INDIA
Industrial output contracts
India’s industrial output shrank by a surprise 0.4 percent in September from a year earlier, data showed yesterday, underlining the challenge for the government as it attempts to jumpstart growth with a string of reforms. The output figure for September was sharply below market expectations of a 2.8 percent year-on-year rise. Manufacturing output, which accounts for three-quarters of the index of industrial production, contracted by 1.5 percent, while capital goods — such as factory plant equipment — plunged by 12.2 percent, the data showed.
METALS
Rusal posts US$118m loss
Russian aluminum giant Rusal yesterday posted a third-quarter loss of US$118 million, blaming Europe’s economic turmoil and China’s slowdown for sinking global demand for the metal. The world’s largest aluminum producer said the outlook was uncertain, but aluminum consumption should improve in the fourth quarter with an uptick in Chinese growth and rising demand from US carmakers. Rusal said its net loss for the three months to Sept. 30 was US$118 million compared with a net profit of US$432 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 19 percent to US$2.56 billion.
METALS
Metalor eyes Singapore
Metalor Technologies SA, a Neuchatel, Switzerland-based precious-metals refiner, plans to build a gold refinery and bullion-product manufacturing facility in Singapore as demand in Southeast Asia grows. The US$15 million facility is expected to be completed by the second half of next year, Metalor said yesterday. The company currently has refining operations in Hong Kong, China, Switzerland and the US.
BEVERAGES
Pepsi to add fiber
PepsiCo Inc plans to launch a version of its namesake soda with a fat-blocking fiber called dextrin in Japan today. In an announcement on the company’s Japanese Web site, PepsiCo explains how dextrin helps reduce fat levels in blood. The drink, called Pepsi Special, isn’t the first cola with fiber in Japan. The Japanese firm Kirin also offers a sugar-free cola with dextrin. Kirin’s Web site says the cola is targeted toward health-conscious men in their 30s and older.
TECHNOLOGY
Olympus swings to profit
Olympus yesterday said it had swung to a US$100 million first-half profit, reversing a year-earlier loss, as the camera and medical equipment maker moves on from an embarrassing accounting scandal. The company said it earned a net profit of ¥8.02 billion (US$100 million) for the six months to September, from a loss of ¥32.33 billion, while also increasing its full-year profit forecast to ¥8 billion from ¥7 billion. However, the firm chopped its operating profit and full-year revenue outlook to ¥38 billion and ¥757 billion respectively, down from an earlier forecast of ¥50 billion and ¥920 billion.
AIRLINES
Emirates profit up 63.6%
The parent company of Dubai-based carrier Emirates yesterday said profits for the first half of the year surged 63.6 percent as the Middle East’s biggest airline expanded routes and benefited from stabilizing fuel prices. The Emirates Group reported that profits rose to 2.37 billion dirhams (US$645.7 million) for the first half of the year, compared with US$394.8 million in the same period last year. Profits recovered strongly after dropping sharply in the fiscal year ending March 31 because of rising fuel costs.
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