German firm BASF to pull out of Xinjiang after Uyghur abuse claims

The German chemicals producer BASF has said it will withdraw from its two joint ventures in Xinjiang, after media reports about alleged human rights abuses relating to its partner company, which BASF’s CEO said crossed a red line. In a statement on Friday, BASF said that while “regular due diligence measures including internal and external audits have not found any evidence of human rights violations in the two joint ventures”, the recent reports “indicate activities inconsistent with BASF’s values”. On Monday, a group of politicians from around the world urged…

China has seen a fourth month of falling prices, but will it act to curb deflation?

China’s economy has gone from bad to worse – and it is only February. Figures released on Thursday showed consumer prices fell by 0.8% in January compared with a year earlier, outstripping economists’ expectations and marking the biggest contraction in 15 years. Prices in China have been flat or falling nearly continuously since July. Although the country’s zero-Covid policy was abandoned more than a year ago, consumers are still cautious about spending, both on everyday goods and on property, which has traditionally been the driver of growth in China’s gross…

China consumer prices plunge at fastest rate for 15 years as deflation fears deepen

China’s consumer prices fell at their fastest pace in 15 years in January, as the world’s second-largest economy sank deeper into deflation amid weakening demand. Data released on Thursday showed that China’s consumer price index tumbled last month, falling by 0.8% compared with a year earlier. It marks the fourth consecutive month of declines, as well as the sharpest drop since September 2009, when the global economy was still grappling with aftershocks from the 2008 banking crisis. Food prices were the biggest drag on the headline inflation figure, having fallen…

China’s consumer prices fall at fastest rate in 15 years as economy battles deflation – business live

<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"65c4744d8f08ddaeb791ac96","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. ","elementId":"f360f36b-68cb-4691-91e1-b5ee0a0581e9"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Consumer prices across China are falling at the fastest pace in 15 years, as its economy struggles with weak demand. ","elementId":"281c6eec-65c8-4ee6-8eec-7f06198e10c1"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" China’s consumer price index fell 0.8% year-on-year in January, data released this morning showed. It’s the fourth straight month of declines, and the biggest contraction since 2009 after the financial crisis. ","elementId":"37c285e3-8b4c-406e-b0e0-94f7767919fa"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The inflation rate was dragged down by falling food prices, which dropped by 5.9%…

German firm BASF urged to quit Xinjiang over ‘gross abuses’ of Uyghurs

The German chemicals producer BASF “appears to be implicated in gross abuses” of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and should withdraw from the Chinese province, a group of politicians from around the world have said. The group made the allegation in a letter to BASF’s chair, Martin Brudermüller, on Monday, after the German media outlets Der Spiegel and ZDF published a joint investigation on Friday. The investigation found that in 2018 and 2019 people employed by BASF’s Chinese partner company, Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry, in Xinjiang accompanied Chinese state officials on home…

McDonald’s records first sales miss in nearly four years amid boycotts

McDonald’s reported its first quarterly sales miss in nearly four years on Monday, squeezed by weak sales growth in its business division that includes the Middle East, China and India. The burger giant is among several western brands that have seen protests and boycott campaigns against them over their perceived pro-Israeli stance in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Comparable sales in McDonald’s International Developmental Licensed Markets segment rose 0.7% in the quarter, widely missing estimates of a 5.5% growth, according to LSEG data. The business accounted for 10% of McDonald’s total revenue…

Comments on Weibo giraffe post bemoan state of Chinese economy

A social media post about giraffe conservation has become the latest place for people in China who are unhappy about the economy to vent their frustration, as the Chinese government increasingly cracks down on negative commentary. On 2 February, the US embassy in China posted an update on its Weibo account about tracking giraffes in Namibia using GPS technology. As of Monday afternoon local time, the post had received approximately 166,000 comments, many of them about China’s economic pains. “Who can help me? I’ve been unemployed for a long time,”…

Don’t count on a soft landing for the world economy – turbulence is ahead | Kenneth Rogoff

A month into 2024, the consensus forecast for the global economy remains cautiously optimistic, with most central banks and analysts projecting either a soft landing or potentially no landing at all. Even my colleague Nouriel Roubini, famous for his bearish tilt, regards the worst-case scenarios as the least likely to materialise. The CEOs and policymakers I spoke to during last month’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos echoed this sentiment. The fact that the global economy did not slip into recession in 2023, despite the sharp rise in interest rates,…

Carmakers may be using aluminium made by Uyghur forced labour, NGO investigation finds

Car manufacturers Toyota, Volkswagen, Tesla, General Motors and BYD may be using aluminium made by Uyghur forced labour in their supply chains and could do more to minimise that risk, Human Rights Watch says. An investigation conducted by HRW has alleged that while most automotive companies have strict human rights standards to audit their global supply chains, they may not be applying the same rigorous sourcing rules for their operations inside China. This includes joint venture companies inside China that make models for foreign brands for just the local market…

Evergrande collapse means foreign investors in China face even greater uncertainty

As China’s most embattled – and indebted – property developer is ordered to liquidate, the effects that Evergrande’s collapse will have on investors, debt holders and the hundreds of thousands of homebuyers who have paid deposits for homes remains uncertain. Evergrande, the Chinese property developer, was worth just $275m on Monday, down 99% from its peak in 2017. It owes more than $300bn to various creditors, according to its most recent financial report. In a scathing judgment delivered in Hong Kong’s high court on Monday, Justice Linda Chan said “enough…