■TRADE
China faces penalties
The US announced on Tuesday preliminary penalties on imports of some Chinese steel grating, saying the products were being sold at below-market value to gain an unfair trade advantage. The US this year has imposed duties on other China-made steel products because of alleged dumping or export subsidies, including steel pipes. The US Commerce Department said it had preliminarily found that Chinese producers/exporters had sold steel grating in the US at between 14.36 percent and 145.18 percent less than normal value. The Commerce Department is scheduled to make its final determination in April.
■SOUTH KOREA
Output up for fifth month
Industrial output grew for a fifth month last month, official figures showed yesterday, in another sign the economy is fast recovering from the global downturn. Statistics Korea said production in mining and manufacturing rose 17.8 percent last month from a year earlier, the largest year-on-year increase since September 2006. The steep rise was due mainly to the low base in November last year, at the height of the slump. The statistics office said strong demand for semiconductors and cars contributed to the increase. Month-on-month, output rose 1.4 percent last month.
■INVESTMENT
KDB buys Daewoo stake
Korea Development Bank (KDB) will buy a controlling stake in Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co through a private-equity fund for 2.9 trillion won (US$2.5 billion) to help replenish depleting cash at Kumho Asiana Group. The fund will buy 50 percent plus one share in Daewoo Engineering from the South Korean conglomerate for 18,000 won a share, KDB vice chairman Kim Young-kee said in Seoul yesterday. The price is a 41 percent premium to yesterday’s close. Kumho Asiana put Daewoo Engineering up for sale as it faces a cash call of about 4 trillion won from creditors who helped finance the acquisition of South Korea’s third-biggest builder in 2006.
■SPONSORSHIP
Woods scandal cost billions
The sex scandal that engulfed Tiger Woods may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world’s No. 1 golfer up to US$12 billion in losses, a study by two economics professors from the University of California, Davis, showed. The study, released on Monday by researchers Victor Stango and Christopher Knittel, gave an estimate for damage to the market value of Woods’ main sponsors caused by revelations of alleged extramarital affairs that surfaced after he was involved in a minor car accident outside his Florida home on Nov. 27. “Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods’ stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too,” Stango said in a statement released along with the study.
■MINING
Codelco braces for strike
Chile’s Codelco, the world’s No. 1 copper producer, on Tuesday braced for a strike at its giant Chuquicamata mine, after workers rejected a wage offer, stoking supply fears on global copper markets. A strike could start within days at Chuquicamata, which produces about 4 percent of the world’s mined copper. A strike could curb production at the complex by about 1,800 tonnes a day. The vote to strike Chuquicamata came after union workers at Chile’s Altonorte smelter on Monday began a strike. The smelter’s owner Xstrata had already cut output for maintenance work set to last nearly a month.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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