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Around fifty per cent poultry farms across the country were closed during the last six months because of price hike of poultry feed and low price of poultry products, leading the industry to vulnerable situation, said the industry insiders.
   Roughly, one lakh small and large scale poultry farms out of over 2 lakhs have stopped their production since July last year as the producers were unable to made any profit from the business, they said.
   In the current market situation, producers are facing about 20 to 25 per cent operation losses in producing and marketing eggs, poultry birds and day-old chickens.
   ‘Around half of our farms, from hatchery to egg producing ones, were closed as the poultry feed prices almost doubled in the period,’ Moshiur Rahman, coordinator of the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association, said.
   Maize and Soybean, the two major components of poultry feeds, was sold at Tk 17 and Tk 33 per kilogram respectively on local market while the price was Tk 12 and Tk 18 per kg during the June -July period in the year of 2007.
   Along with sharp rise in the production cost, prices of poultry products reduced significantly as the average consumers spend most of their budget
   for the kitchen market in
   buying essential commodities like rice and oil which are sky rocketing.
   Currently around Tk 95 is required to produce a kilogarm of poultry bird against the current market price of Tk 65. The producers are selling per piece of egg at Tk 3 against the production cost of Tk 4.3 on an average. Again, a day-old chicken is selling at about Tk 5 to Tk 7 against the production price of Tk 23.
   Poultry industry that started its journey in Bangladesh in the nineties now has Tk 13,000 crore as the total outlay with 40 lakh people involved, directly or indirectly.
   The industry struggled many times with problems such as epidemic of avian influenza last year in the country and bird flu in Thailand in 2003-04 and India in 2004-05, that hampered import of poultry products from the two neighbouring countries. But the present price rally forced many producers to close their industry.
   The industry contributed to save around $22 million foreign currency annually as locally developed parent stock is fulfilling the local demand of the day-old chicken which was previously imported from India.
   The present price situation of poultry feed and poultry products also forced some of the parent stock company to cut their products significantly, said Khondoker Mohsin, joint secretary of the Bangladesh Poultry Association.
   The sector experts apprehend that if the situation persists, the self-sufficient industry will again be turned into an import oriented one in the near future.
   The industry can be saved from the impending debacle if the government provides the producers with subsidised poultry feeds.
   The government also should allow poultry entrepreneurs to reschedule their banks loans and cut interest for the interim period.
   Majority of the owners are now unable to pay loan instalments at the present market situation and if the government do not order the banks to write off the interest, they (poultry producers) will not be able to continue production further, the industry apprehend.

Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority earned Tk 80 crore more from January to November last year compared the same period in the previous year.
   The total earning of the WASA during the period was Tk 310 crore of which Tk 281.58 crore came as revenue, Dhaka WASA sources told the news agency on Saturday.
   During the present caretaker government, the volume of water production by WASA has increased on an average by 15 crore litre per day. Presently, Dhaka WASA is producing 168 crore litre of water per day through four water purification plants and 474 deep tube wells.
   In last one year, WASA took initiatives to install seven new tube-wells and re-install another seven deep tube-wells. Another five crore litre of water would be added per day in the total production by March next after operationalisation of those tube-wells, the sources said. The government has decided to implement two different projects at a cost of Tk 1,100 crore to produce additional 82.50 crore litre of water daily.
   Of the projects, the ‘emergency rehabilitation and expansion’ approved by the last ECNEC meeting in November will help increase per day production by 60 crore litres. The total cost of the project was estimated at Tk 271 crore which will be provided from the government’s own fund.
   The approval of the project document of the other one titled, ‘Sayedabad Water Purification construction phase-2’ is in the final stage. The estimated cost of the project is Tk 829 crore which will add 22.50 crore litre of water production per day.
   A gas generator of 3.4 MW power generation capacity was set up for the Sayedabad water purification plant which saves Tk 50 crore of electricity bill.
   The loan agreement of a project for re-establishment of 3,841 km long water pipe line to improve the water supple system was signed in December. The project will be implemented at a cost of Tk 1,456 crore with the financial help of the Asian Development Bank.
   A total of 26 city canals were cleared for taking off the rainwater and storm-surge from the capital to help redress the water-logging problem. There was no water logging seen at the western part of Dhaka during the August flood as the present caretaker government took various steps including improvement of the pumping system last year.
   The regulatory pond reservation project, being implemented adjacent to the Kalyanpur storm water pumping station would be completed in June next at a cost of Tk 204 crore.
   In last one year, new organogram of WASA, service rules, water connection rules, sewerage tax rules and general provident fund rules were approved to improve the management of the water service delivery organisation, the sources said.

Foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Saturday said Sylhet is the most appropriate place for special economic zone considering natural and human resources as well as investment infrastructure.
   He made the observation at a seminar on `Prospects of Special Economic Zone for Bangladeshi Expatriates and Unlocking the Potential of Greater Sylhet through Small and Medium Enterprise’ at Hotel Nirvana Inn.
   British high commissioner Anwar Choudhyry, 33 infantry division GOC
   Maj Gen Abdul Hafiz, Sylhet Foundation president Qamrul Ahsan and BoI executive chairman Kamal Uddin Ahmed also spoke at the seminar.
   Joint Forces chief Lt Col AM Mosharraf Hossain made a power point presentation on various aspects of the special economic zone. The foreign adviser said prospects of investment in Sylhet are immense as it is endowed with huge natural resources, including oil and gas.
   He said massive activities are being conducted in the exploration in gas fields, tea gardens, cement factory, steel industry, pharmaceuticals, bamboo and cane industry, and textile industry.
   Iftekhar said due to natural beauty, prospects of investment in tourism and service sectors in Sylhet are being opened up. Besides, there are university and technological institutions in Sylhet to generate skilled manpower.

The distressed women and unemployed young girls have been successfully changing their fates by sewing readymade handloom garments everywhere in the northern region in recent years.
   By sewing handloom garments and marketing those, over 20,000 distressed women, divorcees and young girls of different rural and urban areas in all 16 northern districts have been becoming self-reliant and making financial contributions to their families.
   The women affairs department, social service department, youth development department, other government organisations, reputed NGOs like RDRS, ASA, BRAC and dozens of local NGOs are playing vital role in encouraging the women by providing trainings, sewing machines, credits and input supports.
   Production of readymade garments made of handloom fabrics has been growing fast as more and more women and teenaged girls are becoming interested in adopting sewing as a profession.
   The female sewers are producing mainly garments such as blouse, petticoat, semiz, kamiz, salwar, scurf, maxi, baby wears, shirts, pants, fotua, caps and other readymade wears for men, women, babies, girls and people of all ages.
   Housewife Ful Banu, 28, of village Boalmari under Roumari upazila in Kurigram said, ‘I sew baby clothes and my husband sells them. Now we living better than we what we lived three to four years ago.’
   Housewife Romesa Begum of village Echakuri, young girl Jasmine Akhter of village Khatiamari and housewife Chhoki Begum of village Notanpara in the upazila also narrated similar stories of their fightback. Business community leaders in the regions said there were potentials of setting up of composite textile and spinning mills at many areas of the region for industrialisation and creating job opportunities.

The unpopular way the United States deals with unfairly priced imports suffered a new blow at the World Trade Organisation on Friday when Japan said it wanted to levy extra duties in retaliation.
   Japan said it was asking the trade body for permission to slap on up to $250 million a year in extra duties or tariffs on US goods to retaliate for the way Washington sets duties on imports it says are being dumped in the US market.
   The US methodology, known as ‘zeroing,’ which calculates anti- dumping duties, is opposed by all other 151 WTO member states and has been legally challenged a number of times.
   Tokyo’s request will be discussed at a meeting of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body on January 21.
   ‘We filed the request for authorisation to retaliate,’ Koji Saito, a diplomat in Japan’s WTO mission, told Reuters. ‘As we see it, the U.S. has failed to comply with the WTO’s ruling.’
   The US Trade Representative’s office had no immediate comment on the retaliation threat.
   But a group representing US companies that import steel and other materials often hit with anti-dumping duties urged the Bush administration to end zeroing to avoid retaliation.
   ‘By failing to adhere to our obligations under the WTO, we have opened the door for our trading partners to punish US exporters,’ said Steve Alexander, executive director of the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition.

