GERMANY
GDP grows by 0.4%
Strong foreign trade and buoyant consumption drove Europe’s largest economy to better-than-expected growth in the second quarter, federal statistics office Destatis said yesterday. GDP grew by 0.4 percent between April and June, adjusted for seasonal, calendar and price effects — twice as fast as analysts surveyed by Factset predicted. However, the final figure, which confirmed a preliminary Destatis reading earlier this month, represented a slowdown from the unexpectedly strong 0.7 percent expansion in the first quarter.
TRANSPORTATION
Iran firms eye canal pie
Iranian firms want to participate in the construction of a massive canal across Nicaragua that a Chinese company has vowed to build, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Javad Zarif said on Tuesday. Representatives of private Iranian companies accompanying Zarif on a visit to Nicaragua’s capital discussed the possibility of getting a slice of the US$50 billion project, the minister told a news conference. The ambitious plan calls for a waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans that would rival the century-old one in Panama, which has recently been expanded to take bigger ships. Work on Nicaragua’s canal, meant to have started two years ago, has not begun.
AUTOMAKERS
VW resolves dispute
Volkswagen AG and two of its parts suppliers on Tuesday resolved a contract dispute that had hit output at more than half of the carmaker’s German plants. After more than 20 hours of negotiations that went on through the night, VW said it had settled its differences with CarTrim, which makes seats, and ES Automobilguss, which produces cast iron parts needed to make gearboxes, but gave no details. The suppliers were seeking compensation for lost revenue they said ran into tens of millions of euros after VW canceled a contract. VW on Tuesday said that the suppliers had agreed to start delivering parts again and the affected plants would gradually resume production.
MANUFACTURING
Honda normalizes production
Honda Motor Co has resumed full production of motorcycles at a Japanese plant that was idled by major earthquakes in April. The company yesterday said that it had “virtually normalized” production at a factory in Kumamoto, on the southern island of Kyushu, as of Tuesday. Honda said it was still working to fully stabilize its supply network for engine parts for mini vehicles, transferring some of the production from Kumamoto to a factory Suzuka, in eastern Japan. The motorcycle plant was severely damaged and initially it was unsafe to go inside to inspect it due to repeated aftershocks.
AGRIBUSINESS
COFCO to buy out Nidera
State-owned China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp (COFCO, 中國糧油集團) will buy out minority shareholders in Netherlands-based commodity trader Nidera BV and take full ownership of the company, it said, as it seeks to become an agribusiness powerhouse. COFCO’s deal to buy out the remaining 49 percent of Nidera, which trades grains and soybeans among other agricultural commodities, comes two years after it bought more than half of the company for US$1.2 billion. Financial terms of the new deal, which awaits regulatory approval, were not disclosed.
PROTECTIONISM: China hopes to help domestic chipmakers gain more market share while preparing local tech companies for the possibility of more US sanctions Beijing is stepping up pressure on Chinese companies to buy locally produced artificial intelligence (AI) chips instead of Nvidia Corp products, part of the nation’s effort to expand its semiconductor industry and counter US sanctions. Chinese regulators have been discouraging companies from purchasing Nvidia’s H20 chips, which are used to develop and run AI models, sources familiar with the matter said. The policy has taken the form of guidance rather than an outright ban, as Beijing wants to avoid handicapping its own AI start-ups and escalating tensions with the US, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
Her white-gloved, waistcoated uniform impeccable, 22-year-old Hazuki Okuno boards a bullet train replica to rehearse the strict protocols behind the smooth operation of a Japanese institution turning 60 Tuesday. High-speed Shinkansen trains began running between Tokyo and Osaka on Oct. 1, 1964, heralding a new era for rail travel as Japan grew into an economic superpower after World War II. The service remains integral to the nation’s economy and way of life — so keeping it dazzlingly clean, punctual and accident-free is a serious job. At a 10-story, state-of-the-art staff training center, Okuno shouted from the window and signaled to imaginary colleagues, keeping
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
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