MACROECONOMICS
South Korean exports dive
South Korean exports, the main driver of the national economy, suffered their sharpest drop in more than six years last month, extending what is now a 13-month losing streak. Government data released yesterday showed exports of US$36.7 billion, representing an 18.5 percent annual decline — the steepest rate since August 2009. The report cited a host of factors, such as slowdowns in major economies, including South Korea’s largest trade partner China which accounts for a quarter of the nation’s exports. Falling international oil prices also contributed to the figure, hitting petroleum products that are a mainstay export item for Asia’s fourth-largest economy. South Korea’s exports declined every month last year, resulting in the slowest annual economic growth since 2012. Overseas shipments for the whole year were down 8 percent — the first annual contraction for three years.
STEELMAKERS
Nippon call for buyback
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp cut its full-year profit forecast by more than 20 percent, announced a stock buyback and said that it is in talks to take control of domestic partner Nisshin Steel Co. The world’s second-largest mill reduced its net-income forecast for the year to March by 22 percent to ¥140 billion (US$1.16 billion), while saying it planned to spend as much as ¥100 billion on the buyback. The company is to enter discussions to make Nisshin a subsidiary by March next year, potentially boosting its current minority holding. The international steel industry is in crisis as producers from Asia, Europe and the US contend with a glut. The slump has forced mills worldwide to issue profit warnings, while raising the pressure for consolidation.
BANKING
Nordea eyes liquidity drop
Scandinavia’s largest bank is preparing adjustments that would address a drop in liquidity in the US$400 billion mortgage bond market in Denmark. Nordea Bank AB said it is responding to the fragmentation of issuance that has, in part, followed tighter regulation. The same concern has already prompted Nykredit, Denmark’s largest mortgage lender, to explore changes it said would be unveiled by March. Nordea Kredit, the bank’s Danish mortgage lending unit, is now “working with a number of things,” Nordea chief executive officer Peter Lybecker said. The goal is to “make sure that we, as a large mortgage bank, are able to issue in series which have enough liquidity to attract the right investors,” he said.
AVIATION
Dubai retains pole position
Dubai International Airport remained the world’s busiest for international passengers last year as traffic grew 10.7 percent, boosted by the addition of new airlines and routes, the airport’s operator said yesterday. Annual traffic rose to 78 million passengers from 70.5 million in 2014. In December alone, traffic climbed 8.5 percent to 7.05 million people. The addition of 12 new passenger destinations from Dubai International lifted traffic through the airport as local carriers Emirates and flydubai expanded. Air Canada, German Eurowings and China Southern also began operating in Dubai. Last year saw regional tensions and conflicts in nations including Yemen, Iraq and Syria, but Dubai Airports chief executive officers Paul Griffiths said in a telephone interview: “We haven’t seen any impact from regional conflicts.”
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
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”