Country’s steel and re-rolling millers are facing tough times as raw materials of the products shot up on the international market, thereby adversely affecting the housing sector.
   Moreover, the duty enhancement in the last budget has added to their production cost, which ultimately led to an abnormal price hike of MS rod and iron-bar on the domestic market, industry sources said.
   According to the sources, at present the 40-grade MS rods are selling on the markets at Tk 46,000 per tonne, while the 60-grade ones at Tk 55,000-60,000 per tonne.
   A year back, the 40-grade MS rod was selling at Tk 40,000 per tonne, while the 60-grade rod’s price was Tk 52,000 per tonne.
   This price rise has led to a major debacle for the country’s real-estate sector that has to account extra expenses on the budgeted construction cost.
   Bangladesh Re-rolling Mills Association general secretary Sheikh Masadul Alam Masud blamed the duty enhancement in the country’s present fiscal budget and sudden increase of the raw materials’ prices internationally for the present crisis on the domestic steel market.
   He said the caretaker government in the current budget enhanced the import duty on melting and re-rollable scraps and the sponge iron which are used as row materials in the steel and re-rolling mills for producing MS rods and iron bars.
   The duty was doubled to 10 per cent from the previous rate of 5.
   Similarly, the price of the raw materials was also increased on the international market to $ 370 from $ 240 per tonne.
   Interestingly, Masud said, raw material-exporting countries depreciated the value of US dollars that put extra pressure to push up the raw material prices on the international market.
   ‘Now, we have to import our raw materials at 30-40 per cent higher rates than that of last year’s price,’ Masud told the news agency.
   There are about 100 steel mills and more than 250 re-rolling mills in the country which annually produce about 20 lakh tonnes of MS rods and steel-bars to meet the growing demand from the real-estate and construction sector.
   But facing such a difficult situation, Masud claimed that about 70 steel and re-rolling mills have already been closed down across the country.
   He said in addition to the international market’s odd situation, the steel and re-rolling millers have been facing some difficulties domestically as well.
   Particularly, the importers of the raw materials now get only three days time to release their products from the port while previously the time was minimum 15 days.
   Now the shippers start imposing surcharge on container stay at the port whenever it goes over more than three days.
   In that case, the surcharge is imposed at 3 dollars for 20-foot container and 6 dollars for a 40-foot container per day.
   Moreover, the container charge has also worldwide gone up, which also contributes to increase in the production cost for the millers.

Meat and milk from cloned animals moved a step closer to European Union supermarket shelves yesterday after the bloc’s top food safety agency said cloned food products are safe to eat.
   In March 2007, the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to assess the possible implications of cloning for food safety, animal health, animal welfare and environment in the bloc.
   In its first response posted on its website (www.efsa.eu), the EFSA said it ‘is very unlikely that any difference exists in terms of food safety between food products originating from clones and their progeny compared with those derived from conventionally bred animals’. It added that ‘no environmental impact is foreseen as a result of animal cloning’.
   Many consumer and religious groups strongly oppose cloning, which takes cells from an adult and fuses them with others before implanting them in a surrogate mother. They say scientists don’t know its effects on nutrition and biology.
   Advocates of livestock cloning say the technology will help produce more milk and lean, tender meat by creating more disease-resistant animals. They insist it is perfectly safe.
   EFSA has now opened a consultation process with member states and industry until Feb. 25 before giving its final opinion in May. The Commission’s ethics committee is also due to publish its view on the matter next week.
   ‘We take food safety very seriously, so we must wait for these opinions and then we will also look at our survey of public opinion in the 27 member states later this year before making any assessment,’ a spokeswoman for EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou said.

Santander, Spain’s biggest bank, said Friday that it had appointed former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato to its international advisory board.
   Rato, a former Spanish economy minister who stepped down as IMF head in October, was selected because of ‘his knowledge of the world economy, his experience and global vision,’ Santander quoted its president Emilio Botin as saying in a statement.
   He will earn an annual fee of 200,000 euros ($296,000).
   Santander’s international advisory board is a non-executive body that assists the bank’s board of directors in designing global strategies and suggesting business opportunities, the statement said.
   The nomination comes one month after investment bank Lazard announced it had hired Rato as a senior managing director.

