consumes 6% of the global vegetable oil market and sucks in 15% of global imports, with strong growth across the board on the back of rising per capita GDP and a burgeoning population.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

DOG lovers across the European Union (EU) – including Britain – can rest easier thanks to a new EU ban on the import and export of dog fur and products containing dog fur as of January 1, 2009.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IMPORTS into the European Union (EU) of small citrus fruits from China are to become more expensive with EU ministers imposing anti-dumping duties of Euro 531.20 per tonne on prepared or preserved mandarins (including tangerines and satsumas), clementines, wilkings and other similar citrus hybrids.…

BY GEORGE STONE

SOUTHERN Africa has always been rich in natural resources, but its ability to process and manufacture them has not always matched this bounty. Oil refining capacity is a case in point and the governments of South Africa, Angola and Mozambique are trying to push forward.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA, in New Delhi; and KEITH NUTHALL

AN INTERNATIONAL conference took place this month in Hong Kong (May 11-15) and adopted a new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) convention on globally applicable ship recycling regulations for international shipping, including oil and gas tankers.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

JAPAN’S 98th airport, Mt Fuji Shizuoka Airport, is set to open on June 4, 2009: despite the launch being delayed twice. The initial March opening was moved back because the owner of 150 nearby trees refused to chop them down or even shorten them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has authorised definitive anti-dumping duties on imports into the EU from China of two key inputs: monosodium glutamate and citric acid. The decision will significantly raise the price of these imports, which had been so low they sparked complaints from EU manufacturers of these ingredients about unfair competition.…

BY MARK GODFREY

A GAP in service between foreign-invested and domestically owned fuel retailers in China appears to have widened as multinational firms roll out convenience stores on their forecourts. Motorists using stores opened by France’s Total in its joint ventures with China chemical company Sinochem can avail themselves of food refreshments, toiletries and bathroom facilities.…