China ends dumping investigation

China ends dumping investigation

BEIJING: China on Sunday announced it was ending an
investigation into the suspected sale at below market prices of
imported animal feed additive lysine, but had extended a dumping
investigation into imported acrylate, an industrial chemical.

The Foreign Trade Ministry found some dumping had occurred by
lysine importers from the United States, South Korea and
Indonesia, but that the actions did not cause serious damage to
domestic producers, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

China launched the investigation in June 2001 after complaints
from local producers. Lysine is a soybean-based amino acid used
to promote growth in hogs and poultry.

Separately, the ministry decided to extend by six months the
one-year-old investigation into acrylate imported from South
Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia due to the case's
complexity, Xinhua said.

The findings of the investigation will be announced April 10,
2003. -- AP

China-Taiwan trade expands

TAIPEI: China remained Taiwan's largest export market in the
first seven months of this year with trade between the political
rivals continuing to rise, official data showed Monday.

During the January-July period, exports from Taiwan to China
rose 30.8 percent from the same period a year earlier to US$17.6
billion, the Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) said.

China accounted for 23.9 percent of Taiwan's total exports in
the period, followed by the U.S. with 21 percent, the BOFT said.

China replaced the United States as Taiwan's largest overseas
market in November last year.

Imports from China in the seven months rose 26.0 percent to
$4.2 billion, the BOFT said.

Bilateral trade between the two sides during January-July rose
29.9 percent to $21.8 billion and the trade surplus in favor of
Taiwan expanded 32.4 percent to $13.3 billion.

The surge in exports to the mainland was mainly due to strong
demand for information technology components as more
international firms set up assembly lines in China. -- AFP

Japan's industrial output rises

TOKYO: Japan's industrial output in August rose 1.6 percent
from a month earlier but analysts warned Monday the growth in
production remained vulnerable to the U.S. economic slowdown.

The August figure, which followed a revised 0.1 percent
increase in July, rose on the back of stronger hi-tech and auto
production, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a
preliminary report.

Industrial shipments in August grew 3.3 percent from July, the
first rise in three months, while inventories declined 0.9
percent, it said.

The ministry said output was on a moderate upward trend but it
remained cautious over the U.S. economy.

"We need to carefully watch future movements in production," a
ministry official told reporters.

The government forecast September industrial output would grow
0.4 percent from August and October output was expected to grow
0.2 percent from the previous month. -- AFP

South Korean consumer prices up

SEOUL: South Korean consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in
September from a month earlier, threatening the government's full
year inflation rate target of 3.0 percent, officials said Monday.

The consumer price index in September increased 3.1 percent
from a year earlier, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said.
In August, the index rose 0.7 percent from July and 2.4 percent
over 12 months.

"The rise in agricultural product prices in the wake of a
typhoon and an increase in industrial product prices after the
suspension of special consumption tax cuts for cars were key
factors," the NSO said in a statement.

The September core inflation index, which excludes
agricultural and oil products, rose 0.3 percent from a month
earlier, after a 0.1 percent gain in August, the NSO said.

The core inflation rate climbed 2.9 percent from a year
earlier after a 2.8 percent rise in August, it said. -- AFP

German wholesale sales fall

WIESBADEN, Germany: Wholesalers in Germany reported a decline
in business in August, more than wiping out the tentative
increase recorded in July, data published by the Federal
Statistics Office showed on Monday.

German wholesale sales fell by 6.3 percent on a 12-month basis
in August in real or price-adjusted terms, the office said in a
statement, and they slumped by 7.3 percent in nominal terms.

On a monthly basis, too, wholesalers reported a real or price-
adjusted 1.8-percent drop in sales in August from July, the
office continued.

That was equivalent to a nominal decline of 1.5 percent.

Taking the first eight months of 2002 together, German
wholesale sales were down by a nominal 5.0 percent, compared with
the figure for the corresponding period of 2001, the statistics
office said.

And in real terms, wholesale sales fell by 4.0 percent in the
January-August period, it added. -- AFP