Advanced search

In Monday's Asia papers

18 October 2004 03:08  [Source: ICIS news]

A summary of political, economic, trade, business and product news affecting the chemical and related industries.
 
International Economics & Politics
 
Asians want Bush out, businesses wary of Kerry

Most Asians want George W Bush voted out of office in November's US presidential election, even though many are unaware who his challenger is. But many of the region's business leaders would prefer it if John Kerry were kept out of the White House and are particularly put off by the Democrat's more protectionist trade stance. Nearly everyone has an opinion, mostly negative, of Bush's US-led war on Iraq and not just in Muslim-dominated Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. Surveys in Japan, which has sent troops to the war-torn country, show almost 80% of people oppose the war and a recent online poll there showed 56% of 1730 responses favoured Kerry against 21.5% for Bush. Australians also backed Kerry, despite giving prime minister John Howard, Bush's friend and ally in Iraq, a fourth term in the country's elections last week. A recent poll conducted as part of a global exercise involving 10 newspapers around the world saw 54% of respondents in Australia supporting Kerry while only 28% backed Bush. Some Asians -- particularly in India, Thailand and China -- are apathetic about the US poll, but others have strong views crystallised by US foreign policy issues that affect them at home: the war on terror; economic policies on protectionism and outsourcing; and potential regional flashpoints such as North Korea and Taiwan.

Channel News Asia, Singapore (online edition)
 
US trade data, oil prices buffet Asian currencies

Asian currencies were buffeted over the past week by rising oil prices and data showing that the US trade deficit had ballooned to its second biggest level on record. The Australian dollar was meanwhile boosted after the re-election of the conservative government, while the Philippine peso touched an all-time low amid rising oil prices. The Japanese yen moved narrowly against the dollar amid conflicting signals, including the huge US trade deficit and a slide in Japanese share prices, while uncertainties over the 2 November US presidential election restrained trading. The dollar was depressed by the release of US trade figures for August on Thursday (14 October) showing the US trade deficit totalled $54bn (Euro43bn) that month, the second biggest on record.  The setback was attributed to the impact of high-priced oil and a flood of Chinese imports. The economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun expected market players to focus on crude oil prices in the coming week. Meanwhile, the central bank of the Philippines warned on Wednesday (13 October) that the local unit could fall to as much as 57 pesos against the dollar in 2005, and may stay there until the end of President Gloria Arroyo's term in June 2010 if the government fails to wipe out its budget deficit.

Channel News Asia, Singapore (online edition)

Japan official: N Korea holds nuke weapons
 
North Korea has already completed the development of plutonium-based nuclear weapons with the help of Pakistan, a senior Japanese official said. The remarks by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda represent the first time a Japanese official has confirmed North Korea's claim to have manufactured nuclear weapons, the Sankei Shimbun said. Hosoda was speaking at a ruling party meeting in the western town of Shimane on Saturday (16 October). Pyongyang has not finished developing uranium-based nuclear weapons, but has completed the development of a plutonium bomb similar to the one dropped by the US on Nagasaki at the end of World War II, Hosoda said. He said North Korea and Pakistan had cooperated in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan publicly confessed in February to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Pakistan has refused to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nation's atomic watchdog, to interview Khan to discuss the international nuclear black market he used to run. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit Japan, China and South Korea beginning next week for talks on stalled effort to end the impasse over North Korea's nuclear program, Iraq, terrorism and other matters, the State Department said.

