Ever since former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao reshaped India’s foreign policy in the 1990s under the so-called ‘Look East’ policy India has strengthened ties with Southeast Asia. The current government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unequivocally said that it is keen to progress from the ‘Look East’ policy to ‘Act East.’
Chen Xiwen, deputy director of the Central Leading Group on Rural Affairs, has long admitted that many countries produce soybeans more efficiently than China. So how can agricultural policy makers reform China’s soy industry?
Soy is a core oilseed product of the Northeastern China plain and the Inner Mongolian steppe. Soybean production in China results in three staple goods: soybeans processed for human consumption in various forms; crushed soybeans, which are used to make soy oil for human cooking use; and soy meal, which is used as edible animal fodder.
In January 2015, the Vietnamese government issued a decree on the implementation guidelines of the Vietnamese Labour Code. One of the sections of the decree deals with the resolution of workers’ strikes, which happen mostly in foreign enterprises. Though the numbers of strikes nationwide has declined, labour relations reform is still a government concern. The new decree stipulates a long bureaucratic process for strike settlement.
The nationwide local government elections in April are the ideal opportunity for Japan’s agricultural cooperative organisation (JA) led by the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) to respond to the Abe administration’s recent reforms of the JA group. On 12 and 26 April 2015, around 1000 elections in total will be held to select local government heads and assembly members as part of the so-called ‘unified local elections held every four years’.
Over the last week, China (+8.7%), Russia (+8.1%), and Hong Kong (+6.0%) have outperformed in the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, while Czech Republic (-0.9%), Egypt (-0.9%), and Taiwan (-0.2) have underperformed. To put this in better context, MSCI EM rose 3.4% over the past week while MSCI DM rose 1.0%.
According to analysts’ predictions, the Chinese economy may have grown seven percent in the first three months of 2015, the lowest expansion in six years. Trade and investment fell to levels not seen in years.
Many experts contend that Chinese policymakers should be worried, but officials do not necessarily see it this way. Even though the predicted seven-percent growth would be the worst performance for China since 2009, the figure is well within the government’s goal of fostering at least seven-percent growth for the year.
Many Americans tend to think of the Great Recession as a uniquely American experience. However, it had repercussions on economies around the world and led to a global financial crisis. The crisis is subsiding on a global level, just as it is in America, but some are still feeling its effects. Some economies face diminished GDP growth expectations and poorer nations may be disproportionately affected, a recent report indicates.
Singapore’s economy grew only .05 percent in the first quarter of 2015. This is very weak by Singaporean standards, especially when compared to the 4.9 percent expansion in the fourth quarter of 2014. The news forced economists to lower expectations of Singapore growth for 2015.
Australia is in the midst of an economic crisis, as it has some of the highest unemployment in decades and the price of iron ore (Australia’s chief export) is dropping to historic lows.
The year 2014 was a great year for the United States economy. However, the year 2015 hasn’t been the same. While we are still not in dire straits, we’re not seeing the consumer spending and job growth that we saw last year. While many experts seem to be brushing the bad data off as healthy trends, I beg to differ. Unfortunately, I think that we may be looking the next major market correction dead in the face if things keep going in the direction they are. Here’s why…
