Energy
CPC pledges price freeze
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday there will be no price adjustments for liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas this month and next month, a time when demand for fuel is high because of lower temperatures and the Lunar New Year holiday. The company said in a statement that the decision was made in accordance with the government’s policy to help stabilize domestic consumer prices. Prices of gasoline and diesel products will not change during the Lunar New Year period even if global crude oil prices increase, CPC said. However, the company will lower gasoline and diesel prices during the new year holidays if global crude prices decline, it said.
Food & Beverages
Starbucks dearer in China
Starbucks said on Friday it planned to increase the price of some drinks in China because of soaring commodity prices. The price of Frappuccinos was hiked by 2 yuan (US$0.30) yesterday, Starbucks spokeswoman Caren Li (勵靜) said. The previous price for a small Frappuccino was around 30 yuan. Starbucks, which has 400 stores in China, will however reduce the cost of other products such as vanilla lattes, as well as extra syrup, cream and coffee shots, Li said, without providing further details.
Electronics
DoCoMo set to take on iPad
Japan’s top carrier, NTT DoCoMo, is to launch a tablet computer running Google software to challenge Apple’s hot-selling iPad, a report said yesterday. DoCoMo will marry the new Google-backed Android operating system with a device made by South Korea’s LG Electronics to launch the product in Japan by the end of March, the Nikkei business daily said, without naming sources. Users will be able to get on the Internet via DoCoMo’s cellular connections, it said, adding pricing and other details were yet to be decided.
Banking
ANZ to revamp expansion
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) is revamping its expansion and raising the profile of its North Asian operations after its failed bid for Korea Exchange Bank, the Australian newspaper reported citing chief executive officer Mike Smith. The strategy may include expansion in South Korea without acquisitions as well as Japan and China, the newspaper said.
Real Estate
UK house prices rise 0.4%
Average house prices in the UK rose 0.4 percent last year as falling prices in the second half of the year offset gains in the first six months, a major mortgage lender said on Friday. The Nationwide Building Society, the country’s third-largest mortgage lender, said average house prices were up 0.4 percent last month compared to November. For the last three months of the year — considered a better indicator of the trend — average prices were down 1 percent compared to the previous quarter.
Automobiles
Auto giants issue recalls
Ford and Chrysler are recalling tens of thousands of vehicles due to safety problems, the US government said on Friday. Chrysler Group was recalling about 143,000 Dodge Ram trucks and Dodge Journey sport utility vehicles, a report on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web site said. Ford Motor has recalled almost 15,000 pickup trucks, Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX SUVs to address an electrical problem that could cause a fire, the government said.
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