CHINA
Exports to N Korea shrink
The government last month kept fuel exports to North Korea to a trickle and exported no corn for a third straight month to its neighbor, data showed yesterday, as sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program continued to bite. Official data from the General Administration of Customs showed a sixth straight month of no shipments of diesel, gasoline and fuel oil. The country has traditionally been the main source of the North’s fuel. The only oil products sent to North Korea were 3 tonnes of jet fuel and 55 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas. It was also the sixth month that the country imported no iron ore, coal or lead from North Korea, in line with UN sanctions aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon its weapons program.
INSURANCE
Distracted driving priced in
US insurance companies are putting a price on the risk of distracted driving. Last year, a ticket for using a mobile phone while driving added US$226 to the average insurance policy, an increase of 16 percent, according to a new analysis from Zebra, a Texas-based start-up that helps people weigh insurance rates. That is up from just US$23 in the span of two years, but still a lot less than some other violations. Underwriters deem a range of relatively innocuous incidents and conditions far more dangerous. Driving too slowly draws an average premium penalty of US$345 a year, while passing a school bus will cost an additional US$386 a year. Being old or being young is pricey, too. Drivers aged 80 pay about 22 percent more than the average driver, while 18-year-olds, or their parents, have to fork over almost three times the national average for coverage.
SAUDI ARABIA
Bourse IPO delayed to 2019
The kingdom is delaying the initial public offering (IPO) of its stock exchange on hopes that a potential MSCI Inc upgrade could boost its value, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Tadawul, as the Middle East’s biggest stock exchange is known, has pushed back plans to sell shares to next year at the earliest, from this year, said the people, asking not to be identified. The exchange is hoping that waiting until after a possible classification as an emerging market in June could improve trading volumes and help it achieve a better valuation for its owner, the Public Investment Fund.
AUTOMAKERS
PSA Group revenue soars
French automaker PSA Group posted a 42 percent increase in first-quarter revenue, lifted by its acquisition of Opel-Vauxhall. Group revenue rose to 18.18 billion euros (US$22.2 billion), the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars said yesterday, as vehicle deliveries advanced 44 percent. Following a 2014 bailout, PSA has recovered to record profitability and is applying its turnaround lessons to Opel, acquired from General Motors Co last year. It is engaged in a standoff with Germany’s IG Metall over plans to suspend a pay rise negotiated by the union.
INTERNET
Netflix taps junk bonds
Netflix Inc is tapping the junk-bond market again to help finance its next wave of shows. The world’s largest online television network is selling US$1.9 billion of senior bonds in its largest-ever US dollar-denominated offering. That is up from a planned US$1.5 billion, a statement on Monday showed. The 10.5-year notes might yield 5.875 percent, within the initially discussed range of 5.75 to 6 percent, said people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified.
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
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
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