Using robotics in meat processing and packaging will lead to greater hygiene, improved consistency of operation and greater productivity, according to MeatProcess.com, citing the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL).
Asian governments’ failure to act has given shipping lines the freedom to collaborate to impose sharply higher rates. The Asian Shippers Council said its members have had to put up with ridiculous surcharges - a peak season surcharge outside the traditional peak season and emergency bunker surcharge even when bunker prices are stable.
China imported 8,017 tonnes of olive oil in 2007, up from 393 tonnes in 2001, according to the General Administration of Customs. Analysts expect imports to soon touch 10,000 tonnes a year.
In August, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co completed its takeover of Swedish carmaker Volvo Car Corporation. And late last month Shanghai-based Bright Food (Group) Co Ltd emerged as the frontrunner to acquire United Biscuits, the UK biscuit maker currently owned by private equity firms.
China would have invested a total of 140.5 billion yuan (NZD$28.15 billion) in its ambitious South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project from 2006 to 2010, according to a China Daily report quoting the country's water diversion authority.
The US House of Representatives last week passed a bill giving the executive branch the power to impose punitive duties on exports to the US of any country whose currency is labelled “fundamentally undervalued.”
Six global freight forwarders have pleaded guilty and have accepted fines of USD$50.27 million (NZD$70.17 million) from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for conspiring to fix air cargo fees between 2002 and 2007, according to the Shipping Gazette.
UK sales of gluten and wheat free products soared 18% to GBP108.3 million (NZD$231 million) in the year to July 11, 2010, according to FoodManufacturer.co.uk, citing data from Kantar Worldpanel.
Research In Motion (RIM) unveiled a tablet computer aimed at its core business customers, as it tries to gain a foothold in a fast-growing market dominated by Apple's iPad, according to a Reuters report carried by GulfNews.com.
A group of companies led by Philips of the Netherlands and Ericsson of Sweden are taking KLM, Martinair and Air France to court seeking damages of more than €400m ($545m) due to allege price-fixing by the airlines, according to a Financial Times report.
The UK market for functional foods on a bone health platform grew 6.8% in the year to March 2010, but at just GBP38 million, it still represents a niche part of the GBP556 million (NZD$82 million) functional foods market, according to DairyReporter.com.
Take up of robotic technology in the food sector is set to steadily increase as processors are forced to seek further efficiency gains and demand could challenge that of the automotive industry within a decade, according to FoodProductionDaily.com
Ocean container carriers pulled around 100,000 20-foot equivalent units of capacity from the Asia to North Europe route during the Chinese vacation week as freight rates decline rapidly on weaker-than-expected cargo demand, according to the Journal of Commerce citing a report by Alphaliner.
Bay of Plenty kiwifruit is arriving in Europe at an increasingly speedier rate thanks to a supply agreement between Zespri and major shipowners and operators Seatrade, according to Bay of Plenty Times.
