Search Results for: Russia

Despite high production costs and continued geopolitical instability, Italy’s domestic market for paints and coatings performed well in 2022 thanks to government tax credit schemes that boosted the building sector. Indeed, according to national paint trade and industry association Assovernici, Italy’s paints and coatings market posted overall satisfactory performance in 2022.…

The precious metals and stones sector is increasingly under the spotlight regarding ML and TF, particularly gold. Given the fungibility of precious metals, the complexity of their supply chains and the varying levels of oversight worldwide, they continue to be an attractive means to launder money – especially gold, which remains the precious metal of choice for launderers.…

AML is all about the deft use of IT and the marshalling of data culled from financial records, but comprehensive KYC and client monitoring, as well as proactive ML investigations following up a suspicion, are aided by effective online tools that can uncover essential information.…

South Asian clothing manufacturers are facing lean times, with international brands reducing or cancelling orders, but industry association leaders are looking towards a recovery by the end of this year. In major production hub Bangladesh, key purchasers from the USA and Europe have been cutting their order books as continuing high inflation depresses consumer demand and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sharpens nervousness among corporates and investors.…

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine launched last February (2022) has severely damaged Ukraine’s digital textile printing segment, and while it has also harmed the Russian industry, this sector has performed better than expected, despite comprehensive western sanctions.

In Ukraine, where the invasion had killed 8,101 civilians by February 28 (UN data), the country’s light industry, including its digital textile printing sector, continues to suffer from bombardment, logistical bottlenecks and persistent power cuts.…

Money launderers continue to develop layering techniques to insert criminal proceeds into legitimate financial transactions, and these typologies are becoming increasingly varied.

‘Cuckoo smurfing’ is one new technique attracting attention, for instance, said a briefing note from Australian FIU Austrac (1).…

Russia’s bio-based oil sector looks set to benefit from the spoils of war, being poised to become the new global leader in the export of sunflower oil over the current agricultural year, overtaking past export leader Ukraine, which its military has invaded since last February, with 8,317 civilian deaths as of March 20 (2023).…

As the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passes – with 8,173 civilians killed as of March 5 (UN figures), the European Union (EU) has been debating dealing with a boom in Ukrainian food imports. While Ukraine food exporters have struggled to ship output via maritime ports, because of Russian naval action, the EU has strengthened road and rail land connections, plus riverine Danube ports.…

Portugal’s milk production sector has been shrinking, with long-standing vulnerabilities worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has increased feed and energy costs. Even though contraction has been halted in the past six months by rising milk prices, the industry remains fragile and vulnerable to economic headwinds.…

Food security concerns have driven China’s ministry of agriculture and rural affairs to push Chinese soy output in the past two years as growing tension with its main western trading partners – coupled with the inflationary impact of the invasion of Ukraine – has preoccupied officials at the ministry’s complex in the Tuanjiehu neighbourhood of Beijing.…