Thursday, April 25 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
TAIPEI - A record NT$5.8 billion (US$176.6 million) fine has been imposed on 10 international capacitor suppliers for price collusion and joint monopolisation by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission.
BEIJING - China’s Cabinet, the State Council, has approved the merger of China Ocean Shipping Group (COSCO) and China Shipping Group, creating the world’s fourth-largest container operator. The merged entity, China Cosco Shipping Group, will be headquartered in Shanghai. On completion of the merger, the Group will be behind only Denmark’s AP Moller Maersk Group, Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Co and France’s CMA CGM SA.
HONG KONG - The 2016 credit outlook for Asia-Pacific is somewhat negative with borrower refinancing and new financing risks high on Asia-Pacific investors' agendas, according to Standard & Poor’s Head of Research for Asia-Pacific, Terry Chan. "Credit risks have risen and some risk hotspots remain as we enter 2016,” he says.
HONG KONG – A series of trade indicators for November released by China today suggest that the woes in China’s external sector persist, says BBVA Bank. “Most importantly, the narrowing trade surplus in November doesn’t concur with the unexpected but significant slump in foreign reserves during the same period,” the bank says.
HONG KONG - After a sharp slowdown this year as emerging markets demand stalled, businesses expect to see the West lead a tentative recovery in global trade that should broaden and accelerate over the medium term, two new indicators from HSBC show.
SINGAPORE - Money and self-pressure are the leading major causes of stress in APAC, with Japanese the least stressed of all nationalities. Australians and South Koreans are more stressed out by finance matters than their counterparts, both in the region and internationally, according to a survey by market researcher GfK.
BEIJING- Baby formula manufacturers in China will be limited to making three brands each under rules that will come into effect this month due to an increased Government focus on quality. Sources say that milk powder producers will for the first time also be required to register their formulas with the China Food and Drug Administration, much as drug companies must do for medicines.
TAIPEI - Taiwan’s exports declined by 16.9% y/y in November, compared with an 11% drop in October, consistent with poor export orders (-5.3%) in October. Imports declined 13.7% y/y, from -20.0% previously.
BEIJING - China is set to become a global nuclear energy player with 110 operational nuclear reactors by 2030. Power Construction Corp of China Ltd – also known as PowerChina – said exports of indigenous technologies are to be a “key thrust” in the nation’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), with the total scale of nuclear power generation from reactors both under construction and in operation in China reaching 88 gigawatts by the end of 2020.
HONG KONG - As China’s deleveraging process continues, ANZ Bank is forecasting that GDP growth will slow to 6.4% in 2016, and hit a trough of 6.0% in 2017. “As the deleveraging process is more or less completed, a gradual rebound in growth could start in 2018, together with a upward property market cycle and political business cycle,” ANZ says.
HONG KONG - The debt servicing capacity of China's top corporates continues to weaken, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. Although the deterioration has slowed, stress is building on the credit profiles of top corporates due to sluggish demand, weak pricing, and high leverage, S&P says.
BEIJING - Government attempts to clean up China’s financial sector have continued with investigations into the country’s biggest brokerage, CITIC Securities, and its smaller rival, Guosen Securities. Both brokerages say the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has launched an investigation into alleged violations of securities supervision and management regulations.
TAIPEI - The 40th annual economic and trade consultation meeting between Taiwan and Japan has completed three important pacts including an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, Taiwan and Japan have agreed to cap the taxation rates for both dividends and royalties at 10% and to create a dispute settlement framework and information exchange mechanism.
BEIJING - China’s RMB 4 trillion (US$570 billion) stimulus plan announced on November 2008 helped China weather the global financial crisis relatively unscathed, but it has also created inefficiencies such as indebtedness and overcapacity, especially amongst SOEs and these have started to weigh on economic growth, says BBVA Bank.
BEIJING – Following three days of meetings on discussing the reform of China’s Armed Forces, Prsident Xi Jinping has urged the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to maintain “correct political direction” as the authority of the Forces is consolidated under the Central Military Commission (CMC), of which Xi is Chairman.
The State newsagency, Xinhua, said the President outlined “a series of designs and arrangements” meant to consolidate the basic principle that “the Communist Party of China (CPC) has absolute leadership of the Armed Forces”.
MANILA – Annual throughput capacity at Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) has been increased from 2.5 million to 2.75 million TEUs as part of a PhP25 billion expansion project being undertaken by the port manager, International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI), which says the additional capacity addresses both current demand and anticipated growth at the port.