Channel News Asia, Singapore (online edition)
 
Business Day, Thailand (online edition)
 
Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan (online edition)
 
Foreign buyers flock to Canton Trade Fair

A throng of foreign buyers trampled security barriers and pushed aside guards in their haste to enter the Canton Trade Fair at its opening on Friday (15 October), another sign of how companies all over the world are still rushing to do business in China. A torrent of money is involved, the downside of which is that inflation has been fed there in recent months on a scale not seen since the early 1990s, especially inflation in commodity prices. The bi-annual expo, officially known as the Chinese Export Commodities Fair but commonly called the Canton Trade Fair, has traditionally been a main contact point for foreign buyers looking to source from Chinese firms. It is also a source of pride for Guangzhou, long a trading hub for the Pearl River delta. Organisers said they had invited 235 000 buyers, 27% more than the last time. An estimated 13 330 companies are showing their wares at Guangzhou's new Pazhou exhibition centre, the largest in Asia. But businessmen from a wide range of industries all over China said in interviews at the trade fair that rising raw material prices in particular were seriously affecting their profit margins and in some cases were finally starting to hurt sales. They painted a complex picture of commodity demand in particular, saying that their country's economy was still running briskly but that buyers were becoming resistant to paying steeply rising prices for some products and were deferring purchases.

Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)

Seoul wants troops to extend Iraq stay

The South Korean government is to seek approval from Parliament to extend the deployment of its troops in Iraq by a year, a move which is expected to spark a new round of controversy, news reports said on Sunday (17 October). South Korea has seen anti-war demonstrations amid increasing opposition to the deployment, especially after the execution of a South Korean translator by Islamic militants in Iraq in June.  The Defence Ministry decided last week to extend the mission which was originally due to expire at the end of the year, the Yonhap news agency said. The Cabinet will ask Parliament to allow up to 3600 South Korean troops to stay in Arbil, a Kurdish-controlled town in northern Iraq, the report said. The extended tour had been approved by the military authorities on Thursday, it added. On Sunday, some 1000 anti-war activists rallied and marched in downtown Seoul, demanding that the government pull South Korean troops from Iraq.

Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)

Korea Herald, South Korea (online edition)

Indian ruling party retains power in richest state

 
India's Congress-led alliance held onto power in the nation's richest state, Maharashtra, after winning the most seats in assembly elections and dealing a humiliating defeat to the opposition Hindu nationalists. The results were seen as the first verdict on the popularity of the national left-backed Congress government, which took office in May after the shock poll ouster of the Hindu nationalist-led Bharatiya Janata Party coalition. Preliminary election commission figures on Saturday (16 October) showed the Congress-National Congress Party (NCP) alliance swept 140 of Maharashtra's 288 constituencies while the opposition Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance had won 119. Independents grabbed the remaining 29 seats. The winner needed at least 145 of the 288 seats to form a government in Maharashtra, India's second most populous state with nearly 100m people. But analysts said victory was well within Congress's grasp as it could draw on the support of independent allies. Analysts said Congress President Sonia Gandhi's last-minute whirlwind visit to Bombay and Prime Minister's Manmohan Singh's rallies in rural Maharashtra tilted the balance in the Congress-NCP's favour.
 
Channel News Asia, Singapore (online edition)

KL set for Islamic banking hub

With eight full-fledged Islamic banks including three Middle East players, predominantly Muslim Malaysia has set the stage to become a key Islamic financial hub in the region, analysts said.  The central bank last week completed a plan to fast-track the liberalisation of the Islamic banking sector this year, three years ahead of the World Trade Organisation deadline in 2007. It awarded the remaining two foreign Islamic banking licences to Saudi Arabia's largest bank Al Rajhi Banking and Investment and a consortium led by the Qatar Islamic Bank after granting the first one to Kuwait Finance House in May. Three local banking groups were also granted approvals recently to open Islamic banking arms, joining existing players Bank Muamalat and BIMB. Analysts said the entrance of foreign players would push local banks to innovate and compete more aggressively in developing Islamic products and services.  While neighbouring Singapore and Hong Kong have established themselves as the financial centres in Asia, Malaysia is carving a niche to tap billions of dollars of Muslim funds seeking new investment homes after the 2001 terror attacks in the US and uncertainties in the Middle East, they said.