The US trade deficit widened a sharp 9.3 per cent in November to a larger-than-expected 63.1 billion dollars, mainly due to surging crude oil costs, the government said Friday.
   The US trade deficit with major trading partners swelled to its highest level since September 2006, according to the Commerce Department. Most economists had only expected the trade shortfall to widen to around 59.5 billion dollars.
   The US trade gap ballooned as imports rose at a faster clip than exports. Imports increased 3.0 per cent to 205.4 billion dollars while exports increased a much milder 0.4 per cent to 142.3 billion dollars.
    ‘That loud sucking sound is coming from the US trade account. The nominal deficit worsened sharply on the petroleum account but it also worsened excluding petroleum. What’s worse, exports have slowed ... are slowing sharply and on a broad front as well. That is not good news,’ said Robert Brusca, an economist at FAO Economics.
   Other economists also voiced concern about the pace of US exports.
    ‘It’s troubling that there was a slowdown in export growth, it perhaps suggests that external demand for US output may not be strong enough to keep the US out of a recession and it highlights the importance of doing more to energize domestic spending in the United States,’ said John Lonski, chief economist at Moody’s Investors Service.
   The widening of the deficit also threatens to derail Washington’s bid to tame the trade gap.
   For the first 11 months of 2007 the deficit was gauged at 650 billion dollars, compared with 698 billion dollars during the same period of 2006.
   Hopes that the deficit would narrow have been stymied by spiking oil prices and the price America, the world’s biggest energy importer, has to pay to import oil.
   The price of imported oil struck a record 79.65 dollars a barrel in November lifting the US petroleum deficit to 30 billion dollars and its highest level on record, the government survey showed.
   Oil prices have increased amid geopolitical angst, tight supplies and increased demand from rising economic powers like China and India.
   Some analysts believe oil prices could cool, however, as the US economy is expected to slow in coming months which could dampen crude demand.
   The US deficit with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries widened 9.0 per cent to 11.8 billion dollars.
   October’s overall deficit was recorded at 57.8 billion dollars, and had also widened from the prior month amid spiking oil prices.
   The enlarged petroleum deficit was somewhat offset by lower imports of commodities and consumer goods, but the lower imports for these categories still failed to stop the overall deficit widening significantly late last year.
   China’s rising economic might continued to account for a hefty chunk of the US deficit, despite a narrowing of the US trade gap with China by 7.6 per cent to 24 billion dollars.
   Aside from a hungry demand for oil, America’s appetite for Chinese-made consumer goods and other goods has contributed heavily to the lingering US trade gap.
   The deficit with the European Union narrowed 12.6 per cent to 10.4 billion dollars, partly as a strong euro dented demand for EU-made goods, while the trade shortfall with Canada narrowed 12.1 per cent to 4.7 billion dollars, according to the government snapshot.
   The overall goods and services deficit widened to 63.1 billion dollars in November from a revised 57.8 billion in the prior month.

The World Trade Organisation’s chief agriculture negotiator said Friday that members have made ‘a lot of progress’ in recent talks but more still needs to be done before an agreement is reached.
    ‘We’ve made a lot of progress,’ ambassador Crawford Falconer told reporters.
    ‘I’ve got greater clarity than I had before but by no means
   is everything resolved,’ he added.
   Falconer, who is also New Zealand’s ambassador to the WTO, has called on the United States to reduce its agricultural subsidies to 13-16.4 billion dollars (9-11.2 billion euros) — a range on which Washington says it is prepared to negotiate.
   But the draft text has been criticised as unfair by several developing countries and Falconer has been forced to delay to an unspecified date a fresh revision of the accord due to the lack of consensus.
   He said he now hopes to present a revised draft by the end of January.
   Falconer last week issued 16 ‘working documents’ on key agricultural issues such as quotas and tarriffs for special and sensitive products, with the aim of provoking discussions among the WTO’s 151 members, trade sources said.
    ‘I certainly intend to drag them right out of their comfort zones and I intend to capture whatever consensus is there,’ Falconer said.

The faltering US economy has caught the Iraq war as people’s top worry, a national poll suggests, with the rapid turnabout already showing up on the presidential campaign trail and in maneuvering between president Bush and Congress.
   Twenty per cent named the economy as the foremost problem in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Friday, virtually tying the 21 per cent who cited the war. In October, the last time the survey posed the open-ended question about the country’s top issue, the war came out on top by a 2-1 majority.
   About equal proportions of Republicans, Democrats and independents in the new poll said the economy was their major worry, suggesting the issue looms as a potent one in both parties’ presidential contests. It was also cited evenly across all levels of income, underscoring the variety of economic problems the country faces.
   Amid increasing trade, job, housing, stock market and gasoline price woes, candidates from each party have started talking about how they would bolster the economy. The issue looms as the dominant one in the next presidential contest: Tuesday’s Republican primary in Michigan, which had a 7.4 per cent unemployment rate in November that is the nation’s worst.
   Even as signs of economic weakness in this country have grown in recent months, US and Iraqi casualties in Iraq have been dropping since the summer. Though most in the US remain against the war, growing numbers say they think president Bush’s troop increase last year has been working, and politicians say the issue is raised with decreasing frequency by constituents.
   ‘The lines are crossing now,’ said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster not working for a presidential candidate. ‘As Iraq becomes more stable and less violent, concern about Iraq is diminishing. It will still be an important issue, but the economy is filling the vacuum.’
   Economic concerns were voiced about evenly in most parts of the country in the AP-Ipsos survey. It was particularly high in the Rust Belt region of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin, states that are expected to be pivotal in the November election. About one in three there named the economy.
   The poll offered another example of economic anxiety as an index measuring consumer confidence fell to its all-time low in the six years Ipsos has been measuring it. The RBC Cash Index dropped to 56.3 in early January, down from 65.9 in December.
   The war was the top problem mentioned by three in 10 Democrats, about twice the number of Republicans who listed it. About one in five independents also put it as the top concern.
   Health care was another important issue for Democrats, while Republicans also named morality, immigration and terrorism.
   In exit polls of voters in last Tuesday’s New Hampshire presidential primaries, people in both parties named the economy as their top concern, including 38 per cent of Democrats and 31 per cent of Republicans. Of those citing the economy, the most votes went to Hillary Rodham Clinton for Democrats and John McCain among Republicans — and each won their party’s contest.
   In the January 3 Iowa presidential caucuses, the economy was tied with Iraq for most important issue among Democrats. Illegal immigration was the most mentioned by Republicans, followed by the economy. The winners in that state — Republican Mike Huckabee and Democrat Barack Obama — also got the most support among those chiefly worried about the economy.

