Search Results for: China

THE SINGAPORE government has released an accountancy roadmap, enabling the profession in the city state to grow 5.6% annually to generate Singapore dollars SGD2.03 billion (USD1.48 billion) in nominal value-added income, creating 2,000 new PMET (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) jobs by 2020.…

THE INTERNATIONAL Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) has released an ambitious policy plan designed to steer the industry towards sustainability. Called the Berlin Declaration, having been released at the fourth World Cocoa Conference, of governments, farmers, traders, grinders, processors, manufacturers, researchers, trade unions, civil society organisations, trade unions, consumer organisations, it says higher farm gate prices should be paid.…

A EUROPEAN Commission plan to identify online and physical marketplaces outside the European Union (EU) where counterfeiting piracy or other forms of intellectual property (IP) abuse are common practices has brought hope to the cosmetics sector. Continuously confronted with counterfeit and black-market goods, the legitimate industry sees the EU’s upcoming ‘Counterfeit and Piracy Watch-List’ as a way to minimise financial losses from pirates and smugglers.…

THE MALAYSIAN government has effectively scrapped the country’s Goods & Services Tax (GST) reducing its rate from 6% to 0%, effective June 1. The move follows the election of a new administration under former opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan, defeating the incumbent Barisan Nasional.…

CHINA’S State Council has announced reductions in mainland VAT, with businesses being saved Chinese Yuan Renminbi CNY400 billion (USD62.8 billion) in this year alone, it has said. Rates have been lowered (from May 1, 2018) from 17% to 16% for manufacturing and other industries, and 11% to 10% for transport, construction bills, standard telecommunications service, and direct farm output purchasers by consumers (12% when these goods are bought by manufacturers for onward processing).…

THE VOLUME of counterfeit and contraband textile products, reaching Russia via nearby countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia), last year (2017) amounted to Russian roubles RUB30 billion (USD500 million), according to Russian government officials and textile producers.…

PAKISTAN’S textile industrialists are downbeat over the diminishing prospects of investment by Chinese financiers and manufacturers, holding the government responsible for the apparent stalemate with its continued prohibitive production costs.

Speaking to WTiN.com, Pakistan textile industry insiders believe that sensing the high cost of doing business compared with rival manufacturing countries in south Asia, Chinese investors are losing interest in the Pakistani sector.…

THE CANADIAN fur industry is adapting to changes in consumer demand by looking to new uses of pelts, including fur yarns that can be knitted or weaved, as well as the use of fur for trimming. The resulting product lines are intended for a broader target market, including clothing and accessories that will appeal to a new generation.…

NEW flexible dress code policies introduced across Asia are facing something of a backlash as employers and employees wrestle with matching cultural and corporate identities to assess the appropriate level of work attire.

While heat and humidity, as well as the needs of the growing number of working mothers, do provide some rationale for more flexibility in east and southeast Asian workforces, cultural forces and the fear of missing out on business opportunities seem to be leading some companies to hold on to traditional rules, either real or implicit, for business wear.…

Taiwan’s first national risk assessment (NRA) report on money laundering has identified domestic banks and domestic banks’ offshore banking units (OBUs) as being very vulnerable to dirty money flows. The detailed study has been compiled ahead of an Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) meeting in November in which Taiwan is scheduled to undergo its third round of mutual evaluations.…