Search Results for: Pakistan

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

PAKISTAN Steel Mills (PSM) has started stabilising its production after receiving 55,000 metric tonnes of coal from Australia and could make further improvements if it regularly received raw material, a spokesman for the country’s sole mega steel facility said.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

WHILE Pakistan may suffer from political instability, its paint industry has been registering an average 6%-8% annual growth rate over the past decade due to the country’s expanding automotive and construction sectors. That these key customers are doing well is fortunate, given the fact that the country’s GDP growth in 2010-1 was 2.4% and has been forecast to grow at 3.5%-4.5% only in 2011-12.…

BY RAHIMULLAH YUSUFZAI, IN PESHAWAR

PAKISTAN’S struggling clothing and textile industry, which generates 65% of the country’s total national foreign exchange earnings, is anticipating a significant boost to export sales following the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision to approve waiver allowing 75 Pakistani products duty-free access to European Union (EU) markets for two years.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS AND LENA SMIRNOVA

AFTER 18 years of negotiations, Russia has finally gained approval to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), a key diplomatic move that could have profound consequences for the country’s textile market and industry.

A ministerial meeting of the WTO in Geneva anointed Russian accession on December 16, making the country the WTO’s 155th member.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN

THE PAKISTAN-BASED Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) is moving forward with their legal proceedings with a Pakistan province following the denial of a mining lease and application. TCC, a joint venture project between Chilean copper producer, Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold, claims that the provincial government of Baluchistan unlawfully rejected its application to mine the massive Reko Diq project in Chagai Hills of southwest Pakistan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

TUNISIA

Of all the countries disrupted by the Arab Spring revolts in 2011, Tunisia liberated itself in the swiftest and most business-friendly fashion. This key European supplier rid itself of despotic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January14, and one week later, its textile and clothing sector was back at work.…

BY RAGHAVENDRA VERMA

BANGLADESH will not oppose the European Union’s (EU) plans to grant Pakistan GSP+ status, just-style has been told. However, the country’s powerful clothing exporters have called on their government to press for the EU to withhold these privileges for products that are important to Bangladesh’s manufacturing industry, including some clothing lines.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THERE is no end to the number of ambitious companies eyeing a slice of the estimated USD10 billion-a-year demand for nuclear power construction and maintenance in China. And in a country known for its favouritism towards local firms in public procurement contracts, one would assume that mainland Chinese companies would get the maximum share of the spoils.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UNITED Nations has continued to proactively encourage handwashing with soap, staging a Global Handwashing Day in October, with the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF organising events. It said 8 million children in India’s Rajasthan, more than 1 million children in Pakistan,1.7 million children in Afghanistan from 1,700 schools, plus 326,809 Eritrean children in 1,272 schools participated in handwashing events.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS and WANG FANGQING

THE PURCHASE of yarns, fibres and other materials from developing countries for rich country-controlled garment manufacturing has long been a cost-effective business practice; however, many factors – including high shipping costs, and delays in supplies – have caused companies in recent years to look for a supply chain that is closer to home.…