Topic “Featured News” — Exporter Magazine

The company, which employs 2,400 people in the region has evacuated its 25 expatriate employees on private planes and asked its local employees to stay home. China will permit designated banks to trade yuan/foreign currency swaps on behalf of their clients from March 1, according to a Reuters report quoting the country’s foreign exchange regulator. Pipfruit NZ chief executive Peter Beaven says apple exporters expect to have more than 17 million cartons to sell this year. The Middle East’s organic food market, valued at about USD$227 million a year, is growing at a pace of nearly 20%, mainly driven by the rising affinity of the youth population to embrace healthy and natural lifestyles. Saudi Arabia says it plans to spend 580 billion riyals (NZD$208 billion) in 2011 as it invests in education and infrastructure to spur growth in the top oil exporter, according to GulfNews.com. The strength of the Australian dollar is hurting Australia’s wine sales in the US and popular wines are being replaced by cheaper product from Argentina as well as flavour-of-the-month labels from New Zealand, according to Stuff.co.nz. Launched on November 30 by Nabix, a South Korean developer, the iPhone application “Honey, it’s me!” is warming lonely hearts with the voice of “Mina”, a 20-something virtual woman.