Greece wins European creditors’ approval to repay IMF early

Three weeks after issuing debt carrying a negative interest rate, Greece has won approval from its European creditors to repay part of its debts to the International Monetary Fund earlier than required, thus avoiding cumbersome interest payments.

Monday’s decision also spares Greece the obligation of having to make a massive early repayment to the Europeans too, whose loans carry lighter interest than the IMF ones.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said the decision would improve Greek debt sustainability and boost market confidence in the country which underwent a painful financial crisis in 2010.

Piraeus Containter Terminal goes from strength to strength

Piraeus Container Terminal, the local subsidiary of Chinese giant Cosco Pacific, is expected to handle a total of over 3 million containers in the January-December period of this year.

The January-November data that Cosco released earlier this week showed that the total number of containers that went through PCT-operated terminals II and III in Piraeus amounted to 2.73 million, against 2.28 million in the same period last year, which constitutes an annual increase of 19.7 percent. November alone showed a 12.4 increase from the same month in 2013, reaching 255,900 containers.

Government fund ready to issue loan guarantees for small firms

The Development Ministry’s guarantees fund for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises is ready to start operating with a budget of 50 million euros that can guarantee loans of up to 150 million euros.

New Greek products on the rise!

More than 65,000 new Greek products entered the market from the beginning of 2010 until the beginning of 2013, according to data released by barcoding company 520 Barcode on April 2.

Greece: Europe’s Largest Exporter for 2012

Greece proved to be the largest exporter among European countries for 2012. Greece’s exports reached 26.7 billion euros, according to the Secretary General of International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation Department, Panayiotis Michalos.

Prime Minister hails signing of HP-Cosco logistics deal

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Friday attended the signing of an agreement that will see US electronics giant Hewlett Packard (HP) use the cargo terminal of Chinese shipping firm Cosco in Piraeus as its distribution center for products heading to other European and Middle Eastern countries.

Chinese love the taste of Greece: Exports soar

As Greece struggles through a crushing economic crisis, some of the products for which it is best known are taking a bigger hold in China, with a 269.1 percent increase in exports in the first quarter of the year, a saving grace for Greek companies. China has jumped from the 34th-biggest market for Greek exports to 13th.

Special crisis prices aim to make city life more affordable

Special offers and promos are turning into primetime material this season as the local market’s survival instincts kick in and come up with more affordable ways for residents and visitors to enjoy city life.

Fixing-up Omonia Square

A plan to place tables and chairs around Omonia Square in the center of Athens -- currently shunned by many due to its sullied reputation for being a magnet for drug addicts and other undesirables -- appears to be nearing completion, barring a few bureaucratic issues.

NYTimes: What Greece makes, the world might take

It has been years since anyone said anything positive about the Greek economy. But as one Greek economist recently told me, there’s a local saying that when a spring is pressed down hardest, it can spring back the fastest. Let’s consider the country’s natural resources, or at least two of them. Feta cheese, which is increasingly popular throughout the world, is mandated by an E.U. ruling to come from Greece. The country also harvests arguably the best olives for making olive oil. Yet somehow Greece has only 28 percent of the global feta market and a mere 4 percent share of the international olive-oil industry.

Bank of France to re-pay Greece € 754 million of interest collected on Greek bonds

The Bank of France will hand over € 754 million ($944 million) of interest collected on Greek government bonds it holds as part of agreements to offer the country financial support. The figure was given today by the French treasury in its revised 2012 budget.

BBC: Greece bartering system popular in Volos (video)

A few months ago, an alternative currency was introduced in the Greek port city of Volos. It was a grass-roots initiative that has since grown into a network of more than 800 members, in a community struggling to afford items in euros during a deepening financial crisis.

Greece on the breadline: 'potato movement' links shoppers and farmers

There's some dispute about where and when it all started, but Christos Kamenides, genial professor of agricultural marketing at the University of Thessaloniki, is pretty confident he and his students have made sure it's not about to stop any time soon.

