SEMICONDUCTORS
<strong>Chip stash hints at slowdown</strong>
South Korea’s chip stockpiles increased by the most in more than four years, suggesting a slowdown in demand for memory chips used in electronics worldwide. The nationwide inventory jumped 53.4 percent in May from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said yesterday. An earlier 54.1 percent gain in March 2018 coincided with a slowdown in revenue growth in the chip industry. Semiconductor stockpiles have been rising on a year-on-year basis since October last year. South Korea is the world’s largest producer of memory chips, which go into everything from smartphones to laptops to cars. The mounting stockpiles
GERMANY
<strong>Factory orders dive 6.9%</strong>
Factory orders plummeted in October as demand for investment goods declined, putting the economy on weak footing in the final months of the year. Orders fell 6.9 percent following a 1.3 percent increase the previous month. That is the biggest drop in the volatile index since August and a worse reading than predicted by any of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Companies are facing unprecedented delivery times for inputs and a majority of manufacturers plan to raise prices, said the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, which has seen its business climate index fall for five consecutive months.
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Kirin Scraps Joint Venture With Myanmar Military-Owned Firm After Coup
A Kirin promotional event / Kirin Ichiban Myanmar Facebook
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By The Irrawaddy 5 February 2021
YANGON Japanese beverage giant Kirin has decided to cut ties with a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate following the armed forces’ coup and detention of national civilian leaders State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint.
Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. on Friday said it will end its joint-venture partnership with Myanma Economic Holdings Public Co. Ltd. (MEHL). Kirin held 51 percent of both Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery, with MEHL holding the rest.
Five days after the military takeover, Kirin said that “Given the current circumstances, we have no option but to terminate our current joint-venture partnership” with MEHL, “which provides the service of welfare fund management for the military.”