South Korea posts

South Korea posts
$2.8b trade surplus

SEOUL: South Korea posted a trade surplus of US$2.82 billion
in September, helped by brisk exports which rose 23.5 percent
year-on-year, officials said on Friday.

Exports, on a customs-cleared basis, rose to $21.02 billion
in September, led by robust sales of automobiles, semiconductor
chips and mobile handsets, according to the commerce, industry
and energy ministry.

Imports increased 25.2 percent to $18.2 billion. Imports of
oil increased 40.2 percent. Import growth outpaced that of
exports for a second consecutive month, reflecting higher oil
prices and stronger demand for capital goods, the ministry said.

Exports of automobiles increased 30 percent year-on-year to
$2.69 billion in September. Shipments of telecommunications
equipment rose 34.1 percent to $2.35 billion while exports of
computer equipment fell 2.2 percent to $1.38 billion. -- AFP

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ANPAf..r..
MOney-gas-pipeline
JP/16/Money

China's pipeline
starts gas delivery

SHANGHAI: The eastern economic hub of Shanghai received its
first deliveries of gas from China's newly opened East to West
pipeline that runs some 4,000 kilometers (2,400 miles) from the
Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region, state press reported on
Friday.

"What counts most is that the advent of gas symbolizes the
successful operation of the whole project," the Shanghai Daily
quoted Zhao Yongxin, a PetroChina employee as saying.

The country's biggest oil firm, PetroChina, has financed the
US$4.0 to $5.2-billion pipeline expected to carry some 12 billion
cubic metres (420 billion cubic feet) annually for some 30 years.

PetroChina's foreign partner's Royal Dutch/Shell Group,
ExxonMobil and Russia's Gazprom withdrew from the project in
September after an initial agreement fell apart.

The pipeline is central to China's energy policy shift away
from reliance on coal to cleaner burning gas, which is intended
to supply up to 10 percent of the country's fuel consumption by
2020. -- AFP

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Money-Japan-US
JP/16/Money

Japan, U.S. plan
beef import talks

TOKYO: Japan and the United States will hold working-level
talks this month over resuming U.S. beef imports currently banned
because of fears over mad cow disease, a news report said on
Friday.

Before the talks at the end of the month, the Japanese
government will consult a panel of experts on allowing meat from
U.S. cattle 20 months old or younger even if they have not been
tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow
disease, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper said.

Japanese farm ministry officials said nothing had been decided
on whether or when to hold the next round of bilateral talks.

U.S. officials have expressed hope that Japan would quickly
lift a ban on American beef imports imposed last December as a
result of a single proven case of mad cow disease in the United
States.

Japan, previously the number one market for U.S. beef, has
insisted on testing all U.S. beef imports as a condition for
lifting the ban, a demand the United States has so far rejected.
Washington has already presented a compromise proposal for
testing cows aged 24 months and older.-- AFP

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Money-Thailand-Trade
JP/16/Money

Thailand's oil
import bill up 49%

BANGKOK: Thailand's import bill for oil jumped 48.5 percent
to US$ 8.4 billion in the first eight months of 2004, increasing
the likelihood of the country suffering a trade deficit this
year, media reports said on Friday.

Thailand notched up a small trade deficit of $100 million
during the first eight months of this year, when imports soared
30.6 percent to $61.7 billion, while exports were up 24.2
percent at $61.6 billion, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) disclosed on
Wednesday.

The last time Thailand notched up a trade deficit was in 1997.
BOT senior director Nitaya Pibulratanagit attributed the rising
imports to increased domestic consumption of oil, which is
currently at record high prices, and increased consumption of
imported goods.

"Because people did not save enough energy, imports rose,"
Nitaya told The Nation. "There was also a rise in imports of
consumer goods as well. If export growth cannot catch up with
import growth, there will be a deficit (in 2004)," she said.

The Thai government, which faces a general election next
February, is following a policy of subsidizing oil prices to keep
them stable despite historic price hikes on the international
market. Oil subsidies are expected to amount to 40 billion baht
($1 billion) this year. -- dpa