South African fresh fruit producer Afrifresh Group has developed a powerful integrated agricultural business model that is improving farming and export efficiency in Africa. New development director Roy Fine explains.

This deal will see Sinopec acquire one fifth of the OML 138 oil block. This block includes the Usan oilfield, which began producing in February, and is jointly owned alongside Chevron, Exxon and Nexen.

The move comes after Beijing approved a £1 billion joint venture between the company and Chery Automobile. This milestone deal will initially see JLR construct a plant close to Shanghai, which will open in 2015.

A joint statement released by the Chinese and British companies said: "We are delighted to have reached this milestone, achieved thanks to the understanding and foresight of the Chinese authorities and we want to thank them for recognising the potential of our joint venture in the fast-growing Chinese market.”

First announced in February, the merger looks to have cleared its final hurdle with Qatar Holdings releasing a statement saying that it will vote in favour at a meeting next week. This shareholder decision comes in the wake of Glencore increasing the amount it will pay for each Xstrata share.

The merger does still need to receive competition approval from the European Commission and there are reports that, in a bid to secure this, Glencore has proposed to sell part of Xstrata’s German operations.

Estimated to cost around 16 billion euros, the South Stream pipeline will be jointly funded by Gazprom, Italy’s Eni, France’s EDF and a unit of Germany’s BASP, with the former expected to fund half of the capital expenditure.

Due to start operating in 2015, the pipeline will travel under the Black Sea via the Balkans, bringing up to 63 billion cubic metres of gas annually. Upon completion the pipeline will reach Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy in one leg, while a second will reach Croatia and Greece.

A new report from Roskill offers an insight into the dynamics driving the iron ore market, and a market outlook to 2020.

With the disruption of supplies from India, concerns over slowing economic growth in China, and the effects of large stockpiles forcing the price of iron ore through a series of supposed "price floors", the iron ore industry has faced a turbulent time during 2011 and 2012.

After twenty years of market creation in China, profound changes have taken place that affect how international companies need to operate there. Part two of our three part series examines the growth of national markets.

Nobody’s perfect. What quality or ability do you wish you had?

Patience, I am impatient. I also wish I was more in touch with my emotional side which would help me express feelings such as sympathy, etc.

What is the best business book you have ever read, and why?

Chief executive officer Francis Mawindi explains how Telecel Zimbabwe plans to deliver mobile phone coverage to 90 percent of the population by 2013.

Across Africa, the winds of change are being felt throughout the telecommunications sector. These winds are being driven by the rapid movement consumers have been making away from basic telephony services to data services. In response to this, operators have had to capacitate their data service provision capabilities in order to cater to the changing needs of their customers.