Search Results for: Pakistan

THE RECENT industrial accidents that have marred the reputation of Bangladesh’s knitwear outsourcing industry have increased the pressure on the small firms in the sector to merge so they can improve investment in equipment and premises.

Last year’s Tazreen Fashions fire and the factory collapse in April have prompted questions in the global knitwear sector about its “race to the bottom” low cost gambit, unleashing public outrage and calls for improved factory conditions and better safety regulations.   …

AFTER many false starts and delays, Pakistan appears to be finally ready to expand its bagasse and biomass co-generation output by persuading the 83 sugar mills in the country to start production of electricity on commercial basis. The government is planning incentives such as an attractive upfront power purchase tariff and help in capital financing.…

THE EVER-CHANGING sourcing equation is a challenge to the global garment and textile industry supply chain. There is talk of moving production back home to western countries – bringing it closer to market- but its viability is being questioned. Meanwhile in Asia, where the majority of clothes are currently produced worldwide, the sourcing landscape is changing, experts say.…

A REGULATION aimed at ensuring the rollout of broadband networks across the European Union (EU) is achieved more cheaply and swiftly has been proposed by the European Commission. It tries to force member states to ensure new buildings are broadband ready, while telling incumbent telcos to give access to their physical networks to broadband service providers.…

IN recent years Ethiopia’s knitwear industry has experienced a boom. As well as several major companies, including Primark, Tesco, and H&M now sourcing knitwear from Ethiopia, some Asia-based factory owners have moved production to Ethiopia, and various domestically-owned plants are developing.…

The Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has lambasted its government’s new tax regime, saying it will “adversely affect” the country’s textile exporters, who are already reeling from a series of damaging power cuts.  On February 28, the Pakistan government increased a withholding tax on imports of inputs from 1% to 5%.…

GHANA’S Kotoka International Airport (KIA) has been making the news for all the wrong reasons, from accounts of a brawl breaking out between different security services at the airport; to the interception of a shipment of Ghanaian plantain stuffed with cocaine reported by UK officials.…

PAKISTANI cotton spinners have lost the opportunity to sell thousands of tonnes of cotton yarn to China, hindered by severe power shortages, just-style has been told. Mahesh Kumar, President of Pakistan’s Cotton Ginners’ Association said: “For two months in the winter there was hardly any electricity for the industry in the state of Punjab where 75% of our spinning mills are based.”…

SLOW growth in Pakistan’s construction and industrial sectors in 2012 dampened domestic demand for paint and coatings, putting the industry in a difficult position.

Industry sources told the Asia Pacific Coatings Journal that the sector has also been weakened by the discontinuation of the national voucher-based ‘token scheme’ in the decorative paint category.…

THE CHINESE government is drafting a new five-year anti-corruption plan for 2013 to 2017, which is expected to increase supervision of lower-ranking Communist party cadres. To be finalised and published before June, the new plan, said a Politburo statement is likely to “intensify supervision of officials’ adherence to various disciplines…” The statement backed more “limits and supervision of officials’ power and campaigns to promote a clean work style at grassroots levels…”

Other recent international fraud news:

*Global law enforcement representatives and football executives have met for the first time at a conference held to combat match fixing frauds, which generate millions of dollars of illicit gambling revenue for organised crime syndicates.…