Watch the biofuel meter in your car.
ON 8 July 2007, Live Earth began a 24-hour radio, television, and Internet broadcast in nine cities around the world. Millions of people watched the show. The aim of the show was to persuade the world to go green. The world is going green. Many countries are...

Indonesian consumers less confident.
Indonesia's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) declined 0.2 percent in June 2007 after gaining 1.3 percent in May 2007, according to the Jakarta based Danareksa Research Institute (DRI), an independent research firm. The CCI stands at 81.6 points. Indonesia's CCI counts scores below 100 as reflecting consumer pessimism. Conversely, scores...

Business and Society; Thinking global about the rice crisis.
Byline: Bernardo M. Villegas More than ever, it is important to think global in addressing the ongoing crisis of rapidly increasing prices of basic food items, especially rice. As the inflation rate has risen to more than 6% in the last few months, mostly due...

Export Action Line; The story of the US-imposed excise tax on Philippine coconut oil (Part I).
Byline: Nelly Favis-Villafuerte Every Filipino who is committed to promote our Philippine coconut oil here and abroad should know about the US-imposed excise tax on our exports of coconut oil to the United States from 1946 to 1966. To highlight the battle for survival that our Philippine...

CME selling price rises by P6/liter.
Byline: MYRNA M. VELASCO With rising costs of feedstock, the selling price of coco methyl ester (CME) has gone up this month by P4 to P6 per liter, according to leading biodiesel supplier Chemrez Technologies Inc. Chemrez chief operating officer Dean A. Lao Jr. qualified that the...

9-month exports at $ 37.2 B, up 5%.
Byline: EDU LOPEZ Export earnings in the first nine months of the year rose by 4.9 percent to $37.2 billion from $35.48 billion during the same period last year. The National Statistics Office said that export receipts in September 2007 went up by 4.7 percent...

Coco exports earn $296 M, up 6.6%.
Byline: MELODY M. AGUIBA The countrys coconut oil export managed to post a slight growth to 479,863 metric tons (MT) in the first half of 2005, up by a minuscule 1.83 percent, as coconut output is seen to drag to a mere flat growth toward yearend. ...

DTI sets imports, tariff liberalization; In wake of rising prices.
Byline: BERNIE CAHILES MAGKILAT The Department of Trade and Industry is keen on pursuing two-pronged strategy of importation and tariff liberalization in light of the soaring prices of chicken, pork, cooking oil and flour in the wake of increases in oil prices, and impending hikes in transport...

WB cites RP investment recovery.
Byline: EDU H. LOPEZ The Philippines is among the six Asian countries that had shown signs of recovery in domestic and foreign investments, according to a World Bank (WB) report. The other countries showing signs of recovery are China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. ...

The cost of soap may rise as palm oil prices increase.
* MALAYSIA: A rise in crude palm oil prices could lead to an increase in toilet soap prices, according to industry sources. "The price of crude palm oil has increased. The impact of this raw material price increase has to be evaluated," said a spokesperson for Hindustan...