Kyodo economic news summary -6-+. Check it out:
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) TOKYO, Sept. 29_(Kyodo) _ ---------- Mitsui Chemicals to buy Daiichi Sankyo's pesticide unit
TOKYO - Mitsui Chemicals Inc. said Friday it will buy Daiichi Sankyo Co.'s pesticide manufacturing unit Sankyo Agro Co. with the aim of strengthening its agrichemical business.
Mitsui Chemicals said it has reached an agreement with the Daiichi Sankyo group to purchase all outstanding shares in Sankyo Agro, with the stock transfer scheduled for March 30 next year. The company declined to reveal the acquisition cost.
---------- Japan's housing starts up 1.8% in Aug., 1st rise in 2 months
TOKYO - Japanese housing starts in August rose 1.8 percent from a year earlier to 111,187 units for the first increase in two months, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Friday.
The ministry attributed the rebound to increases in starts of both owner-occupied houses and homes for sale, which outweighed the effects of a decline in starts of homes for rent.
---------- Takefuji to stop having borrowers' lives insured
TOKYO - Consumer loan firm Takefuji Corp. said Friday it will stop on Sunday the practice of having borrowers' lives insured, and will not purchase such policies for new lending contracts as of Nov. 1.
The announcement came after consumer loan companies were criticized for using borrowers' lives to recover loans. The firms have bought group life insurance contracts upon lending to borrowers in a bid to recover loans in the form of insurance money when borrowers die before completing repayments.
---------- Japan stays out of currency markets in Sept. for 30th month
TOKYO - Japan's currency authorities did not intervene in foreign exchange markets in September for the 30th straight month, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
The ministry said it conducted no market intervention via the Bank of Japan from Aug. 30 to Sept. 27, extending the intervention-free period since March 17, 2004.
---------- Mitarai, 3 others named for key gov't economic panel
TOKYO - Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Friday the government has picked Japan Business Federation Chairman Fujio Mitarai and three others as new private-sector representatives at its powerful Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.
The other three are Uichiro Niwa, chairman of trading house Itochu Corp., Takatoshi Ito, professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Economics, and Naohiro Yashiro, professor of economics at the International Christian University.
---------- Toshiba to recall 830,000 Sony-made batteries for computers
TOKYO - Toshiba Corp. said Friday it will recall about 830,000 lithium-ion batteries made by Sony Corp. for its notebook personal computers on a global basis.
Toshiba's move, the first among Japanese computer makers, will deal another blow to Sony and is likely to prompt other laptop manufacturers to recall some of their products on concerns over possible overheating.
---------- Japan needs to amend negative views on foreign labor: experts
TOKYO - Experts including a former Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau chief agreed Friday in a symposium that more Japanese need to have a positive image toward foreign workers.
"Japanese people need to welcome" foreign workers as we "receive them as helpers" for solving issues related to Japan's declining population, Hidenori Sakanaka, who retired from the Justice Ministry last year, said at the symposium held in Tokyo.
---------- Yoshinoya lowers interim earnings estimate
TOKYO - Restaurant chain operator Yoshinoya D&C Co. said Friday it will book smaller-than-expected sales for the just-ended first half of the current business year due to the effects of preparations to put "gyudon" beef-on-rice dishes back on its menu.
Yoshinoya, once Japan's No. 1 provider of gyudon dishes, said it expects to register group sales of 62.24 billion yen for the March-August period, down from its projection of 63.40 billion in April.
---------- METI eyes loans, consultation to give small firms 'second chance'
TOKYO - The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which oversees policies to support small businesses, is seeking a new loan system and consultation services to give failed entrepreneurs a "second chance," ministry officials said Friday.
The Small and Medium Enterprise Agency under METI has urged the government to create a special loan and credit guarantee system to encourage those who once failed in their businesses to make a fresh try, they said.
---------- Gov't plans tax waivers to help turn around Skymark Airlines
TOKYO - The transport ministry said Friday it has decided to help turn around the struggling business of Skymark Airlines Co. by invoking special industrial revival legislation.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will take advantage of the law, which took effect in 1999 amid a prolonged recession, to grant the carrier tax wavers worth some 8.4 million yen on its new share issuance over the next three years, ministry officials said.
Copyright 2006 Kyodo News International, Inc.
Technorati
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Digg
