Dry summer slows down transport on Germany's Rhine river / Restrictions at facilities

Largest regional plastics association and employment agency collaborate / Recruitment of more skilled workers

German and UK SMEs bank on professional development to increase productivity / France favours IT improvements

Industry 4.0 spreads slowly in UK, Switzerland and Germany / Companies often lack money and staff / E&Y and Censuswide survey reports

Poor payment behaviour continues in Asia-Pacific / Average payment term fell slightly to 55 days in 2017 / Atradius report

BIC publishes guide to help investors in the bio-economy / Discussion of various grants and funds available in Europe

20% of revenues generated with products for low-carbon economy / Carbon Disclosure Project report

Rising number of major insolvencies / Abundant cash reserves are risk driver / 25% of companies worldwide wait 88 days or more to get paid / Euler Hermes report

More than 40% of western European supplier credits overdue / Credit-based sales particularly unpopular in Germany and Austria / Companies anticipate longer periods of payment / Atradius report

Post-crisis downward trend in insolvencies will end in 2016, credit insurer predicts / Much-dampened outlook for emerging markets / Euler Hermes report

B2B default payment rates hinder European recovery / Atradius says Greece and Italy most affected

More than one in three outstanding accounts in Europe are overdue / Risk of defaults on payments / Payment behaviour differs greatly among individual countries / Atradius payment barometer

PP futures trading goes live in Dubai and China / Concurrent launch designed to raise liquidity for global trading / “Transparent market and new pricing benchmark”

Dubai exchange to launch PP futures trading in February / Timing may reflect “Borouge 3” start

Business slows in Q2 / Meeting 2013 earnings targets now more challenging, CEO says