ENERGY
World oil demand eases
Global oil demand growth eased to its weakest since 2012 last quarter, calming world markets amid threats to supplies in the Middle East and North Africa, the International Energy Agency said. The agency cut estimates for oil demand growth this year and next after the annual expansion in fuel consumption slowed to 700,000 barrels a day in the second quarter, the lowest level since early 2012. The resulting supply surplus has meant that Libya, seeking to restore crude exports choked off by political feuding, is struggling to find buyers, the agency said in its monthly market report. Logistical constraints in southern Iraq may prove a bigger hurdle to bolstering output than violence in the north, it said.
ENERGY
Firm claims huge oil find
A company owned by Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler said it has discovered vast potential reserves of oil in the strife-torn east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Oil of DRCongo, a subsidiary of the Fleurette Group, said in a statement that seismic testing from Lake Albert, which forms part of the northeastern border with Uganda, indicated reserves of about 3 billion barrels of oil. It said that exporting the oil from North Kivu Province could boost the GDP of the vast central African nation by 25 percent.
FOOD
Chiquita receives new offer
Two Brazilian firms made a US$611 million offer for US banana giant Chiquita on Monday that could derail its merger with European rival Fyffes. Cutrale Group, one of Brazil’s largest juice exporters, and investment bank Safra Group offered US$13 a share for all of Chiquita’s stock, 29 percent higher than the shares traded on Friday last week. The unsolicited offer challenged Chiquita’s merger with Fyffes announced in March, which would create the world’s largest banana company, with US$4.6 billion in annual sales. That proposal would allow Chiquita to avoid higher US taxes by relocating its statutory headquarters to Ireland.
TRADE
EU hopeful of Hanoi FTA
The EU’s top diplomat said she hoped the European bloc would soon conclude a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Vietnam. Speaking to reporters in Hanoi during a one-day visit yesterday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said that negotiations on the agreement were making good progress and that she hoped the deal could be signed before the end of the year. The EU is already Vietnam’s largest export market, with shipments worth 21 billion euros (US$28 billion) last year. A free-trade pact will help Vietnam to further expand its markets of 28 EU members countries with more than 500 million people. Currently, Vietnam has a free-trade agreement with the 10-member ASEAN.
TOURISM
France draws most tourists
France welcomed 84.7 million foreign tourists last year, making it once again the most-visited country in the world, according to a study published on Monday.The figure topped the 2012 number by 2 percent and meant that when it comes to attracting foreign visitors, France easily beats the US and Spain who had 69.8 and 60.7 million foreign visitors each. The study —- which showed figures for France rising from 83 million in 2012 — is published annually by France’s DGCIS international competitiveness agency and by the Banque de France.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in