Cafe Networking in Barcelona: Exploring East Asian markets for textile industry

From http://agenda.acc10.cat/agenda/default.php?id=6317 (in Catalan)

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Cafè Networking (image from L'Anella website)"][/caption]

On Tuesday July 5th, 2011, ACC1Ó-Competitiveness for Catalonia is organizing a 2-hour meeting in Barcelona in order to facilitate productive networking between businessmen and entrepreneurs in the textile and fashion industries that are either interested in internationalizing their products and/or services, or that are already established and doing business in China and India. The goals of this session are: i) to detect opportunities for collaboration, i.e., for joint export;  ii) to exchange information and experiences about the strategies to enter these markets; iii) to identify synergies with competitors for project cooperation; iv) to meet potential partners, suppliers and clients; and v) to discover business opportunities in these sectors and markets.

The session will start with the presentation of a list of good business practices by a representative of the Catalan textile company Punto Blanco, by David Garcia, head of the Platform for Production and Sale promoted by ACC1Ó in Hong Kong, and an expert on East Asian markets from ACC1Ó. Right after these presentations, there will be the speed meeting session, which consists of 5-minute meetings between professionals, to finish with an open networking session during the coffee break.

6th edition of the Spain China Forum in Barcelona

From http://chinaclubspain.blogspot.com/2011/06/vi-edicion-de-foro-espana-china.html (in Spanish)

On July 5th and 6th, 2011, the Barcelona World Trade Center will host the 6th edition of the Spain China Forum. It will have three Plenary Sessions that will be aimed at promoting economic relationships between the two countries. The Forum will be presided by the two co-Presidents: Mr. Pedro Solbes (Spain) and Mrs. Uyunqing (China).

Casa Asia Film Week starts in Barcelona

From http://www.casaasiafilmweek.es/ (in Spanish)

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Reign of Assassins (courtesy of Casa Asia Film Week)"][/caption]

Between June 6 and 12th, 2011, the Casa Asia Film Week (CAFW) will take place in Barcelona, as a new festival devoted to the highlight the best cinematographic activity in Asia. Casa Asia Film Week replaces the previous Barcelona Asian Film Festival (BAFF) that disappeared in 2010. The 30 films will be displayed at the Cinemes Girona and they will cover different subjects, from science-fiction to martial arts or Bollywood. Two renowned chinese female directors, Ann Hui and Hu Mei, will have their movies on display and will also visit the festival. The best film in the Official Section will receive the Honorific Award of the Casa Asia Film Week. The complete official dossier of the festival, with detailed information about it and about the movies on display can be downloaded as a pdf file from Casa Asia website. You can also watch the Official Trailer Casa Asia Film Week 2011.

6,000 Chinese travel agents will learn about tourism in Catalonia

From http://comunicatur.info/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1665&Itemid=1 (in Catalan)

The Guangzhou University and the Catalan Toursim Agency (ACT, Agència Catalana de Turisme) have prepared an online course aimed at teaching Chinese travel agents about Catalonia and its touristic resources. This course will be followed by 6,000 professional travel agents of Hong Kong and of the Guangdong province in July and October 2011 and it will consist of 21 units prepared by both Catalan and Chinese professors at the Guangzhou University. According to the Catalan government, this is a pioneer initiative in the Chinese market and if it turns to be successful it could be later applied to other Chinese provinces or to other Asian countries. China has become one of the most important touristic sources in the world and in Catalonia alone it has grown by a 40% in the last 5 years. The city of Barcelona was the main destination of the 65,000 Chinese tourists that came to Catalonia in 2010.

Construmat China will open on July 11, 2012

From http://www.globalasia.com/destacados-portada/construmat-sera-exportado-a-china-en-2012 (in Spanish)

As already explained on the post Construmat trade show exported to China in 2012 here at Sinalunya, Fira Barcelona together with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) have agreed to organize Construmat China in Beijing between July 11th and 13th, 2012. This construction trade show will be held at the Beijing Convention Center, which offers to exhibitors an area of 24,000 squared meters. At least 200 exhibitors are expected to take place in this event.

Slight decrease of unemployment in Catalonia in April

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/05/04/catalunya/1304506796.html (in Spanish)

Unemployment rate in Catalonia decreased by 1.59% in April as compared with the previous month due to the fact that 9.728 people found a job in this period. The main decrease happened in the Girona province (5.24%), followed by Tarragona (3.51%), Lleida (1.15%) and Barcelona (0.86%). Total number of unemployed people in Catalonia is 601.541, of which 54.064 are below 25 years old.

