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World Business Quick Take

■ELECTRONICS

NXP to close plants

NXP Semiconductors BV said it would close or sell four plants and cut 4,500 jobs. NXP, the former chipmaking arm of Royal Philips Electronics NV that was bought by a group of private equity investors in 2006, said it was responding to “a challenging economic environment, a weak US dollar” and its own decision to sell most of its wireless chip manufacturing operations to STMicroelectronics NV in April. The company said in a statement yesterday it would close or sell factories in Fishkill, New York; Nijmegen, Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany and Caen, France.



■AUTOMOBILES

Mitsubishi dumps washers

Mitsubishi Electric Corp said it would exit the washing machine business next month and focus on air conditioners and other products. Sales of washing machines were US$108 million last fiscal year, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement on its Web site. Mitsubishi will take a charge for the withdrawal in the second quarter. It said the charge would not affect its earnings forecast.



■CLOTHING

Strikes at Vietnam factories

Some 2,000 workers at two foreign-owned companies have gone on strike, demanding better pay and allowances, company and union officials said yesterday. More than 1,400 workers at Valley View Vietnam, a Taiwanese-owned garment company based in Danang, have been on strike since Thursday, demanding a monthly gasoline allowance of US$6 and an increase in their daily meal allowance. Meanwhile, more than 400 workers at South Korea’s Daewoong and J. Young, a garment company in the outlying Ho Chi Minh City district of Hoc Mon, are demanding a pay raise of US$18.



■CHINA

Industrial output slows

Industrial output growth fell to its lowest level in 18 months last month, adding to signs that the country’s rapid economic expansion faces a sharp downturn, according to data reported yesterday. Last month’s industrial output grew 12.8 percent over the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. That was 1.9 percentage points below July’s figure and 4.7 percentage points below last month.



■TELECOMS

Temasek loses appeal

Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by Singapore’s state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings over a ruling that it breached anti-monopoly laws, the court spokesman said yesterday. “Yes, it’s true,” Djoko Sarwoko said, confirming the court’s ruling. Temasek said it had not broken the law, and appealed to the top court in May after the Central Jakarta district court upheld a ruling by the competition watchdog and ordered it to divest its holdings in either PT Telkomsel or PT Indosat. They are Indonesia’s two largest mobile operators, by subscribers.



■VIETNAM

Tax targets foreign gas

The government will impose a 5 percent tax on imported gasoline to offset state subsidies as world oil prices hover around US$100 a barrel, state media reported yesterday. The new tax will take effect on Monday, the online VnExpress newspaper said, citing a decision signed by Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan. Last year, the government scrapped a previous 5 percent gasoline import tax. The move has cost the government US$1.5 billion in tax revenues.


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