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learn Chinese online – Peruvian president calls for economic stability to reduce poverty

lessmanbjcn — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:43:57 +0000

Peruvian President Alan Garcia Thursday urged to keep the country’s economy stable in order to attract more investments and fight against poverty and unemployment.

“My request is for the journalists, the analysts, the politicians, the candidates, to contribute to the fiscal and economic order, which is crucial to encouraging private sector investments that help create jobs, boost production, increase tax revenues and develop more projects,” Garcia said during the inauguration of a mattress factory expansion.

Some 130,000 new public projects, with an investment of 65 billion soles (32 billion U.S. dollars) have been carried out since he took office in 2006, said Garcia, adding that this would not be possible without economic stability.

The president said the stability is fundamental not only in one year, but also in the long term for the coming 10, 15 and 20 years.

Peru’s economy must grow between 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent this year and keep an average annual growth of 6 percent for the coming years to reduce the poverty rate, which currently stands at 34.8 percent, analysts said.

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Chinese School – Chinese gov’t moves to improve food safety systems

lessmanbjcn — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:42:40 +0000

China’s food monitoring and risk assessment systems are to be upgraded with new technologies and more funding, said a government report received by Xinhua Friday.

The report was submitted to China’s top legislature by a food safety office under the State Council, or the Cabinet, which gave an account of the government’s work in implementing the Food Safety Law.

To improve assessment of safety risks of food and agricultural products, the government had already drawn up regulations and set up national expert commissions, it said.

The government would work to build a more extensive safety risk assessment system, make assessment more scientific and standardized, and broaden its information monitoring, it said.

The report said the Ministry of Health had established 31 food safety monitor centers at provincial level and 312 at county level, while the Ministry of Agriculture had expanded monitoring of quality safety of agricultural products to 259 big and medium cities.

However, it noted that China’s food safety monitoring was still in its infancy and was technologically weak, and said government departments would increase spending, among other measures, to improve monitoring.

The report gave no details for the spending plans.

Food safety becomes a nationwide concern in China after a spate of food safety incidents such as food contamination and illegal use of prohibited ingredients and additives in food production.

The most recent major scandal involved a brand of edible oil, which was found to contain ingredients that can lead to cancer.

In 2008, melamine-tainted milk caused at least six babies died and 300,000 fell ill after they were fed with the contaminated baby formula.

To address the concern, the State Council set up a national food safety commission and appoint Vice Premier Li Keqiang as it head in February 2009.Later that month, China’s top legislature adopted the Food Safety law.

The State Council office of food safety is a working body of the commission.

China Travel – GM August sales drop 25 percent year on year

lessmanbjcn — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:47:39 +0000

A GM sign is seen at a GM dealership in Miami, Florida August 12, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters photo)

General Motors Co. Wednesday announced an 11 percent drop in auto sales in August for its four core brands compared with a year-ago when sales were fueled by the government’s Cash for Clunkers incentives. The automaker saw a 25 percent decrease in total sales for the month.

Retail sales, excluding fleet sales, for all eight brands were down 29 percent.

“Last year’s Cash for Clunkers program spiked industry sales in 2009, so results this August were not surprisingly a bit mixed,” said Don Johnson, vice president of U.S. Sales Operations.

GM’s four viable brands were reported a 7 percent dropoff from July, suggesting the road to recovery continues to be a long and sputtering one.

The fastest growing brand is Buick, which is up 61 percent for the year and 66 percent in August.

Cadillac saw an 83 percent increase in August and is pacing 50 percent ahead of a year ago.

Chevrolet took the biggest hit in sales last month with a 22 percent decline from August 2009 but is up 19 percent year-to-date. The brand is counting on the launch of the Volt electric vehicle in November and the Cruze compact car this month to boost brand sales.

GMC saw a 12 percent increase for the month and is up 26 percent for the year.

Among the discontinued brands, Hummer for the month was down 74 percent, Pontiac down 99 percent, Saab is off by 91 percent and Saturn is down 100 percent.

GM’s inventory at the end of August was about 452,000 units, which is about 73,000 higher than a year ago when consumers were taking advantage of the government stimulus program.

China Business – Chrysler August sales up 7 percent, as GM, Ford report drops

lessmanbjcn — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 06:41:19 +0000

Chrysler Group LLC on Wednesday reported a 7-percent U.S. sales increase in August, while Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. saw declines for the month compared with a year ago, when products were sold well due to government incentives.

Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp. reported its U.S. sales down 34 percent, and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. was also down 33 percent for the month. Nissan North America Inc. reported a 31-percent drop for the month.

Last year, many buyers traded in their gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient Japanese brands.

For Chrysler, August was the fifth consecutive month of year- over-year sales increases.

Ford saw August sales fall 11 percent from a year ago, but despite the setback, sales for the first eight months of the year is up 18 percent.

