'China committed to free trade' commerce minister

Zurich, Switzerland (Xinhua): China remains fully committed to free trade and believes it is the right way to help the world out of the financial crisis, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said on Wednesday.

"No country can escape the global financial crisis and economic downturn. Only through opening markets can we solve the problem," Chen told Xinhua in an interview Wednesday evening as he arrived in Zurich at the head of a large business delegation.

Switzerland is the second stop on the delegation's four-nation tour to buy goods and technology.

Chen said the group's trip is a concrete move taken by China to fight protectionism.

"It shows China's willingness to overcome the current economic difficulties together with others," he said.

Chen pointed out that Europe and the United States had spent more than $1.5 trillions on their economic stimulus packages. However, in an apparent reference to the United States, he said if every country limits spending to within its borders and requires purchase of its own products, it will harm chances of a global recovery.

The U.S. government recently passed a $787-billion- stimulus package containing a "buy American" provision, which stipulates that public works and building projects funded by the stimulus use only U.S.-made materials.

The provision has raised concerns about protectionism and been met with strong criticism from foreign governments and business groups.

In contrast to the "buy American" provision, China is adopting an open trade approach by sending companies to "buy European" goods.

Earlier Wednesday, the delegation wrapped up their first stop in Germany, signing 37 procurement deals worth about 11 billion euros ($14 billion ) with local firms.

Chen said the expected purchase deals with Switzerland would be modest compared with Germany due to the gap in the two countries' economic scales. He put the price tag at $300 million.

"Swiss companies have an advantage in precision machinery, pharmaceuticals and chemical industry," Chen said, adding that such products would be essential to facilitate the adjustment of China's economic structure and growth mode.

The Chinese delegation is scheduled to meet Swiss companies on Thursday morning and fly to the Spanish capital of Madrid later in the day. Their last stop will be Britain.

Chen is expected to meet Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard to prepare for negotiations on a free trade deal between the two countries agreed upon during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent visit to Switzerland.

In view of the WTO headquarters being located in the Swiss city of Geneva, Chen also expressed readiness to increase multilateral trade.

Chen said it was a pity that the Doha Round of global trade talks remained deadlocked after seven years of negotiations.

A key effort to revive the round at the end of last July failed again due to differences between the United States and India on a special protection mechanism for agricultural products of developing countries.

"The world multilateral trading system should carry on," Chen said. "A fair and transparent multilateral trading system can boost confidence and is conducive to world economic recovery."

He said China is playing a bigger role in the Doha Round of talks and will throw its full weight behind WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.

Lamy is slated to pay a visit to China in April, with the Doha Round high on the agenda, according to Chen.

For Chen, the buying mission is merely a beginning. He said there would be more Chinese delegations coming to Europe with the aim to promote bilateral trade and investment.

"China cannot save the world, but China will show that it will be able to keep its economy in shape, and that will be a big contribution to the world," said Chen. "China will stand against protectionism and remain committed to open market in trade and investment."

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/holnus/

China, Germany sign $14b trade deals

China and Germany signed trade agreements Wednesday worth 11 billion euros ($14 billion) as a high-level delegation is on a procurement trip in four European countries.

The Chinese delegation, led by Commerce Minister Chen Deming, signed in Berlin a total of 37 procurement deals with German companies on the electronics, automotive, textile and medical industries among others.

According to Chen, the deals are composed of two parts -- purchasing contracts, and cooperation agreements which need further negotiations.

The deals focus on engineering equipment, electronics and auto vehicles like Mercedes and BMW, Chen told a press conference.

A draft deal obtained by the media showed that the Chinese side agreed to buy around 37,000 BMW cars and Mini worth $2.2 billion, as well as 27,000 units of Mercedes cars.

Chen revealed that apart from the current 200-member delegation, China would send more entrepreneurs to Germany to discuss further investment in both countries.

Germany is one of China's important trading partners within the European Union (EU). In 2008, the Sino-German trade hit $115 billion. Despite the world economic crisis, China and Germany have vowed to maintain the trade volume unchanged this year.

Prior to the deal-signing ceremony, more than 450 Chinese and German business representatives attended a forum on exploring cooperation opportunities.

Chen and German Economic Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg condemned trade protectionism that has cropped out amid the global economic crisis.

Chen said the procurement deals reflect China's sincere objection to trade protectionism, adding that opening the market is the proper approach to address the global economic recession.

