Sumitomo to import tires from Indonesian<\/p>\n
TOKYO: Japan's third largest tire maker Sumitomo Rubber
\nIndustries Ltd. said Monday it would start importing tires for
\nminicars this month from a factory in Indonesia to cut costs.<\/p>\n
\"It is much cheaper to make tires at our Indonesian plant and
\nimport them,\" said Sumitomo spokesman Mitsuru Igarishi, comparing
\nthe cost with Japanese-produced tires.<\/p>\n
The company, which has a tie-up with U.S. counterpart Goodyear
\nTire Rubber Co. Ltd. in Japan, the United States and Europe,
\nwould import 20,000 Goodyear-brand tires a month from PT Sumi
\nRubber Indonesia, for minicars made by Mitsubishi Motors Corp, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Daily production capacity at the Indonesian plant would be
\nincreased to 20,000 tires from 15,000 by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Sumitomo Rubber would reduce output from a domestic tire plant
\nin Nagoya, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Tokyo, to
\ncompensate for the rise in Indonesian imports.-- AFP<\/p>\n
Unocal plans gas pipeline for Vietnam fields<\/p>\n
BANGKOK: U.S. energy giant Unocal Corp. (UCL) plans a pipeline
\nconnecting its gas fields in Vietnam to markets in Thailand and
\nMalaysia as part of its 2004 investment strategy, The Nation
\nnewspaper reported Monday.<\/p>\n
Unocal is Thailand's largest natural gas producer and is also
\nactive in Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Nation quoted a company official as saying that Unocal's
\ninvestment plans over the next five years would place importance
\non the Arthit field in the Gulf of Thailand, in which the company
\nhas minority interest, and adjacent blocks in Vietnamese
\nterritory where it has a majority stake.<\/p>\n
Company officials couldn't be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n
The Thai and Vietnamese gas exploration blocks are estimated
\nto have gas reserves totaling about 10 to 14 trillion cubic feet.<\/p>\n
Unocal is looking to purchase larger stakes in the Arthit
\nfield from the Thai state-run PTT Exploration & Production PCL
\n(H.PTT), Randy Howard, Unocal's vice president for international
\nenergy operations in the region, was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
For the Vietnamese blocks, Unocal would like to invest in a
\n350-kilometer gas pipeline to connect to a power plant in Vietnam
\nin 2004, Howard was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
\"After that we would negotiate to connect our Vietnam pipeline
\nto PTT PCL's (H.PTX) third parallel gas pipeline in the gulf,
\nenabling us to sell our gas to Thai and Malaysian markets,\" he
\nwas quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
PTT's Thai gas grid would be connected to Malaysia in the next
\ntwo years, he said. --AP<\/p>\n
Daihatsu to announce plan on Indonesia<\/p>\n
TOKYO: Daihatsu Motor Co. a Japanese maker of minicars, will
\nsoon announce its response to a request from Indonesia's Astra
\nInternational to contribute more capital to their existing
\ncarmaking joint venture in Indonesia, Daihatsu said Monday.<\/p>\n
\"We will make an announcement very soon,\" a Daihatsu
\nspokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
Daihatsu's comments follow a report in the Nihon Keizai
\nShimbun's Monday morning edition that Daihatsu will boost its
\nstake in P.T. Astra Daihatsu Motor to around 60 percent, from 40
\npercent, by purchasing additional shares to be issued by the
\njoint venture.<\/p>\n
The spokeswoman said Daihatsu will not comment on the
\nnewspaper's \"speculation\" that it plans to hike the annual
\nproduction capacity of its Malaysian joint venture Perodua
\nManufacturing Sdn. Bhd. to 150,000 units, from 130,000 units, by
\n2005.<\/p>\n
She also called the part of the report that Daihatsu and
\nToyota Motor Corp. are considering jointly entering the minicar
\nsegment in China \"speculation\" and declined to elaborate on the
\ncompany's plans in the Chinese market. Toyota has a 51.1 percent
\nstake in Daihatsu.<\/p>\n
