■TAIWAN
Gravel, sand demand to grow
Taiwan’s demand for gravel and sand will increase by an estimated 7.2 percent this year, as public works projects launched by the government to revive the local economy come on line. The Bureau of Mines estimated on Friday that demand for gravel and sand would reach 58 million cubic meters this year, up from 54.1 million cubic meters last year. In its plan to secure supplies to meet the forecast demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs expects 21.7 million cubic meters of gravel and sand to come from Taiwan’s rivers, 19.8 million cubic meters to come from land sources and 16.8 million cubic meters to be imported.
■BANKING
IndyMac sale approved
The US government said on Friday it had approved the sale of bankrupt California bank IndyMac to investment group IMB Management Holdings for about US$13.9 billion. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said it had signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to sell IndyMac Bank, which it seized in July when the bank collapsed under the weight of a bank run by depositors panicked about its viability. The consortium includes JC Flowers & Co, Paulson & Co and MSD Capital, a private investment firm created to exclusively manage the capital of Dell computer founder Michael Dell and his family.
■JAPAN
Megabanks suffer: report
Japanese megabanks Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial appear to have experienced a group net loss in the three months to last month because of a plunging stock market, a major daily reported yesterday. It would be the first quarterly net loss for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group since its establishment in 2005 through the merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings, the Mainichi Shimbun said. Mizuho Financial Group was also in the red in the previous quarter to September. But Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the other of the country’s top three banks, appears to have remained in the black as the value of its stock holdings is low, the daily said.
■COTTON
Consumption drops further
Global cotton consumption will fall more than forecast last month as textile mills in China, the biggest consumer, buy less fiber to weave into clothing and bedding, the International Cotton Advisory Committee said. Worldwide use will drop 7.1 percent in the year ending July 31 to 24.5 million tonnes from a year earlier on lower use in China, India and Pakistan, the three largest consumers, the committee said today in a report. That was down from 24.9 million tons projected last month. Chinese consumption could fall 10 percent to 9.8 million tons this year, the group said. Exports will drop 17 percent to 6.9 million tons, the lowest in six seasons, the committee said. Last month, global exports were forecast at 7.3 million. Chinese imports will tumble 40 percent to 1.5 million tons, the group said.
■AVIATION
Lufthansa eyes SAS
Shares in SAS, the operator of the joint-carrier Scandinavian Airlines, surged on Friday on a report that Lufthansa is interested in the Scandinavian market and is in talks with SAS. A Lufthansa executive quoted by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, however, did not say if a possible merger was being considered. “After the German and Italian markets, Scandinavia is one the most important for Lufthansa,” Lufthansa executive Karsten Bentz was quoted as telling the Danish daily. He declined to comment on a possible merger with SAS but said talks were ongoing.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors