Venezuela seizes US pasta company

Venezuelan officials accompanied by soldiers have seized "temporary" control of a US-owned pasta producer.

Venezuela says the plant, owned by the big US firm Cargill, had violated regulations on price controls intended to guarantee cheap food for the poor.

The move further increases President Hugo Chavez's hold on the economy, after a series of recent take-overs of private and foreign-owned businesses.

They include a Cargill rice plant, and services companies in the oil industry.

Deputy Food Minister Rafael Coronado said the government would run the factory for 90 days, and would reassess the situation after that.

He said it has not been producing sufficient quantities of a type of pasta sold at cheap, government-established prices.

Price control

A rice mill owned by Cargill was taken over earlier this year, on the grounds that it was not producing rice at government-set prices.

Cargill had said it did not break the government's pricing rules on rice because the mill did not produce the plain rice which is regulated.

Venezuela has set quotas and prices for 12 basic foods including rice, powdered milk, cheese and tomato sauce.

Under the measure, 80% of all rice produced must be basic white rice. The measure also includes 95% of all cooking oil, coffee and sugar.

Last week Mr Chavez sent troops to take over oil service companies including hundreds of supply boats, and two American owned gas facilities.

He nationalised Venezuela's oil reserves, one of the largest in the Americas, two years ago.

GM to close up to 1,100 dealers

General Motors (GM) has announced plans to close up to 1,100 of its dealerships in the US as it desperately tries to cut costs and stave off bankruptcy.

It also plans to cut ties with another 470 Saturn, Hummer and Saab dealers.

Closures announced today represent one quarter of the dealership network. GM plans to cut the total number of dealers by 42% by the end of 2010.

On Thursday, rival Chrysler said it would be closing 789 US dealers as part of a massive restructuring programme. GM is also in negotiations with unions to reduce wage costs.

Oil prices fall towards USD 58

Oil prices fell towards USD 58 on Friday as news of a deepening recession for Europe further dampened hopes of a quick rebound in energy demand, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, dropped 27 cents to USD 58.35 a barrel after rising earlier on Friday in line with firmer stock markets.



Brent North Sea crude for July delivery shed 52 cents to USD 58.07. The June contract expired yesterday priced at USD 56.69.



"Markets were a little lower ... after data from Europe disappointed," said Nimit Khamar, energy analyst at Sucden brokers in London.



The 16 nation eurozone economy contracted a record 2.5 per cent in the first quarter as Europe lurched deeper into recession while Germany suffered its biggest blow for 40 years.



Accounting for a third of eurozone output, Germany contracted 3.8 per cent in the first three months compared to the final quarter of 2008, when the economy shrank 2.2 per cent, the statistics office said.



France, Germany's main partner and the second-biggest eurozone economy, meanwhile entered recession as output fell 1.2 per cent after a 1.5 per cent drop in the last quarter of 2008.

Suzuki boosted by sales in India

Suzuki Motors has avoided reporting a loss for the January to March quarter, helped by growth in India, but was downbeat about future sales.

The carmaker made a net profit of 5.8bn yen ($59m; £39m), during its fiscal fourth quarter, down 27% on a year ago.

Suzuki controls about half of the car market in India through its local unit Maruti Suzuki, which has seen sales rise for four months in a row.

The firm now expects global profits to fall 82% in its current financial year.

Suzuki predicts they will decline to 5bn yen due to the global slump in demand for new cars.

It also expects it will be affected by the continuing strong yen, which eats into its overseas earnings.

Indian boom

In India, Maruti's sales rose to 64,857 vehicles in April, helped by its bestselling Alto car and new models such as the A-Star and Swift DZire.

The rise in Indian sales contrasts with falling demand in the US, Europe and Japan, which Suzuki's rivals Toyota and Honda have been more exposed to.

On Friday Toyota said it forecast an annual loss of 550bn yen and expected to sell one million fewer cars this year.

Suzuki's revenues for the January to March period declined 27% to 670bn yen.

