CHINA
Producer price index dives
The prices firms pay factories for their goods fell last month at the fastest pace in three years, official data showed yesterday, as slackening demand and the bruising US trade dispute dragged on the economy. The producer price index — an important barometer of the industrial sector that measures the cost of goods at the factory gate — dropped 0.8 percent year-on-year last month, following a 0.3 percent drop in July. Consumer prices were also broadly subdued and only supported by a surge of almost 50 percent in the price of pork caused by African swine fever that has ravaged the nation’s pig industry since last year. The consumer price index rose 2.8 percent, stabilizing from July and beating forecasts.
OIL
Aramco readies local IPO
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco) chief executive officer Amin Nasser yesterday said that a domestic initial public offering (IPO) of the state oil giant would be the primary listing, but that it was also ready for an international offering. Nasser cited new Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying that an IPO would happen “very soon,” but added that the ultimate decision on timing and venue rested with the government. Saudi Arabia is planning a gradual listing of Aramco on its domestic market, sources said on Monday, as it moves ahead with the process and finalizes the roles banks will play in the listing of the world’s biggest oil company.
INDONESIA
Bank predicts 4.9% growth
The World Bank projects that the nation’s economic growth next year would slide below 5 percent and warned of the potential for “severe” capital outflows as global risks including the US-China trade dispute intensify. The forecasts were presented to President Joko Widodo, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The presentation slides show a growth forecast of 4.9 percent for next year, which would be the slowest pace since 2015. That is lower than current projections of 5.1 percent for this year and 5.2 percent for next year in the World Bank’s June quarterly report.
E-COMMERCE
Amazon Prime reaches Brazil
Amazon.com Inc is bringing its Prime membership program to Brazil in an effort to leapfrog competitors and gain traction in a nation where it has been expanding slowly but surely. To start, Amazon Prime Brazil is to be a scaled-down version of the US subscription service, offering free unlimited shipping for about 500,000 products out of the 20 million Amazon sells in Latin America’s largest economy. Two day-shipping would be available in 90 cities, the company said. Deliveries in other urban centers would take three days or more.
AUTOMAKERS
Moody’s slashes Ford rating
Ford Motor Co’s plan to spend years and US$11 billion restructuring itself was dealt a major setback by Moody’s Investors Service, which cut the automaker’s credit rating over doubt that its initiatives would generate earnings and cash. Moody’s downgraded Ford to “Ba1,” saying its cash flow and profit margins are below expectations and are likely to remain weak over the next two years. Ford is rated “BBB” — two steps above junk — at S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, and both have negative outlooks.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day