SYDNEY / Reuters A tiny fruit fly is Australia’s undermining efforts to grow its $ 3 billion fruit and vegetable exports, the country despite reaching a series of free trade agreements with its largest trading partners in Asia. Australia sealed trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea last year — deals that guaranteed a significant reduction in tariffs for agriculture ...

Beijing / Reuters China’s industrial profits returned to growth in the first two months of 2016, despite weakening business conditions and slowing economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Profits earned by Chinese industrial firms in January and February combined rose 4.8 percent from a year earlier, totalling 780.7 billion yuan ($ 119.8 billion) in the two-month period, the National ...

Tokyo / DPA Japan’s consumer spending is lagging as households prefer savings over investments, despite an upward trend in personal income due to improved employment conditions, according to a Bank of Japan survey. The total amount of financial assets possessed by individuals in cash or savings hit a record high of 902 trillion yen (US$7.98 trillion) at the end of ...