TRADE
Japan exports fall 3.3%
Japanese exports fell for the fifth straight month last month as the country contends with a strong yen and the ongoing impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Exports dropped 3.3 percent from a year earlier to ¥5.78 trillion (US$75.6 billion), the finance ministry said yesterday. However, with imports last month rising 9.9 percent to ¥5.71 trillion, Japan recorded a trade surplus of ¥72.5 billion, the ministry said. Exports are a key driver of the world’s No. 3 economy, and the country is hoping that overseas demand will help it bounce back from the disaster. Data earlier this week showed that Japan’s economy is still mired in recession, shrinking for the third straight quarter in the April-June period.
MINING
Colombia mine to expand
Mining giants BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata said yesterday they planned a US$1.3 billion expansion of their joint venture Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia. Each will contribute one-third of the total cost, BHP said in a statement, adding that it would boost annual saleable thermal coal production by 8 million tonnes to about 40 million tonnes. BHP Billiton Energy Coal president Jimmy Wilson said the firm was committed to continuing to produce as much thermal coal as possible. Construction will begin this year, with completion expected in 2013. Ramp-up to expanded capacity of 40 million tonnes per year is expected by the end of 2015.
TELECOMS
Temasek sells Shin shares
A Temasek Holdings affiliate sold a stake in Shin Corp PCL, the Thai telecommunications company it bought five years ago in a deal that sparked protests and culminated in a coup that overthrew Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Cedar Holdings Ltd, partly owned by Singapore’s state-investment company, sold 7.9 percent of Shin to a group of investors for about 9.2 billion baht (US$308 million), Shin said yesterday. The shares were sold for 35.50 baht to 37.25 baht each, a discount of as much as 11 percent from Wednesday’s closing price, according to a term sheet for the sale obtained by Bloomberg.
BEVERAGES
Coke to lift PRC investment
Coca-Cola Co said it would invest US$4 billion in China in the next three years starting next year. In the first half of this year, the company’s sales in China exceeded 1 billion unit cases, the US beverage maker said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Coca-Cola is also “actively talking” to authorities in Shanghai, China, about the possibility of listing its shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with nothing imminent, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent.
INTERNET
Amazon attracts most hits
One out of five Internet users visited online retail giant Amazon in June, tracking firm comScore said on Wednesday. Amazon sites had 282.2 million visitors during the month, or 20.4 percent of the worldwide Internet population, comScore said in a report on the top global retail and auction sites. Online auction titan eBay received 223.5 million visitors in June, or 16.2 percent of the total number of Internet users. China’s Alibaba (阿里巴巴) was next with 156.7 million visitors, or 11.3 percent of total Internet users, followed by Apple with 134.2 million visitors, or 9.7 percent of total Internet users. Japan’s Rakuten rounded out the top five with 57.7 million visitors in June, or 4.2 percent of total Internet users.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such
SENSOR BUSINESS: The Taiwanese company said that a public tender offer would begin on May 7 through its wholly owned subsidiary Yageo Electronics Japan Yageo Corp (國巨), one of the world’s top three suppliers of passive components, yesterday said it is to launch a tender offer to fully acquire Japan’s Shibaura Electronics Co for up to ¥65.57 billion (US$429.37 million), with an aim to expand its sensor business. The tender offer would be a crucial step for the company to expand its sensor business, Yageo said. Shibaura Electronics is the world’s largest supplier of thermistors, with a market share of 13 percent, research conducted in 2022 by the Japanese firm showed. If a deal goes ahead, it would be the second acquisition of a sensor business since