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Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080820/tts-...ce-f6a4e2a.html AFP - Wednesday, August 20 SINGAPORE (AFP) - - World oil prices rose in Asian trade Wednesday on fresh supply concerns after key producer Venezuela indicated it could ask OPEC to cut output, dealers said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, rose 56 cents to 115.09 dollars a barrel. The contract had jumped 1.66 dollars to close at 114.53 dollars in New York on Tuesday. Brent North Sea crude for October delivery added 50 cents to 113.75 dollars a barrel after rallying 1.31 dollars to settle at 113.25 Tuesday in London. Venezuela's Energy and Petroleum Minister, Rafael Ramirez, said Tuesday his country will propose production cuts at the next Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting if oil prices continue to fall. The cartel is to meet next month in Vienna. "If there is a trend or dynamic toward lower oil prices, Venezuela will consider the possibility of a cut in production," Ramirez said in remarks released by the ministry. "This is the position that we will take at the next OPEC meeting," he said. Wednesday's price gains were "follow-through from last night's bounce," said Jonathan Kornafel, a director for Asia with energy derivatives trading house Hudson Capital Energy. "I don't think any decision is going to be made but I won't be surprised at the rhetoric and traders are looking at it," he said. Despite the latest price gains, world oil prices are down from all-time highs above 147 dollars in July as weak US economic data raise fears for oil demand and dim investor appetite for commodities. Data released on Tuesday added to signs that demand is slowing in the world's biggest energy consumer, the United States, dealers said. The US Labor Department said wholesale inflation soared to 9.8 percent in July, the fastest rate in 27 years, while the US Commerce Department reported new home construction fell 11 percent to the lowest level in 17 years. "Standing back from all of this to glance at the big picture would certainly seem to endorse the oil market's sharp month-long decline," said John Kilduff, an analyst at MF Global. The US Department of Energy was to release its latest weekly snapshot of energy stockpiles in the country later Wednesday. Oil prices, which broke through the 100-dollar level at the start of 2008, remain well above year-ago levels.