The gloomy outlook for the British economy will again likely cast a shadow over the London stock market next week.
   London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed Friday at 6,202 points, down 2.3 per cent or 146.5 points from a week earlier.
   Next week investors will have a series of British data, including consumer price inflation, producer prices, retail sales and unemployment for the month of December, to work on and find a trading lead.
   The Bank of England voted this week to freeze interest rates at 5.50 per cent as it remains on guard against higher inflation and slower economic growth.
   The central bank set aside calls from British retailers for a cut to borrowing costs to boost consumer spending and reverse flagging sales on the high street.
    ‘The Bank of England is currently facing an unappetizing mix of faltering growth and significant inflation pressures,’ said Global Insight economist Howard Archer.
    ‘Forthcoming data is likely
   to provide further evidence of this.’
   Elevated energy costs kept British inflation at an annual rate of 2.1 per cent in November, above the BoE’s 2.0 per cent target, as motor and heating fuel costs rose. December inflation data is published on Tuesday.
   Investors are also awaiting official retail sales data on Friday after the British Retail Consortium said the sector had experienced the worst Christmas trading for three years.
    ‘Evidence from the British Retail Consortium and a number of retailers indicated that retail spending was muted over the critical Christmas/New Year period,’ said Archer.
   Stocks were hit badly this week as top UK retailer Marks and Spencer warned about a difficult year ahead and reported soft sales figures in the run-up to Christmas.
   Traders are expecting a leaner 2008 after the British government trimmed its official forecasts for economic growth to 2.0-2.5 per cent, citing the negative impact of the ongoing global credit crunch.

US airline executives have talked about consolidation in their industry for several years, even though they know successful combinations are about as elusive as an on-time flight on a Friday afternoon.
   But the profit-sapping effect of a relentless rise in fuel costs may finally force them to action. That helps explain why the board of Delta Air Lines Inc is meeting Friday in New York to decide on what was once viewed as the unthinkable at the Atlanta-based carrier — allowing management to open formal deal talks with one or more of its rivals.
   Pulling off a deal would mean surmounting likely antitrust challenges, the difficulty of combining rival labour groups, and the pride of executives in running their own company. But airline officials and analysts believe consolidation may be the only way for carriers to cope with high fuel prices because it could lead to lower costs and a reduction in total flights, which would give airlines more power to raise fares.
   Oil prices soared 58 per cent last year and briefly rose above $100 per barrel last week, leading to a corresponding rise in jet fuel prices. Meanwhile, competition and an uncertain economy have limited carriers’ ability to cover the higher expense by hiking fares.
   Airlines ‘don’t have any pricing power with higher oil costs,’ said Ray Neidl, an analyst with Calyon Securities.
   Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial believe that most major carriers lost money in the fourth quarter — the airlines start reporting those results next week. Prospects for the new year are uncertain.
   Airlines believe combining will let them eliminate redundant back-office functions, reservations and computer systems.
   But the real payoff could lie in eliminating overlapping routes and hub airports. If Delta and UAL Corp’s United Airlines combine, Delta could scale back on routes currently flown by both.
   ‘It’s all about reducing competition and having pricing power,’ said longtime airline consultant Darryl Jenkins.
   Airlines might save money from combining, but many experts think it would cost consumers.
   ‘I think that consolidation is likely to lead to reduced capacity and higher fares,’ said Jim Corridore, an analyst with Standard and Poor’s.
   Some airline mergers appear to have been successful. The 2005 acquisition by America West of US Airways, which created US Airways Group Inc., produced a carrier with the healthiest margin of unit profits over costs in the industry, according to SH&E, an airline consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass.
   Through the third quarter of 2007, the difference between US Airways’ unit revenue and costs — a measure of financial health — stood at an industry-high 1.78 cents per mile flown by paying customers, SH&E found. Only three other carriers, Northwest Airlines Corp., Delta and United had a margin of more than 1 cent per passenger mile in that time.
   Other deals haven’t worked out so well. AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines, bought bankrupt Trans World Airlines at the worst possible time — a few months before the 2001 terror attacks.
   Both the US Airways and American-TWA deals highlight another obstacle to airline takeovers — the ride can be bumpy when rival labour groups are pushed together and begin fighting.
   Pilots for US Airways and the old America West are still sparring over who gets more seniority. The former US Airways union sued its counterpart at America West.
   When AMR bought TWA, American’s flight attendants stuck TWA attendants at the bottom of the combined seniority list, regardless of experience. The former TWA workers were thrown on the street when American cut thousands of jobs after the 2001 terror attacks.
   The treatment of TWA’s St Louis-based employees led Missouri’s two US senators to push successfully last month for a federal law that would use binding arbitration to settle seniority disputes between unions.
   If the law had existed in 2001, the American Airlines union could have been barred from shuffling TWA workers to the back of the seniority line. The pilots union at American publicly objected to the provision, but only after it had been signed into law.

Fewer than one in eight Chinese are happy at work, with most complaining about dead-end jobs and wages eroded by record inflation, according to a new survey.
   Only 12.6 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with their jobs, while 50 per cent said they were unhappy with working conditions, according to the survey of 8,000 workers conducted by one of China’s leading online job-search agencies, www.zhaopin.com. More than 47 per cent cited lack of a career path as their main gripe against employers, while 27.5 per cent said poor wages were the key bone of contention in 2007 amid a rapidly rising cost of living.
   A total of 21.5 per cent described themselves as ‘satisfied or very satisfied’ with their pay, while 42.1 per cent were ‘strongly dissatisfied.’

Banglalink, mobile phone service provider, recently opened its regional office in Mymensingh.
   Rashid Khan, chief executive officer of Banglalink, inaugurated the office in a ceremony, said a press release.
   Khalid Hossain, additional police super of Mymensingh, Major Iqbal from RAB, Apple Mahmud, assistant police super, Omer Rashid, director marketing and Arif Mehmood Malik, director sales of Banglalink, were present among others in the opening ceremony.

Dhaka Bank Ltd’s Capital Market Services recently commenced the operation of its 4th brokerage house at the bank’s Dhanmondi branch in the Dhaka city.
   Abdullah Bokhari, president of the Dhaka Stock Exchange Ltd, formally inaugurated the brokerage house through a ceremony as chief guest, said a press release.
   The bank’s managing director Shahed Noman, DMD Tanweer Rahim, and head of credit operations and change management MM Haikal Hashmi, were present among others in the ceremony.
   Dhaka Bank Capital Market Services includes margin account, custodial service, share trading through the DSE and the CSE, banker to the Issue, underwriting IPO and full service depository participant of the CDBL.

