New Zealand recorded record exports by value in March, driven by shipments of dairy products to China and contributing to a larger-than-expected monthly trade surplur, according to the NZ Herald.
The World Bank this week raised its forecast of China's economic growth in 2011 for the second time in as many months and said it was too early for Beijing to halt policy tightening, not least because of inflationary risks, according to CNBC.com.
New Zealand’s Acting Economic Development Minister David Carter has announced an $850,000 contestable fund to drive further growth of our second-largest export earner, the red meat industry.
Australia's Qantas Airways has announced a hike in fuel surcharges on international routes, for the third month in a row, in response to continuing rises in oil and jet fuel prices, according to the Shipping Gazette.
Southeast Guangxi province plans to increase port capacity by 300 million tonnes to 480 million tonnes by 2015, according to the Shipping Gazette, citing Xinhua news.
Speculative demand has pushed coffee prices up through the $3 a pound barrier, taking them to their highest level for over 30 years, according to BeverageDaily.com.
German company Lanxess has developed a new natural citrus flavour for US soft drinks that it claims targets shelf life as well as taste buds, according to BeverageDaily.com.
Currently only 2% of alcoholic drinks are packed in PET but Euromonitor expects cost and environmental considerations to drive that figure up over the next few years, according to BeverageDaily.com
Public health will lose again as Food Standards Australia New Zealand Authority (FSANZ) is set to approve GE crops designed to survive spraying with a new range of toxic herbicides, according to GE FREE NZ.
A Pakistani import-export company specialising in fruits such as grapes, mangoes, apples and mandarins has entered into an agreement to sell world class Royal Gala apples produced in New Zealand in Pakistan, according to Dawn.com.
