Mon, Nov 03, 2008 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  ■ MANUFACTURING

  Steel plant halts work

  Steelmaking is on hold at the ArcelorMittal plant in Cleveland, Ohio, because of a drop in business. Both blast furnaces were idled last week, and the company plans to offer voluntary layoffs with partial pay starting this week. About 1,450 union members work at the plant. Mark Granakis, president of the United Steelworkers local in Cleveland said there could be as many as 400 job reductions. ArcelorMittal spokeswoman Katie Patterson says updated information could come on Wednesday when the company announces third quarter earnings.

  ■MINING

  Vale slashes output

  Brazilian mining giant Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, said it was to slash output at mines in Brazil and elsewhere by up to 10 percent from Saturday to adjust to shrinking demand caused by the global financial crisis. Vale will cut production at facilities in Brazil, China, France, Indonesia and Norway, and some 2,300 workers — nearly four percent of the company’s workforce of 62,600 — will be put on temporary leave, it said in a statement. The company decided to reduce “the mineral production of iron by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons per year,” Rio-based Vale said in its statement on Friday.

  ■GERMANY

  Merkel touts rescue plan

  Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called on banks struggling to cope with the fallout from the global financial crisis to take advantage of a state rescue package. The help was available to the banks and financial institutions to ensure they could continue with their primary functions of “lending and managing savings,” Merkel said in a video message on her Web site. Weekly news magazine Der Spiegel said on Saturday that the government was considering new measures based on the British government’s bank rescue plan, to be applied in the coming days. On Friday troubled German property lender Hypo Real Estate became the first private financial institution to take advantage of the government package.

  ■SOUTH KOREA

  Bank of Korea confident

  The nation is unlikely to fall into a financial crisis because of unstable financial market conditions stemming from the global credit turmoil, the Bank of Korea said. “Households, companies and banks’ ability to endure a crisis is maintained at a good level in general,” the central bank said in its semiannual Financial Stability Report. “Chances aren’t high it will lead to an overall crisis of our financial system.” The bank cut interest rates by a record in an emergency move last week after the won plunged to a 10-year low and the Kospi stock index fell the most in two decades.

  ■ELECTRONICS

  Sanyo eyes Panasonic shares

  Sanyo Electric Co is largely in agreement with a bid by Panasonic Corp to take a majority stake in the company and thereby become Japan’s largest electronics manufacturer, a press report said yesterday. Panasonic president Fumio Otsubo and Sanyo president Seiichiro Sano reached the “broad agreement” last month, public broadcaster NHK without naming its sources. Panasonic would make the bid public, possibly this week, if it managed to reach agreement with Sanyo’s top shareholders, the network said. The major shareholders — Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the Daiwa Securities SMBC group and the Goldman Sachs group — hold a total of nearly 430 million preferred shares in Sanyo.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    For Bangladesh, just playing is a win

  • 2

    PSG beaten by Monaco before Chelsea game

  • 3

    Liverpool rocked by last-gasp defeat at Wolves

  • 4

    Taiwan defeated in Asian Cup opener

  • 5

    Yamal bends Barcelona past Athletic Bilbao