Huddersfield Town are keen to lure Reading defender Sean Morrison back to the club following their promotion to the championship.
Morrison joined the Terriers on loan in January and went on to make 22 appearances, playing an integral part in the club's landmark season.
But the 21-year-old has now returned to the Premier League new boys, despite having made just one appearance in the League Cup since his arrival from Swindon Town 18 months ago.
And if Morrison is not going to be involved in Brian McDermott's plans next season, Huddersfield would be happy to offer the centre-half a return to the Galpharm Stadium.
"Sean has made it clear he loves it here and would like to play for us in the championship and we certainly love him, so we'll see what happens," Terriers coach Glyn Snodin said.
"In the first instance it's very much down to what Brian McDermott, the Reading manager, wants to do.
"Does he want to keep Sean for the top-flight campaign, does he want to sell him or is he prepared to loan him out again?
"Until we know the answer to those questions then we can't really progress anything, but we know Brian very well.
"He is a smashing fellow and we know there won't be any problems, he will just let us know honestly exactly where he stands."
Prices of flour, pulses fall - DAWN Group
THE wholesale commodity market witnessed minor price fluctuations but traders said it had nothing to do with the changes in tax rates and duties announced in the budget 2012-2013.
They said the Dandia Bazaar witnessed changes in price on account of improved imports, uninterrupted local supplies coupled with lingering low consumer demand.
One of the noticeable developments in view of improved supplies was the slight cut in flour prices by millers on June 8. The cut in prices was attributed to improved supply of wheat in the wholesale market.
A miller said the new rate of 50kg flour bag (No.2.5) was Rs1,490 as compared to Rs1,525 earlier. The decline in rate of 50kg bag of fine flour and super fine flour (maida) was Rs1,645 and Rs1,660 from Rs1,655 and Rs1,670 respectively.
For the last few weeks price of wheat was stable owing to improved supplies from Punjab and Sindh which had further improved stocks in the wholesale market.
The 10kg bag of flour (No.2.5) produced by mill was now priced at Rs298 as compared to Rs305 last week.
While analysing the impact of budget on prices, Chairman Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association (KWGA), Anis Majeed said:
“Frankly speaking, the new budget has been made keeping in view the interest of consumers.”
The slight upward change in sugar rate is because of pre-Ramazan demand coupled with opening of tender by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) last week. Some retail market buyers had turned up to purchase sugar for Ramazan which is starting from next month.
Many retailers despite having old stocks purchased at lower prices were charging Rs58 per kg in the markets as compared to Rs55 per kg last week.
Anis said the price of masur and mash had dropped due to over imports. The wholesale rates had not yet seen any flare up in view of the persistent devaluation of the rupee against the dollar.
The impact of costlier imports on account of depreciating rupee against the greenback might be witnessed in the future. In case the price of pulses go up in the international market prices of local pulses would rise further.
The Economic Survey had presented a grim picture of production of local pulses. Gram production during July-March 2011-12 fell to 291,000 tons as compared to 496,000 tons in the same period last year owing to unfavourable weather conditions.
Production of masoor declined to 11,600 tons as compared to 13,300 tons last year, mash production also dropped slightly to 10,900 tons from 11,300 tons while production of moong improved 22 per cent to 93,000 tons from 76,200 tons last year.
Retailers in various localities were making huge profits from consumers who were unaware of the wholesale prices. The wholesale rate of gram pulse was Rs93 per kg but retailers were charging Rs110-125 per kg, price of moong was Rs108 per kg but its retail price hovered around Rs115—140 per kg in various markets, while price of masur being Rs62 per kg, the consumers were paying Rs86-100 per kg, mash available at Rs82 per kg in the wholesale rate was selling between Rs93 and Rs100 per kg at retail shops.
Traders in their post-budget reaction had not anticipated any cut in prices of pulses and wheat rates in view of no sales tax.
Ghee and cooking oil prices for 16 kg/litre tins showed slight decline in prices due to falling oil prices in the world markets but the packers were yet to pass the benefit to consumers.
A retailer claimed that the price of 16 kg ghee tin had plunged to Rs2,650 from Rs2,700 followed by decline in 16 litre ghee tin to Rs2,480 from Rs2,545 last week.
Palm olien rate was now $1,010 per ton C&F as compared to $1,062 in the third week of May while RBD palm oil rate dropped to $980 per ton from $1,050 per ton. —Aamir Shafaat Khan
China Auto Glut Builds as Plant Shipments Outstrip Sales - Bloomberg
Carmakers are giving Chinese dealers no relief in their effort to reduce a glut of unsold automobiles in a slowing economy, as factories pump passenger vehicles into showrooms faster than distributors can sell them.