Bharti Airtel becomes India's biggest music company

Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel has now become the country's biggest music company, overtaking the industry leader Saregama, on the back of its music-related value-added mobile services, a top executive has said.

"Music Bharti has become the largest music company in India, overtaking Saregama India Ltd in terms of revenue," Bharti Airtel's Deputy CEO Sanjay Kapoor said.

While Kapoor did not disclose the exact revenue earned by Music Bharti, which provides music services like hello tunes, call-back tunes and music on demand, Saregama had a annual revenue of about Rs 150 crore in the fiscal ended 31st March 2008.

Bharti Airtel, flagship company of Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Group, recently entered into an exclusive multi-million dollar deal with Machester United here, under which it would offer its mobile subscribers access to the mobile content related to the British soccer club.

"We are growing fast in the music segment," Kapoor said, adding there was huge growth potential for the company in other value-added service segments like mobile commerce also.



"About 80 per cent of Indians are unbanked and mobile- commerce, as also money transfer through mobiles, would bring in financial inclusion," Kapoor said.

"These services are catching up very fast among Indians and have a huge potential for generating revenues at Bharti Airtel," he added.

Late last year, Bharti Airtel had bagged the 'Best Mobile Music, TV or Video Service' award at the GSMA Asia Mobile Award 2008 at Macau.



Airtel's Music-On-Demand was awarded for creating a uniquely intuitive, personalised user experience of music on mobile.

Airtel had bagged the prestigious award among stiff competition from global leaders such as Telstra Corporation, Australia, Geodesic Inc, US, Artificial Life Inc, Hong Kong and Gracenote, US.

The company was also recognised as the best among its global peers for its Music-On-Demand service.



At that time, the company had said, "At Airtel, we believe that music in its various forms, genres strikes a universal chord with mobile users. Today an increasing number of customers are looking at the mobile as their single device for all entertainment needs."

India to receive uranium from Kazakhstan

India could soon receive up to 2500 tonnes of uranium from Kazakhstan as an agreement in this regard is set to be signed between the two sides by the month-end.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Kazatomprom are holding talks and a contract for supply of uranium is expected to be signed by the end of this month, Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov told a news agency in New Delhi.



The fuel will be meant for the existing nuclear plants that are under IAEA safeguards, he said.



On the quantity of uranium to be supplied under the contract, Umarov said he was not aware as the companies were dealing with the issue directly.



Sources, however, said the discussions centered around supply of 2500 tonnes, a quantity which India wanted for running its reactors to full capacity.



Incidentally, China recently signed an agreement with Kazakhstan, one of the largest producers of uranium, for supply of 23000 tonnes of the nuclear fuel till 2020.



China is expanding its nuclear industry and in this regard is building 50 nuclear power stations.



Umarov expressed hope that the first contract between the companies of India and Kazakhstan would lay foundation for to long-term association.

Prices in China continue to fall

China's consumer prices fell by 1.5% in the year to April, figures show, the third consecutive month of declines.

The drop came after food and energy prices eased from last year's high levels, and followed annual falls of 1.2% in March and 1.6% in February.

Food prices were down 1.3% in April from a year ago.

A key factor was the drop in the price of pork, which was down 28.6% from a year earlier. In 2008, shortages had sent pork prices sharply higher.

Costs for fuel and raw materials were 9.6% lower than the same period a year ago.

The fall in prices had been expected.

"The sharp rise in food prices in early 2008 and subsequent declines explain much of the year-on-year fall in CPI inflation," said Jing Ulrich, chairman of China equities at JP Morgan.

"Deflationary concerns appear to be subsiding as the economy shows signs of recovery."

Fears over Opel plant 'very big'

The head of the German state that is home to Opel's threatened engine and parts plant has said that his fears for its future are now "very, very big".

The comments of Kurt Beck, the state premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, came following a meeting with Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne.

Mr Machinonne met regional German leaders as he continues plans to buy Opel from its US owner General Motors.

