Sat, Nov 27, 2010 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  JAPAN

  Deflation continues

  The country’s consumer prices slid for the 20th straight month last month, data showed yesterday, underscoring fears of a delayed exit from crippling deflation as economic recovery loses steam. While the pace of the year-on-year decline eased compared with previous months, analysts said this was because of one-off effects such as a hike in cigarette prices after a tax rise that month, with weak domestic demand still haunting the economy. The country’s core consumer price index fell 0.6 percent last month year-on-year, compared to a 1.1 percent fall in September, as the deflation-mired economy labored under a strong yen, which tends to harm its exporters.

  AUTOMOBILES

  Toyota’s production falls

  Toyota Motor Corp reported a fall in global car production for last month even as it and rivals Nissan and Honda produced a record number of vehicles in China. Toyota said yesterday that global output fell 12.5 percent last month to 687,660 vehicles. Its production in China of 62,124 vehicles last month was up 4.4 percent from the previous year and a record high for the month. Honda Motor Co produced 305,406 vehicles worldwide last month, up 1.4 percent from a year earlier and the 11th straight month of growth. In China alone it made 55,507 vehicles, up 4.4 percent from the year before and a record for October. Nissan Motor Co produced 363,227 vehicles worldwide last month, up 11.6 percent from last year. The company has record production in China, producing 84,686 vehicles last month, up 17 percent from the same month last year.

  FOOD

  Investors to buy Del Monte

  Del Monte Foods said on Thursday it had reached an agreement with investors led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to sell them the firm for US$4 billion, plus its US$1.3 billion dollar debt. Del Monte and the investor group announced they had “signed a definitive agreement under which the sponsors will acquire Del Monte for US$19 per share in cash,” the San Francisco-based firm said in a statement. The transaction represented a premium of about 40 percent over the average price of Del Monte shares during the past three months.

  MINING

  Rare earth deal planned

  South Korea and Japan agreed to cooperate on mining rare earths and developing processing technologies as they seek to ensure supplies of the raw materials used in electric cars and wind turbines. The South Korean government proposed working-level meetings over the joint effort, the country’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The governments will also work together on development projects for liquefied natural gas, the statement said.

  SOUTH KOREA

  Current-account surplus up

  The country’s current-account surplus widened to a three-month high as goods shipments weathered a rise of 10.1 percent in the won in the past six months. The surplus was US$5.37 billion last month, up from a revised US$3.95 billion in September, the Bank of Korea said in a statement yesterday. The surplus on traded goods widened to US$6.54 billion last month from a revised US$5.57 billion in September, the bank said. The services deficit, which measures the flow of travel, transport costs and royalties, was US$1.69 billion last month, compared with a revised US$1.96 billion in September.
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