The United States sells more soybeans to China, by value, than any other single product. Last year, that amounted to more than 27 million metric tons, worth $12.8 billion, or about 9 cents of every dollar of goods the United States sold to China, the New York Times reported. But with the enormous tariffs erected between the two countries over the past two weeks, those sales are likely to suffer soon. That is bad news for the American farmers who grow soybeans and the Chinese chicken and hog farmers who buy them — and potentially very good news for the nation ready to step in: Brazil.
Read more
Vietnam's trade ministry has issued a directive to crack down on illegal transhipment of goods to the United States and other trading partners as it tries to avoid steep U.S. tariffs, according to a document reviewed by Reuters. The ministry in the directive, which was dated and effective April 15, said trade fraud was likely to increase amid growing tension caused by U.S. tariffs. That in turn would make it "more complicated to avoid sanctions that countries will apply to imported goods" if fraud is not prevented, it said.
Read more
Shivinder Mohan Singh, former promoter of Fortis Healthcare and Religare Enterprises, has filed for personal insolvency before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Delhi, reported Bar and Bench. The matter was briefly heard on April 21 and is scheduled to resume in May. Singh has invoked Section 94 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which allows individuals to file for insolvency if they are unable to repay debts. In his plea, Singh stated that his liabilities now exceed the value of his remaining assets.
Read more
Local creditors of Malaysian insolvent companies with assets within the Asean region may be able to recover their debts soon, says Datuk Seri Azalina Othman, The Star reported. The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said that this is one of the measures proposed under the Cross-Border Insolvency Bill to be presented in Parliament this June. "With the Asean Law Forum to be held this August, I have also visited several Asean nations and met with their law and judicial ministers.
Read more
China’s state-owned AVIC Trust Co. has requested operational support from two fellow trust firms after delaying payments on its investment products, Mitrade.com reported. The call for help comes at a time when the nation’s $3.7 trillion trust industry is struggling. AVIC Trust will become the first state-owned trust firm placed in custody since China’s Trust Law was enacted in 2001. According to a Bloomberg exclusive on Monday, the Beijing-based firm announced that it had entered into a service agreement with CCB Trust Co. and SDIC Taikang Trust Co.
Read more