ELECTRONICS
Samsung board head guilty
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd board chairman Lee Sang-hoon was sentenced yesterday to a prison term of one-and-a-half years for sabotaging legitimate union activities, the Seoul Central District Court said. Lee and about 25 other defendants were charged with sabotaging union activities by subcontracted workers at Samsung Electronics’ repair unit, Samsung Electronics Service Co Ltd. When union activities took place at Samsung Electronics Service in 2013, Samsung Group’s elite strategy office implemented measures to hinder union operations, the court ruled.
AVIATION
Idle aircraft impounded
Cash-strapped carrier Hong Kong Airlines Ltd (香港航空) has had seven idle aircraft impounded at the Hong Kong International Airport after it failed to make payments, authorities said yesterday, with the firm hit by a plunge in tourist numbers caused by long-running protests. The Hong Kong Airport Authority announced that it seized the aircraft under an ordinance that addresses overdue charges. The airline, which has a fleet of 39 planes, said that the impounded aircraft were not operating routes. “Our operation remains normal,” the carrier said.
MEXICO
Minimum wage raised 20%
The government on Monday raised the national minimum wage 20 percent, but it still doe not amount to even US$1 an hour. From Jan. 1, the lowest legal wage would be 123.22 pesos (US$6.51) a day, up from 120.68 pesos a day this year, the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare said. While the increase is well above the 3 percent annual inflation rate, it is barely enough to keep one person above the poverty line, even though the country’s constitution says it should be enough to support a worker and his family.
CANADA
GDP growth of 1.6% forecast
Minister of Finance Bill Morneau on Monday predicted that growth would come in at 1.6 percent next year, the best of any G7 country besides the US, but that the country’s deficit would also increase. Growth for this year would reach 1.7 percent, Morneau said in his first update on the economy since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals lost their majority in the House of Commons following October elections. The government projects that the deficit would fall to C$11.6 billion (US$8.8 billion) in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Plant-based poultry targeted
Beyond Meat Inc is pushing further past its plant-based beef and pork into poultry, and chief executive officer Ethan Brown says that the product line is expected to finally get more attention next year. “You’ll see some exciting things from us in the poultry space in 2020,” Brown said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday. “I can’t name specific partners or developments.”
MACROECONOMICS
IMF offers DR Congo credit
The IMF on Monday said that it has agreed on a US$368.4 million credit facility for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), to enable its authorities “to meet their urgent balance of payment needs.” “The economic environment remains challenging and vulnerable to shocks,” the IMF said in a statement. “Real GDP growth is projected to decelerate to 4.5 percent in 2019 from 5.8 percent in 2018... International reserves have fallen to critically low levels.” President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed to enact sweeping reform and root out corruption.
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
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
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