Wholesale deliveries, including multipurpose and sport- utility vehicles, climbed 23 percent from a year earlier to 1.28 million units in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said June 9 in Beijing. That exceeded the 1.2 million average estimate of seven analysts in a Bloomberg survey, the third straight month that deliveries beat forecasts.
The surge, led by Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) and Honda Motor Co. (7267) as they recover from last year’s natural disasters, may raise pressure on distributors to deepen discounts and sell cars at a loss to meet mandatory targets set by automakers. Factory managers may have to slow production unless the discounts and potential government policies to encourage sales ease the glut.
“If there’s a bottleneck out the retail channel, obviously that at some point comes back and you have to cut production,” said Kevin Tynan, an automotive analyst at Bloomberg Industries. “Something has to give. Either you’re going to incentivize the consumer to buy, whether that’s the government or the manufacturers, or you’re going to have to pull back on production somewhere, and it doesn’t sound like the manufacturers are in a big hurry to do that.”
The carmakers and state-backed CAAM say they’re confident demand is picking up.
‘More Stable’
“There are clear signs indicating the industry is becoming more stable,” Deputy Secretary General Yao Jie said in Beijing. “For the first time this year, accumulative sales and production have exceeded that of a year earlier.”
For the first five months, passenger-vehicle sales increased 5.5 percent to 6.33 million units, according to CAAM.
Sport-utility vehicles registered the biggest wholesale delivery growth by category, rising 58 percent to 162,600 units in May as sedan sales rose 20 percent, according to CAAM. Minivans, which are used as passenger and commercial vehicles, rose 16 percent to 185,700 units, the association said.
Toyota’s China sales in May more than doubled to 78,700 units. Honda reported a 92 percent surge and Nissan Motor Co. (7201)’s sales increased 20 percent. Last year, production at the Japanese automakers was hurt by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand.
May Recovery
“Last May was pretty bad in terms of the passenger-car sales tally,” Harry Chen, a Shenzhen-based analyst with Guotai Junan Securities Co., said before the release.
General Motors Co. (GM), the world’s biggest automaker, said June 5 that vehicle sales in China rose 21 percent in May, led by demand for its Wuling minivan and Chevrolet models. Ford Motor Co. (F) saw its passenger-vehicle deliveries gain 23 percent.
“We expect sales growth to remain strong in June,” UBS AG (UBSN) analysts Hou Yankun, Xu Ming and Zou Tianlong, wrote in a note on June 6. Government stimulus policies “could boost consumer sentiment in the short term,” they wrote.
Karen Hampton, a Ford spokeswoman in Dearborn, Michigan, yesterday deferred market-specific questions to representatives in Asia.
Kevin Wale, head of GM’s China operations, said in a May 31 interview that he’s “pretty optimistic” Chinese consumers return to dealerships. “I can’t see anything in the Chinese environment that’s leading to an unusual decline in consumer confidence,” he said.
Inventories Rise
Dealers aren’t as optimistic. Average inventory carried at Chinese showrooms bloated to a level exceeding two months of sales by the end of May, compared with more than 45 days at the end of April, Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of the state- backed China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview last week. The glut at the dealerships, which is leading to price cuts, is unsustainable, he said.
“The picture we have is very different from what the automakers are painting,” Luo said. “The sales increases they’re reporting are achieved by loading dealers with stock.”
China on June 7 announced its first interest rate cut since 2008 as policy makers seek to bolster growth. Economic data over the weekend may add pressure on the government to introduce such buying incentives. Chinese consumer prices in May rose the least in two years, while industrial output and retail sales trailed economists’ estimates, according to data released by the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics on June 9.
Car Incentives
China’s cabinet agreed last month to revive financial incentives for consumers to trade in their cars to help increase demand, a government official said last month. Separately, the finance ministry said on May 29 that the government will spend as much as 2 billion yuan a year to develop alternative-energy vehicles to reduce fuel consumption.
CAAM deputy secretary general Dong Yang said at the briefing he was unaware of stimulus policies for the automotive industry “anytime soon.”
One of the first steps may come as a government program to encourage sales of smaller, fuel-efficient cars, Tynan at Bloomberg Industries said.
“You will get some clear signals, some yellow lights, before you get to production cuts,” he said.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Tian Ying in Beijing at ytian@bloomberg.net; Liza Lin in Shanghai at llin15@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
China Auto Glut Builds as Factory Shipments Outstrip Sales
Nelson Ching/Bloomberg.
