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DESPITE China’s slowing economy in 2012, Chinese consumers still spent handsomely on beauty products. In December alone, for example, spending on cosmetics and personal care products (such as personal soaps, shampoo and toothpastes) increased 16% and 16.6% respectively from the same time a year ago, compared with 8.7% for clothing and 3.6% for jewelry, according to the China Nation Commercial Information Center, a Beijing-based government organisation tracking national retail statistics.…

Pakistan’s shipbreaking industry has started talks with the Pakistani government over how it can comply with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, whose rules come into force in 2015. The chairman of the Pakistan Ship Breakers Association has told Steel First that he has met with officials to discuss measures for implementing the treaty: “We are ready to take steps to protect and promote the ship breaking industry,” declared Deewan Rizwan Farooqui.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

WINNERS

Fast Retailing

Japanese retail giant Fast Retailing underwent major expansion this year, opening the world’s largest Uniqlo store in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza shopping district, boasting 12 floors and a total retail space of 4,959 square metres. In May, Fast Retailing announced plans to set up a subsidiary company in China to oversee its ‘aggressive’ expansion plans in the country, just a month after it said it planned to open 62 stores in China during its current financial year – taking its store count there to 142, by the end of August.…

BY JONATHAN DYSON, IN BANGKOK

THAILAND’S textile and garment industry is aiming to diversify its export markets as it faces a significant drop in demand from its key American and European Union (EU) markets.

Thai garment exports for 2012 are forecast to fall by 10% to USD2.8 billion, while the country’s textile exports for 2012 are expected to dip by 15% to USD3.5 billion, according to figures from the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association (TGMA).…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

Adidas

Sportswear giant Adidas confirmed in July that it would be closing its only company-owned Chinese apparel factory, which employs around 160 people. It also continued to face pressure in 2012 to make USD1.8 million in severance payments to workers at a former Indonesian supplier factory, where its owner fled without paying wages.…

THE KNITWEAR manufacturers of Taiwan are being challenged by headwinds from the global economic downturn, which has undermined their smart high-end export strategy. Last year was not a good one – as indicated by drops in exports of circular-knit fabric and knitted clothing apparel of 2.74% to USD1.265 billion and 10.97% to USD178 million respectively in the first eight months compared to the corresponding period of 2011.…

BY DAVID HAYHURST, IN PARIS

BUILDING on its long-held global reputation for quality natural ingredients, France has now emerged as the second biggest natural and organic cosmetics market in Europe, after Germany. A January 2012 report by international consultants Deloitte – the most comprehensive yet conducted exclusively on the French natural cosmetics industry – calculated an average 2005-2009 growth rate of 25%.…

BY MARK GAO, IN BEIJING

A less than flattering catch-call has lately become attached to China’s Communist Party elite: ‘Luoguan’, literally "naked officials", refers to officials whose spouses and children have migrated to another country, spending Chinese money abroad, some of it dirty, or transferred illicitly.…

BY MARK GAO, IN BEIJING

China is starting to indulge the art of genetically modified (GM) food production, with potential long-term benefits for its oils and fats sector. But it is more likely to boost imports of soybean and palm oil in the short-term to make good shortfalls in supplies of bio-based oils and fats.…

BY POORNA RODRIGO

Bangladesh has scrapped 203 ships so far this year, making it the largest number ever in the history of its thriving ship breaking industry, the Bangladesh Ship Breaker’s Association (BSBA) secretary Nazmul Islam has told Steel First.

In 2010 Bangladesh scrapped only 75 ships, and the number improved to 145 in 2011 before it shot up to 203 in this year so far.…