Gold prices hit fresh record highs above 900 dollars an ounce this week but oil tumbled further from recent historic peaks as markets focused on unease about the weakening US economy.
   Elsewhere, Platinum struck an all-time high for the second week running and there were record heights for soya.
   OIL: Crude prices slumped this week but remained at elevated levels after recent record highs above 100 dollars a barrel.
   Prices fell on widespread fears that slowing economic growth in the United States could dampen demand from the world’s number one oil consumer.
    ‘Persistent worries about a potential recession in the US and a slowdown in growth rates put downward pressure on the market,’ said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
    ‘Investors fear that a slowdown in the US could spread to the broader market and become a drag on the global economy, consequentially denting demand for energy.’
   During the week, prices found limited support from hopes the US Federal Reserve would slash rates to boost the ailing American economy.
   Despite heavy price falls, traders warned that there could be another run at 100 dollars owing to persistent geopolitical concerns in crude producers Iran and Nigeria.
   Traders’ thoughts are now turning to a production meeting of the OPEC oil producers’ grouping in Vienna next month.
   Ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 per cent of global crude supplies, will convene in the Austrian capital on February 1.
   Top of their agenda will be calls from consumer nations for more supply to after New York oil hit a record 100.09 dollars and Brent 98.50 dollars last week.
   On Friday, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, was at 93.20 dollars, down from 97.25 dollars a week earlier.
   Brent North Sea crude for February fell to 91.11 dollars from 96.54 dollars.
   GOLD/SILVER: The price of gold, for delivery in February, hit an all-time high of 900.10 dollars an ounce in New York as the precious metal benefited from its safe-haven status amid a struggling dollar.
   In London on the spot market, the price of gold for immediate delivery reached a record peak of 898.03 dollars.
   The precious metal, also being supported by increased jewellery purchases in emerging economic powerhouses China and India, had first smashed its 28 year-old record of 850 dollars an ounce the previous week.
   ‘The weaker dollar sentiment and the continued influx of investor money kept the metal underpinned,’ said James Moore of TheBullionDesk.com.
   ‘The scale of buying interest that continues to flow into the market, and the fact that dips remain extremely short lived, again suggests gold has plenty of upside work still to do.’
   Silver prices struck a 27-year high of 16.30 dollars an ounce in London as the precious metal also benefited from the weak dollar.
   On the London Bullion Market, gold was at 891 dollars at Friday’s late fixing, up from 855 dollars a week earlier.
   Silver shot up to 16.06 dollars an ounce from 15.27 dollars.
   PLATINUM/PALLADIUM: Platinum prices hit a record 1,567.75 dollars an ounce, supported by the weak dollar and tight supplies.
    ‘The strong fundamental picture and scale of investment demand coming into the market continues to create a bullish environment in the platinum market and, should further supply disruptions be seen during the course of the year, the white metal could easily reach 1,800-2,000 dollars an ounce,’ said Moore.
   On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum advanced to 1,565 dollars an ounce at the late fixing Friday from 1,545 dollars a week earlier.
   Palladium rallied to 376 dollars an ounce from 372 dollars.
   BASE METALS: Base metals price mostly retreated from a New Year rally and could be set for further losses.
    ‘We have doubts that current price strength will be sustained in an environment of slowing (economic) growth and (with) most metals forecast to move into surplus this year,’ UBS analyst Robin Bhar said.
   On Friday, copper for delivery in three months rose to 7,230 dollars a tonne on the London Metal Exchange from 6,930 dollars a week earlier.
   Three-month aluminium eased to 2,475 dollars a tonne from 2,484 dollars.
   Three-month nickel fell to 28,050 dollars a tonne from 28,500 dollars.
   Three-month lead dropped to 2,575 dollars a tonne from 2,624 dollars.
   Three-month zinc declined to 2,370 dollars a tonne from 2,510 dollars.
   Three-month tin decreased to 16,300 dollars a tonne from 16,580 dollars.
   COCOA: Cocoa prices struck four-year highs in London on supply concerns owing to strike action in leading producer the Ivory Coast.
   By Friday on the LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of cocoa for March delivery rose to 1,127 pounds a tonne from 1,076 pounds a week earlier.
   On the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the March cocoa contract increased to 2,170 dollars a tonne from 2,101 dollars.
   COFFEE: Coffee prices struck nine-year peaks in London.
   By Friday on the LIFFE, Robusta quality for March delivery climbed to 2,032 dollars a tonne from 1,945 dollars a week earlier.
   On the NYBOT, Arabica for March delivery gained to 136.75 US cents a pound from 133.30 cents.
   SUGAR: Sugar continued to benefit as a source of ethanol, a cheaper biofuel alternative to motor fuel.
   By Friday on the LIFFE, the price per tonne of white sugar for March delivery rose to 331 pounds from 326 pounds a week earlier.
   On the NYBOT, the price of unrefined sugar for March delivery rose to 11.54 US cents a pound from 11.30 cents.
   GRAINS AND SOYA: Soya rose above 13 dollars for the first time.
   By Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, March-dated soyabean meal — used in animal feed — was at 12.93 dollars, up from 12.62 dollars.
   The price of maize for March delivery gained to 4.95 dollars a bushel from 4.66 dollars a week earlier.
   Wheat for March delivery fell to 8.91 dollars a bushel from 9.31 dollars.
   On LIFFE, the price per tonne of wheat for May delivery dropped to 181 pounds from 183 pounds a week earlier.
   RUBBER: Rubber prices rose owing to strong demand amid tight supplies in major producer Malaysia.
   On Friday, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s benchmark SMR20 rose to 259.00 US cents per kilogramme from 257.70 cents the previous week.

