Eight years ago, Pascal Lighting employed about 2,000 workers on a leafy campus in southern China. Today, the Taiwanese light manufacturer has winnowed its workforce to just 200 and leased most of its space to other companies: lamp workshops, a mobile phone maker, a logistics group, a liquor brand.
Industry
African cocoa a golden ticket for Tanzania chocolate factory
Jaki Kweka is that rare breed of gourmet chocolatier. She makes fine chocolate in Africa using local African ingredients.
U.S. presses Mexico to ease poultry import limits brought by bird flu
The United States is pressing Mexico, the top importer of U.S. chickens and turkeys, to relax restrictions imposed on poultry shipments because of an outbreak of a strain of avian flu deadly to birds, an Agriculture Department spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.
U.S. warns export giants not to rely too much on U.S. consumers
The United States on Friday pressed the world's leading exporters, including Germany and Japan, to generate more economic growth within their borders, warning that the world could not rely too much on U.S. consumers.
U.S. consumer prices edge up, supporting Fed rate rise
U.S. consumer prices increased for a second straight month in March on rising gasoline and housing costs, a sign of an uptick in inflation that should keep the Federal Reserve on course to start raising interest rates this year.
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U.S. housing starts rose far less than expected in March and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region grew modestly this month, suggesting the economy could struggle to rebound from a soft patch hit in the first quarter.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China rose 2.2 percent on the year in March, while outbound flows posted a milder rise, as foreign corporate investors remain undeterred by China's weakening domestic economic performance.
U.S. industrial output posted its biggest drop in more than 2-1/2 years in March in part as oil and gas well drilling plummeted, highlighting the negative impact of lower crude prices and a strong dollar on the economy.
The U.S. dollar rebounded against the euro on Wednesday after the European Central Bank reiterated its dovish stance on monetary policy, though weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data limited the dollar's advance.
China grew at its slowest pace in six years at the start of 2015 and weakness in key sectors suggested the world's second-largest economy was still losing momentum, intensifying Beijing's struggle to find the right policy mix to shore up activity.
Retail sales rose in March for the first time since November as consumers stepped up purchases of automobiles and other goods, suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter was temporary.
Australia's Fortescue Metals Group Ltd will change its roster to increase the time workers spend at mines, as the world's fourth largest iron ore producer rushes to reduce costs in the face of plunging prices for the steelmaking ingredient.
China's export sales contracted 15 percent in March, a shock outcome that deepens concern about sputtering Chinese economic growth.
Nearly a quarter of the world's major copper mines are running in the red, even after producers including Codelco [COBRE.UL] and BHP Billiton engage in their deepest cost-cutting in years, according to a Reuters analysis.