Cars move through traffic in Shanghai, China.
Cars move through traffic in Shanghai, China. Photographer: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg.
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Stephen Engle reports from Beijing on Great Wall Motor Co.'s business outlook and plans for international expansion. The China automaker aims to triple its exports by 2015 and enter the U.S. market within 3-5 years. (Source: Bloomberg)
June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Kevin Wale, president of General Motors Co.'s China operations, talks about China's auto industry and the company's business outlook in the country. Wale spoke with Bloomberg's Liza Lin in Shanghai yesterday. (Excerpts. Source: Bloomberg)
May 24 (Bloomberg) -- Ian Robertson, global head of sales and marketing at Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, unveils the BMW 335Li, a long-wheelbase version of the company's 3-Series sedan, at the Beijing auto show on April 19. The stretched 3-Series, made uniquely for the Chinese market, is 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) longer than the regular model and is part of a broader effort by German luxury-car makers to sell more cars targeted toward first-time buyers in China. (Video is courtesy of BMW AG. Source: Bloomberg)
U.S. wholesale stockpiles grew in April - Crescent-News
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. wholesale businesses restocked faster in April, responding to a strong gain in sales. The increase could be a good sign for economic growth in the April-June quarter.
The Commerce Department says stockpiles grew 0.6 percent at the wholesale level in April, double the March gain. Sales by wholesale businesses jumped 1.1 percent in April, nearly three times the March sales gain.
Stockpiles at the wholesale level stood at $483.5 billion in April. That's 25.6 percent above the post-recession low of $384.9 billion in September 2009.
It would take roughly five weeks to exhaust all wholesale stockpiles at the April sales pace. That's considered a healthy time frame and suggests businesses will keep restocking to meet demand.
When businesses step up restocking, they order more goods. That generally leads to increased factory production and higher economic growth.
Slower growth in inventories held back growth in the January-March quarter. In the first three months of this year, the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.9 percent.
The increase in wholesale inventories was bigger than economists had forecast. That could signal that inventory growth will pick up and boost economic growth in the April-June quarter.
But stockpile growth largely depends on the spending habits of U.S. consumers and businesses.
Weaker job creation in April and May could force some to scale back spending. And pay has risen just 1.7 percent over the past 12 months. That's slower than the rate of inflation for that period.
Sluggish job growth and weak pay raises threaten to drag on consumer spending, which would weaken growth.
Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.
One positive change: Gas prices have tumbled since early April. That could give Americans more money to spend on appliances, vacations and other discretionary purchases.
Many businesses cut back on restocking last summer fearing that the economy was on the verge of another recession.
When it became clear that it wasn't, they raced to rebuild stockpiles and keep pace with consumer demand.
Stockpiles at the wholesale level account for about 27 percent of total business inventories. Stockpiles held by retailers make up about one-third of the total. Manufacturing inventories represent about 40 percent of the total.
Shopping molls flee to Spain after Harrods theft - Daily Record
Jun 10 2012 By Russell Findlay, Sunday Mail
Generic Harrods image
POLICE hunting shopping molls Annette Daniel and Jean McGovern fear the thieves have fled to Spain.
The career criminals decided to sun themselves on the Costa del Sol while the heat is on at home.
We told last week how Daniel, McGovern and three gang members were being probed over a £24,000 designer dress theft from Harrods.
CCTV images of the gang at work in the posh store in London’s Knightsbridge have been passed to the Metropolitan Police.
But the prime suspects in the robbery have now fled the UK for Marbella.
One source said: “The heat caused by the Harrods job is intense and they decided to get out as quickly as possible.
“They’ll have to return at some point but I don’t think they will be in a hurry. If I was a shopkeeper in Marbella, I’d be keeping my eyes peeled for a pair of middle-aged Scottish women.”
Marbella has a string of designer stores including Carte Ingles in Puerto Banus, which carries top lines such as Prada and Tommy Hilfiger.
Last week we revealed four Roberto Cavalli and Ralph Lauren frocks had been nicked from Harrods. The store – feared by thieves for its stringent security – didn’t notice they were missing until the following day.
Daniel, 50, and McGovern, 45, who both have lengthy criminal records, are suspected of conducting the theft with gang members Roberta Burke, 48, Julie Tomlin, 32, and John Thomson.
The pair – members of Glasgow crime clans – run a team of professional thieves who travel around the UK.
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