Search Results for: Germany

BY DAVID HAWORTH and KEITH NUTHALL

THE POWER industry has good reason to pay more attention than usual to the anticipated appointment of a new European Union (EU) energy Commissioner this February 10. Under the newly ratified Treaty of Lisbon, the EU has gained constitutional authority to frame energy policy in general for all 27 member states.…

BY KARRYN MILLER

WHEN Mexico’s economy faced a sharp decline last year, few industries were spared – tobacco included. A downturn in the world economy teamed with a slew of factors made a dent in the country’s tobacco sales. But in spite of this tobacco companies have remained positive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED States is claiming victory in a trade dispute with China, after Beijing announced it would scrap subsidies for products including body lotion, liquid detergent, soap and fancy soap. Washington had argued these China-christened ‘famous brands’ handouts were export subsidies banned by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE TASTE for liquorice is surprisingly well defined in geographical terms in Germany and its neighbouring countries. There seems to be a cut-off point at the Rhine Valley. "They don’t like the taste in the southern part of Germany and if you go south of the Rhine valley you don’t find liquorice products in the shops," said Jens Milt, head of the liquorice division at the leading German liquorice supplier Alfred L Wolff, based in Hamburg.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

PREDICTING oil seed production for a given year is always an imprecise science. If accurate projections could be made year-after-year, bio-based oil and fats specialists would all be commodity market millionaires. And they are not. However, as with betting on racehorses, the more information that is available, the better opportunity there is for getting something right, and with oil seed production – the more analysts know about market conditions, weather forecasts and regulation, the better.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has now approved a Euro 400 million loan to Ford Romania to help it expand and modernise its Craiova assembly plant, tooling it for building a small car model. Ford is already assembling Transit Connect vans at Craiova, and production is expected to increase this year thanks to the expansion.…

BY ANCA GURZU, MARK ROWE, PAUL COCHRANE AND KARRYN MILLER

THE COPENHAGEN conference on global warming may failed to have delivered a comprehensive global warming deal, but it did at least highlight an international consensus on the need to fight climate change and conserve energy: as a result, the global sales of paints and coatings that reflect heat and hence reduce the need for air conditioning are likely to rise.…

By Wang Fangqing, in Shanghai 

China's rapid, aggressive rise as a communist-ruled giant developing country has been a topic in the world in recent years. During US President Barack Obama's first week long trip to Asia in November, he spent three days in China to show its importance as the biggest financial backer of the U.S.

In a speech to Chinese youths in Shanghai, he spoke highly of China’s great achievements, including lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, as “an accomplishment unparalleled in human history.”  And he highlighted the growing important role China plays in the international community. …

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE MOST detailed study into the environmental, energy and social costs generated by auto manufacturers when making cars has dubbed Germany’s Daimler the world’s cleanest and greenest automobile painter regarding volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. The study coordinated by Queen’s University, Belfast, gave major manufacturers comparable sustainability ratings over VOCs, giving Daimler top score (on 2007 data) of plus 5,905.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ERIC LYMAN

THE COPENHAGEN climate change conference ended on December 18 with an accord where key world economies promised to make binding agreements to cut carbon emissions. But detail on exactly how much will be settled at a later date, meaning its long term effects on the oil and gas industry are unclear.…