The mood at the latest JFW International Fashion Fair was a little harder to pin down than at previous events. This was partly due to continuing problems with the world economy. But there was also a feeling that, regardless of the wider economic climate, business must go on and that quality will eventually find a way to succeed. A suitable symbol of this was ...

Shopping for the Lunar New Year 2013 showed the so-called "festival economy" as robust as ever. Food and general gifts were the most popular buys at the Beijing national shopping fair. Fried dough twists, an established business in Tianjin, is considered to be one of that city's three unique delicacies, together with Tianjin stuffed buns and fried cakes. ...

The Tet Nguyen Dan, being the same celebration of spring as the Lunar New Year in China, is equally as significant for Vietnam when it comes to consumer sales. With the tug of ancestral memories, there's great attention to cleaning homes and kitchens followed by preparation of great meals. So items like cleaners, flowers, bonsai apricot and kumquat trees, ...

From the perspective of Hong Kong and Chinese mainland toy manufacturers, the biggest likely impact this year will be the new EU regulations which come into force in July, it emerged at the Toy Fair in London. But with UK toy market sales dropping only a marginal 1% last year, there was some good news for Hong Kong-based electronic toy maker VTech, which took ...

To beat off competition for the Chinese mainland's lucrative tourism trade, Hong Kong is promoting its "fun" side, including Ocean Park Hong Kong and Hong Kong Disneyland. But it's also presenting tourism packages, with the SAR's easy connections to Asia and the rest of the world. Hong Kong's destination as a shopping centre is also leavened by its ...

Many Hong Kong cosmetics dealers have been actively trying to open up the Chinese mainland market over recent years, but they have met with contrasting fates on crossing the boundary. Those only familiar with Hong Kong business lines sometimes have difficulty adjusting to local trade practices, while those adhering to standardised management seem to ...

Malaysian businesses are expected to benefit from the latest phase of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between Hong Kong and the Mainland, with construction, distribution and tourism businesses likely to top the list, according to commentators. The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, MATRADE, said the 22 service ...

At BAU, one of the world's biggest international trade fairs for architecture, materials and systems for the building industry, it's not easy to secure exhibition space. Companies have to apply for a booth years in advance. This was the case for Guangdong Fenglu Aluminium Co Ltd, a large-scale, private enterprise on the Chinese mainland, which produces ...

The IRB460 is not just a convenient arrangement of numbers (nor a pretty face), but turns out to be the fastest robot in the world at storing components for the logistics industry. Similarly, the 460's big brother (the IRB760) can rotate large, heavy products for shipping faster than any other robot of its kind. Such products - in this case from the Swiss ABB ...

Sub-Saharan Africa is reportedly urbanising faster than any other region of the world with 30 cities driving the continent's growth, including Abuja in Nigeria, Luanda in Angola and Kumasi in Ghana. Africa's urban population is growing fast. At 3.9% per year, urban population growth rates in Africa have been and will continue to be the highest in the ...