Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Categories: Market research, Requirements
The EU market is the largest consumer and importer of timber and timber products in the world. On a country level, however, a different picture exists: global imports are led by the USA; Japan is also a major importer, but its role in the global timber trade is declining; China, on the other hand, becomes an important player in the timber market. The latter mainly imports raw materials and exports finished timber products. In doing so, China takes the lead in the global furniture trade, hereby strongly affecting the market share of traditional low-cost furniture exporters, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
The EU construction sector is the most important market sector for timber and timber products and uses up to 70% of all timber consumed in the EU, followed by the further-processing industry (most notably the furniture industry). The DIY market segment is of less importance, although its market share in sales of timber and timber products is steadily increasing. Read more »
Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Categories: CSR, Kenya, News
On Monday 12 October, the Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn introduced mixed long roses under their AH Pure & Honest brand (AH Puur & Eerlijk). During a short ceremony in Zaandam, Mrs. R.C. Rono, Ambassador of Kenya, presented the first bunch to Mr. Albert Voogd, Director of Commerce of Albert Heijn. During the next two weeks, all Albert Heijn supermarkets will focus on the Pure & Honest theme. This new brand of Albert Heijn makes it easy for customers to choose responsible and sustainable products. Read more »
Date: Monday, October 12, 2009
Categories: Requirements, Young Plant Material
The European Union has laid down specific minimum quality requirements that propagating material traded within the EU has to comply with. Read more »
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Categories: Requirements
The lion’s share of cut flower imported from developing countries into the European Union is free from tariffs or enjoys a preferential tariff. Exporters can check which tariff applies to their products at exporthelp.europa.eu. Go to ‘Import tariffs’, enter the product code corresponding to your product, select your country and click on ‘view’. Read more »
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2009
Categories: Requirements
With a view to reduce impact of packaging on the environment, the EU has laid down legislation that establishes measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste. These measures aim at preventing the production of packaging waste, and in addition at reusing packaging, at recycling and other forms of recovering packaging waste and as such to reduce the final disposal of such waste. Although the Directive does not address producers and exporters from developing countries directly, set maximum concentration levels for heavy metals contained in packaging and labelling requirements do apply to all packaging placed on the EU market. Exporters from developing countries have to make sure to comply with the requirements on heavy metal and labelling in order to enter the EU market. Read more »
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Categories: CSR
The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is a social code of conduct that commits participating companies in the UK to guarantee decent working conditions throughout the supply chain. The ETI was originally developed in response to a need signalled in the food and garment sectors and these sectors continue to be the most important ones. However, the ETI is open to all companies and among the participants, representatives from for instance the cosmetics and stationery sector are also found. Read more »
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Categories: CSR, News
Due to the economic crisis, the number of participants in the Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) certification scheme has grown less than anticipated. Over the last year, the total number of growers participating in the label has only grown by twelve. The aim was sixty. According to the Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, there are currently 159 certified operators.
Date: Monday, July 6, 2009
Categories: Fruit & vegetables, Marketing, Requirements
When it comes to food, the EU considers safety a top priority. The slogan ‘From farm to fork’ describes how the whole supply chain is responsible for guaranteeing food safety. For the first link in the food chain, the growers of food products, this concept mainly translates into quality demands and efforts aimed at keeping contaminants and pesticide residues at acceptable levels. In addition to complying with the legal requirements, many companies have joined independent sustainability initiatives or set up their own, stricter environmental and social standards. All of these requirements and preferences together are usually referred to as ‘buyer requirements’ or ‘market access requirements’. Here’s an overview.
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