South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said here on Thursday that South Africa welcomes investment and skills from China. The deputy president highlighted South Africa as an affordable energy-producing country and a "favorite destination for investment that is energy intensive". She made a key note speech at a China-South Africa business cooperation forum in Cape Town, which were attended by more than 800 Chinese and South African business people. South Africa currently had

India, on Thursday, made it clear that it will insist on a sizeable negative list of items in the Free Trade Agreement with Asean and that there will be no compromise on the number of agricultural and textile items, in which duty free imports would be banned. ?e will not compromise on agriculture, textiles and products of interest to small scale industries. This is non-negotiable,?Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh told PTI in an interaction. Indo-Asean FTA is coming into eff

Clothing workers have hailed an understanding reached between South Africa and China on textile imports as a chance to rebuild the local industry. About 63 000 jobs have been lost in local fashion manufacturing in the past three-and-a-half years, largely because of cheap imports from China, the South African Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu) said on Thursday. Clothing imports from China rose by 480% since 2002, it said. A pending agreement on import limitations would provide a wind

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday assured South African President Thabo Mbeki that China is willing to restrict its textile exports to South Africa. The two governments also concluded a draft agreement on trade between the two countries along with other agreements covering wide range of fields. The Chinese premier said at a press conference in Cape Town that he and President Mbeki had reached "full understanding and accommodation" on the issue. "We both agree that the issues in the t

South Africa and China signed a key pact to cushion the impact of Chinese textile imports here. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China was 'willing to take self-restrictive measures in order to ensure stability' in South Africa's ailing textile market. 'On the issue of the textile trade between South Africa and China, President Thabo Mbeki and I reached a full understanding between ourselves,' Wen told journalists in parliament where the deals were signed. 'We both agree that the issues in

Cotton sector decline since closure of commodity marketing boards in 1996, neccessitated the need to educate farmers to improve quality of Nigerian cotton. Considering this, the Federal Ministry of Commerce organized a workshop on cotton development under a title ?uality improvement for cotton: The role of farmers and ginners?in Gombe. Permanent Secretary, Janet Ogunleye noticed poor pricing of Nigeria? cotton and in some cases total rejection in international market. Ogunleye, however, comme

World Cup has led to many retailers suffering a blow as consumers stay indoors to watch matches as opposed to hitting the high street. However the football tournament also serves as a convenient excuse for retailers needing to explain weak trading figures. One such retailer is Woolworths which has revealed that total group sales from its combined retail and entertainment, wholesale and publishing businesses for the 19 weeks to June 10, 2006 have decreased 0.4 percent and in a further setback

Textile quota restrictions under WTO directives have forced China to explore fresh business avenues, and it is likely to strike one such trade opportunity with Philippines. It is reported that during a business meet, a trade delegation from Philippines negotiated with Chinese textile enterprises about joint venture in Guangdong Province. On the other hand, several Chinese textile enterprises have shown keen interest in setting up joint ventures with Philippines textiles companies. Delegates f

Senegal's textile and clothing industry was suffering, with 57 percent of domestic demand being serviced through fraudulent imports, said the minister of industry and crafts. Bineta Samb B?said that textile industries in the country were losing ground as a result of "the persistence of large scale fraud in imports, the negative impacts of globalisation and competition from foreign products". B?said that the customs worked against domestic production, by inflating the costs of inputs. The mini

Following introduction of quotas to curb explosive Chinese textile exports to the EU last summer, European textile businesses seem to have found other ways to import cheap clothing. The EU quotas on Chinese textiles lead to mountains of Chinese garments pilling up at ports in what became known in the press as the "bra war." But one year later the situation is completely different with as little as just one third of the quotas used up, according to Swedish business paper N24. Import statistics