JAPAN
Industrial output rose 3.9%
Japan’s industrial production rose for the third straight month last month June as the world’s No. 3 economy stages a recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Factory output climbed 3.9 percent from the previous month and is expected to continue growing in the months ahead. Cars and electronic parts helped fuel the improvement, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Industrial production is a key indicator of Japan’s economic health, and its steady climb suggests that manufacturers are restoring capacity after the tsunami damaged critical parts factories. The disruption led to a big plunge in output for Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Corp, and industrial production is still 5.3 percent lower than it was in February before the disasters. Shipments jumped 8.5 percent, which lowered inventories by 2.8 percent. That implies “further upside for production in the months ahead,” said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital Japan, in a report.
FINANCE
China may buy Greek bonds
China could provide loans to Greece to fund government bond buybacks in the secondary market to help cut the country’s debt burden, a Greek finance ministry official said yesterday. “There are signs that China is interested in taking part in the new funding scheme for Greece,” said the official who declined to be named. The official did not elaborate, but referred to a meeting Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos had with China’s IMF representative in Washington earlier this week. China has made a major investment in Greece’s main port in Piraeus and offered to buy Greek government bonds when Athens resumes issuance, according to comments by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) during a visit to Athens last year. Wen said China had already bought Greek bonds previously.
AUTOMAKERS
Mazda’s losses expand
Japan’s Mazda Motor yesterday said its net loss widened to US$330 million in the three months ending June when production and sales were hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Japan’s fifth-largest carmaker by volume said its net loss in the fiscal first quarter reached ¥25.5 billion, from a ¥2.1 billion net loss in the same period a year ago. Operating loss reached ¥23.1 billion, after an operating profit of ¥6.4 billion yen a year earlier. Sales fell 29.4 percent to ¥408.1 billion. Mazda was also in the red in the first quarter a year ago due to one-off changes in accounting methods, but it had been enjoying rising sales since, thanks to government incentive programs. For April-June this year, however, Mazda’s global sales volume fell 11.3 percent to 281,000 vehicles compared with the same period a year ago. Its sales in Japan also fell 31.8 percent to 35,000 units.
ECONOMY
Eurozone inflation slows
Inflation in the 17 countries that use the euro unexpectedly fell this month, official figures showed yesterday, raising speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) might not need to raise interest rates as quickly as markets have been predicting. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said consumer prices in the eurozone rose by 2.5 percent in the year to July. That’s still above the ECB’s target of keeping inflation just below 2 percent, but down on market expectations for an unchanged reading of 2.7 percent. Despite the debt crisis that has engulfed the eurozone and signs of waning economic activity, the markets have been pricing in another interest rate increase from the ECB in September.
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