Itochu will acquire the global processing operations for canned goods and packaged juices, and the Asian fresh fruits production and sales business.

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Controlling the supply of rare earths means that China can also control their processing and use in finished goods, which would fit a broader effort to drive its manufacturers from low- to high-value goods.

ECONOMIST: Rare earths

It allows certain specified goods to be imported for processing or incorporation into finished products at the rate of Customs duty that would be applicable to the finished product, that is, zero, instead of the rate for the imported goods.

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It set up Asia's first export-processing area in 1965 at Kandla, in Gujarat, to provide goods for the then Soviet Union.

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China is a prominent export-processing economy, which means that its factories import lots of raw materials and intermediate goods to stoke the machines and processes that manufacture and assemble the finished goods it exports to the United States and elsewhere.

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These export-processing zones provided for duty-free entry and duty-free exit for export-oriented goods and helped in the transfer of technology and skill to the developed countries.

CNN: Thai Inquiry