The Bank of America said Friday it was buying struggling Countrywide Financial in a four-billion-dollar deal that rescues the nation’s largest mortgage lender amid a housing crisis.
   The deal eased fears of a collapse of the largest player in the troubled US mortgage market that could have sent shock waves through the world’s biggest economy.
   Bank of America, the leading US bank by share value, said in a statement it had offered 0.1822 of its own shares for each Countrywide share.
   Analysts said that would put Countrywide’s share value at 7.16 dollars, a 7.6 per cent discount to its closing price Thursday of 7.75 dollars.
   Countrywide, which has been the subject of bankruptcy rumors for several months, ‘will benefit from the stability of being part of the largest and one of the most financially strong financial institutions in the United States,’ Bank of America said in a statement.
   Countrywide’s woes reflect the troubles of the overall US housing market as the big lender is being hit by the meltdown in real estate, especially the subprime market to borrowers with weak credit histories.
   In October the company posted its first quarterly loss in 25 years amid surging mortgage defaults.
   In August, when US mortgage-related woes started to roil financial markets in the United States and other industrialized countries, Bank of America bought a 16 per cent stake in Countrywide in a deal worth two billion dollars.
   Both companies’ boards of directors have backed the deal, which is subject to approval by Countrywide’s shareholders and regulators, Bank of America said.
   The Calabasas, California-based Countrywide had 408 billion dollars in mortgage originations in 2007 and has a servicing portfolio of about 1.5 trillion dollars with nine million loans, according to the bank.
   The transaction is expected to be finalized in the third quarter and generate after-tax synergy savings of 670 million dollars.
   The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said the deal would have a neutral effect on its 2008 results and be a positive factor in 2009, excluding merger and restructuring costs.
   Investors appeared concerned about potential further hefty losses at Countrywide. Many analysts say there are mounting signs that the US economy could be falling into a recession.
    ‘The acquisition should be good news for the overall market as it reduces the potential for more bad news out of Countrywide and implies that Bank of America is in reasonably good shape in terms of credit issues if it is comfortable taking on Countrywide,’ said Dick Green at Briefing.com.
    ‘The deal is being viewed with understandable scepticism, however,’ he added.
   Bank of America shares closed 2.04 per cent lower at 38.50 dollars in New York and Countrywide plunged 18.32 per cent to 6.33.
   Analysts have been cutting estimates for Countrywide’s fourth quarter. The company has projected a profit, but some began to doubt that possibility and were forecasting losses amid Countrywide’s rising loan delinquencies.
    ‘The low purchase price suggests to us that Bank of America is being paid for taking risk in a deteriorating mortgage environment and that losses in Countrywide’s mortgage book may be greater than we estimated,’ investment bank Morgan Stanley said.

Vietnam to send 1,00,000 migrant workers to Qatar
Communist Vietnam plans to send 100,000 guest workers to oil-rich Qatar over the next three years, expanding its migrant labour programme in the Middle East, state media said Saturday. The two countries’ labour ministers signed an agreement on the programme in Hanoi on Friday after Vietnam’s deputy prime minister Nguyen Sinh Hung visited the Gulf emirate in mid-December, the Vietnam News daily reported. Vietnam last year sent 85,000 workers abroad — mostly to Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea and other Asian countries — generating income and reducing unemployment at home, where 1.5 million people enter the job market every year. About 10,000 Vietnamese already work in Qatar, says Vietnam’s government, which sees the Middle East, including the oil and gas-rich Gulf states, as a promising growth market for its labour exports. Vietnam has set a target of sending 100,000 workers abroad every year by 2010, according to the Department of Management of Overseas Labourers. Migration experts and state media have highlighted cases of exploitation of Vietnamese migrant workers who often have been trapped under harsh conditions in overseas jobs while struggling to repay large loans and air fares.
— AFP

China to improve nutrition labelling on food
China will require basic nutritional labeling on all food packaging from May 1 and go after companies that hype up their products as having special health benefits, according to a new government directive. Labels will be required to show how much protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium is in a food, and may also show the cholesterol, sugar and vitamin content, the Health Ministry said in a statement on its Web site (http : //www.moh.gov.cn). Companies will not be allowed to say their products are high in calcium, iron or low in fat unless they meet certain strict criteria, the notice said. ‘The rules stress that nutritional labeling must be accurate and objective. They must not make false claims nor exaggerate the nutritional benefits of the product,’ it said. ‘Labels must also not make direct or indirect claims of curing illness.’ China has suffered a rash of scares over the safety of its food and manufactured products in the last year, which highlighted shoddy oversight and prompted a wave of new regulations and clean-up campaigns from the central government.
— Reuters