WTO judges will probe China’s export quotas and tariffs on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum following complaints by the US, the EU and Japan that the curbs break global commerce rules.
China says the limits are designed to protect dwindling natural resources and the environment. China produces more than 90 percent of the world’s rare earths, 17 chemically similar metallic elements used in the defense, renewable-energy and electronics industries by companies such as Ford Motor Co.
Rare earths became a political issue after China cut domestic output and reduced export quotas in July 2010 by 40 percent, souring ties with major users including the US and Japan, where buyers reduced usage after prices rose in the first half of last year.
The average Chinese export price of rare-earth oxides, a subset of rare earths, soared 537 percent last year from 2010 and was 10 percent higher in the first five months of this year than a year earlier, according to data reported by Global Trade Information Services Inc and compiled by Bloomberg Government. Chinese exports of rare-earth oxides fell 56 percent in the first five months of this year, Bloomberg Government data show.
The Chinese government issued its first white paper on rare-earth industry policies on June 20, describing how a lack of proper regulations has led to excessive mining and environmental degradation in China. The government promised an extensive cleanup and a crackdown on illegal mines.
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
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the