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The global pellet market is growing but with different characteristics in different countries and regions. In this paper we trace developments between 2008 and 2016. For 2008, production was reported at 9.8 Tg, expanding globally to 14.3 Tg in 2010 and surpassing 26 Tg in 2015. Global hot spots are North America (production) and Europe (consumption). Sustainability certification was applied for about 9 Tg in 2016. Nevertheless, projections for future development are difficult as low pellet prices and uncertain sustainability obligations may hinder further expansion. In general, there is a strong dependency of the pellet market on the policy framework. © 2018 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biorefining published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the present day globalization context there are three Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in which the labor issues forma part of the Labor Cooperation Agreement (LCA), accompanied by a text that contains "labor principles" : the FTA of North America with its ACLAN, the Canada-Chile FTA with its ACLCC, and the FTA of Canada and Costa Rica with its ACLCCR. There are also two FTAs in which no labor agreement is incorporated: the United States and Chile (FTAEUCHI), and the USA, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic (FTAEUACARD). In this paper the purposes, principles and labor agreements in these FTA and LCA were analyzed, interrelating them with the principles and norms of the ITO and the labor principles adopted by the UN and the OAS. In the conclusions certain considerations related to the impact of these contents in labor relations were formulated. The paper does not refer to globalization as such, or to the non-labor contents of the FTAs. It likewise did not examine constitutional contents, or solutions to controversies, nor the application of sanctions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will analyse factors which, since the end of last century, have made interregional relations very important to understand the world geopolitical and economic order. Interregional relations are defined as those which pertain to relations between regions or between a given state and a given region, or within a megaregion. This evolution results from: the growing demand in the emerging economies and the interaction among them, a new framework of interregional economic relations, and the development of new commercial channels. Finally, this paper will introduce the different articled included in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]