During the midday break on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Monday,
\nDaihatsu shares were flat at 406 yen. By comparison, the auto-
\nsector subindex of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average was down 0.06
\npercent. --Dow Jones<\/p>\n
Daimler-Chrysler to develop new model in Thailand<\/p>\n
BANGKOK: Daimler-Chrysler has agreed in principle with its
\nJapanese partner Mitsubishi Motors to use Thailand as the
\nproduction base for the development of a new car, a newspaper
\nreported Monday.<\/p>\n
The report by The Nation quoted Mitsubishi Motors officials as
\nsaying that a new model will be assembled in Thailand in order to
\nbe price competitive.<\/p>\n
\"What we will do here is build a new model that has never been
\nintroduced anywhere in the world before,\" Vatchara Panchate,
\nexecutive vice president of MMC Siitipol, Mitsubishi Motors'
\njoint venture in Thailand, was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
He declined to reveal the project's timeframe or specify the
\nproduction site for the new model, The Nation said.<\/p>\n
Company officials weren't immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Vatchara said Daimler-Chrysler and Mitsubishi Motors, which
\nhave a global alliance, would cooperate in Thailand in the same
\nway Ford and Mazda have done. Ford and Mazda formed a joint
\nventure in Thailand to produce pickup trucks. The operation uses
\nthe same platform to produce both Ford and Mazda pickups.<\/p>\n
The president and CEO of Daimler-Chrysler (Thailand), Karl
\nHeinz Heckhausen, had said earlier that the alliance with
\nMitsubishi Motors would result in the introduction of a new small
\ncar sometime in 2004.<\/p>\n
Thailand is one of the biggest manufacturers of foreign cars
\nin Asia along with Malaysia and Indonesia. --DJ<\/p>\n
SingTel mobile subscriber nearing 25 million<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) said
\nMonday its Asia-Pacific mobile phone subscriber base is nearing
\n25 million.<\/p>\n
Subscribers from its operations in Singapore, Australia,
\nThailand, India, the Philippines and Indonesia totaled 24.8
\nmillion as at end June, up 11 percent compared to 22.3 million as
\nat end March.<\/p>\n
SingTel shares were trading at S$1.34 (76 US cents) early
\nMonday afternoon, down one cent from Friday's close. --AFP<\/p>\n
Indian cement maker ACC to cut 1,000 jobs<\/p>\n
BOMBAY: India's leading cement maker, Associated Cement
\nCompanies Ltd. (ACC), plans to cut its workforce by around 1,000
\nin the financial year to March 2003 as part of efforts to reduce
\ncosts, a company official said Monday.<\/p>\n
To offset the brunt of the economic slowdown seen in the past
\ntwo years, ACC has been implementing a series of cost cutting and
\nrestructuring measures which also included exiting many non-core
\noperations.<\/p>\n
\"For the past few years we have been restructuring our
\noperations. One part of it has been manpower rationalizing,\" said
\nNand Kumar, spokesman of ACC.<\/p>\n
\"ACC has been able to withstand falling cement prices and high
\neconomic pressures only due to its ability to implement various
\ncost cutting measures. Job cuts is just one part of it.\"<\/p>\n
After the job cuts, the company's workforce would be around
\n8,000.<\/p>\n
ACC, with an annual cement capacity of over 10 million tones,
\nwas badly affected by the economic slowdown.<\/p>\n
It has however started seeing some increase in cement sales in
\nthe past few months on the back of a revival in the economy.<\/p>\n
The company's April-July 2003 cement dispatches were up at 4.7
\nmillion tones against 3.9 million tones a year earlier.<\/p>\n
Profits however remained low due to prevailing poor cement
\nprices, with net profit during the first quarter to June at 198.4
\nmillion rupees (US$4.0 million) against 439.5 million rupees a
\nyear earlier.<\/p>\n
Sales during the quarter were 8.81 billion rupees against 8.30
\nbillion rupees a year earlier. --AFP<\/p>",
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