Guttenberg lauded China's procurement, and joined Chen to slap trade protectionism.

The 37-year-old minister said Germany and China are top two exporters in the world, noting that trade protectionism is a " wrong answer" to the current global financial crisis.

Germany and China should join hands to facilitate the Doha round talks, he added.

Later on Wednesday, the Chinese delegation, composed of over 200 business representatives, flew to Zurich of Switzerland to continue their procurement tour.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

Blocker put on generic imports

FDA finds violations at drug plant in India
Thursday, February 26, 2009
BY SUSAN TODD
Star-Ledger Staff
Federal drug regulators will stop reviewing all new drug applications from Ranbaxy Laboratories if any studies on the medicines occurred at the company's plant in India, where they said officials fabricated data to make it appear that more than two dozen generic drugs met U.S. standards.

It is the second action the Food and Drug Administration has taken against Ranbaxy after years of investigating violations at the company's Paonta Sahib facility. Regulators said they only recently secured enough evidence to begin rejecting new drug applications from Ranbaxy, which has offices in Princeton.

Last year, the agency barred Ranbaxy from importing active pharmaceutical ingredients and more than 30 generic drugs made at Paonta Sahib and two other plants where regulators discovered violations of U.S. manufacturing requirements.

Ranbaxy is one of the world's largest manufacturers of generic medicines -- the less expensive copies of brand name prescription drugs. In 2007, the company had global sales of $1.5 billion, including $390 million worth of business in the United States.

"Ranbaxy will continue to cooperate with the Food and Drug Administration," the company said in a statement issued from its headquarters in India. "No effort or action will be spared to protect key (new drug applications) from Paonta Sahib."

Chuck Caprariello, a spokesman at the company's U.S. headquarters in Princeton, did not return telephone calls.

Regulators did not disclose how many drug applications Ranbaxy has pending before the FDA, but they said false information has been uncovered in some of those applications as well. "Companies must provide truthful and accurate information to the FDA, and when they don't, there will be serious consequences," said Deborah Autor, director of drug compliance.

Federal investigators said the company did not properly test the shelf-life and other safety measures of its drugs and then lied about the results. In one instance, company officials refrigerated drugs then indicated they had been stored at room temperature. At other times, the company lied about the number and frequency of the safety tests it conducted, investigators said.

To address the falsified data, the FDA invoked its application integrity policy against the Paonta Sahib facility. When the policy goes into effect against a company, regulators stop all substantive scientific review of any new or pending drug applications, essentially preventing Ranbaxy from putting any new products on the market. The policy will cover only applications containing data generated by workers at Paonta Sahib, regulators said.

Regulators said they would only resume reviewing drugs from Paonta Sahib if the company "assures the agency of the integrity and reliability of that data." The company will have to put in place a new quality-control plan and agree to inspections by outside auditors.

In all, regulators believe that 25 drugs affected by the problems likely reached the United States although since the import ban went into effect in September, it has likely been months since most of the pills were on pharmacy shelves.

Three drugs tested at the Paonta Sahib plant are still in U.S. circulation because they are manufactured at the company's New Jersey plant. Those drugs are a generic decongestant and generic versions of Merck's Zocor and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pravachol. Both are widely used cholesterol drugs.

But regulators said the three medicines on the market likely underwent additional testing when they were transferred to the United States for the final phases of production, regulators said.

Despite the fraudulent data, regulators said they have no evidence that any of the drugs are dangerous and recommended that patients continue taking their prescriptions. "We've not uncovered any harm associated with Ranbaxy products currently marketed in the U.S.," said FDA Deputy Director Douglas Throckmorton. "We feel comfortable leaving those products on the market at this time."

In court documents filed last July, the Justice Department described "a pattern of systematic fraudulent conduct" at the Paonta Sahib plant that caused Ranbaxy's drugs to be too weak, too potent or lacking the advertised shelf life.

The Justice Department's investigation was disclosed in a court motion just days after Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo announced plans to acquire a controlling stake in Ranbaxy. Daiichi went through with the acquisition late last year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.nj.com/

Gold imports on crash course as prices skyrocket

Gold purchases by India, the world’s largest importer of the metal, are down to a trickle because of high prices, prompting local traders and jewellers to reprocess scrap and jewellery to cater to rapidly falling local demand. Gold imports fell by a third to 20 tonnes in January this year from a monthly average of 60 tonnes last year. By all available indications, imports will be negligible in February when prices crossed the Rs 15,000-limit.

