INDIA
Industrial output slows
Industrial output growth slowed to 3.6 percent from a year earlier in February, below analyst forecasts and far down on its peaks from late year, official data showed yesterday. February’s output was less than January’s revised 3.95 percent annual growth and substantially lower than its 15.1 percent expansion in February last year, when Asia’s third-largest economy was emerging from the global downturn. Analysts had expected industrial growth in February to be about 5.2 percent. The below-expectation output comes after eight interest rate hikes in 12 months to tame stubborn inflation — the most aggressive monetary tightening in Asia — prompted manufacturers to scale back production. Manufacturing output, which accounts for 80 percent of the industrial index, rose 3.5 percent in February, down from 16.1 percent growth a year earlier. The nation’s output performance contrasted with China’s industrial production, which expanded by 14.1 percent in the first two months of the year, compared with the same period last year.
DEFENSE
Military spending dips
Growth in global military spending slowed to its lowest level since 2001 last year as the world economic crisis hit defense budgets, Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. World military spending rose only 1.3 percent last year to US$1.63 trillion, after average annual growth of 5.1 percent between 2001 and 2009, SIPRI said as it released its latest report on international military expenditures. The US significantly slowed its military investments last year to US$698 billion, but remained by far the biggest defense spender in the world and still accounted for almost all of global growth. In Asia, the region’s weaker economic performance in 2009 saw defense expenditures grow by only 1.4 percent, with China leading the way with an estimated US$119 billion in defense spending last year.
SHIPBUILDING
Samsung announces orders
South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries said yesterday it had won orders totaling US$1.2 billion for six liquefied natural gas carriers. “The nuclear crisis in Japan will help trigger demand for alternative energy sources, including liquefied natural gas,” Samsung said, predicting booming demand from energy firms, including Russia’s Gazprom. Under an 870 billion won (US$802 million) deal with British shipper Golar LNG Energy, the shipyard will deliver four natural gas carriers by the first half of 2014, Samsung said in a statement. The shipbuilder also signed a deal worth 430 billion won to deliver two gas carriers to another company, which was not identified.
AUTOMOBILES
Chinese auto sales rebound
China’s auto sales rebounded last month, but growth was well below last year’s rapid expansion as gasoline prices rose and government incentives wound down. An industry group, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said sales rose 5.4 percent over a year ago to 1.8 million vehicles. That was up from February’s 4.6 percent increase, but below last year’s 30 percent expansion. China passed the US in 2009 to become the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold. Industry analysts expect total Chinese sales to rise 10 to 15 percent this year, though growth should be much slower than last year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained