EXPORTS NEWS ON FASTMOVING

Frankfurt -The German economy, Europe's biggest, got off to an unexpectedly weak start to the year, as it battled freezing winter weather, sagging exports and weak investment, official data showed on Wednesday.  read more

Port Louis - Mauritius' economy will expand by 3.7 percent this year, slightly below potential due to subdued demand from its main markets and modest private investment, and will accelerate to 4.4 percent in 2014, the International Monetary Fund said.  read more

Beijing - Manufacturing activity slowed in China in April as exports were hit by sluggish overseas demand, HSBC said on Tuesday, fuelling concerns about the strength of the world's second-largest economy. read more

Nsoko Msele sugar mill project to rejuvenate Swaziland’s vital export crop A fourth sugar mill announced for Swaziland, the Nsoko Msele integrated sugar milling project, would significantly increase production of refined sugar, the country’s main source of export revenue, the project’s shareholders said this week. read more

Johannesburg - South African corn futures weakened for a second day to the lowest level in more than a month, tracking US prices that fell following reports of bigger-than-expected stockpiles. read more

South Africa, the eighth-biggest wine producer, is seeking to regain a foothold in the US market lost to imports from Australia to Argentina by promoting brands at Walmart Stores and Whole Foods Market, a diplomat said last week.  read more

Cape Town - Major fishing company bosses on Wednesday described a meeting with Fisheries Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson as a watershed moment.  read more

Johannesburg - The South African economy needs a larger manufacturing sector in order to improve employment, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said on Thursday.  read more

Pretoria - South Africa's economic growth quickened to 2.1% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2012 on a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis from 1.2% in Q3, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.  read more

The Lusaka High Court has reserved judgment in a matter in which 15 liquor companies have challenged the Government’s decision to ban them from manufacturing and supplying alcoholic drinks, popularly known as ‘Tujilijili’. read more

Berlin - More evidence of sliding German exports and industry orders on Tuesday compounded concerns that the eurozone crisis may have battered the region's largest economy into contraction at the end of last year. read more

Japan - on Monday confirmed that the world's third-largest economy shrank in the three months to September, stoking fears the country is slipping into a recession. read more

Johannesburg‚ Dec 3 (I-Net) - South African maize futures ended little changed on Monday‚ with traders attributing the sideways movement to good weekend rainfall in the North West and Free State‚ which offset the firmer international grain prices. read more

Chinese manufacturing returned to growth in November for the first time in over a year and the deep downturn in euro zone factories eased slightly, according to business surveys released yesterday. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa's trade deficit widened more than expected to R21.2bn in October from R13.8bn in September as imports of machinery, vehicles and aircraft rose, the South African Revenue Service said on Friday.  read more

Johannesburg - The South African manufacturing sector is in a crisis which requires changes in the country's policies, the Manufacturing Circle said on Wednesday. read more

Beijing - China's manufacturing activity grew in November for the first time in 13 months, HSBC said on Thursday, in a further sign of strength in the world's second-largest economy after a marked slowdown. read more

Johannesburg - Shares of luxury goods retailer Richemont [JSE:CFR] fell as data showed Swiss watch exports dropped for the first time in two-and-a-half years in September, hit by slowing Chinese demand. read more

A South African flour mill has made a rare purchase of about 35,000 tonnes of Russian-origin milling wheat, European traders said on Monday. read more

New Delhi - Indian ministers will meet on Tuesday to discuss measures to deal with a feared drought, including curbs on commodity derivatives, extra subsidies to farmers and the distribution of seeds, but are not expected to ban farm exports. read more

Cape Town - A R1.2m international grant fund on rooibos export competitiveness secured by the South African Rooibos Council is aimed to drive exports of the indigenous herbal tea. read more

South Africa’s foreign trade balance with its non-Southern African Customs Union trading partners is expected to have recorded a R5,7bn deficit in May from a staggering R9,9bn deficit in April, according to an I-Net Bridge survey of leading economists. read more

The volume of merchandise exports contracted by 0,4% in the first quarter of 2012, largely due to relatively weaker global demand and domestic supply constraints, the SA Reserve Bank’s Quarterly Bulletin (QB) showed on Thursday. read more

Brussels - The eurozone narrowly escaped technical recession in the first quarter as exports offset a plunge in investment and inventories to produce a flat reading, data showed on Wednesday, but it was unlikely to escape contraction again in the second quarter.  read more

Beijing - China's manufacturing sector weakened in May, two closely watched indices showed on Friday, providing further confirmation that the world's second largest economy is slowing more than previously thought.  read more

