CHINA
Inflation falls below target
National inflation declined last month, easing pressure on consumers, but fueling questions about the strength of recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy. Government data yesterday showed that consumer prices rose 2.1 percent, down from the previous month’s 3.2 percent and well below the official target of 3.5 percent for the year. Wholesale prices declined by 1.9 percent compared with last year.
GERMANY
Worry rises as exports fall
National exports declined by 1.5 percent in February compared with the previous month, adding to mixed signals about Europe’s biggest economy. The decline reported yesterday by the Federal Statistical Office canceled out a 1.3 percent gain the previous month. The nation’s exported goods and services were worth 90.4 billion euros (US$117.5 billion), a figure adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects. In year-on-year terms, exports were down 2.8 percent.
ENERGY
Petrobras fined for spill
Brazil’s state-run energy giant Petrobras has been ordered to pay a fine of US$5 million over an oil spill that fouled several beaches along Sao Paulo State’s coast, Brazilian authorities said on Monday. The spill occurred on Friday as a result of “an operational failure” at a sea terminal of Transpetro, a Petrobras subsidiary, during the refueling of a ship, the Sao Paulo State Environmental Co said in a statement.
MINING
Codelco back in business
Chilean state-owned mining company Codelco has resumed shipments of copper after a port strike blocked exports in the world’s top copper producer, chief executive officer Thomas Keller said on Monday. Port workers returned to work after reaching a deal to end three weeks of strikes that halted shipments of copper, fruit and wood pulp in the export-dependent nation. Keller said it will take the company about 30 days to reach a normal level.
AUTOMAKERs
Japan policy hits profit: GM
GM Holden yesterday blamed Japanese monetary policy for lagging car sales that have forced it to axe 500 jobs in Australia, with the plunging yen driving Japanese export costs down. Holden Australia CEO Mike Devereux said the yen had depreciated about 25 percent since October last year. “That means a car that was US$20,000 five months ago, costs around US$15,000 to bring into the country, so there’s a lot of price competition,” he told ABC radio.
TECHNOLOGY
HP shoots for the moon
Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) on Monday launched a Moonshot system that uses smartphone-style chips to power compact, efficient data center servers. The California-based computer maker said Moonshot systems take up one-fifth of the space of traditional computer servers and can cut energy use by as much as 89 percent while costing about 77 percent less. Moonshot servers are powered by Intel Atom chips. The servers were made available on Monday in the US and Canada, and will be elsewhere next month.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
CEDC files for Chapter 11
Vodka maker Central European Distribution Corp (CEDC) is seeking bankruptcy protection to cut more than US$665 million of its debt. The firm is asking a US bankruptcy court in Delaware to approve a reorganization plan, which would give ownership to Roust Trading, owned by CEDC chairman Roustam Tariko.
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