Fariduddin becomes EXIM Bank adviser

New Age, 29 July 2012

Md Fariduddin Ahmed has become adviser of EXIM Bank. Prior to the new assignment he was managing director and chief executive officer of the same bank, said a news release.
Fariduddin started his banking career in Sonali Bank as a probationary officer in 1977. He joined Islami Bank Bangladesh on the date of its establishment on August 30, 1983 as manager, operations and held the position of managing director and CEO before retirement from that bank. He was also the head of Islamic Banking Department in AB Bank.

BP hit with $3.1b Russian court bill

AFP, 29 July 2012

A Siberian court on Friday piled more legal pressure on BP by ordering the British group to pay $3.1 billion in damages for its attempted Arctic oil exploration tie-up with the state giant Rosneft.
A BP attorney immediately denounced the decision as a ‘corporate attack’ that demonstrated the court’s subservience to the Russian government’s wishes.
The ruling came just days after BP entered direct talks with Rosneft over a buy-out by Russia’s largest oil company of the British firm’s stake in the troubled TNK-BP joint venture it co-owns with four local tycoons.
A lawyer for minority TNK-BP shareholder Andrei Prokhorov — the unheralded plaintiff at the heart of Russia’s biggest business court case — said the 100-billion-ruble ruling was issued against London-based BP plc and its BP Russia Investment Limited venture.
‘We are fully satisfied,’ attorney Dmitry Chepurenko said by telephone from the oil-producing region of Tyumen.
Prokhorov — owner of just 0.0000106 per cent of a venture responsible for nearly a third of BP’s oil — denies acting on behalf of the powerful oligarchs who operate their half through the Alfa Access Renova consortium.
AAR successfully blocked the Arctic deal in a European court of arbitration by arguing that BP had an obligation to offer TNK-BP priority rights to any operations it would like to conduct across the country and Ukraine.
Prokhorov said TNK-BP Holding suffered from unrealised gains by being shut out of the $16 billion share-swap and joint exploration venture.
The Arctic venture eventually went to the US super-major ExxonMobil. TNK-BP for its part reported a slump in second quarter profits Friday to $808 million from $2.2 billion last year due to lower prices and higher export taxes on old fields.
The Siberian ruling will make no immediate financial impact on BP because it can still fight it in higher courts — a process that Prokhorov’s attorney said could take ‘at least’ six months.

Airbus delays A350 after glitch

Reuters, 29 July 2012

Airbus announced a fresh delay to Europe’s newest passenger jet on Friday, but the cost of the setback to the A350 barely dented a stronger-than-expected first-half performance that put rocket fuel under the shares of parent company EADS.
Shares in Europe’s largest aerospace company rose 6 per cent and topped 30 euros for the first time since May after it raised profit and revenue forecasts, outpacing a broad rally fuelled by hopes of central bank support for the struggling global economy.
Delivering his first results since stepping up from the Airbus unit in June, EADS chief executive Tom Enders said a top priority was improving profits by delivering on major projects -a problem for both Airbus and rival Boeing.
‘Another focus of our efforts is to further integrate and globalise EADS,’ he said in a statement, weeks after Airbus unveiled plans to build an assembly plant in the United States.
The three-month delay to the A350 follows a glitch in wing production on the planemaker’s most ambitious project and pushes first delivery of the mid-sized jet — Europe’s answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner — into the second half of 2014.
The A350 was already a year behind its original schedule but Airbus wants to iron out problems before the start of final assembly. A backlog of unresolved problems was blamed in part for three-year delays on the A380 superjumbo and Boeing’s 787.
Problems in drilling holes in the wings on the carbon-composite A350 were first reported by Reuters at this month’s Farnborough Airshow.
The delay will result in a charge of 124 million euros, EADS said. The delay will result in a charge of 124 million euros, EADS said.
Airbus and Boeing are ramping up production to meet surging demand for fuel-saving jets as airlines cut costs to survive the economic downturn while feeding growth in emerging markets. But both have faced persistent problems.

