At a food fair in New Delhi, a vegetable exporter from the Philippines set out its wares: bags of dried moringa and lemongrass, bundles of taro leaves and a bowl of laing, the creamy coconut-milk stew made from them. The question Dry Tech Manufacturing wanted to answer was simple: could the simple Filipino food it sells under its Sheentaro brand tantalise the taste buds of the world’s most populous country? India has hundreds of millions of vegetarians, more than any other country on Earth,...
More than 90 per cent of mainland Chinese enterprises plan to expand overseas within the next two years, with over 80 per cent aiming to use Hong Kong as their launch pad into Southeast Asia, a survey has found. The research findings, published by the Trade Development Council on Wednesday, indicate that mainland firms are actively pursuing diversified footprints across Asean markets. The survey, conducted from January to February 2026, polled more than 2,000 mainland Chinese companies across...
A new wave of US tariffs that hit seven Southeast Asian countries is set to reinforce perceptions of Washington as an unreliable partner to the region, according to analysts. Citing what it said were forced labour practices uncovered in its latest investigations, the US on Thursday imposed levies ranging from 10 to 12.5 per cent on 60 economies – with the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam the hardest hit among Association of Southeast Asian Nations members. Malaysia, Indonesia and...