Semen Gresik April cement sales fall<\/p>\n
JAKARTA:Indonesia's cement maker PT Semen Gresik Thursday said
\nits total cement sales fell 20 percent to 992,388 metric tons in
\nApril from 1.233 million tons in April last year.<\/p>\n
Gresik, Indonesia's largest cement maker, said the fall was
\ndue to a decline in domestic sales and export volumes.<\/p>\n
Semen Gresik's domestic cement sales in April fell 7 percent
\nto 849,788 tons from 914,054 tons last year.<\/p>\n
Exports declined 55 percent to 142,600 tons from 318,842 tons.<\/p>\n
According to data from the National Cement Association,
\ncountrywide cement output in April fell 5.1 percent to 2.023
\nmillion tons from 2.131 million tons in April last year.<\/p>\n
Semen Gresik is 51 percent owned by the government and 25.53
\npercent owned by Mexico's Cemex SA de CV (CX).<\/p>\n
Tuesday, Gresik said shareholders will vote in December
\nwhether to spin off its unit Semen Padang, which contributed 36
\npercent to Gresik's total cement sales in April.--Dow Jones<\/p>\n
PLN agrees price cuts<\/p>\n
JAKARTA: PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Indonesia's state
\nutility company, reached agreement on price cuts or buyouts with
\n26 independent power producers, Energy and Mineral Resources
\nMinister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.<\/p>\n
"By reaching agreements with 26 producers, we are able to
\nshow the market that we can settle our dispute and that private
\nproducers can operate in this country," Purnomo told reporters
\nafter a cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n
The utility has been trying to renegotiate power purchase
\nagreements amounting to US$133 billion over 30 years with 27
\nindependent producers, mostly backed by overseas investors, after
\nthe Indonesian rupiah's collapse during the Asian financial crisis
\nin 1998 forced PLN to sell electricity to consumers at a loss. --
\nBloomberg<\/p>\n
APP to meet export credit agencies<\/p>\n
JAKARTA: Asia Pulp & Paper Co. will meet key creditors tomorrow
\nto discuss their proposal for protection from a second debt
\ndefault, the head of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
\n(IBRA) said.<\/p>\n
The meeting was delayed on Wednesday as the export credit
\nagencies owed the bulk of the outstanding debt of more than US$13
\nbillion hammered out details of their proposal, IBRA chief
\nSyafruddin Temenggung told reporters on the sidelines of an
\ninvestor forum.<\/p>\n
The creditors include Japan's Nippon Export & Investment
\nInsurance and export credit agencies from the U.S. and
\nGermany.<\/p>\n
Asia Pulp has been negotiating a debt recast with lenders
\nafter a default 27 months ago, the success of which is key to
\nrestoring investor confidence in Indonesia. IBRA, which is owed $1
\nbillion, is mediating in the debt talks between the company and
\noverseas lenders. -- Bloomberg<\/p>\n
Toshiba, Samsung to make washing machines<\/p>\n
TOKYO: Japan's Toshiba has tied up with rival Samsung Electronics
\nin the washing machine business while Mitsubishi Electric is
\nquadrupling purchases from the South Korean firm, officials said
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
"As we expand our product line-up, it is impossible to
\nmanufacture all of them by ourselves," a Toshiba Corp. spokesman
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Samsung Electronics Co. is supplying the Japanese technology
\ngiant with small washing machines under the Toshiba brand,
\nmarking the firm's first procurement from South Korea in the
\n"white goods" home appliance division.<\/p>\n
Toshiba aims to sell 10,000 of the washing machine in Japan in
\nthe first year, the spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said it would increase the range of
\nwashing machines it buys from Samsung, boosting total procurement
\nto 120,000 units in the year to March 2004.<\/p>\n
The number is about four times as high as the year-before, a
\nspokesman said.<\/p>\n
Profit margins were slim for smaller washing machines if they
\nare produced in Japan, he noted, adding that the outsourcing
\nwould also enable Mitsubishi to reduce development costs. -- AFP<\/p>\n
DaimlerChrysler drops planned plant<\/p>\n
DETROIT: DaimlerChrysler has abandoned plans to build a US$1
\nbillion plant in Windsor, Ontario, that would have created 2,500
\njobs, the automaker said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
DaimlerChrysler cited poor economic conditions in the
\nautomotive market, including low demand and sales in the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
"The state of the automotive market has created a formidable
\nhurdle, especially for a small entry-level vehicle such as the
\none we were considering" for Windsor, said DaimlerChrysler Group
\npresident Dieter Zetsche.<\/p>\n
The company still plans to invest about $1 billion in its
\nBrampton, Ontario, assembly plant, near Toronto.<\/p>\n
The automaker said it was not dissatisfied with efforts that
\nthe Canadian and Ontario governments and the Canadian Auto
\nWorkers union had made to come up with incentives for the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
"The decision is based on economics," spokeswoman Debra Nelson
\nsaid Thursday. -- AP<\/p>\n
Hutchison Whampoa to launch 3G<\/p>\n
HONG KONG: Hutchison Whampoa will launch its third generation
\n(3G) mobile telephone service in Hong Kong next month, tycoon Li
\nKa-shing said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate -- which has
\nalready launched 3G in Italy, Britain, Australia, Austria and
\nSweden -- said he was "very optimistic" about the company's 3G
\nservices and that he believes they will "achieve break-even very
\nsoon".<\/p>\n
Hutchison managing director Canning Fok added that the company
\nwould also be aiming to increase its number of subscribers in
\nItaly by another 10,000 by the end of next month after reaching
\n90,000 recently.<\/p>\n
The 3G technology allows users to gain high-speed Internet
\naccess, send and receive e-mails, see video images of people they
\nare talking to, take photographs with their handsets and play
\nelectronic games.<\/p>\n
Li said that he believed that by the end of 2006, the
\ncompany's 3G operations in Europe would be even healthier than
\nthat of Orange when it was sold to Mannesmann in 1999.--AFP<\/p>",
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