Maruti Q1 net falls 23pc

Reuters, 28 July 2012

Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest carmaker, lagged estimates with a 23 per cent fall in fiscal first-quarter profit, its fourth consecutive quarterly profit decline, as a weak local rupee currency pushed up costs.
Maruti, 54.2 per cent owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, said net profit fell to 4.24 billion rupees for the three months to June from 5.49 billion rupees a year earlier.
‘Adverse currency movements, notably the Yen-rupee exchange rate, impacted profits negatively,’ Maruti, which imports many components from Japan, said in a statement.
Net sales for the quarter rose 27.5 per cent to 105.3 billion rupees from a year earlier.
Analysts expected a net profit of 4.85 billion rupees for the quarter on revenue of 101.10 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters.
Maruti faces months of supply woes and a slump in market share and sales as a lockout at a key factory enters its second week after violent clashes between workers and management left one company official dead.

Bangladesh, India to set up 8 more border markets

New Age, 29 July 2012

Dhaka and New Delhi are keen to set up eight more markets along the India-Bangladesh border in the northeastern states, Bangladesh foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes said on Friday.
Two border haats (markets) were set up in Meghalaya last year on a pilot basis and these are now operational.
‘The Bangladesh government has already agreed to India’s proposal to
set up four border haats along the border with Tripura. Study is on
to set up four more border haats in Mizoram,’ Quayes told the IANS.
He said, ‘Through the border haats, besides business in local products, people to people contacts of both sides of the border would be further strengthened.’
The border markets are to be set up within 5 kilometres on either side of the international border.
Tripura’s commerce minister Jitendra Chaudhury said the proposed four border markets would be set up at Raghna and Kamalpur in northern Tripura, Kasba in western Tripura and Srinagar in southern Tripura.
‘If the existing border infrastructure is upgraded, the volume of trade and business between Bangladesh and northeastern states of India would be increased five to six times of the current level,’ the minister added.

Flood tolerant paddy cultivation becomes popular in Bangladesh

The Financial Express, 29 July 2012

RANGPUR, Jul 28 (BSS): The cultivation of flood-tolerant variety paddies has already become popular among the farmers after repeated successes they achieved in recent years ushering in a new era in the country’s agriculture sector and food security.

Over 14 lakh farmers would bring 1.62 lakh hectares of land under flood-tolerant paddy farming this time in the country, Country Manager (CM) of Stress Tolerant Rice for Poor Farmers in Africa and South Asia (STRASA-IRRI) Project Dr MA Bari told BSS today.

“The farmers have already completed preparing seedbeds and are caring now before transplantation from the next month,” Dr Bari, also CM of Sustainable Rice Seed Production and Delivery System in Southern Bangladesh (SRSPDS- IRRI) Project, said.

Talking to BSS, Regional Project Coordinator of STRASA-IRRI and Team Leader of SRSPDS-IRRI Projects Dr US Singh said farmers in Bangladesh have achieved laudable success in farming flood-tolerant paddies.

“Bangladesh has brighter prospect to overcome colossal crop losses being caused by floods every year to T-Aman paddy through expanded farming of flood-tolerant paddies to keep rice production increasing under adverse climate,” he said.

Dr Bari said 2,000 tonne seeds of these paddies were distributed among the farmers in all 64 districts this season with the assistances of the USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Like the previous seasons, seeds of flood-tolerant BRRI dhan 51, BRRI dhan 52, IR 64 Sub 1 and Samba Massouri Sub1, saline-tolerant BRRI dhan 53 and BRRI dhan 54 and drought-tolerant BRRI Dhan 56, BRRI dhan 57, Chehrang Sub1 were distributed this time through GOB-NGO collaboration.

“Besides, many farmers prepared more seedbeds this time using own seed stocks as 1.25 lakh farmers cultivated flood-tolerant paddies in 15,000 hectare lands last year in 48 districts using 186 tonnes seeds distributed by us,” he added.

Additional Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Sikander Ali said cultivation of these paddies ecame popular after farmers got bumper productions even after 12-17 days submergence under flood-waters in recent years.

