SHIPPING
Egypt hurts Moeller-Maersk
Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moeller-Maersk said on Thursday it had partially reopened its activities in Egypt, but said the bloody revolt in the country would continue to impact its business. The world-leading container transporter had announced on Tuesday it was suspending all the Egyptian activities of its Maersk Line, Safmarin and Damco units, as well as its Suez container terminal. “Today [Thursday], Maersk Line, Safmarine and Damco offices have reopened,” the company said in an e-mail. At the Suez container terminal in Port Said, “there are limited vessel operations. There are also limited operations at the ports of Damietta and Alexandria,” it added.
OIL
Rosneft denies TNK-BP talks
Russian oil producer Rosneft said it was not in talks to buy out Russian shareholders in peer TNK-BP, following a report a possible sale was in the offing to resolve a row with BP. Four sources told Vedomosti business daily that AAR — a Russian shareholder consortium which co-owns TNK-BP, a 50-50 joint venture with British major BP — might sell its stake to Rosneft or the Russian government. “We are not in talks about buying AAR’s stake or TNK-BP itself,” Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov told Interfax news agency.
TOYS
Mattel sued over Bratz dolls
MGA Entertainment Inc filed an antitrust suit against Mattel Inc, its archrival in the world of fashion dolls. The case is the latest volley in an ongoing dispute over MGA’s Bratz dolls. It was filed on Thursday in US District Court in Los Angeles and alleges unfair business practices and anticompetitive conduct. MGA claims Mattel used a “scorched earth strategy” to infiltrate confidential showrooms at industry events to copy new Bratz products, rearrange Barbie and Bratz displays at retailers, intimidate licensees and pay retailers not to buy MGA products. MGA says Mattel uses litigation instead of competition to protect Barbie’s monopoly over the fashion doll market and deprive consumers of choices.
OIL
India, Iran resolve dispute
An official said India and Iran have resolved a dispute over payments for Iranian crude oil, with India agreeing to set up a new mechanism that would allow payments in euros. The official said yesterday that the State Bank of India would route the payments through a German-based bank, ending a nearly six-week stalemate that had threatened to disrupt oil supplies to India. The payments for Iranian crude would be made through the Hamburg-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG, the finance ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. Iran is India’s second-largest crude oil supplier and meets more than 12 percent of its oil needs.
INDONESIA
Benchmark rate raised
The central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 6.75 percent, a move aimed at helping curb inflation blamed on spiraling foods prices. Halim Alamsyah, a deputy governor of the Bank Indonesia, announced the decision yesterday. Hours earlier, senior economic minister Hatta Rajasa expressed hope that harvests, which have been disrupted in recent weeks by extreme weather, would soon improve, helping bring down the price of chilies, soy beans and other staple foods. The bank had held the rate at a record low 6.5 percent for the past 18 months.
INDIA
Inflation threatens growth
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday warned that high inflation was threatening the country’s rapid economic growth and needed to be brought under control with “great urgency.” Singh’s warning, in a speech to state government bureaucrats, came a day after data showed annual food inflation standing at 17.05 percent, driven by surging onion prices, a local dietary staple. “Inflation poses a serious threat to the growth momentum,” Singh said. “Whatever be the cause, the fact remains that inflation is something which needs to be tackled with great urgency.” The central bank has already hiked interest rates seven times in under a year in a bid to quell inflation and is expected to raise borrowing costs again at its March 17 policy meeting, if not earlier.
GRAINS
China corn imports to rise
China’s corn imports could reach a record 9 million tonnes this year after depletion of government reserves to slow inflation, the US Grains Council, an industry group, said on Thursday in a report. Grain supplies are as much as 15 million tonnes below levels needed to keep inventories close to 30 percent of consumption, council chairman Terry Vinduska said. He visited China last week. The country imported 1.3 million tonnes of corn in the year that ended Sept. 30 and an all-time high of 4.3 million in 1995.
INTERNET
Google flooded with resumes
Google Inc, the world’s biggest Internet search service, received more than 75,000 job applications worldwide last week, setting a record for the company as it embarks on a hiring spree. The flood of resumes topped a previous high set in May 2007 by 15 percent, said Aaron Zamost, a spokesman for the Mountain View, California-based company. Google, which had 24,400 workers at the end of this year, announced last week that it would add more than 6,000 employees this year. The company aims to hire more workers this year than in any year in its history, exceeding its 2007 record.
OIL
Australia to retain PTTEP
A Thai-owned oil rig operator has been given approval to continue working in Australian waters despite its role in Australia’s worst ever oil spill. Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said yesterday that PTTEP Australasia would be subject to a rigorous 18-month government monitoring program of its production and exploration work. His decision came after an independent review blamed PTTEP and a lax regulator for the 2009 oil leak at the Montara oil field in the Timor Sea. More than 400 barrels of oil a day flowed from the Montara and stained the coasts of Indonesia and East Timor. PTTEP paid US$319 million for the clean up.
SMARTPHONES
App offers sumo makeover
Ever have a yen to be a sumo wrestler? Curious to see how you might look bulked up like a behemoth and with a traditional wrestler’s topknot? Now, an iPhone app can show you — and without even packing on any kilos. The “SumoBooth” app, developed by Tokyo-based MotionPortrait Inc, allows users to upload a photo of their face taken with their phone. The images are processed to add kilos and the wrestlers’ trademark hairstyle with a topknot. The app will also record voices and alter them to give users a sumo wrestler’s distinctive husky sound. MotionPortrait, a subsidiary of the Internet-linked So-net Entertainment Corp, offers the app for ¥115 (US$1.41).
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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