The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.        China's personal care, cosmetics and toiletries industry   Product innovation in China's personal care sector is buoyant, but safety concerns  and regulations may become a barrier. Find out what's happening in the industry  and where the trends are heading. In collaboration with the PCHi exhibition.     Request free copy.

Consumer & retail

Korea - E-commerce growth soars 24.9% in 2007 Source: Korea Herald, 8 March 2008 The market for e-commerce transactions ballooned in 2007 past W500 trillion (US$527 billion). According to the Korea National Statistical Office, the total e-commerce market totaled W516.5 trillion (US$544 billion) in 2007, up by 24.9% from a year ago. The market grew 15.4% in 2006 and 14.1% in 2005. Business-to-business transactions made up 89.9% of the total volume, with W464.4 trillion (US$489 billion). Business-to-government dealings reached W36.8 trillion (US$39 billion) or 7.1% of the total, while business-to-customer transactions amounted to W10.2 trillion (US$11 billion) or 2% and customer-to-customer dealings were W5.3 trillion (US$5.6 billion) or 1%. Singapore - P&G's perfume oils plant will cater to Asian tastes Source: Business Times Singapore, 6 March 2008 Procter & Gamble's (P&G) has opened a new perfume oils plant in Singapore. The fragrance-making plant, which will help meet the growing demand for perfume oils from P&G's other manufacturing operations in Asia, is P&G's first perfume manufacturing operation in Asia. P&G has three other such facilities, located in New Jersey, the United States, Mexico and Germany. The Singapore plant accounts for 20% of perfumes produced worldwide, supplying more than three million kg of perfume a year. By year's end, the plant will expand its output to five million kg. It makes about 20 types of perfume oils currently and expects to increase this to 100 fragrances by the year-end. Thailand - Air Products expands into Thailand Source: AP-Foodtechnology, 5 March 2008 Air Products has opened a new technology centre in Thailand, as it looks to market its food freezing expertise to Asian manufacturers. The UK firm hopes the new centre will allow food manufacturers to explore a range of food preservations solutions, designed to protect the quality and freshness of foods. Thailand is a good country for food manufacturers to invest in. The US commercial Service (USCS) reported that Thailand's food processing and packaging market was worth US$695 million in 2005, and has experienced annual compound growth rates of 20% every year since. Furthermore, there are no restrictions imposed by Thai government on food processing and packaging equipment, and import duties are only 5%.     View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

Fusion Consulting is a business intelligence consultancy providing clear strategic advice on Asia-Pacific markets. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong and 400 industry consultants in 16 countries, we conduct custom research and consulting to help companies understand their markets, compete more effectively and grow into new areas of opportunity. Email more@fusionc.com or visit www.fusionc.com for more information.