Farmers Khabir Uddin and Anjalul Haque and Chand Mian of Rangpur said they got average yield of 3.52 tonnes of BRRI dhan 51 paddy per hectare after the plants remained submerged for 15 days in the first phase and again for 10 days last season.

GP denied chance of 3G test run

The financial Express, 29 July 2012

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) did not allow Grameenphone (GP) for the test run of 3G (third generation) mobile service, officials said.

A high official of BTRC Saturday said they will not allow any private telecom operator for the service before completing the 2G (second generation) renewal process as the state-owned operator, Teletalk, is getting the privilege of 3G test run service.

Grameenphone, the market leader with 43 per cent share, submitted an application to the telecom watchdog seeking approval for 3G service last month.

The GP sought 5 megahertz (MHz) spectrum of 2100 band for setting up ‘test board’ network in its head office, BTRC and some ministries for three months.

Syed Tahmed Azizul Huq, head of corporate communication of GP, said his company’s plan was to test its combination with 2G service in some selected areas to scrutinise the technological sides of the upcoming 3G service.

He told the FE Saturday: “It was a pilot

project for 3G mobile service with selected stakeholders but the authority did not agree to give us approval for the same.”

The BTRC official mentioned that the commission is working on issuance of 3G licence, and it has already made a guideline that is available for public comment.

The country’s leading operator took primary preparation for 3G mobile service by developing its network. The operator completed the network swapping some 7,272 of its base transceiver stations (BTSs).

The GP mentioned in its annual report that this future-proof technology will bring network efficiency, enable the company to provide better services to its subscribers and prepare the network for 3G.

To maintain its leadership position in the industry, the GP continued to invest in its network.

“Our cumulative investment reached over Tk 170.9 billion (17,093 crore) of which Tk 12.96 billion was invested in 2011 for network quality, data capacity enhancement and modernisation,” the annual report 2011 read.

At the end of 2011, the accumulated number of BTSs of the operator stood at 13,725 in 7,546 locations all over the country.

Obama urges House to pass his tax proposal

The Financial Express, 29 July 2012

WASHINGTON, July 28 (AFP): US President Barack Obama urged Republicans in the House of Representatives Saturday to pass his proposal calling for extending tax cuts for everybody but the richest Americans.

“Now it comes down to this,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “If 218 Members of the House vote the right way, 98% of American families and 97% of small business owners will have the certainty of knowing that their income taxes will not go up next year.”

On January 1, a tax cut adopted under former president George W. Bush and extended under Obama is set to expire. But Democrats and Republicans strongly disagree over how to extend it.

While Obama favors higher taxes for the rich, Republicans argue it would undercut the nation’s fragile economic recovery.

This past week, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a tax cut extension for American families earning less than $250,000 a year, but Republicans in the House are staunchly opposed to this bill, arguing that all Americans, including the wealthy ones, should benefit from the extension.

The president noted that he fundamentally disagreed with those who believed that the best way to create prosperity in America was to let it trickle down from the top.

“I know they’re wrong because we already tried it that way for most of the last decade. It didn’t work,” Obama said.

“We’re still paying for trillions of dollars in tax cuts that benefited the wealthiest Americans more than anyone else; tax cuts that didn’t lead to the middle class jobs or higher wages we were promised and that helped take us from record surpluses to record deficits.”

The president said the country could not afford more of top-down economics. He said America needed policies that would grow and strengthen the middle class, help create jobs and make education and training more affordable.

Woven garment crowned as biggest export earner, again

The Financial Express, 29 July 2012

Woven garment once again emerged as the country’s biggest export-earning product, beating out knitwear items in the financial year just gone by.

The sub-sector of the US$ 19 billion clothing industry pulled in US$9.60 billion-or up by nearly 14 per cent a year ago, according to data by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Knitwear has been the top export earning product since fiscal year 2008. The export growth of the product, however, was 0.05 per cent in the last fiscal.

In the FY 2010-11, the knitwear sub sector earned $ 9.48 billion while woven earning $ 8.43 billion.

Analysts said the country’s woven garment export surged in FY 2011-12 due mainly to the revised rules of origin (RoO) by the European Union since January 2011.

