Do surging shipments and dropping prices signal dumping? Potential scandal aside, Solyndra’s August bankruptcy filing, close behind the failures of Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt, signals a fast and hard shake-out of the US solar energy industry. A global glut of...
Whisky to Flow Freely
And that’s not all as FTAs come into force July 1 Here’s a new take on the classic UK-centric newspaper headline, “Fog in Channel. Continent Cut off.” The BBC reports that “South Korea lifts Scotch whisky import barriers”. True, as far as it goes: Effective today, a...
Floor Fight
Some US companies are siding with China in this USITC antidumping case The US International Trade Commission (USITC) is nearing preliminary determinations in its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into multilayered wood flooring from China, the Wall...
A Cassava by Any Other Name
Yuca, manioc, tapioca … it’s still one versatile tuber Cassava (manihot esculenta) is getting a lot of attention as a pro-poor biofuel that could be a comer in the international ethanol market. But the tropical plant’s starchy root has myriad uses and figures...
Pro-Poor Biofuel
Side-stepping the food-or-fuel choice by cultivating cassava It seemed like a good idea at the time: Reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and start weaning the gasoline-dependent by phasing in (with a mix of subsidies and mandates) the use of ethanol as motor fuel. The...
Plastic Bag Tug of War
First-ever countervailing duty to be imposed on Vietnam The Department of Commerce has issued final determinations of anti-dumping duties to be imposed on plastic grocery bags made in Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Polyethylene retail carrier bags — or PRCBs — have...