■AUSTRALIA
Iron ore, coal exports surge
Australian exports of iron ore and coal hit record levels in the final quarter of last year thanks to strong demand from Asia, official figures showed. Iron ore exports reached 98 million tonnes and coal shipments hit 74 million tonnes, with most of the shipments going to South Korea, Japan and China, the Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said. “The record volumes of bulk commodity exports in the December quarter were underpinned by demand from steel mills and power stations in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China,” bureau deputy executive director Paul Morris said.
■ECONOMICS
US household wealth rises
US household wealth jumped last year for the first time since a brutal recession struck the country, underscoring the impact of an economic recovery, data from the central bank showed on Thursday. The net worth of US households — the difference between their assets and liabilities — stood at US$54.18 trillion at the end of last year, a 5.4 percent increase from the previous year, the US Federal Reserve said. The last time Americans saw their net worth increase on an annual basis was in 2007.
■ENERGY
Italy building big solar plant
Europe’s most powerful solar power plant is set to start operations in Italy later this year, the US firm building the installation on an area as large as 120 football pitches said on Thursday. The plant in Rovigo near Venice in northeast Italy will take up 850,000m² and produce 72 megawatts, SunEdison said in a statement announcing the start of construction. The total investment will be between 200 million euros (US$273 million) and 250 million euros, the company said. Italy is the second-largest power producer in Europe after Germany.
■BANKING
Citigroup expects profits
Citigroup Inc is poised to return to “sustained profitability” as it sheds risky assets and focuses on emerging markets, CEO Vikram Pandit said on Thursday. Pandit didn’t give a timetable for returning to profitability, but he said Citigroup, the hardest hit US bank during the financial crisis, saw big opportunities in emerging markets, including Latin America and Asia, which generated about half of its revenue last year.
■HOME APPLIANCES
Haier to sell GE products
Chinese appliance maker Haier (海爾) said it has teamed up with General Electric to sell GE appliances in rural areas, the focus of subsidies intended to boost spending by hundreds of millions of farmers. Haier’s own sales of appliances jumped 30 percent last year thanks to a government program that pays subsidies to rural dwellers who trade in old appliances to buy new ones. The company said it was also working with Hewlett-Packard Co in rural sales through its Haier Ri Ri Shun Home Appliance Shops.
■GAMING
US videogame sales dip
NPD Group on Thursday said US videogame sales slid 15 percent last month to US$1.26 billion, defying optimism that the industry would rebound on a reviving economy. “The industry realized another month of decreased sales as compared to last year,” NPD analyst Anita Frazier said. Sales of videogame hardware plunged 20 percent to US$426.4 million, NPD said. While overall sales of videogame consoles dropped, Microsoft Xbox 360 outsold its rivals for the first time since September 2007.
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