With $79 billion of yuan deposits as of April 30, Hong Kong is the largest repository for China's currency outside of the mainland, and the only place the yuan is commonly used or traded that is free from Beijing's strict capital controls.
Aggressive pricing by Ultra Large Container Ship (ULCS) operators threatens Asia-Europe rates this year and next, according to freight and logistics news service IFW.
New Zealand beef is proving to be a breakout success in Korea where a star turn on the menu of the country’s largest food exhibition is helping to overturn the local perception that beef fed on grain is superior.
China’s Sinovel Wind Group Co Ltd has produced a 6mW wind turbine prototype, fresh off the production line which can be used in onshore, offshore and inter-tidal wind farms, according a Xinhua News report found on ChinaDaily.com.
China has placed a ban on the production of baby bottles made of polycarbonate or containing Bisphenol A (BPA) from June 1, according to ChinaDaily.com.
More than 200 cases of tainted asparagus juice, produced by Uni-President of Taiwan, have been imported by merchants in China’s Fujian province but the drinks have not been distributed, according to ChinaDaily.com.
New Zealand sheep and beef farm businesses faced a 4.1% increase in input prices for the year ended March 2011. This was a stark contrast to the year before when farm input prices decreased 2.9%, according to Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s (B+LNZ) Economic Service Movements in Sheep and Beef Farm Input Prices 2010-11 report.
The New Zealand dollar rose to its highest level against the greenback since it floated in March 1985 on improving risk sentiment and talk of Asian funds' interest in assets such as government bonds, according to the NZ Herald.
Abu Dhabi's airport is currently one of the fastest growing in the world, and is expected to handle up to 40 million passengers once its USD$6.8 billion expansion plan is complete.
Tetra Pak is working with an institute in the US to explore the potential of turning forestry waste into plastic packaging materials, according to BeverageDaily.com.
The air freight industry, with 216 orders for new widebody freighters at the end of April, will see the bulk of the new capacity coming on line in the next year or two, according to the Shipping Gazette, citing Flight International.
Containership owners have placed orders for a total of 1.6 million TEU of new capacity since June 2010, surpassing deliveries recorded in the same period which hit 1.4 million TEU, according to the Shipping gazette citing Alphaliner data.
United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) tour operators, retailers and hoteliers are focusing their efforts on attracting the fancy of Chinese tourists, according to GulfNews.com.
Power shutdowns reached serious levels in some regions from January to April this year, and some power generation capacity has been shut down because of coal shortages, the report said, citing Tan Rongyao, supervisor of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
China, the world's largest Internet market by users, represents an attractive frontier for Facebook. Zuckerberg visited the country in December and met with the heads of several Chinese Internet companies, including Baidu Inc, Sina Corp and Alibaba Corp.
The innovation award was for an endophyte-inoculated grass which promises to make airfields much safer through deterring birds from feeding on grass and insects at grassed areas at airports. The grass has a fungus which makes birds feel sick when they feed off it, although it does not harm them.
Ulf Sonesson, from the Swedish Institute for Food Production and Biotechnology said smart packages can cut food waste in western economies. Packages that can be enclosed after opening help to prolong shelf life and to reduce waste.
Pastilles, gums, jellies and chews remained the most dynamic category within sugar confectionery last year, analyst Francisco Redruello was quoted saying. This segment grew 8% in retail value sales, due in part to variety in packaging design and flavours.