Business Day, Thailand (online edition)

Channel News Asia, Singapore (online edition)

Norway's King and Queen heading for S'pore
 
Norway's King and Queen will be in Singapore on a two-day state visit at end October, accompanied by a record number of over 120 politicians and businessmen. They will be discussing a wide range of topics, including maritime business, tourism, as well as family-friendly policies, with their Singapore counterparts at a one-day seminar. As both countries are major shipping nations, discussions on cooperation in shipping and oil-related fields will be high on the agenda. Norway is perhaps best known for its breathtaking scenery, its colourful Viking past and its world famous Norwegian salmon.  But the main downside is the high cost of living in Norway. Its capital, Oslo, was recently named the world's most expensive city, according to a report by French newspaper Le Monde. The King and Queen will be heading to Vietnam after their two-day stay in Singapore

Channel News Asia, Singapore (online edition)

Singapore: Brighter prospects in jobs mkt
 
Prospects in the jobs market are improving and the jobless rate looks set to fall. Unemployment was likely to drop in the Q3 on the back of good growth in the H1 of the year, said Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen. Noting that the economy did very well in the first six months of the year, he said the jobs market usually responded later to the economy. That puts on track the forecast that unemployment, which now stands at 4.5%, will be 4% or slightly lower by year-end, he told reporters. Ng added that the preliminary unemployment figures were still coming in, and the numbers would be out at end October. Singapore's economic growth in the H1 of the year was 10%, but it slowed to 7.7% from July to September year on year, according to the latest official estimates. When compared with the Q2, the economy shrank by 2.3% in the Q3. Ng also noted that the high crude oil prices would not affect the jobs situation for the third or fourth quarter.
 
Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)
 
Australia seeks new Indon security pact
 
Australia is considering signing a new defence and security agreement with Indonesia to replace a treaty that was scrapped after Canberra led United Nations peacekeepers into East Timor in 1999. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Sunday (17 October) the government was aware that Indonesian President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had called for the security pact, negotiated by former prime minister Paul Keating in the mid-1990s, to be renewed last year during a trip to Australia. But he said the two countries were more likely to negotiate a broader treaty rather than simply reviving the old one. Downer said the issue of a treaty and Australia's plan to base counter-terrorism flying squads in South-east Asia were unlikely to be raised when Howard attended Yudhoyono's inauguration on Wednesday (20 October). The Foreign Minister said he was confident the Australian government would have a good relationship with Indonesia's new leader. The countries have established close cooperation on counter-terrorism since the October 2002 Bali bombing by the Al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah, in which 88 Australians died.
 
Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)
 
Jakarta Post, Indonesia (online edition)
 
Oil & Gas
 
Japan: China okays gas projects in Japan area
 
Japanese Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said he had information that China had granted companies the rights to conduct natural gas exploration in Japan's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, according to local media. It was not clear if Nakagawa was referring to the rights being granted in an area near a group of disputed islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. Nakagawa suggested that China's suspected move could trigger a diplomatic row. China earlier this year built a natural gas production plant 5 kilometres (3 miles) from an area that Japan considers to be its exclusive economic zone. Japan is concerned the Chinese project might draw gas from its zone. Japan has repeatedly expressed concern about the project being developed by China near the disputed islands. Following Beijing's move, Tokyo began a geological survey of the disputed area in July, a decision criticised by Chinese state media as dangerous and provocative.
 
Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)
 
Clash of Asian titans over African oil

Asian giants and economic rivals India and China are locked in battle to secure stakes in oil fields and blocks in the new energy haven of West Africa, Indian officials and analysts said. They pointed to a report in a recent Indian Express newspaper report bemoaning the fact that India had lost a lucrative deal in Angola earlier October. Angola's state-owned Sonangol reportedly blocked an Indian move to buy Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell's 50% share in an oil block for about $620m (Euro496m). India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) had almost closed the deal with Shell, but the Chinese evidently cut a deal with the Angolan government at the last minute, resulting in Sonangol exercising its pre-emption rights. China managed to swing the deal by offering aid to the tune of $2bn for a variety of projects to Angola, compared to India's offer of $200m for developing railways. China used 5.46m barrels of oil/day last year, according to the International Energy Agency. India, Asia's fourth largest economy, imports nearly 705% of its oil needs and last year consumed a little more than 2m barrels/day. A government paper predicted that India would consume 7.4m barrels/day by 2025

Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)

Science & Technology

Japan: Missile defence R&D moving on

The Japanese government has solidified plans to shift its joint technological research with the US for a next-generation missile defence system to the development stage. The Security Council of Japan, scheduled to convene later October, will start discussing details toward a Cabinet approval within this year. For Japan to be able to export missile defense system parts to the US in the future, the government is eyeing changes to the Three Principles on Arms Exports established in 1967 that prohibit exports of weapons and related technology to nearly all nations. At the end of 2003, the government decided to purchase such systems as Standard Missile 3 interceptors from the US. Japan has also pursued joint research with the US for a next-generation SM3 interceptor system. That research is now expected to enter the development phase by 2005, with missile parts manufactured in Japan likely to be supplied to the US after two or three years.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan (online edition)

Chinese satellite crashes into building

Part of a Chinese satellite that was returning from orbit crashed into an apartment building, wrecking the top floor but causing no injuries, media reports said on Sunday (17 October). The incident was a minor embarrassment for China's space programme, which sent its first astronaut into space in October last year. The capsule, which is the recoverable section of a probe launched to carry out scientific experiments in space, on Friday (15 October) crashed into the four-storey building in Penglai, a village in south-western Sichuan province, the Tianfu Morning News reported. It said a woman who lived there had left five minutes earlier. The satellite had spent 18 days in orbit, according to the news report. It was fired from the remote Jiuquan launch centre in north-western Gansu province in the 20th such mission by China. The rest of the satellite will remain in orbit, the official Xinhua news agency said. The reports did not give a reason for the accident and tried to play down the significance of the crash-landing.

Straits Times, Singapore (online edition)

China Daily, China (online edition)

Company News
 
Quintiles, Bushu in clinical trial servs
 
Quintiles Transnational Japan and Bushu Pharmaceuticals said they have begun negotiations on a partnership to study drug manufacturing for clinical trials. Through their combined strengths, the firms aim to improve efficiency and shorten schedules for drug development by pharmaceutical companies. Quintiles Transnational Japan's expertise is in providing clinical trial research support, including support in formulating processes for testing and data analysis, while Bushu Pharmaceuticals' expertise is in drug production. The two firms will target foreign pharmaceutical firms operating in Japan as well as domestic drug companies. Quintiles Transnational, the American firm at the centre of the Quintiles Transnational group, has its own study drug production sites in the US, the UK and Singapore.
 
Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan (online edition)
 
TOC eyes minority share in VNT

Thai Olefins (TOC), Thailand's third-largest plastic pellet producer under the umbrella of PTT, is keen to buy a minority share in Vinythai (VNT), another chemical company, to add to the stability of its olefin market. TOC produces 385 000 tonnes of ethylene and 190 000 tonnes of propylene annually. The firm's plans to increase ethylene production capacity by 300 000 tonnes/year is expected to be completed late this year. Currently, TOC supplies ethylene to VNT, the country's second-largest polyvinyl chloride producer, which is majority-owned by Solvay Belgium (46.40%), Charoen Pokphan Group (21.30%) and Charoen Pokphan Holding (3.72%). TOC had earlier bought a 50% stake in Bangkok Polyethylene, a producer of high density polyethylene at a cost of Baht1.7bn ($41.0m/Euro32.8m).
 
Business Day, Thailand (online edition)
 
(Some stories may not appear in all editions of the cited news media.)




AddThis Social Bookmark Button

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly

 
 
© 2013 Reed Business Information Limited. All Rights Reserved. Sign up| Sitemap| Terms and Conditions| Disclaimer| Privacy Policy| About us| Advertise