Prices of the metal have been hitting record highs in India over the past couple of months, with a weaker rupee adding to the rise in gold prices denominated in dollars.

Bombay Bullion Association President Suresh Hundian said February would probably register the lowest monthly import since 1994, when gold was put on the open general licence list.

Sources in the association estimated that total imports would fall to around 400 tonnes in 2009 — one of the lowest in the last decade, and almost 45 per cent lower than last year’s level.

The fall in imports started in October, immediately after the credit crisis, which resulted in lower demand for Indian jewellery overseas and a consequent fall in exports.

Local traders said Indian consumers were waiting for prices to fall before they resumed gold purchases.

But some of them were also using the opportunity to cash in on the high prices and sell gold and gold jewellery. As a result, immediate import demand dropped, traders said.

All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation Chairman Ashok Minawala said scrap gold sales jumped 20 to 25 per cent from the average daily recovery of 500 kg.

“The recovery of used gold has intensified 15 to 20 per cent because of higher prices,” added Ajay Mitra, managing director — Indian sub-continent, World Gold Council (WGC).

Since the yellow metal does not lose any quantity, chemical and physical properties, traders procure gold from retail consumers at a discount.

Typically, for a 10 gram piece of jewellery, a jeweller would pay for 9 to 9.5 grams after factoring in the use of other metals in the product, which would bring the repurchase price to around Rs 13,500.

In contrast, an importer has to pay customs duty of Rs 10,300 per kg. Add to that the 1 per cent value added tax (VAT), 0.1 per cent octroi and 0.1 per cent stamp duty, and total duties add up to 2.25 per cent.

The price differential between imported gold and that recovered from scrap through re-melting was estimated to be around 0.67 per cent, but given the significant savings in duties, the total differential is estimated at 3 per cent, traders said.

Traders also said a part of the recycled gold was being moulded into coins and crude jewellery such as simple bangles that were being exported to markets such as Dubai to leverage the arbitrage opportunity more fully.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/

Twitter Useful For B2B Marketers

As a business-to-business marketing platform, Twitter has legs. Some 56% of Twitter users say they use the online social communication site for business-related purposes, according to Rodney Rumford, a social-media guru and CEO at Gravitational Media. This stat, based on a survey of 700 Twitter users, suggests the service's business value, alongside its emerging utility for consumer marketing.

"Twitter is a goldmine," Rumford raved, speaking at the inaugural Gravity Summit on Social Media at UCLA Wednesday. He added that a number of big consumer brands are already on the site, such as Starbucks, which currently boasts about 6 million members.

Rumford also noted that small businesses are using Twitter to advertise, citing the example of a gourmet Korean taco truck business in Los Angeles. Since its launch in November, it has built a following through Twitter. "The driver tweets where the truck will be 20 minutes ahead of time, and literally hundreds of people show up," one conference attendee confirmed.

Marketers can use Twitter actively or passively, Rumford says, either by reaching out with promotional messages or setting up a "listening engine" that lets them track consumer sentiment in public postings on the site. Any active marketing must be handled carefully to avoid alienating consumers with the appearance of dishonesty or inauthentic, impersonal messages. "It's not a campaign," he advises, "it's a conversation."

As with blogs, Rumford conceded that "people are going to be saying bad stuff about your brand, and that's OK." He says negative comments can be an opportunity for customer-service intervention.

Yet companies are still mishandling this kind of functionality, Rumford says. He cited Motrin's slow reaction to widespread criticism on Twitter about an ad featuring pregnant women that was seen as misogynist.

On the upside, Rumford said efforts to drive people to particular online destinations can be tracked and measured by Google Analytics. Google also crawls and indexes all the conversation streams on the site.

Justin Goldsborough, social-media manager for Sprint, said the company uses Twitter to track consumer sentiment and customer service. But Sprint also uses Twitter and a corporate blog to coordinate business-related activities, says Goldsborough, who noted the site's growing penetration in all areas of American business.

"Retail employees are on Twitter," prompting some concern among management, but Goldsborough pointed out that it can connect these workers more closely to both customers and bosses. He cited BestBuy, which has a communal blog and chat site used by thousands of employees.

Online social media can be a highly effective advertising medium, but there are some pitfalls that can seriously damage a brand, the speakers warned conference attendees. All the presenters stressed the importance of honesty and transparency in Web marketing that relies on word-of-mouth.

