MINING
China delays coal imports
Glencore PLC sees politics as being behind China’s move to delay customs clearances of Australian coal imports and is awaiting a resolution to the “diplomatic dispute,” according to the head of the mining giant. “We’re waiting and monitoring to see what big effect it has, what effect it’s going to have, when they are going to resolve this diplomatic dispute,” Glencore chief executive officer Ivan Glasenberg told analysts on Wednesday after the release of the company’s financial results. Customs clearance of the coal shipments has been delayed by as long as 40 days, raising speculation that China is targeting Australia at a time of strained relations between the two nations. Australia is seeking clarification from the Chinese government on the delays.
AUTOMAKERS
S&P lowers Nissan rating
Nissan Motor Co had its debt rating cut by S&P Global Ratings, which said the Japanese automaker’s earnings would continue to experience downward pressure for as long as two years. The company’s rating was lowered to “A-” from “A”, S&P said in a statement yesterday. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable, S&P said. Nissan cut its full-year earnings forecast this month after third-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates, adding to the headwinds for the automaker grappling with the aftermath of the shock arrest of iconic former chairman Carlos Ghosn.
UNITED KINGDOM
Tax online firms more: report
Internet giants, such as Amazon.com Inc, Asos PLC and Boohoo Group PLC, should pay higher taxes to help save ailing shopping districts that are losing revenue to e-commerce, a government report that was released yesterday said. An online sales tax, higher value-added tax and “green” taxes on shipping and packaging should all be considered to help soften the blow to physical stores as consumers shift to Internet shopping, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee report said. Amazon’s tax rates amount to about 0.7 percent of its UK revenue, while most street-based retailers pay double to eight times that.
EUROZONE
Private sector grows slightly
The eurozone’s private sector this month barely expanded amid a slump in manufacturing that is feeding anxiety over the economic outlook. While IHS Markit’s composite purchasing managers’ index rose to 51.4, indicating a slight pickup in the pace of expansion, growth was modest and driven exclusively by services. The 19-nation economy would struggle to expand by more than 0.1 percent in the first quarter, the report said. New orders fell for a second month and inflation pressures eased.
GERMANY
Saudi curbs could hit income
BAE Systems PLC cautioned that the nation’s restrictions on granting export licenses to Saudi Arabia after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi could weigh on earnings this year. The government has halted the granting of export licenses, which has triggered diplomatic efforts by the UK to resolve the matter. The country is a partner with Britain on programs including the Eurofighter warplane, for which Saudi Arabia is the biggest export customer. Little more was revealed about the status of that new Saudi Arabian order, with BAE saying it “continues to progress towards” an agreement following an outline deal last year.
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
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day