Taiwan mango industry takes a bruising
Farmers and vendors are working hard to preserve this mainstay of Taiwan's fruit industry.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Suzuki is becoming a top Japan importer with made-in-India cars
Suzuki beat out Mercedes-Benz to become Japan's top car importer in June, thanks to the Jimny Nomad and another popular small SUV assembled in India. The Japanese carmaker brought 4,780 vehicles into Japan last month, up a dramatic 230-fold from a year earlier, overtaking Germany's Mercedes-Benz, according to data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association on Friday. Suzuki also clinched the top stop in April. Although Honda is also known as a longtime importer of its own cars into Japan, Suzuki's feat is notable because it's one of the smaller manufacturers in terms of total global output, well behind market leader Toyota. Automobile imports have become a hot topic again with U.S. President Donald Trump deploying the threat of tariffs to pressure Japan to import more cars made in America. "Japanese consumers don't particularly care whether vehicles are produced in Thailand, India or Japan if they want a particular car,' said Takeshi Miyao, an analyst at automotive consultancy Carnorama. He argues that General Motors, Ford and other US American carmakers aren't able to gain traction in Japan because they don't offer products such as smaller kei cars that appeal to local buyers. The Jimny Nomad, an extended five-door version of Suzuki's popular Jimny model, has been a runaway success. Priced from ¥2.65 million ($18,300), the vehicle attracted about 50,000 pre-orders before it went on sale in April, even though Suzuki had set an initial monthly sales target of 1,200 units. That forced the carmaker to halt orders after just four days due to overwhelming demand. Suzuki plans to ramp up production of the Jimny Nomad in India from July, which will probably boost import numbers even more. Suzuki also began importing another India-produced compact SUV, the Fronx, in October. Suzuki has a long history of manufacturing and selling cars and motorcycles in India, where were labor and production costs are still low. Suzuki predicts that India's car market will reach 20 million units in annual sales by 2047. It's targeting a 50% market share by Maruti Suzuki India, the Japanese automaker's subsidiary, by 2030. Honda has also seen success with its India-produced compact SUV, the WR-V, which was introduced in March of last year at an affordable starting price of around ¥2.1 million. Honda's imported registrations surged about 22-fold year-on-year to 45,107 vehicles last year. The carmaker was also the top importer into Japan during the first three months of 2025. For the first half, Honda ranked second in imports with approximately 22,000 vehicles, trailing Mercedes-Benz's 25,016 units. Suzuki was third, while Nissan was in ninth place with its Thailand-produced Kicks crossover. Jeep, part of European carmaker Stellantis, performed relatively well with more than 4,000 units sold from January to June, outpacing imports by GM and Ford.
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
A majority of companies are already feeling the climate heat
Climate change is already having an impact on companies around the world. Over half of the firms surveyed in a recent Morgan Stanley report experienced the climate's impact on operations within the past year, including increased costs, worker disruption and revenue losses. The growing financial impacts are a key reason some companies are continuing to pursue emissions cuts and adapt to a warming world even amid political turbulence, the survey found. Extreme heat and storms were the leading disruptions, followed by wildfires and smoke, water shortage, and flooding or rising sea levels, according to the new report. The U.S. alone has spent nearly $1 trillion on disaster recovery and other climate-related needs over the past year, a recent Bloomberg Intelligence analysis found. Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau shows how these impacts can play out locally: For example, nearly two-thirds of businesses in the Tampa metro area surveyed reported losses due to extreme weather following last year's hurricane season when Helene and Milton made landfall on Florida's west coast. The impacts are hardly limited to companies operating in the United States. This year's Canadian wildfires forced evacuations of oil sands projects in Alberta, Canada, while a disastrous 2022 flood recently led Toyota to file a lawsuit for over $360 million in damages in South Africa. Extreme heat is forcing Australian mining companies to adapt their operations. The Morgan Stanley report also included for the first time impacts in the Middle East, North Africa and South America. The findings show nearly 90% of South American companies expect climate change to be a risk to their business models by the end of the decade. Companies ranked raw material availability and pricing, as well as the risk of existing manufacturing processes becoming obsolete among their top concerns. While being the areas most likely to experience extreme weather, the Middle East and North Africa reported the highest rates of viewing sustainability as a driver of value creation. The challenges are different in North America, though, where companies see political volatility as the top barrier to investing in sustainability. The backlash to ESG, an investing principle prioritizing environmental issues, social issues and corporate governance, particularly among U.S. Republicans, caused 21% of North American companies to report political hostility as a top barrier to their climate transition. In response, some companies have taken to "greenhushing' — a phenomenon of pushing to meet climate goals while not touting them — while others have rolled back or abandoned their emissions targets.
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
Japan's households boost spending by most since summer of 2022
Household spending rose the most since the summer of 2022 amid persistent inflation, providing support for an economy that's taking a hit from U.S. tariffs. Outlays by households, adjusted for inflation, gained 4.7% from a year ago in May as spending on cars jumped, the internal affairs ministry reported Friday. The result beat the median economist estimate of a 1.2% gain. The jump in cars this year helped inflate the overall number but was largely due to comparison with low volumes last year resulting from a safety certification scandal, according to an internal affairs ministry official. Still, spending also grew for tourism both within and outside Japan while people also increased outlays on eating out.