David Reis, the founder and CEO of DEI, an online word-of-mouth marketing company, recalled the condemnation heaped on Belkin, an electronics manufacturer, for paying users $0.65 per post to write favorable reviews of its products on Amazon.com. "Basically, it's a simple problem: They lied," Reis said, emphasizing that marketers should always be forthright about their identities and mission.

Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/

US steel imports in January 2009 up by 13% MoM

Based on preliminary reporting by the Department of Commerce, American Institute for International Steel said that total steel imports of US in January were 2.34 million tonnes as compared to 2.07 million tonnes in December 2008, up by 13.3% MoM and a 12.2% YoY decrease as compared to January 2008.

The data show that imported semi finished products decreased by 55.1% YoY in January 2008 as compared to January 2009 from 0.463 million tonnes in 2008 to 0.208 million tons in 2009.

Mr David Phelps president of AIIS said that "The steel market remains depressed, and arrivals reflect that hard reality as imports continue to slow from non NAFTA countries, with exceptions from countries supplying slabs and hot rolled for US foreign owned operations, such as Russia and the EU. With hot end operations in the US operating at low capacity, internationally integrated companies will continue to ship slabs and other steel products such as hot rolled sheet to their US operations as demand justifies."

He added that "AIIS, based on its monthly importer survey, expects arrivals to continue at depressed levels for some months to come. We remain optimistic that the stimulus legislation may breathe some life into the steel market in the second half of the year."

Source: http://steelguru.com/news/

US steel imports in January 2009 up by 13% MoM

Based on preliminary reporting by the Department of Commerce, American Institute for International Steel said that total steel imports of US in January were 2.34 million tonnes as compared to 2.07 million tonnes in December 2008, up by 13.3% MoM and a 12.2% YoY decrease as compared to January 2008.

The data show that imported semi finished products decreased by 55.1% YoY in January 2008 as compared to January 2009 from 0.463 million tonnes in 2008 to 0.208 million tons in 2009.

Mr David Phelps president of AIIS said that "The steel market remains depressed, and arrivals reflect that hard reality as imports continue to slow from non NAFTA countries, with exceptions from countries supplying slabs and hot rolled for US foreign owned operations, such as Russia and the EU. With hot end operations in the US operating at low capacity, internationally integrated companies will continue to ship slabs and other steel products such as hot rolled sheet to their US operations as demand justifies."

He added that "AIIS, based on its monthly importer survey, expects arrivals to continue at depressed levels for some months to come. We remain optimistic that the stimulus legislation may breathe some life into the steel market in the second half of the year."

Source: http://steelguru.com/news/

Nath all set to unwrap exporter gift pack today

NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath is likely to announce a special package for exporters in the foreign trade policy to be announced on Thursday.

The package, aimed at bringing down the cost of operation for exporters hit badly by the global slowdown, will consist of measures such as dilution of export obligations, simplification of rules on service tax refunds and lowering of demurrage charges.

The government looks to reduce bureaucratic delays, relax terms for claiming incentives and ensure timely refunds of input duties, said an official who asked not to be named.

While most of the steps will be non-fiscal in nature, they may include direct sops for exporting products such as textiles and leather affected most by the recession in the US and Europe, the largest market for these items.

The scheme could be on the lines of the existing ‘focus product’ and ‘focus market’ schemes where incentives are given for exporting niche products to new markets. “The commerce department has pushed hard for the scheme. It all depends on whether the finance ministry agrees to give additional funds,” the official said.

A set of measures to dilute the export obligation against duty free import of machinery and raw materials under schemes such as the export promotion capital goods scheme are on the cards. The government may announce lower export obligations and more time to meet them.

The policy will also include measures to simplify procedures for service tax refund to exporters and ensure fast disbursals. Very few exporters have been able to claim service tax refunds because of the complicated procedures. The finance ministry will also relax certain procedures for claiming refund of taxes on input services used in exports, another government official said.

Exporters will be able to claim refund as and when they export, as against the current practice of quarterly refunds. Instead of documentary proof of actual use of inputs, exporters may be allowed to give statement of expenses certified by chartered accountants. In some cases, exporters may also be allowed to give self-declarations.

Another major incentive that exporters could expect is the delinking of grant of benefit under the duty entitlement pass book (DEPB), a popular import duty reimbursement scheme for exporters, with the realisation of export proceeds. Since the global finance crunch is delaying payments, the government does not see any merit in holding back DEPB payments to exporters, the official said.