Month records a 14,9% decrease in exports to R52,2bn, with exports of mineral products down 16%, and a 7,2% drop in imports to R62bn read more

New York - Greek winemakers are not pricing their wares in drachmas - yet. read more

Johannesburg - South African consumer goods firm Tiger Brands [JSE:TBS] posted a modest rise in first-half earnings on Tuesday, helped by growth in its exports and international businesses as the domestic market remains subdued. read more

Demand by SA’s traditional trading partners in the north was likely to remain constrained in the near future and the country’s prospects for economic growth would increasingly depend on diversifying and strengthening ties with economies in the south and in Africa, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said last week. read more

Manufacturing output contracted unexpectedly in March, suggesting that the recession in Europe is already taking a toll on exports and signalling growth in the economy may be slowing more sharply than expected.  read more

The arrival of regular rains across most of Ivory Coast's cocoa growing regions last week will strengthen the development of flowers and small pods, brightening the prospects of a delayed mid-crop, farmers and analysts said on Monday. read more

The South African manufacturing industry faces significant headwinds, probably more severe than a number of other manufacturing countries, Stewart Jennings, chairman of the Manufacturing Circle says. read more

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 1,070,000 tonnes by April 22 since the start of the season in October, exporters estimated on Monday, compared with 1,038,928 tonnes in the same period of the previous season. read more

SA’s biggest drug manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare, on Friday welcomed the announcement by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies that the pharmaceuticals sector had been designated as one in which the government would purchase selected products exclusively from domestic manufacturers. read more

Fundamental changes are in play in the world's wheat market and their consequences for South Africa's farmers could be startling. read more

Rain across parched cocoa plantations in West Africa, which supplies 69 percent of the world’s beans, is leading analysts to pare forecasts for shortages, threatening the biggest rally in a year. read more

Ghana's cocoa production this season will rival last year's record 1 million-tonne crop due to improved weather and farming techniques, the West African country's cocoa regulator has told Reuters.  read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) jumped to a two-year high of 57.9 in February from 53.2 in January, sponsors Kagiso Asset Management said on Thursday. read more

Johannesburg - Business conditions in manufacturing improved slightly in the fourth quarter of 2011 but the sector remains under pressure, the Manufacturing Circle said on Wednesday. read more

Kenya, the world's largest exporter of black tea, will resume its weekly tea auction this week after resolving a tax dispute, a senior government official and traders have said.  read more

The Chinese consumer may not qualify for the description “big spender”. But the traditionally thrifty Chinese may spend more than was previously thought on the things that keep households ticking over every day. read more

Johannesburg - The Ports Regulator of SA on Tuesday rejected the National Ports Authority's (NPA's) application for an average 18.06% increase in tariffs for the 2012/2013 tariff year. read more

Johannesburg/Lusaka - A tight grain supply outlook after several bumper harvests is set to fan food price pressures in southern Africa, fuelling salary demands and threatening to knock the region's fragile economies out of kilter. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa is selling 30% more agricultural goods abroad than it imported in 2010, a study revealed on Wednesday.  read more

Cocoa farmgate prices ticked up in Ivory Coast's main growing regions last week as the price of beans at ports rose and farmers said they were starting to see a shortage of beans up-country.  read more

A government-backed plan to export a record corn surplus may leave South African silos drained of the country’s staple food by the end of April.  read more

China's manufacturing activity contracted for a third straight month in January as the world's second largest economy slows, boosting the case for further monetary easing, HSBC said Friday.  read more

Bloomberg Beijing - China would take drastic measures to stabilise its exports and imports as slowing global growth created a “grim situation” for trade, Zhang Xiaoqiang, the vice-chairman at the nation’s top economic planning agency, said on Friday.  read more

Cocoa futures on ICE hovered below an 8-week high on Thursday, as the market consolidated after this week's steep rally fuelled by a slowdown in port arrivals in top producer Ivory Coast. read more

South African maize futures lifted on Thursday, buoyed largely by strong exports and world prices. read more

South Africa's bulk export volumes rose by 6.6% in 2011 to a record 141.493 million tons, Transnet National Ports Authority data shows. read more

As European leaders head into the last summit of the year today, the future of the euro as a currency will come under the scrutiny of both global policy makers and investors, as politicians try to restore confidence in the currency used by 17 nations within the European Union (EU). read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s trade account recorded a wider-than-expected trade shortfall of R9.6bn in October compared with a R2.5bn surplus in September, the South African Revenue Service said on Wednesday. read more

Exports to the European Union (EU) are set to become more expensive when proposals to introduce a shipping tax next year are adopted by the bloc, trade policy analyst Peter Draper said yesterday. read more