Meshindo to enter Australia

JAKARTA (JP): PT Meshindo Alloy Wheel Corp., a Surabaya-based producer of automotive rims, yesterday appointed Bob Jane T-Marts of Australia as its sole agent for marketing distribution in Australia.

Meshindo's president, Tirta Soewardi, signed a memorandum of understanding with the general manager of the Australian company, Brian Connel, in a ceremony in Surabaya yesterday. He said in a statement that Meshindo will export 36,000 rims worth about US$20 million to Australia annually.

Soewardi said his company plans to increase its annual production capacity from 300,000 to 400,000 rims, of which 80 percent will be exported to Japan, the United States and European countries. (09)

Amway goes to Yogyakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Amway, a direct selling company of the United States, expanded its distribution network to Yogyakarta yesterday to handle the increasing demand for its more than 50 different products in Indonesia.

Frank Reuneker, the president of PT Amindoway Jaya, the sole distributor of Amway products, said that out of the 40,000 Amway distributors in Indonesian, 20 percent are in Yogyakarta.

Amway offers various products, including those for home care, car care, personal care and the kitchen.

Amway is now marketing its products in 31 countries through more than two million distributors with annual sales of US$4.5 billion. Its sales in Indonesia are estimated to be Rp 40 billion (US$18.6 million) this year.(09)

Processing at U.S. airports

HOUSTON (Reuter): An airports industry group is promoting new technology that would cut the time it takes an arriving passenger to leave an airport to 45 minutes at the most, its director said Sunday.

Oris Dunham, director-general of the Geneva-based Airports Council International (ACI), said before the start of an ACI technology seminar his group is working with airlines and air control authorities to promote new technology and automation.

Such technology would make possible a maximum clearance time of 45 minutes between the time a passenger leaves an airplane, clears customs, collects luggage and is ready to leave the airport, he told reporters.

Clearance time is now much longer for millions of passengers in the United States and abroad, said Hubert Andrade, deputy vice president for commercial operations for Paris airports.

"It's important for the passenger that he not spend more time waiting for luggage than he spends flying from Point A to Point B," Andrade said.

Vietnam industrial output up

HANOI (Reuter): Vietnam's industrial output increased by 12.1 percent in the first four months of 1994 over the same period last year, and prospects for food production and inflation levels are good, the government said yesterday.

A 20.8 percent surge in output of crude oil, the main export item, led the rise in industrial production, official Vietnam News said, quoting the General Department of Statistics.

Production figures were not given, but the percentage increase appeared to indicate Vietnam was ahead of its 1994 target of 7.3 million tons this year from its offshore fields in the South China Sea, 15.8 percent up on the 1993 figure of 6.3 million tons.

Cement production was up 15 percent in January-April, coal 4.3 percent and electricity 9.6 percent, Vietnam News said.

State-owned industries out-performed the private sector, it said, with 13.7 percent higher output compared with private firms' 9.7 percent.

Inflation rose 5.4 percent in the first four months of the year, compared with 3.0 percent in the same period of 1993, the report said.

S'pore slams Malaysia

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore has criticized Malaysia's decision to ban imports of certain plastic resins, saying it runs counter to efforts to create an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), a newspaper reported yesterday.

Trade and Industry Minister Yeo Cheow Tong said in an interview with the Straits Times daily that the move was "contrary to the spirit of AFTA, and may provide other countries with a convenient excuse to erect new trade barriers."

Singapore and Malaysia are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has launched a tariff- cutting program to create a free trade area of 300 million people within 15 years.

Other ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Malaysia introduced an Approved Permit System on April 7, requiring companies to obtain government permission to import certain grades of petrochemicals not produced in Malaysia.

The move, aimed at protecting the fledgling petrochemicals industry, comes on top of a 30 percent import duty on polypropylene and polyethylene, which are used to produce plastic bags.

Shell flows gas in RP

MANILA (AFP): A local subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell Group has flowed gas at a rate of 24.8 million cubic feet (744,000 cubic metres) and condensate at 953 barrels per day (bpd) at an offshore well in southwestern Philippines, the energy department said here yesterday.

The gas find in the Malampaya-3 well, north of Palawan island came two weeks after the same firm, Shell Philippines Exploration, also struck oil at 5,487 bpd at the same site during its first drill stem test.

An industry source said the gas and condensate flows during the second and final drill stem test were "significant" because they confirmed the Malampaya-3 well contains both oil and gas. Condensate can be purified to get oil.

The source said the next step for Shell is to wrap up operations at Malampaya-3 and drill a fourth well before it decides on commercial production.

China imports to reach $1t

HONG KONG (AFP): China is planning to import US$1 trillion in goods in the next seven years, a Chinese trade official said yesterday.

Zheng Silin, vice minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation, told the opening of the Hong Kong '94 China Trade and Investment Conference that imports were worth $104 billion last year.

He said China's basic policy for foreign trade was to strike a balance between imports and exports provided it had necessary foreign reserves.

China suffered a trade deficit of $12 billion last year due to increases in import as a result of rapid economic development in China, Zheng said, but it still ranks the 11th largest trader in the world with a total import and export value of $195.8 billion last year.

Zheng said China's economic reforms would take full consideration of foreign investors and were aimed at creating an investment climate in which enterprises operated under international norms.

Rubber prices easier

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore rubber futures prices finished easier yesterday hit by news of union problems suffered by major tire manufacturers in the United States, dealers said.

"It was all sellers and no buyers. Manufacturers refused to buy," one dealer said.

At around 0930 GMT, Basis July RSS 1 was quoted at 138.75 Singapore cents and RSS 3 at 95.25 US cents while TSR 20 was unquoted.

India's farm exports rise

NEW DELHI (AFP): India's farm exports almost tripled in value between April 1993 and January this year, to US$2.8 billion from the previous year, an official report said here yesterday.

Increased overseas sales of long-grained rice, spices, vegetable oils and fresh and processed fruits were responsible for the steep rise from $1.01 billion, it said.

The top earner was fine-grain rice, which fetched $293 million for 455,000 tons, against $212 million for 247,000 tons a year earlier, the statement said.

Spice exports rose to $153 million in the nine-month period from $99 million in the previous year, it added. Overseas sales of tinned fruits and processed foods also spiraled.

The share of farm products in national exports grew from 13.39 percent between April 1992 and January 1993, to 15.51 percent a year later, it said.

India's antiquated farming system, heavily dependent on rain water for irrigation, barely produces enough for the second most populous country in the world.