CHINA
Beijing pans EU steel duties
Beijing has accused the EU of hurting competition by imposing anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel, ratcheting up growing global tensions over a flood of low-cost Chinese exports. The EU duties announced on Friday are the latest in a series of measures taken by Europe, the US and other trading partners in response to what they say are improperly low prices for Chinese steel. A Ministry of Commerce statement issued on Saturday said Chinese steel exports could not affect prices because they account for just 5 percent of the European market.
DUBAI
Car plates sold for US$9m
Indian businessman Balwinder Sahani paid 33 million dirhams (US$9 million) for a Dubai license plate for one of his Rolls Royces. Plate “D5” was sold at a government auction on Saturday, according to local media reports. Sahani, who owns a property management company, also purchased another plate for 1 million dirhams. He bought the number “O9” last year at an auction for 25 million dirhams, Sahani told Gulf News. Eighty number plates went under the hammer at Saturday’s auction. Bids for the “D5” plate started at 20 million dirhams and the proceeds of the sale are to go to Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority.
AUTO PARTS
Takata weighs options
Takata Corp, whose defective air bag inflators triggered the biggest recall in auto industry history, hired law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP to help it weigh options that could include bankruptcy or a sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese manufacturer might choose to seek court protection just for its US unit, said one of the people. No final decisions have been made and Tokyo-based Takata continues to seek buyers, the people said. The company is evaluating at least five bids as it confronts the potentially massive cost of recalling 100 million faulty air bag inflators worldwide and lawsuits tied to at least 16 deaths and numerous injuries.
EGYPT
Aid package to come soon
The country might soon receive the first tranche of a crucial US$12 billion aid package, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said on Saturday. Officials in Cairo reached an agreement in principle with the IMF in August for the aid package, but it was conditioned on a series of reforms and remains subject to approval by the IMF’s executive board. On Friday, the IMF’s Middle East head Masood Ahmed said the IMF’s approval could come “by the end of this month” or in early December, adding that about US$6 billion in additional support was expected from other donors. The first tranche of IMF lending will amount to US$2.5 billion, he said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Roche touts new cancer drug
Lung cancer patients who took Roche Holding AG’s new medicine Tecentriq lived about four months longer than those on chemotherapy in a study that would help position the drug to compete in the increasingly crowded field of immunotherapy. People who got Tecentriq lived an average of just under 14 months, compared with about 10 months for those on docetaxel chemotherapy, the Swiss drugmaker said on Sunday at a meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Copenhagen. Tecentriq would compete with recently approved treatments from Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
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