CHINA
China’s imports increase
China passed the US last year for the first time to become the biggest importer of agricultural products and also increased its exports, according to data by the WTO. Imports, including food and beverages, rose 34 percent to US$144.7 billion last year from US$108.3 billion in 2010, according to calculations based on data released by the Geneva-based trade body. Exports gained 25 percent to US$64.6 billion, beating Canada to become the sixth largest. Growth in the second-biggest economy and largest population has boosted demand from soybeans and corn to feed livestock to powdered milk and sugar to make beverages. Urbanization widened China’s water and land shortages, further fueling a global rally in crops amplified by drought-reduced supply.
EUROZONE
Business activity declines
Private sector business activity in the eurozone showed an eighth monthly decline this month hitting its gloomiest patch in three years, survey results showed yesterday. The closely watched Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), a survey of 5,000 eurozone businesses compiled by Markit research firm, came in at 45.9 points, down from 46.3 in July. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction in activity. Taken together with previous months the data suggested “the worst quarter for three years,” Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said in a statement. He tipped a 0.6 percent contraction in GDP for the quarter, which would confirm a return to recession.
apparel
Nike announces plan
Nike, the clothing, footwear, sportswear and equipment giant, announced a four-year, US$8 billion share buyback plan on Wednesday. “We believe repurchasing our shares is a prudent use of our cash and are pleased to extend Nike’s track record of returning value to shareholders through sustained share repurchases,” Nike president and CEO Mark Parker said. “This new share repurchase program demonstrates our continued confidence in Nike’s strategy to generate long-term profitable growth and strong cash flow, and reflects our commitment to delivering value to our shareholders.” He said Nike has returned US$10 billion to shareholders over the past decade thanks to the repurchase of over 167 million shares.
INTERNET
Google leads in online ads
Google has become the US market leader in online display ads, and now leads all categories for Internet advertising including search and mobile, a market research firm said on Wednesday. The firm eMarketer said Google will top the market for online display advertising with US$2.31 billion in revenues — 15.4 percent of the market — this year. Google would thus overtake Facebook in display, after the social network dethroned longtime leader Yahoo last year, eMarketer said. The milestone means Google now holds more shares than any other company in each of the US search, display and mobile advertising markets. Google will see a 38 percent jump in online display ad revenue this year, the report said. Facebook, the consultancy said, is to earn US$2.16 billion in US display ad revenues this year, up 24.4 percent from billion last year. Facebook’s share will be 14.4 percent. Yahoo will see nearly flat revenues for display ads, which will mean its market share will fall to 9.3 percent this year from 11 percent last year and 14 percent in 2010.
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