Ford said its retail share increased for the 22nd time in the last 23 months.

GM saw a total decrease of 25 percent in August. Retail sales, excluding fleet sales, for all eight GM brands were down 29 percent. Fleet sales were 28 percent of the total for August.

GM’s four viable brands also reported a 7-percent dropoff from July.

The fastest growing brand is Buick, which is up 61 percent for the year and 66 percent in August.

Cadillac saw an 83-percent increase in August and is pacing 50 percent ahead of a year ago. Chevrolet took the biggest hit in sales last month with a 22-percent decline from August 2009 but is up 19 percent year-to-date. GMC saw a 12-percent increase for the month and is up 26 percent for the year.

Among the discontinued brands, Hummer for the month was down 74 percent, Pontiac down 99 percent, Saab is off 91 percent and Saturn is down 100 percent.

GM’s inventory at the end of August was about 452,000 units, which is about 73,000 higher than a year ago when consumers were taking advantage of the government stimulus program. GM has a 76- day supply of vehicles.

Chrysler finished the month with a 50-day supply of inventory.

HSK – Yemenia Airways denies French Air Austral’s accusation over alleged possible collision: report

lessmanbjcn — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:38:02 +0000

The Yemenia Airways denied French company Air Austral’s accusation over the alleged possible collision between a Boeing of the Air Austral and a Airbus of Yemenia, which was narrowly averted in the skies over Madagascar last week, Yemen’s state media reported on Wednesday.

“We and our counterparts in Comoros are investigating the alleged possible collision between the Yemeni and French aircraft in the skies of Madagascar Island on Aug. 24,” the official Saba news agency quoted a spokesman of the Yemenia Airways as saying on Wednesday.

The Yemenia spokesman told Saba that the Yemenia Airways had two flights on Aug. 24 and reports of the crews confirmed that there was no any alert warning of a near collision with another airplane during the two flights.

“The recording devices of the two Yemeni aircraft did not show any alert warning of possible collision or flying close to another plane,” said the Yemenia spokesman.

Yemenia Airways asked the data of the alleged incident from French company Air Austral for more investigation, the spokesman said, adding that” Yemenia Airways will retain the rights to prosecute the French company Air Austral in case those allegations have been proved null and void.”

Last Thursday, French authorities and Air Austral told media that a collision between a Boeing 777 of the French company Air Austral and an Airbus A330s of Yemenia Airways were narrowly averted off Madagascar on Tuesday (Aug. 24).

The aircraft of Air Austral was flying from Paris to Reunion on Tuesday when the alert warning of a possible collision sounded after a Yemenia flight flew closer to it, said Alain Abadie, secretary general of Air Austral.

The Yemenia plane, which was en route from Sanaa to Moroni, Comoros, flew 300 feet higher, and started to land at the airport of Moroni without permission from the port’s air traffic control, according to Abadie.

learn mandarin – New Zealand Fonterra’s dairy prices rise sharply

lessmanbjcn — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:37:17 +0000

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra’s latest global online dairy products auction has seen a price rise of almost 17 percent on last month.

It’s the first rise in four months of falling prices.

Whole milk powder prices averaged 3,522 U.S. dollars per tonne, up almost 19 percent on last month’s auction, Fonterra said on Thursday.

Skim milk powder price rose almost 16 percent, averaging 3,197 U.S. dollars, while anhydrous milk fat was up almost 9.5 percent to 4,681 U.S. dollars per tonne.

Fonterra’s global dairy trade manager, Paul Grave, said a record 151 bidders reflected the market’s positive tone over the past month.

China Business – Philippine cable TV losing $140 mln yearly through illegal connections

lessmanbjcn — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:43:16 +0000

Philippine cable operators intend to make their sector profitable again by going digital and gaining support from legislators to criminals cable theft, after losing 6. 3 billion pesos (140 million U.S. dollars) to illegal cable television (CATV) connections annually, according to local media Monday.

Already, Sky Cable is converting 80 percent of its half a million subscribers from analog to digital by year-end. The company will spend 200 million pesos (4.4 million U.S. dollars) in 2010 for cable digitization.

Signal theft is so rampant that the Philippine Cable TV Association or PCTA estimates that every legitimate cable TV line has an illegal connection because of”colorum”or illegally tapped lines, which adversely affect the signal fed into a subscriber’s home.

PCTA Chairman Jose Lobregat cites that “there is a one-on-one ratio between a paying cable subscriber and an illegal connect.”

In its efforts to curb rampant signal theft, the PCTA believed that digitization is the initial step in addressing the illegal connection problem.

“Digitization would allow the providers to carry more channels and more value added services,”he stressed.

“This would allow the provider to recover quickly the cost of their investment which they can spend on improving the service such as going digital and adding more content and value added services,”the Chairman noted.

