Search Results for: Indonesia

BY DOMINIQUE PATTON

DEMAND for halal cosmetics worldwide is on the rise, driven not only by more affluent Muslim consumers but also growing interest in high quality, safe products.

Sales of all kinds of halal-certified goods have surged in recent years alongside higher purchasing power in Muslim countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SEA cucumbers – oddly shaped seafood rarely eaten in the west – are under pressure of overfishing because of Asian demand, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is warning. Indeed, the FAO wants consideration of conservation management plans, just like the oft-criticised systems of quotas, breeding season protection and minimum catch sizes used for most finfish.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

IF there was a year when long-term textile and clothing market forecasters missed by a mile, 2008 was it. Forecasts made in 2007 were dominated by looming concerns about trade restrictions, investment in technology, a potential slow-down of production and a consolidation of business investment but no one predicted what devastating effects an unexpected recession would have on the textiles and apparel sector.…

BY WILL ROBERTSON

THE INDONESIAN government is facing legal action over its failure to sign and ratify the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). But the treaty is still unlikely to be formally adopted in this smokers’ haven because of political reasons, tobacco industry observers have told World Tobacco.…

BY MARK ROWE

DESPITE the gathering storm of global economic recession, the Vietnamese paint industry has so far turned in a reasonably strong performance through 2009. Projected growth of 8.1% for the whole of 2009 – made by Vietnam’s General Statistics Office (GSO) back in November 2008, now looks slightly optimistic, but the reality may not be too far from that figure, suggest experts.…

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 MARK ROWE

INDONESIA’S paint industry appears likely to weather the worst of the global economic downturn. Indeed, Indonesia may be one of the few major countries where sales of paint for industrial and domestic use will rise. In January 2009, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono forecast economic growth of 6.2% for the year in a budget that revealed capital spending plans that were 14.3% up on 2008.…

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 Paul Cochrane, in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the unexpected gainers, especially as 75.83% of its national exports come from knitwear (39.21%) and woven goods (36.62%), primarily to the European Union (EU) and US markets. The expectation might be that exports of Bangladeshi ready made garments would slide in accordance with the drop in global stock markets and plummeting retail sales.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

BANGLADESH’S knitwear sector is undergoing unprecedented growth: averaging 24% per year over the past 12 years, and an astonishing 45% in the first three months of this fiscal year, with exports projected to reach US$10 billion by 2011.…