ENERGY
China’s diesel exports fall
China’s diesel exports fell from a three-month high while imports surged as the government’s decision to halt fuel price cuts amid crude’s crash made domestic sales more attractive. The world’s largest energy consumer shipped overseas 730,000 tonnes of diesel last month, the lowest in five months, data from the General Administration of Customs showed yesterday. While that is more than 10-fold the same period a year ago, exports slid 26 percent from about 980,000 tonnes during the previous month. Imports more than tripled from December last year to 150,000 tonnes.
CARBON
Australia shelves tax
The Australian government will not re-litigate the issue of a carbon tax this electoral term, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said yesterday. “There have not been any discussions about revisiting the carbon tax,” Joyce said in an interview on Sky News TV. Australia’s Senate voted to scrap a price on carbon in 2014 after then-prime minister Tony Abbott said the levy threatened the nation’s economy.
PHILIPPINES
World Bank approves funds
The World Bank on Saturday approved US$450 million of funding for the Philippines’ flagship anti-poverty program, which would provide basic healthcare and education to millions of families until 2019. The financing, under the bank’s Social Welfare Development and Reform Project II, is to cover about 7 percent of the total cost of implementing what is known as the conditional cash transfer program. Manila has allocated about 62.7 billion peso (US$1.32 billion) from this year’s budget for the scheme, which is expanding this year to cover 4.6 million households. A quarter of the Philippines’ 100 million people live below the poverty line.
INDIA
Cities to receive funding
The government is to provide 40 billion rupees (US$580 million) to upgrade the infrastructure of the first 20 cities selected under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s smart cities program, according to a statement from the Ministry of Urban Development on Saturday. Six cities — Jabalpur, Indore and Bhopal in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, and Jaipur and Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan — have set up special purpose vehicles to implement the government’s plan to promote digital and information technology and best practices in urban planning.
OIL
Rosneft ups stake in venture
Rosneft OAO agreed to pay US$500 million to Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) to increase its stake in their Petromonagas crude-processing joint venture. The deal would increase Rosneft’s ownership to 40 percent in the project, which converts heavy oil into synthetic crude, the company said on Saturday. Rosneft previously held 16.7 percent, while PDVSA had the remaining 83.3 percent in the joint venture.
AUTOMAKERS
Volvo recalls 59,000 cars
Sweden’s Volvo Cars said it is recalling 59,000 cars in 40 markets because of faulty software that can shut down the engine and electric system while driving. Group spokesman Stefan Elfstrom said the recall affects only five-cylinder diesel models from its 60 and 70 series built from mid-last year. Elfstrom said on Saturday that the cars have been sold in Sweden, Britain and Germany. Owners are to be asked by letter to contact their dealership for a no-charge fix.
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
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
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