■ Eurozone
Economy to grow sharply
The 12-nation eurozone economy should grow 1.5 percent if quarterly growth holds up at current levels, European Central Bank chief economist Ottmar Issing said in an interview released on Friday. "If quarterly growth stays at the current level, it will reach 1.5 percent in 2004 in the eurozone. The next year it could be sharply higher," Issing said in an interview in the regional German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung. But the recovery "will not be very strong and will not go very far" if it is not underpinned by more investment and household consumption, he warned.
■ Energy
China's oil demand surges
Chinese demand for oil products, seen as one factor behind high oil prices in recent months, continues to exceed expectations, the International Energy Agency reported on Friday. Apparent internal and external demand for refined products rose to a new high point of 6.38 million barrels per day in February, according to provisional data from the Chinese national statistics bureau. This increase accounts for most of the increase of world demand for oil products this year as estimated by the IEA. This provisional data shows that Chinese demand appeared to have surged by nearly 18 percent in the first quarter of 2004 from the equivalent figure in 2003, representing an increase of 900,000 barrels per day.
■ Electronics
Toshiba plans investment
Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp plans to invest 1 trillion yen (US$9.4 billion) over the next three years to develop digital products and electronics devices. In a business plan disclosed on Friday, Toshiba said it is aiming for a group operating profit of 280 billion yen (US$2.6 billion) on sales of 6.20 trillion yen (US$58.3 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 2007. Toshiba's group operating income for the fiscal year ended March, 2003 totaled 115.5 billion yen. Its net profit totaled 18.5 billion yen on 5.66 trillion yen in sales for that period.
■ Japan
Poll reports optimism
Ninety-five out of Japan's top 100 companies say the economy has recovered or has entered a recovery due to a steady rise in profits and capital spending, according to a poll published yesterday. The result shown by the Yomiuri Shimbun poll was a big improvement as the same poll, conducted in September last year, only found 59 companies giving the same answer. But 55 firms said in the April survey that they were concerned over a rise in the yen, which jumped to four-year highs of the 103 level against the dollar in late March and early April.
■ Trade
Mission makes money
A trade mission specializing in household products and utensils from Taiwan concluded on Friday a successful five-day sales mission to Japan, according to an official of Taiwan's representative office in Tokyo. Kao Jung-chou, economic division chief of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, said that the mission, composed of representatives of 62 Taiwan companies, won confirmed orders worth a total of US$1.26 million on site in three exhibitions held in Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. The three exhibitions attracted visits by 1,700 Japanese buyers, Kao noted, adding that the visiting exhibitors also obtained follow-up business opportunities with an estimated combined value of US$7.72 million.
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