HONG KONG
PMI falls on dispute, protests
Sentiment among the territory’s manufacturers last month worsened again as the US-China trade spat rumbled on and the economy buckled under the brunt of anti-government protests. The latest reading for the Markit Hong Kong purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slid to 40.8 from 43.8 in July, a second straight monthly drop, according to data released by IHS Markit. It is a fresh low for the indicator of manufacturing intentions in data going back to at least September 2016. Figures below 50 indicate contraction.
AUTOMAKERS
Japanese brands hurt by row
Japanese automakers posted sharper sales falls in South Korea last month, industry data showed yesterday, hit by a consumer boycott of Japanese vehicles amid a worsening diplomatic row between the countries. Toyota Motor Corp and other Japanese automakers saw South Korean sales tumble 57 percent to 1,398 vehicles from a year earlier, steeper than the 17 percent fall in July. Toyota’s South Korean sales fell 59 percent to 542 from a year earlier, while Honda Motor’s sales tumbled 81 percent to 138.
GERMANY
Chemicals output down
A weakening manufacturing sector in the country and around the world weighed heavily on its chemicals output in the second quarter of this year, the VCI industry federation said yesterday. Production was down 8.8 percent annually in the April-to-June period, it said, making for revenues 4.3 percent lower at 48 billion euros (US$53 billion). Looking ahead to the full year, the VCI predicted a fall of 6 percent in chemicals production, significantly worse than its first-quarter forecast of a 3.5 percent decline, while revenues would slump 5 percent to 193 billion euros.
UNITED STATES
Factory output declines
A trade dispute with China and slower global growth are weighing on the economy, reducing factory output last month for the first time in three years. A survey by the Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, on Tuesday showed that factory production and new orders fell sharply last month and are shrinking. The institute’s manufacturing index slid to 49.1 last month from 51.2 in July. That is the lowest reading issued since January 2016. Any reading below 50 signals a contraction in the sector. Manufacturers also cut jobs, the survey found.
INTERNET
Facebook to hide ‘like’ count
Facebook Inc on Tuesday confirmed that it is dabbling with no longer making a public display of how many “likes” are racked up by posts. Such a change could ease pressure to win approval with images, videos or comments and, instead, get people to simply focus on what is in posts. “We are considering hiding like counts from Facebook,” a spokesman said on Tuesday.
RUSSIA
Moscow might open Arctic
Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Dmitry Kobylkin yesterday said he supports allowing private oil and gas companies to work on the Arctic shelf. Speaking to reporters at an economic forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok, Kobylkin said he supported “any decision linked to an increase in investment in projects related to hydrocarbons.” Only state-controlled Gazprom PJSC and Rosneft PJSC are authorized to operate on the country’s Arctic shelf.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said. The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs. The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company
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