The global slowdown and the resultant reluctance of the industry to import have also prompted the government to consider revalidating the expired licences for duty free import of capital goods. The commerce and industry minister is also expected to ask the tariff authority of major ports to lower its demurrage charges, as there are delays in shipping out consignments due to overall slowdown in demand.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Food exports up by 58.38 percent

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (APP): Exports of food products during the first seven months of the current financial year witnessed increase of 58.38 percent over the corresponding period of the last financial year.

Overall food group exports were recorded at $1.87 billion in July-January (2008-09) as against the exports of $1.18 billion recorded July-January (2007- 08), figures provided by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) said.

Among the food group, the export of rice increased by 90.9 percent by growing up from exports of $658.7 million during last year to $1.25 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

According to the figures, export of basmati export during the time under review increased by 72 percent while that of other rice commodities increased by 117 percent.

Exports of fish were increased by 21.84 percent, fruits by 5.43 percent, leguminous vegetables (pulses) by 133 percent, spices by 19 percent, sugar by 73 percent, meat and meat productions by 48 percent while the exports of other food items were increased by 7.01 percent.

However, the exports of vegetables during the time under review were decreased by 19.59 percent while oil, seeds, nuts and kernels exports also decreased by 19.97 percent.

During the month of January 2009 exports of food commodities increased by 4.18 percent as compared to exports of December 2008. Food exports during the month under review were recorded at $215 million as against export of $206 million recorded during December 2008.

Rice exports during January 2009 were increased by 1.89 percent, fish and fish preparations by 16.25 percent, fruits by 24.77 percent, vegetables by 72.71 percent, tobacco by 286 percent, spices by 47.7 percent, meat and meat preparations by 48.14 percent and exports of other food items were increased by 1.79 percent.

Source: http://www.app.com.pk/

Global outsourcing benefited US firms: Nasscom

Bangalore, Feb 26 (IANS) Indian IT industry body Nasscom has reacted cautiously to US President Barack Obama’s remarks on outsourcing, saying global outsourcing had benefited US firms that generate over 50 percent of their business overseas.
“American companies generate more than 50 percent of their business outside the US. Their workforce is global. To be globally competitive, they also depend on globally shared services,” Nasscom president Som Mittal told IANS on phone from the US.

Welcoming Obama’s observations on protectionism, Mittal said late Wednesday that the US president’s statement would have a positive effect on his country’s economy that is going through a recession after a long time.

“Obama has, in fact, supported the need to avoid protectionism. We have to see how he would prevent job losses without resorting to protectionist measures,” Mittal pointed out.

Citing the latest US state department data on employment, Mittal said job losses in construction, retail and manufacturing were more than in services, especially in the IT space.

“Compared to other sectors, job losses in the US tech sector were 2.2 percent as against the overall unemployment rate of 7.2 percent. The US administration will not do anything that would harm its industry or economy, which is driven by the technology leadership its companies enjoy,” Mittal noted.

Asked what impact Obama’s statement on outsourcing would have on the Indian IT and BPO (business process outsourcing) industry, which has been reeling under global recession and financial meltdown in the US, Mittal said he had not seen any specific proposal to the contrary.

“We have not seen any specific proposals to the contrary. The people here (in the US) are more concerned about healthcare, energy, saving jobs and economic recovery than outsourcing, on which Obama used only nine words,” said Mittal.

Admitting that the economic downturn had created turmoil worldwide impacting businesses and job creation, Mittal said global sourcing had helped (US) companies gain the vital competitive edge - time-to-market, transformation of businesses, integration of processes, reduce costs and enhance efficiency, which were key drivers for economic revival, worldwide.

In his first address to the joint session of the US Congress in Washington Tuesday, Obama said there would be no tax breaks to US companies that outsource their jobs abroad.

Earlier, in a statement from New Delhi, Nasscom said it was heartening to note that Obama had supported the need to “avoid protectionism” in his speech.

“This is not the time for protectionism but for global collaboration, if the world is to come out of this economic downturn quickly. We hope that all other countries would support this and continue to be proponents of free trade,” Nasscom said.

Countries the world over have been promoting local investment through tax incentives for job creation while supporting international trade.

Quoting reports by leading analysts, Nasscom said job losses in the tech sector was the lowest in the US, as compared to unemployment in the manufacturing, retail and construction sectors.

“The technology sector is a part of the global value chain and while affected by the downturn, is still expected to grow,” Nasscom added.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com/