■ 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.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last