Hanoi (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Thai-Japanese joint venture Vina Kraft Paper
began operating its mill in Binh Duong Province last week.

The paper mill,
which the owners claim is the largest and the most advanced in Vietnam, is
located in the My Phuoc 3 Industrial Park. It was built with a total
investment of VND3.350 trillion (US$180 million).

Vina Kraft Paper has an
annual production capacity of 220,000 tonnes.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Canberra (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Australia’s business conditions in
the last three months of 2009 were the best since the March quarter of
2008, new data released on Tuesday showed.

The Commonwealth Bank
- Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) business expectations
survey showed its general business conditions index was 56.0 in the December
quarter, up from 49.4 in the previous three months.

This was the first time
the index had moved above the 50 mark since early 2008, signalling conditions are expanding. “The results in this survey are the
most positive for some time,” ACCI director of economics and industry
policy Greg Evans told reporters in Canberra.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Hanoi (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Vietnam’s industrial production
value increased by 28.4 per cent in January to 62.79 trillion VND (US$3.4
billion) as a result of the country’s economic recovery, said
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu.

The non-state economic
sector maintained the highest growth rate of 31.1 per cent. It was followed
by the foreign-invested sector with a rise of 29.1 per cent and the state-owned sector with 23.1 per cent.

Electricity, coal, fuel and clothing
experienced a sharp rise in production, Deputy Minister Khu
added.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Colombo (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Ceylon Tobacco
Company, the Sri Lanka unit of British American Tobacco, said its profits
grew 49 per cent to 4.1 billion rupees (US$35.8 million) despite falling
sales as the firm cut costs and changed brands. The firm is the sole branded cigarette maker in the island.

CTC said smokers had helped
the government raise 52.4 billion rupees in taxes to the state with the CTC
itself charged 2.9 billion rupees as income tax for 2009.

Total sales
inclusive of state levies had grown 6.0 per cent to 58.0 billion with tax and
price increases, while net revenue for the company had grown 10.5 per cent
to 12.3 billion rupees.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Tokyo (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Japan’s gross domestic product rose a
price-adjusted 0.4 per cent in December, underpinned by robust exports to
Asia and increased capital investment, according to figures
released Monday by the Japan Center for Economic Research.

Consumer spending fell for a second month, down 0.3 per cent
from November. Capital spending climbed 1.7 per cent, while
housing investment edged 0.5 per cent higher in a sign that
conditions have bottomed out.

Exports grew 2.1 per cent, up for a
ninth consecutive month, with particular strength in
China-bound shipments.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Sydney (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – The Reserve Bank of
Australia (RBA) has left the official interest rate unchanged, defying
financial market expectations of a 25 basis point hike.

The central bank
left the cash rate unchanged at 3.75 per cent after its first
board meeting of the year on Tuesday. Most financial market economists had
expected a rise of 25 basis points to four per cent.

But RBA governor Glenn
Stevens said a hike this month was not deemed to be appropriate, given
stronger than expected domestic economic conditions and previous moves by
lenders to raise their rates by more than cash rate increases.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Seoul (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Sales at South Korea’s department
stores rose 10.5 per cent in 2009 from a year ago, government data
showed Tuesday, supporting signs of a recovery in consumption.

Department
store sales rose to 21.5 trillion won (US$18.5 billion) last year, compared
with 19.5 trillion won in 2008, according to the data from Statistics Korea.

But spending at discount stores and hypermarkets grew more slowly, gaining
3.7 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively, the data showed. Discount
store sales rose to 31.5 trillion won while hypermarket sales climbed to 22.4
trillion won.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

New Delhi (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Indian hospitality player ‘The
Leela’ plans to double the number of hotels it has in India by setting up
six more properties in the next three years.

“We currently have
six hotels. We will open six more by 2013,” Company’s Vice-President,
Sales and Marketing, Sanjoy Pasricha said.

The new properties would come up
in Delhi, Chennai, Agra, Hyderabad, Pune and Ashtamudi (Kerala), he said, without giving investment details. The company will add 2,000 rooms with
these six new properties.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Tokyo (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Bridgestone Corp. (TSE:5108)
has announced that it will begin producing bus and truck tires at an Indian
plant from the first half of next year in response to growing demand in
that country.

The Japanese firm will invest some 3.3 billion yen (US$36.38
million) to expand the Indore plant and install new production equipment. By
the second half of 2012, it aims to boost truck and bus tire output capacity
there to 400 a day.

The 265,500 sq. meter Indore plant began making tires
for passenger cars and small trucks in 1998 and now turns out 12,500 a
day. Production capacity will be increased to a daily 15,000 units this
year.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse

Jakarta (The Jakarta Herald/Asia Pulse) – Indonesian engineering
company PT Truba Alam Manungggal Engineering (JSX:TRUB) said it will invest
US$400 million this year to build four power plants.

Truba
corporate secretary Gamala Katoppo said the four power plants –
PLTU Pontianak, PLTU Bangka, PLTU Lampung and PLTU Kuala Tanjung — will
have a total capacity of 400 megawatts.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2012, Gamala told the newspaper Invetsor Daily. He said Truba is seeking strategic partner to build the 270 MW PLTU Kuala Tanjung in North
Sumatra, the largest among the four projects.

Source:
Business in Asia Today – Feb. 2, 2010
published by Asia Pulse