Green Olives from Chalkidiki to Become Protected Designation of Origin Product

The olive producers of Chalkidiki received good news on Tuesday recognizing their work and promoting their agricultural activities and economy, since the particular variety of olives growing in the Northern Greek peninsula will soon be registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product by the EU. In this way, the brand name “Green Olives of Chalkidiki” will get a higher value added tax.

GREECE IS CHANGING - The reality to date

Greece has come a very long way in less than two years and even recently committed to the toughest austerity program in modern history, while entering the fifth year of recession. Yet some are continuously setting their sights on the targets Greece has missed, while ignoring the many that have been met.

Hire A Greek: An initiative to help the people of Greece who are in need of a job

Greece is currently trapped in historically awful economic conditions. There have been a lot of initiatives to try to help Greece and its people, who are suffering because of firings, tax hikes and a continuously deteriorating quality of life. While sending money to your relatives, opening accounts to collect money in order to cover a tiny hole of the Greek debt, and maybe bringing two or three friends over to America, Canada or Australia, may be a temporary solution, something more drastic is necessary.

NYTimes: Greek Yogurt a Boon for New York State

“It’s an indulgent texture, but it’s also guilt-free,” said David J. Browne, a senior analyst for Mintel International Group, a consumer research firm. Greek yogurt has certainly been healthy for the economy in New York. Two of the leading brands, Chobani and Fage, have their main production plants in upstate New York and are expanding their operations.

Alpina Foods, the United States arm of a major South American dairy company, is building a $20 million plant in Batavia to make Greek yogurt topped with granola. And state economic development officials are said to be negotiating with another major food maker to set up a dairy products plant in the same area, creating the possibility for what one executive called a “yogurt cluster.”

Often twice as expensive as regular yogurt, Greek yogurt has most of the water and whey strained out, making it richer in protein and giving it the density of sour cream.

National retail sales of the thicker style of yogurt more than doubled last year, jumping to $821 million for a 52-week period ending in October, excluding Walmart stores, according to Mintel. The research firm projects that the strong sales growth will most likely continue this year.

Food industry turns to Greek raw materials

Greek products and raw materials are gaining new fans not just among consumers in this country, but also in the food industry, whether completely local or multinational firms. Other than using homegrown raw materials to produce beer, cheese and other food and drink, the industry is also beginning to bring back local products which had fallen out of favor, as many consumers had come to think that foreign imports were of better quality -- butter being a case in point.

Athenian Brewery pioneered the use of Greek barley in beer production in 2008 and it has been using barley from northern and central Greece in the production of its Amstel and Alpha labels ever since. In the 2008-10 period, the brewery purchased some 40,000 tons of barley for 8 million euros, while in 2011 it bought an additional 18,000 tons, with the company’s goal being to reach 70,000 tons by 2014. It also launched experimental barley cultivation in 2011 in Lamia, Serres, Larissa and Livadia, hoping to find a new variety with better characteristics and of higher quality.

Greek exports increase by 39.5%, break €20 billion barrier!

Greek exports registered their highest record of the last decade, even without the inclusion of December data, as they exceeded 20 billion euros in the first 11 months of 2011, according to figures published on Wednesday by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

In the January-November period, exports amounted to 20.23 billion euros, including oil products, posting a 39.5 percent rise from the same period in 2010, although November showed a small (3.8 percent) decline year-on-year.

The reason for this leap is the growing tendency of domestic enterprises to look beyond the country’s borders in an effort to offset the drop in demand in Greece. A key factor is also the change in the calculation of export data, as they now include the fuel for ships bearing foreign flags.

Greek yogurt on a marathon-like growth spurt!

Chobani is making Greek yogurt as fast as Americans are eating it. Its plant here in upstate New York farm country already pumps out 1.5 million cases of the thick yogurt every week, and pallets are stacked four stories high in the chilled warehouse. But like other Greek yogurt makers, Chobani is expanding.

Greek yogurt now accounts for a quarter of the total yogurt market after a dizzying growth spurt that is especially apparent here in the heart of upstate New York.