Inco reaps $8.7m profit

JAKARTA (JP): PT International Nickel Indonesia (PT Inco) yesterday announced that its unaudited net earnings for the first quarter of 1994 were US$8.7 million, or three cents a share.

The profit in the January to March period was far greater than the $5.4 million, or two cents per share, gained in the same period of last year, and the $2.4 million, or one cent per share, for the fourth quarter of last year, the company said.

It said the increase was primarily due to higher nickel deliveries resulting from higher production and lower unit production costs, partially offset by lower realized nickel prices.

Inco's net realized price for nickel in matte averaged $2.02 per pound in the first quarter of 1994, compared to $2.11 in the same period of last year and $1.7 in the fourth quarter of last year.

The selling price of the company's nickel in matte, an intermediate product which is sold under long-term contracts, is determined by a formula based on the London Metal Exchange cash price for nickel.(10)

PT Impack issues bonds

JAKARTA (JP): PT Impack Pratama, a plastic packaging manufacturer, has issued US$9 million in convertible bonds with a coupon rate of two percent per year.

The company said here yesterday that the bonds, which will mature in 1999, were privately placed with four venture capital funds -- Indonesian Strategic Investment Fund, managed by Lippo Pacific; Wardley Asia Pacific Investments Ltd; Pacific RIM Investments LTD, managed by HSBC Private Equity Mgt Ltd, and Janlin Associates Ltd, a company associated with the Peregrine Indonesia Fund, managed by Peregrine Batavia Investment Management Ltd.

The private placement was arranged by PT Lippo Securities. Proceeds from the bonds will be used to invest in new equipment and to repay debts.

Impack Pratama, which exports its products to Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and the Philippines, consists of four product divisions responsible for the production of PVC compounds, thermoforming, corrugated plastics and building products.(10)

Finnair rents out 9 planes

HELSINKI (AFP): Finnair has signed contracts worth 140 million Finnish marks (US$25.45 million) for the renting out of nine of Finnair's 57 aircraft to foreign companies, the company said.

Under the agreement, Indonesian airline Garuda will hire one DC-10 with cockpit and service personnel to transport pilgrims from Indonesia to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia until the end of June.

Three MD-83's will fly charter flights between May and October for British Airtours International from Britain to the Mediterranean, also with Finnish pilots and technical personnel. Austrian Airtransport has hired one MD-82 for the summer.

One Finnish DC-10 will continue to fly in the name of Texas airline Express One, and three unspecified planes will fly for Venezuelan Aeropostal until the end of September.

Finnair has itself hired one DC-10 from the Irish company GPA, and was to return it to Ireland in the next few days.

German rate cut ineffective

FRANKFURT (Reuter): The Bundesbank on Wednesday announced a sharper-than-expected drop in a key interest rate but failed to alleviate gloom on the domestic bond market, which has been sent into a tailspin by fears of rising U.S. rates.

The central bank said its securities repurchase rate -- a guide for German money-market interest rates in general -- had fallen to 5.58 percent this week from 5.70 a week ago. The drop was well above market forecasts which had called for a fall of a tenth of a percentage points at most.

German debt futures prices plunged after the Bundesbank news. The June Bund hit a low of 94.16 after closing at 94.85 on Tuesday. It briefly recovered as operators covered some short positions but towards the close of trading it was down back near the lows, trading down 55 basis points at 94.30.

The German Bund market has lost nearly two percent of its value since the U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Monday its latest tightening of monetary policy, leading to a quarter-point rise in the Fed Funds rate to 3.75 percent.

Warning on labor rights

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore warned yesterday that developing countries could lose the competitive edge their industries enjoy if forced to adopt unrealistically high labor standards as a condition for trading with rich industrial nations.

"Our view is that trade and labor standards are two separate matters and should not be linked," Labor Minister Lee Boon Yang told some 300 union leaders attending a conference here.

Lee said that although a move to include social clauses covering labor rights and standards in the recently signed Final Act of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was dropped "the subject is not dead by any means."

The move, spearheaded by the United States, drew fire from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, one of the world's fastest industrializing regions, grouping Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

"With declining competitiveness in the global market, the developed countries are increasingly turning to trade protectionism to support their industries and markets," Lee said.

Uruguay Round beneficial

WASHINGTON (AFP): The Uruguay Round world trade agreement will benefit developing countries, a senior IMF official said here Wednesday, answering concerns that rich countries would be the chief gainers.

"The Uruguay Round will be generally beneficial to developing countries," International Monetary Fund Research Department director Michael Mussa told a press conference.

"The Uruguay Round is certainly not perfection ... there will remain significant barriers to trade," Mussa said of the trade liberalization agreement signed in Morocco last week which will lead to the creation of the World Trade Organization.

But he said the recent experience of developing countries themselves showed that more liberal trade was advantageous.

"Developing countries themselves have been experiencing strong growth, and strongly growing economies tend to increase their trade volume," Mussa said.

"Many developing countries have on a unilateral basis reduced significantly their own trade barriers" and that has been a very important factor in boosting trade and their own economic growth, Mussa said.

Pesticide usage discussed

DAVAO, Philippines (AFP): Sixteen Asian nations gathered in this southern city yesterday for a UN-sponsored conference on curbing the use of dangerous pesticides.

The conference, hosted by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), also discussed the use of integrated pest management (IPM), a method of balancing organic farming methods with the use of pesticides to minimize the effects on health and the environment.

Among the countries which sent representatives to the conference in this Philippine city were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

FAO regional coordinator Peter Kenmore said that "most of the pesticides used in these countries are highly hazardous," yet many were still being widely used.

Nigeria cuts oil output

LAGOS (Reuter): Nigeria, the main violator of OPEC's crude oil output quotas, has ordered oil-producing firms to cut back to within assigned levels, an official spokesman said.

"We do not have reasons to doubt the companies are complying," the spokesman told Reuters Wednesday.

He read a long letter titled "Strict Quota Compliance" which he said Oil Minister Don Etiebet sent to producers on April 11, ordering them to limit output to within Nigeria's OPEC quota of 1.865 million barrels per day (bpd).

An official from a major foreign oil firm said most companies had taken the letter seriously because of the threat of sanctions by the Nigerian authorities.

State-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has a majority stake in all the equity producers.

Rubber prices steadier

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore's rubber futures prices ended steadier in subdued trading amid growing concerns over labor riots in Indonesia, dealers said yesterday.

"It is anyone's guess how long the riots are going to last and there is growing concern among traders of a significant raw material shortage," said a dealer.

The disputes by workers demanding higher wages caused rubber prices to escalate in Japan as well, helped along by a stronger Japanese yen, dealers said.

At 0930 GMT, Basis June RSS 1 was quoted at 150.00 Singapore cents, RSS 3 at 94.25 U.S. cents and TSR 20 at 167.50 Singapore cents.

China wins U.S. deals

BEIJING (Reuter): A Chinese trade and investment mission to the United States will return home with signed contracts worth over $11 billion, the official Xinhau news agency said yesterday.

Xinhua said a trade and investment fair in New York closed with the signing of 62 contracts and agreements worth US$5.4 billion. Eleven contracts worth $1.3 billion and 134 agreements worth $4.4 billion had been signed at a similar fair in Los Angeles last week.

The New York deals included six contracts for U.S. investment in China and agreements by China to buy $600 million worth of U.S. commodities, it said.

The 200-member mission arrived in the United States two weeks ago as part of China's efforts to obtain renewal of most favored nation (MFN) trading status from U.S. President Bill Clinton.