China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at US$2.13 trillion as at end June 2009, indicating that China’s economy is on track for recovery. Asian Development Bank noted that the rapid growth in China’s foreign exchange reserves was led by the rising trade surplus and by the confidence of overseas investors as they buy up China’s assets. China’s trade surplus in the first half of 2009 was US$96.94 billion. The stock and property markets remained bullish. China’s shares have rallied 70% from the beginning of the year. Property sales surged 53% to reach 1.58 trillion Yuan (US$231.3 million) as investors took advantage of low interest rates. China’s property and equity markets are closely watched by international speculative fund holders. It is believed that the bullish property and equity markets are among the reasons contributing to the surge in China’s foreign exchange reserves.  

The metals sub-sector which consists of ferrous and non-ferrous metals is a key component in Malaysia’s manufacturing and construction industry. Taken as a whole, exports of the metals industry in January to May 2009 fell by 26.9 per cent to RM9.2 billion from RM12.6 billion in the first five months of last year. Imports of metals which are critical inputs in our fabrication industry, also declined by 35.3 per cent in the same period. A total of 47 projects were approved in the metal industry with investments valued at RM2.6 billion for the period of January – May 2009. As part of the metals industry, the iron and steel sub-sector provides basic raw materials and intermediate inputs to other sectors such as agriculture, construction and engineering. The Government had introduced measures to help spur production and trade in this sub-sector. Effective 1 August 2009, steel manufacturing licences will be issued without restriction to meet the demand for long and flat steel...

WTO Members may impose measures for the protection of human, animal, plant life or health reasons, under the Agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures (SPS). The measures imposed should conform to international standards and guidelines, in order to ensure harmonisation in implementation. The measures should not restrict the flow of trade, implemented in a non-discriminatory manner and should be applicable to all countries and domestic producers or suppliers. Despite these guidelines, disputes have been referred to the WTO on SPS measures. For example, the ban imposed by the US on importation of poultry products from China is viewed as discriminatory protectionism by China as it violates the obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the SPS Agreement. The US however insists that the SPS measures taken by them are to ensure food safety and is based on scientific evidence as required under the SPS Agreement and therefore is in compliance...

Malaysian companies are encouraged to explore opportunities offered by India for investment and collaboration in the development of highways. India’s Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Mr. Kamal Nath, announced during a visit to Singapore in mid-July 2009 that infrastructure, particularly development of roads, will be the key defining sector for attracting foreign investments in India in the coming decade; much like ICT was the focus sector in the 90’s and the present decade. India’s priority is on building world-class infrastructure through public-private partnerships (PPPs). India’s ‘Action Plan for Development of the National Highways Network’ expects that 45,974km of highways with an estimated investment of US$45 billion will be built during the period 2001-2012. To date, only 5,152km or 11.2% of the envisaged 45,974km of highways has been completed. In view of the slow progress, Minister Nath has set a target of 20km a day of highway construction as compared to...

China’s State Council (Cabinet) has directed its local governments to buy more energy-efficient, eco-friendly and energy-saving products in its public purchases. This latest directive is pursuant to the stricter implementation of China’s ‘Government Purchase Law’ which contains a compulsory green procurement list comprising nine types ofproducts – air conditioners, fluorescent lamps, televisions, electric water heaters, computers, printers, computer monitors, urinals and toilet pans and water nozzles. China has targeted local authorities as a prime mover to achieve the nation’s overall objective of ‘cleaner’ economic growth: - local authorities, by virtue of their relatively larger spending power, have the capacity to implement utilization and supply of green products to their projects and programmes to help reduce any negative environmental impact; - environmentally improved products are often niche products and increased demand by local authorities will help...

Effective from 7 July 2009, under Hong Kong’s Environmental Levy Scheme, registered retail outlets are required to charge customers not less than 50 cents for each plastic shopping bag with a handle. The Product Eco-responsibility (Plastic Shopping Bags) Regulation which sets out the implementation details of the levy scheme was approved by the Legislative Council on 23 April 2009. The first phase of the scheme will include all retailers in major and chain supermarkets, convenience stores, personal health and beauty product stores and department stores. The objective of the levy scheme is to encourage the public to switch to reusable shopping bags with a view to reducing the indiscriminate use of plastic shopping bags. According to a senior environmental affairs officer, a person uses three plastic bags on average each day in Hong Kong. With the new levy, some manufacturers have opted to pre-bag both small and large products for the convenience of customers and in an effort to...

• Physical retail stores in Taiwan are struggling to maintain their sales performance, as local consumers have become more cautious on their spending amid the economic downturn. • According to the current statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), during the first half of 2009, the revenue of the retail trade declined 3.26 percent to US$48.17 billion, compared with same period in 2008. •Taiwan consumers have become more rational and less impulsive about purchases, buying with shopping lists in hand. The consumers also tend to spend their money on fresh foods and daily necessities and avoid high-prices items on the shelves. •Faced with this trend, hypermarkets have introduced various promotional programs to try to stimulate sales and are presenting their products in smaller packages to cater to consumers’ smaller budgets. •In contrast to the hardship experienced by physical retail channels, online virtual retailers have not been affected, as they...

• In recent years, Muslim food becomes popular in China. With the rising standards of living, the requirement of food safety and taste of the Chinese people is getting higher than before. • With the successful closing of Beijing Olympic Games and the upcoming Shanghai World Expo in 2010, halal food is gaining importance to serve the needs of more Muslim visitors. • In the past three years, the China’s Muslim food sector has experienced fast development. Due to the strong demand in China’s mainland, most of the Chinese Muslim enterprises are now increasing the production scale to tap the growing market share. • In recent years, Chinese Halal food and product industry has sustained a development growth of 10% per year and in 2006, the total Halal food commerce was more than US$ 2.1 billion. Comparing with the international marketing, China’s market share only accounted for 0.1%. • The total value of China’s Halal food exports was less than US$ 100 million. This...

The Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), the Small & Medium Industries Development Corporation (SMIDEC) and Nestlé have established a three-party strategic collaboration to jointly promote the development of SMEs in the halal food and beverages (F&B) industry in Malaysia. The three corporations announced on 10 August 2009 their common commitment to pool their energy and core competencies to ensure that SMEs in the halal F&B sub-sector are kept abreast of opportunities and developments in Malaysia and globally. Other than providing advisory services, financial assistance, infrastructural facilities, and market access to SMEs in the halal sector, SMIDEC will identify and recommend potential SMEs in the halal ingredient industry to both HDC and Nestlé, based on SMIDEC’s evaluation system. Selected SMEs will be eligible to receive technical and financial assistance which will help ensure that the SMEs meet the specified standards set by Nestlé as their supplier. HDC, on...

ASEAN Economic Ministers at their meeting in Bangkok on 13-16 August 2009 announced that the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), especially the creation of a single market, is on track. Y.B. Dato’ Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry, led the Malaysian delegation. The ASEAN Economic Ministers noted that initiatives to create a single market have contributed to the significant increase in intra-regional and extra-ASEAN trade. Intra-ASEAN trade in 2008 was US$453 billion or 26.7% of ASEAN’s external trade. Ten years ago, intra- ASEAN trade was only US$120 billion. In 2008, ASEAN’s global trade exceeded the trillion dollar mark at US$1.69 trillion. ASEAN has also remained an attractive destination for FDI despite global challenges. ASEAN as a region has attracted investments totaling US$184.6 billion over the period 2006-2008. Internally, ASEAN is close to full integration through AFTA. A favourable environment for cross-border investment...