Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said China has agreed to lift restrictions on lobster imports by the end of the year, removing one of the last trade barriers imposed by Beijing during a period of tension between the nations.
The rock lobster trade would resume “in time for Chinese New Year,” Albanese said after a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Laos yesterday, referring to the Lunar New Year that is to fall in late January.
RELATIONSHIP
Photo: AP
“We have continued to stabilize the relationship without compromising on any of Australia’s national interests,” Albanese said at a news conference.
“With our patient, calibrated and deliberate approach, we’ve restored Australian trade with our largest export market,” he said.
A restoration of the lobster trade between Australia and China would effectively signal the end of more than four years of economic tensions between the two governments. Beijing imposed curbs on a range of Australian products including barley, wine, coal and seafood following calls by then-Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in 2020 for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
PRODUCTION
In 2018 and 2019, China was the destination for more than 90 percent of Australia’s A$750 million (US$505 million at the current exchange rate) in rock lobster exports, but that fell to about 2 percent by 2022. For last year and this year, Australia’s lobster production is expected to be worth about A$400 million.
If the lobster restrictions are lifted, the only remaining trade bans would be on two small Australian meat works, which contribute a relatively minor amount to trade between the two countries.
Barley tariffs were removed by the Chinese government in August last year, while wine restrictions were removed in March.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS