Print

Mail

wiki links

World Business Quick Take

■ Electronics
Nikon focuses on digital
Major Japanese camera maker Nikon Corp plans to discontinue its 35mm compact film camera operations in Japan and focus on digital cameras, a report said Thursday. The company aims to boost profitability by focusing on the higher growth digital field, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said, quoting company sources. A Nikon spokesman said no official decision has been taken but acknowledged film camera sales were shrinking. "It is a fact that the film camera business is shrinking worldwide. Volume sales are also falling but for the time being, we will continue our film camera operations," he said. Global shipments of compact film cameras fell below expectations in the first half to September, dropping to 440,000 from a target of 500,000 units.

■ Trade
China's surplus grows
China's monthly trade surplus swelled to its biggest so far this year last month when exports to the rest of the world surged 36.7 percent, US Customs said yesterday. The surplus ballooned to US$5.74 billion, well above September's US$290 million, potentially triggering renewed criticism from China's trading partners, particularly the US. Some US lawmakers blame job losses in the manufacturing sector on China's fixed exchange rate regime which they blame for an undervalued yuan currency giving the world's fifth largest trading nation an unfair trade advantage. Chinese exports hit US$40.93 billion in October and imports rose an annual 39.7 percent to US$35.19 billion, Customs said on its Web site. In the January to October period, exports rose 32.8 percent over a year earlier to US$348.6 billion while imports were up 40.4 percent at US$333.73 billion.

■ Semiconductors
Chip sales to rise 20%
Worldwide computer-chip sales will rise 20 percent next year to the highest level since 2000, market researcher Gartner Inc said. Sales of almost US$210 billion next year will be the highest since US$222 billion in 2000, Gartner said in a statement. Sales will rise 12 percent this year, to US$174 billion. Chipmakers Texas Instruments Inc and Intel Corp have said sales will rise more than 20 percent this quarter as a three-year slump in personal-computer sales ends and demand in Europe increases. Consumers buying PCs, MP3 audio players and mobile phones with features such as a camera have increased chip sales. Semiconductor stockpiles have fallen to "near ideal levels" after years of declining sales caused rising supplies. Manufacturers also are starting to use more factory capacity.

■ Credit cards
Visa adds new charges
Visa USA Inc told member banks it would charge a large fee only to banks that want to issue debit cards under MasterCard International Inc's brand instead of Visa, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site. Visa initially also wanted to apply the fee to banks that switched to debit cards from American Express Co and Morgan Stanley's Discover unit, the newspaper said. It's restricting the policy to defections to MasterCard to satisfy antitrust concerns from the Justice Department, the newspaper said, citing a memo that Paul Allen, Visa's general counsel, sent to member banks. MasterCard maintains it's incorrect that the Justice Department's concerns have been alleviated by Visa's restricting the exit fees only to banks who switch to MasterCard.

This story has been viewed 1701 times.