Dr Mustafizur Rahman, a trade economist, told the FE: “The export volume of the woven segment beat the knitwear as the revised RoO has been facilitating the woven garment exporters.”

Under the revised EU rules of origin, clothing exporters can enjoy duty-free access to the 27-nation European Union — the world’s largest apparel market — even if they source fabrics from other countries.

The previous RoO paved the way for the garment makers for buying bulk of their fabrics from Bangladeshi textile plants in order to enjoy zero-tariff benefit in the EU.

Mr Mustafiz, also executive director of the country’s oldest think-tank — Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) — said the demand for knit products has been squeezed both in Europe and the USA in recent years due to economic crises there.

Md Fazlul Hoque, a knitwear maker and former chief of BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association), said knit products failed to attract an increased number of buyers as its prices widely varied in the last year due to fluctuation in prices of its raw materials.

He said the demand for knitwear products in the new destinations is very high but the volume is too low to influence the overall export of the same.

Ashraf Hassan, managing director of leading knitwear producer — Grameen Knitwear — told the FE: “Our main destination is Europe. But debt crisis in many European nations resulted in poor orders.”

He said: “This is the worst period in the last ten years’ operation in the country.”

Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, chief of BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) said the volume of woven garment export was comparatively satisfactory in the wake of global crisis adding: “Single stage GSP (generalised system of preferences) is the main reason.”

Bangladesh fetched $ 19.10 billion from both woven and knitwear shipments in FY 2011-12.

Automatic rice mills staging dramatic rise

The Financial Express, 29 July 2012

Automatic rice mills are expected to dominate the local market over the next 10 years as investors make foray into the sector, lured by consumers’ demand, millers said.

The number of semi-automatic and automatic rice mills almost trebled in six year to 634 this year, according to the statistics of Bangladesh Rice Mills Association, the trade group.

Rising consumer demand for the rice processed at automatic mills is the main reason behind the interest of the investors in the area, the millers said.

Other factors behind the rise in investment in the sector include an increase in production due to a decline in broken grains, scope to make cooking oil by using rice bran and higher market price, they added.

Naogaon, Chapainawabganj, Dinajpur, Kushtia and Noapara of Jessore are some districts that have attracted investment in big automatic rice mills.

Industry people said that more investors are coming up to set up automatic rice mills.

“The share of the automatic rice mills is increasing as husking mills are losing out to competition as demand for automatically processed rice is increasing,” KM Layek Ali, convener of the 17,000 strong trade body told the FE.

“End users want better quality rice, a longer shelf life, less broken quantities and rice that is almost free from inedible substances, such as stones which are easily possible to ensure by an automatic mill,” he added.

“More investment will come and the automatic mills will dominate the market in the next 10 years,” owner of ‘Papua Automatic Rice Mill’ Nishad Kanti Barua said.

Mr Barua has planned to establish another automatic unit with a daily processing capacity of 500 tonnes.

He also said that the automatic mills will improve efficiency, help cut unit costs of paddy processing, increase percentage of unbroken rice and reduce post-harvest losses.

“Within a couple of years, the share of automatic-rice mills will be half of the total mills and the extent of their control on the rice market will rise further due to its competitive advantages,” Barua added.

“Rice processed by the automatic crushers gives more full grains of rice by reducing the percentage of broken rice, thus increasing the overall quantity of rice production,” according to industry people.

They also said that the quality of the grains from the automatic mills is better because of drying, parboiling and crushing through machines, thus reducing wastage and workloads.

On the other hand, husking mills require manual involvement in parboiling or drying in the sun before milling.

However, experts warned about the risks of an oligopoly (a situation where a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms) in the rice processing market unless the number of automatic rice mills is increased.

“Control over the rice processing market by a few large mills, however, leads to a monopoly and price control, which may go against the interests of both farmers and consumers if the mill owners do not follow ethical business practices,” executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Prof Mustafizur Rahman told the FE.

However, the small husking mills are still the ones dominating the market. But their market share is shrinking, as many husking mills are pulling out.

Bikas Saha, a husking mill owner and trader in the northern district of Naogaon, says husking mills still have control over two-thirds of the market.