SMARTPHONES
Apple wants concessions
Apple Inc wants India to offer tax concessions on iPhones that the company plans to manufacture in the country, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The company in October wrote to the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry seeking lower import and manufacturing duties, the person said. The concessions should continue even after the Indian government rolls out its goods and services tax, which is expected to subsume all existing tariffs, the person said.
CONSTRUCTION
GIC to buy Hammerson stake
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte will pay about US$60 million for a 50 percent stake in a leisure and dining development in Britain, a joint statement said on Friday. GIC will pay British property firm Hammerson PLC £48.5 million (US$59.6 million) for a larger stake in the newly opened Watermark development in Southampton, England, the statement said. GIC already has a stake in the newly opened lifestyle complex through a joint venture with Hammerson and the partnership is to be extended. Formerly known as the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, GIC manages Singapore’s foreign reserves with a focus on long-term performance.
UNITED KINGDOM
Labor outlook ‘bleak’
The outlook for the nation’s labor market is “fairly bleak” amid the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and low levels of productivity, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said. Slower growth, lower real wages and increasing precariousness in the workforce will be the major challenges for the UK government and businesses over the next 12 months, the institute said on Friday. Companies could also be faced with a shortage of workers from the EU and British lawmakers should clarify the status of EU citizens in the country, it said.
ENERGY
Solar firms selling at loss
Solar manufacturers, led by China’s Trina Solar Ltd (天合光能), are probably selling at a loss after prices fell to a record low this week. The global spot market price for solar panels fell 2.4 percent to an average of US$0.36 a watt on Wednesday, according to PVinsights. That is the bottom end of the cost range for most producers in the third quarter, said Jeffrey Osborne, an analyst at Cowen & Co. Suppliers expanded capacity last year while demand is expected to slow this year, helping to push prices down. “Certainly it would be a challenge for anyone to make money at that price,” Osborne said.
FOOD
Kinder pioneer dies
An Italian foundation for children said that William Salice, credited with launching Kinder Sorpresa, a hollow chocolate egg with a surprise tiny toy inside, has died. He was 83. The nonprofit Color Your Life foundation, whose establishment Salice inspired, on Friday said that a funeral would be held yesterday near Pavia in northern Italy. Italian news reports said Salice died on Thursday evening in Pavia. Ferrero, the worldwide sweets maker, says Michelle Ferrero envisioned the egg treat so kids could have Easter every day, and Salice developed the product’s launch and marketing.
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
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