JP/17/money

JP/17/money

South Korea's trade surplus in September shrank to US$886 million
from $1.8 billion a year earlier due to slowing exports,
officials said Monday. September exports slumped 16.6 percent to
$12.6 billion said the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.
-- AFP

In a bid to cut pollution, the Singapore government said Monday
that it will give tax rebates to owners of cars run on natural
gas. The rebates will range from 5 percent to 20 percent of the
vehicle's market value, plus a 20 percent cut in road tax, the
environment ministry said in a statement. - AP

The IMF called on Monday for Thailand to cut interest rates to
speed up the resolution of bad debts and help stimulate the
economy as export industries suffer from the global economic
slowdown. - Reuters

The Indian government has given the country's state-run airlines
guarantees to cover war risk insurance for the next 15 days to
prevent any disruption in their operations, an official said on
Monday. -- Reuters

U.S. export orders for Thai frozen shrimps have ground to a halt
since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, putting the industry in
deep trouble, Paiboon Pholsuwan, president of Thailand Frozen
Food Association, said Monday. Figures from the association show
that during the first half of this year, Thailand exported 44,899
tons of frozen shrimp to United States worth about 20 billion
baht (US$454 million) - about 55 percent of total frozen shrimp
exports. - AP

The semiconductor output of Taiwan's "Silicon Valley" will fall
25 per cent due to a global slump and the terrorist attacks on
the United States, a radio report said Monday. - DPA

Japan's new vehicle sales in September fell 4.1 percent from a
year earlier to 371,318 autos as demand tumbled amid a prolonged
economic slump, an industry association said Monday. "Sales fell
due to Japan's weak economy," Susumu Ichinohe, a spokesman for
the Japan Automobile Dealers Association, said. -- AFP

Philippine coconut oil exports fell to 101,000 tons in September
compared with August's revised estimate of 146,090 tons,
preliminary figures showed on Monday. The report of the United
Coconut Associations of the Philippines (UCAP) said September's
shipments were higher compared with actual exports of 91,344
tonnes in September 2000. --AFP

The Philippines is the world's largest exporter of coconut oil,
with Europe and the United States as major buyers.
Traders said shipping delays in July had bloated the export data
in August.
"The over 100,000-tonne export figure in September remains high
considering that mills were saying that fresh arrivals of copra
(from the farms) last month were slow," said one trader.
Traders have said they observed a gradual slowing in production
of copra, dried coconut meat from which oil is extracted, since
the second quarter of this year.
They attributed this to tree stress following very good harvests
since last year.
"Some traders could also be holding off deliveries in
anticipation of better prices," said one trader, adding the
market was expecting lower copra output next year compared with
this year's projected output of between 2.2 million and 2.4
million tonnes.
The Philippines produced 2.2 million tonnes of copra in 2000.
EUROPE BOUGHT BULK
An official of UCAP told Reuters the country shipped 57,000
tonnes of coconut oil to Europe last month, 37,250 tonnes to the
United States, 5,500 tonnes to Malaysia, 750 tonnes to Taiwan and
500 tonnes to Japan.
China, which bought big volumes in May and June, did not take any
in September, said the official, who requested he not be
identified.
UCAP said the preliminary September data brought January to
September shipments to 1.049 million tonnes, compared with actual
exports of 665,452 tonnes a year earlier.
UCAP, which represents coconut oil millers, refiners and traders,
recently revised its full year 2001 export forecast to 1.281
million tonnes from an earlier forecast of 1.22 million.
Actual exports of Philippine coconut oil for the whole of last
year reached 1.037 million tonnes.