Search Results for: China

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have widened an anti-dumping duty imposed on Chinese exports of zinc oxide, following claims from Eurometaux that cargoes have been illegally re-routed via Vietnam to avoid the tariff.

The EU producer association had alleged that following the imposition of the original duties last year – ranging from 6.9 to 28 per cent on zinc oxide with a purity of not less than 93 per cent – there was “a significant increase in imports from Vietnam, while imports from China decreased substantially during the same time span.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A INVESTIGATION has been launched by the European Commission into an alleged boom in imports of prepared or preserved citrus fruits, following complaints from the government of Spain, especially about sales from China. The inquiry could lead to a temporary safeguard duty being erected by Brussels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DISPUTE proceedings panel has now been established at the World Trade Organisation to rule on the legality of the European Union’s sugar export subsidies. Australia, Brazil and Thailand allege the handouts break world trade laws. Barbados, Canada, China, Colombia, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and the US reserved their right to participate.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
*A south-south project – backed by World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) will raise Burundi’s teledensity ratio above one per cent. It is guaranteeing Mauritius Telecom Ltd’s US$1.01 million investment in Burundi’s Africell GSM mobile network.

*An emerging international market in hosting regional and international headquarters of transnational corporations benefits developing countries, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); 829 HQs were established or relocated January 2002 to March 2003, nearly a quarter in developing countries.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE SOUTH African tobacco sector is surviving despite the unfavourable conditions imposed by its government and an increasingly hostile marketing environment. Nonetheless, the industry contributes Rand 5.5 billion in excise and tax to the government exchequer, equivalent to a quarter of the nation’s health care expenditure.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation, of the World Bank, is lending US$22 million loan to a Chinese pork producer. The Jilin Huazheng Agricultural Development Company Ltd will increase its pig breeding farms, upgrade slaughtering capacity, and build a new processing plant for ready-to-eat packaged meats.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BOARD of Russia’s Gazprom has approved the creation of an offshoot company that will participate in an US$18 billion West-East multinational joint venture helping to build a 4,000 kilometre trunk-line to pump gas across China, from west to east.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DETAILS of the money demanded by four west African countries seeking compensation for subsidies paid to cotton producers in the developed world and China have been released at the World Trade Organisation. Speaking on behalf of its proposal partners Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, the government of Benin has claimed that developing countries lose exports worth US$25 million because of the rich world supports, rising to US$1 billion considering losses incurred by people living indirectly from cotton production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NON-FERROUS metal producers in the existing 15 European Union (EU) countries could see some lowering of labour costs after enlargement of the EU next year as low-paid Polish and other workers move into the higher wage countries like Germany, according to industry sources.…

BY MARK ROWE
THAILAND’S shoemakers have been told they must create a niche market of intricately designed products or rise losing their global market share to China and Vietnam where costs are lower. The Thai Footwear Association said the country should make a virtue of the fact its shoemakers had greater skills than their Asian counterparts.…