China is doubling down on efforts to keep unprofitable factories afloat despite for years pledging to curb excess capacity, adding to a glut of basic materials flooding the global economy. The country’s overproduction of steel, aluminum, diesel and other industrial goods has driven down prices and crippled competitors, leading to thousands of lost jobs in the U.S. and elsewhere. China’s continuing aid for unneeded factories is triggering a sharp rise in trade disputes and protectionist sentiment, especially in the U.S., where trade has emerged as one of the pivotal issues in the U.S. presidential election. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Chinese public companies, Chinese government support includes billions of dollars in cash assistance, subsidized electricity and other benefits to companies. Recipients include steelmakers, coal miners, solar-panel manufacturers, and other producers of other goods including copper and chemicals. One beneficiary,Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chalco, said in October one of its units would shut down a roughly 500,000-ton-per-year smelter in the far-western Gansu region as it struggled to make profits. Executives prepped for thousands of layoffs. Then Gansu officials slashed the plant’s electricity bill by 30%, employees say, and the factory was saved. Although a portion of capacity was taken offline, most is operational. “We’re in full production now with 380,000 tons of capacity,” said Fei Zhongchang, a company sales manager. Chalco’s press office and local government officials didn’t respond to requests for further comment. In Europe, workers have joined protests against Chinese steel imports. Australia has investigated dumping of products including solar panels and steel and India has raised import taxes on steel after a surge of cheap Chinese goods. The U.S. launched seven new investigations into alleged dumping or government subsidies involving Chinese goods in the first three months of this year, more than the same period of any other year dating back to at least 2003, government data show. Earlier this year, the U.S. Commerce Department slapped preliminary import duties of 266% on imported Chinese cold-rolled steel. The decision came after U.S. Steel Corp. lost $1.5 billion last year, closed its last blast furnace in the South and laid off thousands of workers, blaming China. Late last month , U.S. Steel filed a trade complaint against China at the International Trade Commission, alleging price fixing, trans-shipment via third countries to avoid duties and cyber-espionage to loot technology off U.S. Steel computers. China’s Commerce Ministry has urged U.S. authorities to reject the complaint, and said allegations of intellectual property infringement “are completely without factual basis.” China says it isn’t guilty of dumping—or selling a product at a loss in order to gain market share—and calls U.S. and EU measures and investigations forms of protectionism. It says it has mothballed factories and intends to cut more, with plans to lay off up to 1.8 million steel and coal workers. Officials say it is natural for complaints against China to increase as the country takes on a large share of global trade. “As the largest trader in goods, it’s quite understandable for us to have so many” complaints, China’s Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said recently. “We need to take it as it comes and live with it.” One way of tracking China’s support is by looking at subsidies reported in corporate filings on the country’s two main stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. According to a Journal analysis of nearly 3,000 domestic-listed Chinese companies in 2015, reported government aid rose to more than 119 billion yuan, or more than $18 billion, last year compared with about 92 billion yuan in 2014. Reported subsidies have risen roughly 50% since 2013, based on figures from Shanghai data provider Wind Information Co. Under Chinese accounting standards, such aid can be cash or other perks like subsidized power or land, but doesn’t include some other support, such as capital injections from the government as an equity shareholder. Recipients include an ethanol producer that said it was promised as much as 40 million yuan ($6.1 million) in subsidies in the first three months this year because of “grave operating circumstances.” A producer of titanium dioxide—which is used in products such as paint and sunscreen—won about 28 million yuan ($4.3 million) in cash assistance as it seeks to expand in the North America and elsewhere. Another company, Yunnan Aluminium Co., obtained nearly 500 million yuan ($77 million) in subsidies since late 2015, securities filings show. In the first half of 2015, the company says its production of alumina—the starting material for smelting aluminum metal—jumped 40%, even as revenue sank amid weakening prices. Company representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment. An official at the provincial Department of Finance, which administered much of the cash aid, said it acted to protect Yunnan Aluminium’s 10,000 jobs. “The government’s aim is to help maintain social stability,” the official said. Other countries, including the U.S., offer substantial support for struggling industries. Experts cite differences in China, which they say is less open about its use of subsidies and more inclined to use them to promote exports. China has repeatedly said it would shutter unneeded factories, without following through. The need for capacity cuts in China has long been apparent. More than 40% of its major steel companies were losing money in the first half of 2015, according to the China Iron and Steel Association. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which oversees the steel industry, told the Journal in 2014 that authorities were already “in the process of implementing” capacity reductions. Since then, Chinese crude steel production has fallen 2% year-on-year in 2015 to about 804 million metric tons. But industry experts in China, the U.S. and Europe say a further 200 million metric tons of capacity—or about 25% of China’s production—needs to be cut to restore market balance. China’s steel exports jumped around 20% last year to 112 million metric tons, according to customs data. A 63-page “investigation initiation checklist,” filed last year by U.S. Steel Corp., Nucor Corp. and the United Steelworkers union to demand import tariffs on rolled steel, found 44 separate subsidy programs, including seven that give Chinese steelmakers cheap or free land, iron ore, coal, and power; eight that offer discount loans; 15 tax breaks; and 11 programs that give companies money directly. Some of the programs date back years, but others were active in the past 12 months, including subsidized export loans, the document showed. “It’s the whole range of practices that keep these zombie companies alive,” said Roger Schagrin, a lawyer for U.S. steelmakers. At the time, a spokesman for China’s Commerce Ministry said restrictions on Chinese steel would not solve the global overcapacity problem, and encouraged Chinese steel companies to defend their rights. Other Chinese products rattling markets include diesel fuel, with Chinese exports rising nearly 80% in 2015 over 2014, according to customs data. China has loosened restrictions to let private refiners export fuel for the first time, given weak domestic demand. While U.S. energy companies shed staff, China’s by and large haven’t. Refining giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., whose net profit fell by 30% in 2015, told the Journal no employees have been laid off since late 2014 when oil prices began to fall, and that it had “no plan for any future layoffs.” The company, also known as Sinopec, employs about 351,000 people. China’s aluminum production, meanwhile, rose to 32 million tons in 2015, double the level in 2005. Exports soared to 6.7 million tons from 2.6 million during the same period, helping push global prices down 40% in the past five years. The number of smelters in the U.S. has fallen to four from 23 in 2000, destroying thousands of jobs. Tensions over lost jobs reflect wider frustrations that China hasn’t lived up to all the promises it made when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. According to data collected by the WTO, China accounted for around 25% of all anti-dumping measures reported between 1995 and 2014, more than any other nation. The U.S. was the target in about 5% of measures, the data show.

I only know its 12v DC output. Any idea on the Amp rating? Looking to use it to charge a battery pack which requires 12v @ 2A. The battery pack came with adaptor from socket thus needed to convert the charger. Spec as below Input: DC 9-12V 2A Solar Charger:10V 220-230mA Output: DC 9V/12V/16V 2A USB 5V/2A

The oil price just start to fall towards USD100. Now with the cut in daily production, oil price will increase again. The oil cartel are just too greedy. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/finance/finhome/top...qw98zANy7YWsA/* http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080910/opec_meeting.html

Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080421/tts-...ec-c1b2fc3.html AFP - Monday, April 21 ROME (AFP) - - Oil-producing countries have rejected calls to raise output amid record prices -- five times higher in as many years -- saying the rise in demand was artificial. Kuwait's acting oil minister said Sunday that supply and demand factors are not to blame for the soaring price of crude oil, which hit record highs above 117 dollars per barrel in New York last week, following a pipeline attack in Africa's biggest producer Nigeria. "The level of stockpiles does not currently affect prices on the world market," Mohammad al-Olaim said on the sidelines of an energy forum in Rome attended by oil-producing countries, companies and consumer nations. "The fundamentals do not affect the market," he said. "If there is a need to raise" production, ministers of OPEC -- of which Kuwait is a member -- "will make a decision," he added. Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) president Chakib Khelil, currently touring Kuwait, said there was no need for an immediate hike in production. He said the cartel, responsible for producing around 40 percent of the world's oil, "does not need to raise output in the near future," according to Kuwait's KUNA news agency. "Today, there is no need to get worked up and say, 'We must put more oil on the market', because the demands of oil consumers are probably motivated by political reasons," said Saudi Oil Minister Ali-al Naimi. "We have raised output over last year and the prices have continued to climb," he told the Petroleum Argus, an oil industry weekly. Calls for OPEC to raise output were distinctly muted, even if the deputy head of the International Energy Agency -- founded during the 1973-4 oil crisis to defend the energy interests of 27 major consumer countries -- said it was "unreasonable" for the 12 members of OPEC's cartel to "fix demand for the next 30 years". William Ramsey later softened his position to say that "asking for more fuel today maybe isn't the answer," spelling out that that IEA is primarily asking producers to "increase their production capacity". "I think that prices are going to continue to rise," said Libya's acting oil minister Chukri Ghanem, the head of its national oil company. The Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, said they did not like the price spiral. A Gulf official told AFP: "we don't like to see the prices at these (high) levels". Nevertheless, he did not give the slightest hint of any measures OPEC could enact to make prices fall again. OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri reiterated Saturday that ministers from OPEC member states did not need to meet separately in Rome. Khelil, for his part, said the falling value of the US dollar was responsible for the surge in prices. "When the dollar loses one percent, the price of a barrel of oil rises by four dollars," he said.

Hi all recently I realised that when I tuned to FM 933, the music output sometimes sounds like its on THS DTS surround effect and sometimes its like plain sound only. Its kind of irriating and it behaves like this when my car is moving only. Its not the switching from stereo to Mono reception, It is in stereo all the time but just that the surround effect on and off kinda of output is driving me crazy. My current set up is a Panasonic DF903 CD player and my radio antenna is roof mounted type. Have checked the Antenna connection behind the HU panel and it is tighly secured. No amps and all sound settings on HU is normal. I remember someone ever mentioned before that certain radio stations are broadcasting at a slightly different Bandwith (more like Digital Broadcast). So I was wondering if I am experiencing intermittened Bandwith switching (how should I call it) that resulted in this scenerio. When I tuned to FM883, the sound output is normal and flat (stereo of course) Perhaps can I buy any FM modulator to capture and stablise this Bandwidth signal such that I can enjoy FM 933 output close to that of a DAB? Advice needed.

will prices of these cars from japan shoot up??? ST 19/7 TOKYO - HONDA Motor Co joined other Japanese automakers in cutting production after an earthquake caused a shortage of parts and forced car assembly lines around the country to grind to a halt. Honda will suspend part of its production on Friday and Saturday because of difficulties buying piston rings from Riken Corp, which was badly affected by Monday's quake northwest of Tokyo. Some 2,000 vehicles would have been produced by the affected assembly lines on Friday alone, said a spokesman. Toyota, Japan's top-selling automaker, said on late Wednesday it would suspend production at all of its domestic plants from Thursday evening until Saturday because of problems buying parts from Riken Corp. The suspension was unavoidable given the lack of parts, said Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe. 'I hope rather strongly that they will recover as soon as possible,' he said in an interview with national broadcaster NHK. Nissan Motor Co has said it will suspend part of its production from Friday at two of its three plants in Japan until next Monday, while Suzuki Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru vehicles, are also reducing output. The problems have highlighted the industry's heavy dependence on one supplier and the fragility of the 'just-in-time' inventory system, where parts arrive at a plant just when they are needed so as to keep costs down. -- AFP

To p80 user. Do you set your bass output to mono or stereo ? My current setting is stereo out from HU. Y cable to input 1. Then pump my sub with only 1 channel. If set to mono.. Will all signal goes to the left output on the HU? Then I can skip the Y cable and use just a RCA cable will do..

Pretty simple question... does anyone know the voltage from a high level output? My low levels are 4v and i know there are some HU's with a 5v output.

Fresh from BT Motoring ... Skoda to cut two days' output VOLKSWAGEN-owned Czech car-maker Skoda Auto said on Monday it will halt production for two days in the face of sluggish demand and the strong crown currency. Skoda spokesman Milan Smutny told Reuters that production will stop for one day in March and one day in April, cutting the company's output by some 2,000 vehicles so as to prevent a build-up of inventory. The two-day production cutback follows several work stoppages in 2001 that curbed output by a total of 5,600 cars in response to the slowdown in sales growth. The Czech crown has risen about 9 per cent against the euro over the past 12 months on the back of heavy foreign investment. Seems like future OMV prices of Skodas is going to be higher than present ... thus if JTA is pre-selling FABIA now at S$65,999 ... aren't they gonna have an even thinner margin later on when it comes to delivery? Really hope this aggressive marketing and pre-selling tactic will not get them into deeper trouble!