CHINA
Youth unemployment spikes
Unemployment in the country rose in the first months of the year, while youth unemployment spiked, data showed yesterday, as a surge of COVID-19 cases rattled businesses and forced closures. The unemployment rate in cities edged up to 5.5 percent by the end of last month, up from 5.1 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said. However, Beijing reported better-than-expected retail sales and industrial output in January and last month. Retail sales for the first two months rose 6.7 percent year-on-year, while industrial production was up 7.5 percent, the agency said.
MYANMAR
Thai firm to operate Yadana
Thai energy company PTT Exploration and Production PCL has said that it would take over the running of the country’s Yadana gas field following the withdrawal of global giants Chevron Corp and TotalEnergies SE in January. The US and French firms said that they would pull out of the country following growing international pressure from human rights groups to cut financial ties with the military government after last year’s coup. The Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea provides electricity to the country and Thailand, one of a number of gas projects that Human Rights Watch says make up Naypyidaw’s single largest source of foreign currency revenue, generating more than US$1 billion annually.
RETAIL
H&M net sales as expected
Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) yesterday reported an increase in sales from December to last month that was in line with expectations. Net sales in the firm’s fiscal first quarter rose 23 percent year-on-year, or 18 percent measured in local currencies, at 49.2 billion kroner (US$5.14 billion). Analysts polled by Refinitiv had on average forecast sales of 49.1 billion kroner. The retailer earlier this month said that it would temporarily close its stores in Russia, which last quarter accounted for 4 percent of group sales.
SINGAPORE
Home sales at 21-month low
Home sales in the city-state slumped to the lowest in 21 months as the residential market slows on cooling measures and higher property taxes. Purchases of new private apartments fell to 527 units last month, figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed yesterday. That is 22.5 percent lower than the 680 units sold in the previous month and the lowest since May 2020, when 487 apartments were sold. The city-state’s home sales might also be affected as the war in Ukraine roils equity markets and raises the prices of commodities, said Christine Sun (孫燕清), senior vice president of research and analytics at OrangeTee & Tie (橙易產業). Just a single project was launched last month, amid lower activity during the Lunar New Year holiday, she added.
ARGENTINA
Flour, oil exports frozen
The government on Monday said that it has suspended exports of soybean flour and oil amid rumors that it is planning to hike taxes due to soaring primary material costs blamed on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One expert said that the export freeze is likely a measure to prevent firms from registering future exports before the tax rise takes effect. The country is the world’s largest exporter of soybean flour and oil. Soybean products made up 30 percent of its exports last year, or US$9 billion dollars.
Honda Motor Co absorbing Nissan Motor Co could give the two struggling Japanese brands the scale they need to take on China’s BYD Co (比亞迪), sales figures released yesterday showed. Honda, which earlier this week sketched out plans for a deal that amounts to an acquisition of Nissan, sold 3.43 million cars globally in the first 11 months of this year. Nissan said it sold just over 3 million. China’s biggest automaker BYD sold 3.76 million vehicles over the same period — a clear illustration of how Nissan and Honda are weak alone, but together might have a fighting chance. Honda and Nissan
SEMICONDUCTORS: Samsung and Texas Instruments would receive US$4.75 billion and US$1.6 billion respectively to build one chip factory in Utah and two in Texas Samsung Electronics Co and Texas Instruments Inc completed final agreements to get billions of US dollars of government support for new semiconductor plants in the US, cementing a major piece of US President Joe Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act initiative. Under binding agreements unveiled Friday, Samsung would get as much as US$4.75 billion in funding, while Texas Instruments stands to receive US$1.6 billion — money that would help them build facilities in Texas and Utah. The final deals mean the chipmakers can begin collecting the funding when their projects hit certain benchmarks. Though the terms of Texas Instruments’ final agreement is
Call it an antidote to fast fashion: Japanese jeans hand-dyed with natural indigo and weaved on a clackety vintage loom, then sold at a premium to global denim connoisseurs. Unlike their mass-produced cousins, the tough garments crafted at the small Momotaro Jeans factory in southwest Japan are designed to be worn for decades, and come with a lifetime repair warranty. On site, Yoshiharu Okamoto gently dips cotton strings into a tub of deep blue liquid, which stains his hands and nails as he repeats the process. The cotton is imported from Zimbabwe, but the natural indigo they use is harvested in Japan —
Printed circuit board (PCB) maker Global Brands Manufacture Ltd (精成科技) is to fully acquire Japanese peer Lincstech Co for about NT$8.4 billion (US$256.9 million) as the company aims to add high-end PCBs to its PC-centric product lineups. The company also expects the deal to help expand its manufacturing sites in Southeast Asia, as local firms diversify to mitigate geopolitical risks. “The acquisition will mean an important step for the company to further expand its presence in Southeast Asia and globally,” Global Brands Manufacture chief financial officer Weng Chia-yu (翁家玉) said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The company has set up manufacturing
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