The “Strategy paper on Coal Import Substitution” has been prepared as a report of the IMC (Inter-Ministerial Committee). The paper focusses on the present energy mix of the country, domestic coal production, trends and projections, import trends (sector-wise), coal import substitution measures already taken by the Government and most importantly, …
Japan's decision to impose anti-dumping duties of upto 9.9 per cent on cotton yarn imports from Pakistan has enraged Pakistan's cotton-exporting lobby. The decision followed an investigation that revealed that Pakistani cotton was being sold in Japan at between 2.1 per cent and 9.9 per cent below the prices back …
A downturn in rice production has caused a scare in Indonesia. As the country celebFates the 50th anniversary of its independence, a prolonged drought and a marauding pest called the 'brown hopper' are forcing the country to import rice for the third time in 5 years. The major debate now …
Zambia's plans to bring in 1 million tonnes of maize to avoid famine after the 1991-92 southern African drought has come a cropper because the country had no organisation to receive the imported material, according to the Natural Resource Institute which helped manage the imports. Maize shipped from the Americas …
In May, Bangladesh shut its doors on 125 tonnes of milk powder imported from Estonia, alleging high radiation levels in the product. Locked in a wordy duel over the issue are the importer, Danish Condensed Milk (Bangladesh) Ltd and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. Customs sources at the Chittagong Radiation …
To meet its objective of health for all by AD 2000, Bangladesh has decided to open its doors for importing pharmaceutical ingredients, packaging products and finished drugs. Medicines inadequately produced in the country can now be imported without any restrictions. However, curbs will remain on drugs manufactured on a large …
The European Court of Justice has rejected Germany's complaint about the European Community's (ec) banana import rules. Germany, the largest importer of bananas, favours the Latin American variety and its grouse is that the ec regime prefers producers in Europe and its former colonies over Latin America. Until recently, Germany …
LAST week, Australians admitted to their interest in selling hazardous waste to India for recycling. It is telling that hazardous waste has been dumped in India before, often indiscriminately and irresponsibly. This lackadaisical attitude towards toxins was the reason for the signing of the Basel Treaty on the Transfer of …
INDIAN exporters had pinned their hopes on gaining entry into the Japanese rice market in the wake of the compulsory opening up under GATT. But the Japanese Food Agency has recently communicated that they would consider placing India in their shopping list only if its rice were free from harmful …
THE United States has once again lost the battle to use trade measures to determine not only tuna fishing methods but also the impact of tuna fishing on other species. In response to a complaint by the Netherlands and the European Community, the second panel report of the General Agreement …
THERE are several kinds of toxic wastes that are dumped in Asia. According to Greenpeace, among the noxious wastes that have been shipped to Asia since 1990 are aluminium, cadmium, copper, nickel, tin, zinc, other non-ferrous and ferrous metals, ash and residues, computer scrap, plastic, medical and radioactive wastes. The …
YEARS of government protection and a ban on imports had so far insulated Japanese rice farmers from foreign competition. Now, however, they face double trouble -- emergency imports of foreign rice by the Japanese government to tide over a shortfall in production. The imports coincide with a decision to allow …
THE largely deprecatory reports in the Indian media about the proposed import of Dutch dung have missed a key point. The idea seems to sound so outlandish because dung is a lowly thing in the perception of the modern Indian middle class. But if India can import chemical fertilisers, which …
THE WITHDRAWAL of USA -- the largest consumer of coffee -- is unlikely to invalidate the International Coffee Agreement, which aims at stabilising coffee prices for the benefit of both consumers and producers. Sufficient importing members have already agreed to the pact. Though the loss has been acknowledged to be …
The Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board (TNSEB) has been castigated by the Union ministry of coal for trying to import Australian coal to step up power generation. The ministry is worried the high sulphur content of Australian coal may cause acid rain. A disgruntled TNSEB has retaliated by pointing out …
IN A BID to protect its forests from a voracious, microscopic pest called the pinewood nematode, the European Community (EC) has banned imports of untreated softwood lumber from Canada. The ban affects the bulk of Canada's $388.50 million yearly export of untreated lumber to EC states. Now all Canadian lumber …
ISRAELI potato growers have dug in for a fight to the finish against McDonald's of Big Mac hamburger fame, which is due to open its first outlet in Israel outside Tel Aviv in autumn. McDonald's says it wants to import frozen fries because irrigation has made the wholesale prices of …
FOR 11 years now in Bangladesh, transnational pharmaceutical firms have been squeezed out of the market because of a drug policy that has kept down prices of medicines, increased their production and encouraged the local drug industry. But the big firms looking for big bucks may be back if the …
THE FIRST patient of the day at M A Muttalib's clinic in Dhaka is a 6-year-old boy. After asking the boy's mother a few questions, Muttalib prescribes medicine for a parasitic and then comments, "The child goes back into the same unsanitary environment and becomes re-infected. Within six months, he'll …
BANGLADESH'S national drug policy is based on the essential drugs concept propounded by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It says that drugs that satisfy the health needs of the majority of the population should be available at affordable prices at all times in the right dosage. Since 1977, WHO has …
"EMPTY boxes, empty promises", read a sign put up by the Washington Apple Commission, to protest against Japan's "unfair" ban on American apples, at a recent food exhibition in Osaka. The organisation that represents growers producing 60 per cent of the US apple crop said Japan has been rejecting import …