Fiat has already said the engine plant in Kaiserslautern is likely to shut.

This is because Fiat already makes many of the same engines at its own facility in southern Italy.

'Growing fears'

Following the meeting with Mr Marchionne, Mr Beck said that "the question marks concerning the interests of Opel and its German production plants - above all Kaiserslautern - have grown rather than diminished". The Kaiserslautern facility employs about 3,400 people.

Fiat wishes to buy General Motor's European business, which is called GM Europe.

GM Europe makes Opel cars, which are called Vauxhall in the UK.

It also includes Sweden-based Saab, but reports suggest Fiat is not interested in buying that business.

Germany's Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said on Friday that he hoped Canadian car parts firm Magna would continue with its rival interest in buying GM Europe. However, analysts say Fiat still remains by far the most likely buyer.

Pace of US job losses is slowing

The US economy lost 539,000 jobs in April, fewer than in previous months, in a sign that the US jobs market might be beginning to improve.

April's figure was better than the 600,000 economists were expecting and below March's revised 699,000 jobs.

The Labor Department said that the unemployment rate rose to 8.9%, its highest level since 1983 and up from 8.5% in March.

Since December 2007, the US economy has lost 5.7 million jobs.

The data showed job losses across most sectors of the economy, although hiring picked up in education, health services and government. Chris Rupkey, an economist at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi said the economy may have reached a turning point and the labour market could begin to improve.

"The economy doesn't turn on a dime but it does look as if the pace of job losses is starting to slow from the turn of the year," Mr Rupkey said.

"You can make the case that the panic layoffs that we saw at the turn of the year are starting to ease."

There have been some signs that the worst of the recession in the US may be over.

Consumer spending, which plunged in the last half of 2008, grew in the first quarter of this year and some recent data on the housing market has been more upbeat.

The head of the US central bank, Ben Bernanke, has said he expects the recession to end this year unless there is a major financial setback.

But others are less optimistic and predict that unemployment will decline further.

"It's a terrible number but an improvement relative to the very terrible numbers we had before," said Jay Mueller, senior portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management.

"The big question is, has the peak in job losses hit? I am somewhat sceptical that we have seen the absolute worst of it."

Banks unveil cash-raising plans

US bank Wells Fargo has said it plans to raise $7.5bn (£4.9bn) from selling new shares, a day after the US Treasury said 10 banks needed to boost reserves.

Morgan Stanley is also hoping to raise $3.5bn from share sales.

Bank of America said it planned to sell assets and raise capital to secure the $33.9bn it needs.

On Thursday, the US Treasury said that 10 of America's 19 largest banks needed to raise a combined total of $74.6bn of extra funds.

That was the main finding of the so-called "stress tests" which were carried out to see if the banks had sufficient capital to cope should the recession worsen.

The banks that require extra capital have been given until 8 June to finalise their plans to do so, and get them approved by regulators.

Separately, Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance company, has said it needs an extra $19bn in government aid after reporting a loss of $23.2bn for the first quarter.

Japan in surprise economy boost

Industrial output in Japan rose in March for the first time in six months, according to government figures.

Production rose by 1.6% in March compared with February, after months of dramatic decline.

The larger-than-expected increase is being seen as a sign that the country's plunge in production and exports may be nearing an end.

The world's second biggest economy has been hit hard by the global downturn, sliding into a sharp recession.

These are grim times for Japan's economy but the latest figures from the government show a small improvement.

But the new figures are a sign that the strategy of Japan's manufacturers - to mothball production lines, reduce shifts and lay off staff - may be working.

With stockpiles of unsold goods diminishing some factories are starting to come back to life.

Japan has been hit badly by the downturn because worldwide demand has collapsed for its cars and electronics.

The increase follows figures earlier this month showing that exports have also risen slightly, although shipments are still running at just over half the levels of a year ago.

A government survey of manufacturers showed they expect industrial production to continue to rise, by 4.3% during April and by 6.1% in May.