Fatemah Sherif, research analyst for Euromonitor International, reports that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) “air care” market is currently dominated by a growth in consumer appetites for scented candles. According to her, popular scents among UAE nationals and Arab expatriates in the UAE include the Arabian fragrance (Oud), with other nationalities preferring lavender, chocolate, cinnamon, sandalwood and vanilla.

With a share of one-fifth of Spain’s total merchandise exports, the capital goods industry (machinery, electrical and transportation equipment) is the country’s most important export industry. At the same time, Spain is a major importer of machinery components and parts. In 2015, Spain bought goods from abroad for $312 billion, and 10 percent of this amount, $30 billion, went toward machinery purchases.

South Korea’s packaging industry has been growing significantly, and is expected to grow further based on advanced technologies and materials. Compared to the sales of global packaging market, which is forecast to reach $82 billion by 2016 and has a 3 percent growth rate, the South Korean packaging market is growing at double the pace. The size of South Korea’s packaging machine industry reached $742 million in 2013 from $675 million in 2012, which is a 10 percent year-over-year increase. With this growth, a packaging market that used to be regarded as supplier-oriented is transforming into a consumer-oriented market, and a range of delicate new packaging types addressing consumer safety, convenience and environmental concerns have been introduced to the market.

Alternative energy and storage systems are being used to make various portions of Africa’s industrial supply chains more effective and resilient, as well as control energy costs and production disruptions. Predictable power supply is critical for industrial companies to meet their production targets and timelines, and alternative energy removes the risks arising from unstable grids and poor power quality. Alternative energy projects larger than 5 MW are well represented in Africa. However, midsize to large companies are not well served in the alternative energy solutions market, and this is where significant growth is possible.

“Global Challenges, Smart Solutions” is the theme of the Netherlands delegation at Hannover Messe 2016. Dutch technology companies will show their pragmatic, inventive and strong interdisciplinary approach and their international cooperation toward solving challenges in water technology, energy, health care and food production.

The Clean Industry Program was launched in Mexico in 1992; this program is one of the Mexican government’s pillars of enforcement strategy, along with inspections and citizen complaints. Companies volunteering to join the program pay for an environmental audit by an accredited third-party inspector. The audits assess both plants’ compliance with relevant environmental regulations and their adherence to international environmental management best practices not covered by regulations.

Under Costa Rica’s new distributed generation program, homes and companies can generate electricity using solar, hydro, biomass or wind. The pricing model for net metering, which will enable homes and businesses that generate their own electricity to store surplus in the grid, took effect in April 2016.

Ten Chinese ministries including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environment Protection and the Ministry of Commerce recently issued joint guidelines on promoting green consumption, aiming to encourage green consumption, protect the environment and boost sustainable development.

The Chilean National Energy Commission (CNE) has extended the deadline for its regulated market power supply tender from through July 27, 2016. Under the tender, companies can submit bids for a 20-year power purchase agreement to provide 13,750 GWh annually. This amount of energy represents one-third of current regulated consumer consumption and 29 percent of Chile’s supply for the next decade, making the offer the largest power supply provision in Chile’s history.

Canada’s government has pledged to spend $125 billion over the next 10 years in an effort to boost the country’s economy. A portion of this budget includes a two-phase infrastructure spending program that is expected to boost Canada’s GDP by 0.2 percent in 2016 and 0.4 percent in 2017.

Australia is a strategic export market for U.S. exporters of agricultural machinery and equipment, and in 2014-15, the U.S. was Australia’s largest import source for agricultural machinery and parts. At $372 million, imports from the U.S. accounted for nearly half of Australia’s total imports in this category.

India’s finance minister unveiled the national budget for fiscal year 2016-17 last month, calling for total expenditures of $295 billion—$82 billion in planned expenditures and $213 billion in unplanned expenditures. Find key highlights in this post.

Despite the political crisis affecting the Brazilian economy, some segments of the economy have shown growth and investment, including pharmaceuticals, beauty and cosmetics, IT innovation, textiles, agribusiness and renewable energy.

Lately, global demand for natural leather has been growing faster than supply. A key driver is increasing demand in China for natural leather, as a result of the Chinese economy’s growth. In this context, makers of custom-made shoes (“bespoke shoes”) using natural leather are becoming more numerous in Japan. While the number of shoe craftsmen in Europe is decreasing, the number of young people in Japan who take up shoe craftsmanship is increasing.