Archive for ‘paralysis’

  |  
22/04/2020

China allows Samsung Elec staff to enter country for chip factory expansion

SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) – China has allowed 200 employees from South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) to enter the country to work on an expansion of the firm’s NAND memory chip factory, the company said on Wednesday.

The move came after China said on Tuesday that it was in talks with some countries to establish fast-track procedures to allow travel by business and technical personnel to ensure the smooth operation of global supply chains.

China said it has reached a consensus on such an arrangement with South Korea, without elaborating on the terms, including whether individuals entering China will be subject to quarantine.

China, where the virus first emerged late last year, blocked entry last month for nearly all foreigners in an effort to curb risks of coronavirus infections posed by travellers from overseas. After bringing the local spread under control with tough containment measures, it is trying to restart its economic engines after weeks of near paralysis.

A chartered China Air Ltd (601111.SS) plane flew in the Samsung Electronics employees on Wednesday, a company spokeswoman said.

Samsung said its employees will follow the local government’s policy upon arrival, without elaborating.

Shaanxi province, where Samsung’s NAND memory chip plant is located, requires people travelling from overseas to undergo a 14-day quarantine, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.

“Samsung employees will not be exempted from the 14-day quarantine rule imposed by the Shaanxi province. They will get coronavirus tests at the airport upon arrival and will be transported to a local hotel designated by Chinese authorities,” an official at the Consulate General of South Korea in Xi’an told Reuters.

Samsung Electronics in December increased investment at its chip factory in China by $8 billion to boost production of NAND flash memory chips.

Source: Reuters

Posted in $8 billion, 14-day quarantine, 200, according, after, Airport, allow, allowed, allows, Arrangement, arrival, Beijing, billion, blocked, boost, bringing, Business, came, chartered, China, China Air Ltd, chinese authorities, chip factory, Company, consensus, Consulate General, containment, control, coronavirus infections, coronavirus tests, countries, Country, curb, December, designated, economic engines, effort, elaborating, emerged, employees, ensure, enter, entering, entry, establish, exempted, expansion, Factory, fast-track, firms, flash memory chips, flew, Foreign Ministry, Foreigners, from, from overseas, global supply chains, including, increased, individuals, Investment, last month, late last year, local governments, local hotel, local spread, located, measures, memory chip, move, NAND, near, nearly, Official, operation, overseas, paralysis, People, personnel, plane, Plant, policy, posed, procedures, production, quarantine, reached, requires, restart, Reuters, Risks, rule, Samsung Elec, Seoul, shaanxi province, smooth, South Korea, South Korea’s, spokeswoman, staff, subject, talks, technical, terms, tough, transported, travel, travellers, travelling, trying, Tuesday, Uncategorized, undergo, upon, Virus, Wednesday, weeks, whether, without, work, Xi'an | Leave a Comment »

10/04/2020

China factory gate deflation deepens as coronavirus paralyses global economy

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory gate prices fell the most in five months in March, with deflation deepening and set to worsen in coming months as the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus outbreak at home and worldwide shuts down many countries.

The world’s second-largest economy is trying to restart its engines after weeks of near paralysis to contain the pandemic that had severely restricted business activity, flow of goods and the daily life of people.

Friday’s data from the National Bureau of Statistics suggested a durable recovery was some way off, with China’s producer price index (PPI) falling 1.5% from a year earlier, the biggest decline since October last year. It compared with a median forecast of a 1.1% fall tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 0.4% drop in February.

Headline consumer inflation also eased somewhat last month, partly led by government control measures, while core prices remained benign, leaving more room for monetary easing, some analysts said.

RELATED COVERAGE

  • China’s auto sales fall at a slower rate in March; industry expects second-half pick-up
  • China March new loans surge to $405 billion as coronavirus stimulus kicks in

The overall decline in the factory gate gauge was exacerbated by a slump in global oil and commodities prices, which filtered through to crude oil, steel and non-ferrous metal industries, the statistics bureau said in a statement accompanying the data.

“The issue of having more supply than demand, and persistently low oil prices, will intensify deflationary pressures,” said Yang Yewei, a Beijing-based analyst with Southwest Securities.

“Work resumptions on the production side are faster than the repair in demand. Downstream demand is recovering slowly and still remains weak,” he said.

The oil and gas extraction sector had the biggest year-on-year price fall of 21.7%, among the 40 major industrial sectors surveyed, deteriorating sharply from a 0.4% drop in the previous month.

The stringent travel and transport curbs have now been lifted across much of the country including Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak where the virus first emerged in late 2019. So far the virus has killed more than 3,300 and infected over 81,000 people in the country.

Analysts expect a deep first-quarter economic contraction in China and have grown increasingly pessimistic about the country’s prospects for 2020 due to the pandemic’s sweeping global impact.

Many economists and policymakers are forecasting a steep global recession this year as numerous countries are forced into lockdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus, severely curtailing business activity in a major blow to jobs and incomes.

Worldwide, the virus has killed around 95,000 people and infected more than 1.5 million. Policymakers globally have responded to the crisis by launching an unprecedented package of stimulus measures, injecting trillions of dollars to backstop their economies that have been brought to a virtual standstill.

Beijing has also rolled out a series of fiscal and monetary support steps, and sources have told Reuters that policymakers are readying more stimulus in the coming months to stabilise growth and prevent mass unemployment.

China’s consumer prices rose 4.3% from a year earlier in March, compared with a 4.8% gain tipped by a Reuters poll and a 5.2% increase in February, as logistics and transport conditions improved and government price control measures kicked in.

But food prices still rose over 18% from a year earlier, led by a 116.4% jump in pork prices, the data showed. The virus outbreak has pushed up prices of some food items, such as pork and vegetables.

Core inflation – which excludes food and energy prices – remained benign last month at 1.2%，but it still edged up from 1% in February.

Source: Reuters

Posted in auto sale, benign, China, China’s, commodities prices, Core inflation, coronavirus, coronavirus outbreak, countries, crude oil, deepens, Deflation, Downstream, economy, energy, engines, factory gate, February, Food, food items, food prices, Friday’s, global, Home, industries, July, March, May, national bureau of statistics, non-ferrous metal, October, Ocyober, oil and gas extraction sector, pandemic, paralyses, paralysis, Pork, Pork prices, prices, restart, Reuters Poll, Southwest Securities, Steel, travel and transport curbs, Uncategorized, vegetables, Work resumptions, world’s second-biggest economy, worldwide, wrought | Leave a Comment »

  |  
CCChang

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India