Search Results for: China

SAEED AKHTAR BALOCH, in Lahore

THE PAKISTANI biscuit and confectionery sector has been faring well, with 12-15% growth last year, but there are storm clouds on the horizons because of skyrocketing prices of sugar and flour. In recent years, these ingredient problems have been overshadowed by massive domestic demand, fed by more than 255 biscuit and wafer manufacturing units (42 mechanised) with an installed capacity of 47,000 metric tonnes for biscuits and 5,200 metric tonnes for wafers.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

A CONSERVATIVE member of the European Parliament has risked a diplomatic row with China over the controversy surrounding the selling of clothes using cat and dog fur in the European Union (EU).
British MEP Struan Stevenson (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) has claimed Mr Wang Wei, vice director-general of the China Wildlife Association “sneered” the EU’s recent tightening of restrictions on the practice.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

BIOFUELS have generated earnest debate ever since German inventor Rudolph Diesel ran the world’s first diesel engine on peanut oil back in 1894, but suddenly there is a biofuels boom that’s moving global markets.
World economies are in a race to find alternatives to fossil fuels and turning crops such as wheat and corn into ethanol or oilseed rape, soya, or palm oil into biodiesel is having an impact on farmers, manufacturer and industrial producers worldwide.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and China are negotiating an agreement on handling their trade in textiles and clothing, once outgoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) restrictions are removed on December 31, 2008, and special protections for EU producers end this December.…

BY MARK ROWE, in Stockholm
Interview with Anna Laestadius, Director Global Brand, Absolut Vodka.

*How would you describe the market for Absolut at the moment?

Absolut grew by seven per cent worldwide in 2006, from what we viewed as an already strong position, to a total volume of 89 million litres (2005, 83 million litres).…

BY KEITH NOYAHR, in Colombo
AIRLINE operators this week reviewed security at Sri Lanka’s Katunayake International Airport (KIA) days ahead of resuming night flights – suspended for two months since air attacks by the Tamil Tigers.

Its air defence has been made fully operational while Indian experts upgraded the radar system recently after the separatist Tigers in March dropped bombs from Czech-built ZLIN Z 143 aircraft on the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base, adjoining the airport.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE BOOM in counterfeit cosmetics and perfumes being smuggled into the European Union (EU) is intensifying, according to the latest figures from the European Commission. It says EU customs officials seized 1.5 million counterfeit personal care products in 2006, up 128% on 2005.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Beirut
WITH demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) surging across the globe, the Persian Gulf is at the epicentre of LNG developments due to its vast gas resources. But the rapid expansion of the sector is not without complications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A BOOM in counterfeit clothing accessories being smuggled into the European Union (EU) has overshadowed a fall in the trade in fake sportswear, according to the latest figures from the European Commission. It says EU customs officials seized 30 million items of clothing and accessory fakes last year, up 175%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved imposing a definitive 29.6% anti-dumping duty on imports of bicycle saddles exported from China. The council also ordered that earlier provisional duties should be collected, and at the (higher in some cases) rate of the definitive duties, because of the “magnitude of the dumping margins found” and the intense “level of the injury caused to the EU industry” by cheap dumped Chinese cycle saddles.…