“It would also improve the service efficiency of the cable operator, as the current analog boxes in use today are almost obsolete and more difficult to maintain.

In addition, the PCTA expects Congress will pass a bill making it a criminal act to steal cables by the end of year or the start of 2011. The proposed bill will also allow them to recover losses from subscriber damage to equipment arising from cable theft.

HSK – Japan’s BOJ convenes extraordinary policy meeting, likely to expand lending program

lessmanbjcn — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:42:19 +0000

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Monday convened an extraordinary policy board meeting with members expected to consider in depth the burning issue of implementing further monetary easing measures in the face of a strong yen.

Japan’s rising currency has been playing havoc on Japan’s export-led recovery and has caused the stock markets to retreat below the key 9,000 psychological line recently as the currency hit 15-year highs against the U.S. Dollar.

The meeting came at a time when the government is widely expected to announce an outline of a new stimulus package possibly as early as Tuesday in a bid to parry the yen’s rise.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa cut short a trip to the U.S. and returned to Tokyo on Sunday, a day earlier than originally scheduled, for the hastily convened gathering.

The central bank said in the statement the policy meeting was to “discuss monetary control matters based on recent economic and financial developments”.

The policy board will discuss the feasibility of expanding one of its lending programs, which is currently designed to provide 20 trillion yen in three-month loans to financial institutions at its policy interest rate of a razor-thin 0.1 percent, sources with knowledge of the mastter said.

The central bank is considering increasing the lending amount to 30 trillion yen (350.55 billion U.S. dollars) and extending the lending period to six months, the sources revealed.

Economists suggest that such measures, if adopted, will help to lower interest rates in the market place and steady the yen at a rate that isn’t pummeling Japanese exporters.

The country remains under pressure to safeguard its fragile recovery, with weak gross domestic product growth of an annualized 0.4 percent in the second quarter pointing to a slowdown.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has already alluded at possible currency intervention steps by saying he would take “determined steps when necessary”.

Kan said he would meet Shirakawa later Monday to discuss foreign exchange rates and possible measures to boost Japan’s economy.

learn mandarin – China’s mutual funds post huge book losses

lessmanbjcn — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:41:09 +0000

China’s securities-based mutual funds reported book losses totaling 439.75 billion yuan (64.64 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half, TX Investment Consulting Co. Ltd., said Monday in a report.

The losses were the second biggest for China’s mutual funds industry in history after the industry’s record losses of 1.08 trillion yuan in the same period of 2008.

The report said that of the 661 mutual funds managed by 60 fund companies in China, 261 equities-oriented funds reported combined losses of 296.3 billion yuan.

The TX report said 155 funds that had invested part of their capital in stocks lost 120.5 billion yuan.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 26.82 percent in the first half, sending the prices of most equity funds below their 1-yuan face value per share.

The Hushen 300 Index, which tracks the performance of major companies with 60 percent of the market value in China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, plunged 28.31 percent in the first half.

Principal guaranteed funds and qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) funds, which are considered less risky than stocks-oriented funds, all lost in the first half.

In the January-June period, only money and bond funds gained ground.

Money funds posted profits of 1.01 billion yuan while bond funds reported returns of 1.24 billion yuan in the first half, said the TX report.

learn mandarin – Indonesia’s footwear industry expects more investment

lessmanbjcn — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:25:16 +0000

Indonesia’s footwear industry is gearing up for more investment as the country has a large labor force which has made it a new emerging hot spot for foreign direct investment, the Jakarta Post daily reported Friday.

The Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo) said that given recent global and domestic investment trends, it expected that by the end of 2011, Indonesia could attract at least 20 major footwear companies to relocate their factories to Indonesia.

“Indonesia is now a very attractive investment destination. With improved infrastructure, I believe that we can invite at least 20 big footwear companies by 2011,” Aprisindo’s Advisory Council Chairman Haryanto said.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Gita Wirjawan said “I believe we can achieve the target of total export revenue of 2.1 billion because most branded footwear factories, making New Balance, Mizuno, Adidas, Nike and Reebok shoes, export their products,” he said.

He added that he was optimistic Indonesia could produce up to 300 million pairs of shoes this year.

The golden era of Indonesia’s footwear industry dates back to before the 1998 financial crisis. Aprisindo claims the country’s export revenue then reached 2.4 billion U.S. Dollars per year. The industry also employed up to 800,000 workers.

Following the 1998 crisis, the country’s footwear export declined sharply. In 2004, the total export revenue was 1.32 billion U.S. dollars, but continued to grow until 2008, when it peaked at a post-crisis high of 1.88 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2009, another global financial downturn hit Indonesia’s major footwear export destinations, such as the U.S. and EU and led to a drop in export revenue, which stood at 1.72 billion U.S. dollars. Currently, the domestic footwear industry employs slightly more than 400,000 workers.