Friday, November 1 2024 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
BEIJING - China and Laos have pledged to speed up negotiations on railway construction, Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong have announced after meeting in Hainan. Li characterised the Sino-Laos railway as the focus of a major ongoing co-operative effort, and said that China hopes an agreement can be reached as soon as possible.
BEIJING - The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences says in a report that Government policies have pushed China to purchase more agricultural products from the US, and that this trend will be maintained over several more years, particularly for soybeans, corn, and meat.
SYDNEY – Australia’s Westpac Bank has received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to become one of the first foreign banks to set up a sub-branch in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.
HONG KONG - The latest HSBC Emerging Markets Index shows output growth slowing to a marginal pace, coming in at 50.3 (prior 51.1) with output falls in China, India and Russia. It was the fourth month running in which the index has fallen. China posted a marginal decline for the second month running, while India slipped back into contraction. Russia’s private sector output fell at the fastest rate since May 2009.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s trade surplus in February widened to a near two-year high in February, to MYR10.44 billion, a story of slightly better-than-expected exports, offsetting the relatively modest rise in imports. Specifically, exports continued to expand 12.3% y/y, following growth of 12.2% in the preceding month.
SYDNEY - Australia will not be the food bowl of Asia, but it can be the delicatessen, according to to a new report from Rabobank, which says the reality is that Australia is not in a position to supply and compete in the high-volume markets. “Rather our focus needs to be on developing into high-value markets where we can compete on quality and other sought-after attributes where consumers have the capacity to pay,” says Rabobank general manager Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory, Luke Chandler.
TAIPEI – Taiwan’s Former Vice President, Vincent Siew, is expected to meet with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Hainan on the sidelines of this week's Boao Forum for Asia as protests over the trade-in-services deal between Taiwan and China continue to grip Taiwan.
BEIJING – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has again expressed concern on China’s slowing economy, vowing that the Government will expand tax rebates to small enterprises, accelerate shanty town renovation and construction, and encourage railway investment using both public and private funds.
BEIJING - At least 11 Chinese banks posting annual results by end-March show continued net-profit growth of 13.9% on average for 2013, but this is 3% lower than the year before. The decrease is due to narrowing margins in part due to the growing popularity of Internet finance.
TAIPEI - The voices that have emerged in Taiwan's cultural industry against a trade-in-services pact with China show a high level of distrust of Beijing, according to Taiwan’s Culture Minister, Lung Ying-tai.
GENEVA - International Air Transport Association (IATA) data for global air freight markets in February shows a 2.9% increase in demand compared to February 2013. The first two months of 2014 have seen an overall 3.6% improvement in demand over the previous year, continuing a strengthening in cargo markets which began in the second half of 2013.
TAIPEI - An agreement signed between Taiwan and India to allow a temporary import duty waiver came into force today and is expected to advance bilateral trade relations, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance. The agreement allows adoption of common procedures for the temporary duty-free importation of goods from each other's territories, providing advantages to bilateral commercial and cultural activities, according to the Ministry.
HONG KONG - Verbal abuse targetted at tourists from the Chinese mainland, including use of the derogatory term ‘locust’, has prompted Hong Kong's anti-discrimination watchdog to consider how to close a legal loophole and penalise those who insult members of their own ethnicity. The move follows an incident in Tsimshatui where netizens organised a gathering to ‘drive the 'locusts' out,’ eliciting widespread criticism in Hong Kong and Beijing.
SINGAPORE – ANZ Bank is forecasting that China’s economy is likely to grow 7.2% in Q1, down from 7.7% in Q4 2013 after China’s official Purchasing Manager’s Index for March rose by 0.1% to 50.3. It has earlier dropped for three consecutive months.
HONG KONG - Standard & Poor's has affirmed its 'B-' long-term and 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings on Pakistan, explaining that the rating incorporates Pakistan’s significant security risks, underlying weak institutional and policy effectiveness, low external liquidity, low per capita income, a weak fiscal profile, high public debt, and a lack of monetary flexibility.
BEIJING – China’s first rare earths exchange, Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange, has started trading europium oxide, praseodymium-neodymium oxide and cerium oxide in Inner Mongolia. Daily price movements of the contracts, denominated in yuan and for physical delivery, will be limited to a 6% range, except for the debut day, which allows for 15%, according to the exchange.