Singapore Airlines refuses to become a Spanair stockholder

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/05/04/catalunya/1304492852.html (in Spanish)

Swee Wah Mak, Executive Vice President of Commercial at Singapore Airlines Ltd., has denied that rumours that were indicating that Singapore Arlines might become a stockholder of the Star Alliance member, Spanair. Singapore Arlines will remain as a commercial partner of Spanair and values the opportunity that Barcelona airport of El Prat offers as an alternative hub to the Madrid Barajas airport for flights to South America. Sales of Singapore Arlines in 2010 totalled 7.2 billion euros and the net profit reached 122 million euros.

China, main import and export destination for traffic through Barcelona port

From http://www.catalannewsagency.com/news/business/container-traffic-passing-through-barcelona-port-increases-23-between-january-and-marc (in English)

Despite the increase in traffic to some destinations such as North Africa or Turkey, China has remained as the main import and export destination of traffic through Barcelona port. According to the Barcelona Port Authority, between January and March 2011 overall container traffic has experienced a 23% increase during this period, totalling 538,700 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units).

Barcelona design company Lagranja opens office in Hong Kong

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/04/07/catalunya/1302160530.html (in Spanish)

Seeking for new challenges that would keep their creativity at a high level, the Barcelona-based design company Lagranja has recently opened an office in Hong-Kong. Founding partners Gabriele Schiavon and Gerard Sanmartí have chosen the former British colony as a new market for the company, after a failed experience in Brazil. In Hong-Kong, Lagranja will soon start to do the interior design of ten suites for the Madera Hotel, commissioned by the Hip Shing Hong Group. Company's sales rose from 230,000 euros in 2009 to near 500,000 euros in 2010, with customers such as Médicos sin Fronteras, Pans & Company and Banc de Sabadell, among others.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="412" caption="Lagranja new offices at Poble Nou, Barcelona (image from http://www.lagranjadesign.com)"][/caption]

Barcelona nominated fifth best european city for business

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/03/24/catalunya/1301003157.html (in Spanish)

The city of Barcelona is doing efforts to counteract the economic crisis and is improving the scores on business opportunities, on foreign investment projects and on export perspectives. According to a study released by the Observatori de Barcelona, where 28 indicators related to six different areas (business, knowledge, tourism, sustainability and quality of life, prices and costs, and work market and formation) were analyzed, Barcelona is currently the fifth best european city for business, right after London, Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels. The results of this study were presented by the first deputy mayor of the city of Barcelona, Jordi William Carnes, and by the president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Valls. Other results from the same study placed Barcelona in high positions in other rankings, such as #6 in foreign investment projects, #4 in export perspectives, #2 in organization of international meetings (data from 2009), #18 in scientific production, #10 in number of airport passengers and #49 in cost of life.

Barcelona port may steal chinese traffic to northern european ports

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/03/21/catalunya/1300747457.html (in Spanish)

A recent study has concluded that Spanish mediterranean ports, mainly Algeciras, Barcelona and Valencia, may steal up to 15% of traffic to northern european ports like Antwerp and Rotterdam in a timespan of 10 to 15 years. The authors Jacint Soler and Lijing Ye presented the study in the Barcelona offices of Casa Asia and stated that joint promotion efforts and new railroad lines are needed, but that factors such as the increase in the oil prices and the greater depth of Spanish ports as compared to Italian ones may be instrumental for this mid-term shift of tendency. The complete report can be downloaded from the website of Casa Asia at http://www.casaasia.cat/media/asset_publics/resources/000/005/182/original/201009estudiports.pdf.

Annual inflation rate in Catalonia – February 2011

From http://www.expansion.com/2011/03/11/catalunya/1299837637.html and http://www.ine.es/daco/daco42/daco421/ipcpro0211.pdf (in Spanish)

Inflation rate in Catalonia increased 0.1% in February and interannual values reached 3.6%, as well as in overall Spain. Among the four Catalan provinces, Girona had the highest increase (0.4%) and the highest rate (4.1%), followed by Lleida (0.3% and 3.8%), Tarragona (0.3% and 3.7%) and Barcelona (0.1% and 3.5%).

Catalan clothing company Desigual in China by 2012

From http://www.expansion.com/2010/11/24/empresas/distribucion/1290635106.html (in Spanish)

Barcelona based clothing company Desigual is aiming at opening stores in China by 2012, as part of the exponential growth that is experiencing in the recent years. Annual sales have went from 8 million euros in 2002 to more than 300 million euros in 2009, with forecasts for 2010 and 2011 of 450 million euros and 675 million euros, respectively. Desigual is planning to establish its base in Shanghai in 2011 in order to be able to open its first store in China in 2012.