Trade
March 12, 2013
International Business After globalization becoming the buzzword in today’s world, international business has given a new shape and has also created a new dimension in the […]
March 6, 2013
Foreign Trade Policy – What Foreign Trade Policy in India is formulated by the Government of India, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce. Foreign […]
September 10, 2012
Stock Market One of the most fascinating things about the stock markets is that there are as many views and opinions about the markets as the […]
May 14, 2012
Globalization refers to the increase in international trade & commerce amongst the different countries, through the reduction of geographic barriers. With the rapid innovation of smart […]
February 29, 2012
China's solar panel companies can used their government banks backing as a major competitive advantage. Just like their telecom equipment companies ZTE and Huawei they can use the debt to win contracts over suppliers from India and elsewhere. Note there is a already a major controversy in the USA over the subsidies and support given to Chinese solar companies and has led to a so called solar trade war between the two . Even USA has used its EXIM Bank to provides millions of dollars in financing of solar farms which are supplied by US Solar Panel producers First Solar. Chinese companies Goldpoly are using the strong billion dollar lines to build solar projects in the Europe as well
February 24, 2012
Solarworld which is the biggest solar panel company from Germany lost marketshare to the Chinese companiees in 2011 . The company which has been at the forefront of leading anti-dumping charges against import of Chinese made solar modules into the USA, lost substantial amounts of money. Solarworld had earlier closed its panel making facility in California. The company sold lesser number of solar panels in 2011 compared to 2010 despite the global solar market increasing by 30-40% . With only around 800 MW of shipments , Solarworld has only 3-4% of the global marketshare compared to 10% for bigger Chinese rivals.
February 18, 2012
China continues to rule the global wind energy market generating around 40% of the global demand in 2011 with 18 GW of wind turbine installations. The dominance of the Chinese is underlined from the fact that they installed 3 times more wind energy than USA which is a bigger electricity market. China also dominates in supplying wind equipment to the global market. Its companies like Sinovel, Mingyang and Goldwind are starting to win marketshare in overseas market .These companies which are trying to grow outside to escape the glut in the domestic market have won some major overseas orders.
February 3, 2012
China India Trade has been rising at very high growth rates over the last few years driven by the booming GDP growth in the fastest growing economies of the world. However India like other countries faces the mounting problem of a huge trade deficit with China which is growing all the time. Like Brazil ,USA this has become a major problem . Beside the official reported figures , there is a large clandestine trade takes place outside the normal channels. Massive imports from China go unreported to avoid excise duties and custom taxes. Both countries have corrupt officials and businessmen which facilitate trade without paying of taxes and duties. Unofficial Trade Deficit with China may be double the $27 billion reported in 2011.
January 27, 2012
The Chinese Dominance of the Solar Industry in the last 2 years have seen numerous Western companies go bust . This has accelerated sharply in 2011 with companies like Evergreen Solar,Spectrawatt, Solar Millenium, Solon, Photowatt etc. either gone for good or in various stages of bankruptcy. Other US Solar Panel Manufacturers like First Solar, Sunpower have fired thousands and some are continuing with large losses. European Solar Companies are the worst off given their high cost structure and lack of differentiation. Solland Solar recently killed its solar module line while some like Schott have killed their solar wafer lines.
January 19, 2012
Solar Jobs have been cut in the tens of thousands this year by a number of European Solar Companies including marquee names such as REC, Q-Cells, Solarworld ,SMA Solar besides many of the smaller names. Some of the solar companies like Solon have completely shut down. 5000 solar companies have downed shutters in 2011 according to German association BSW. This is despite global solar demand in 2011 increasing by around 30-40% compared to 2010. The reason is that massive overcapacity has been created in China and other parts of Asia. Backed by cheap loans and massive subsidies, around 50 GW of solar panel capacity has been created . This has led to a crashing of solar panel prices by 60% which has decimated the higher cost companies in Europe.
January 19, 2012
The Indian government is not going to impose any new duties on imports of Chinese solar cells. This is despite the petition by the Indian solar panel manufacturers to give a level playing field. Note Chinese solar panels have virtually destroyed the solar manufacturing industry in the West with big companies falling under the relentless price pressure where solar panel prices have gone down by 60% in one year. Only the Koreans seem to be standing up to the Chinese government backed top tier solar companies from China. The rest have mostly folded up and are facing survival questions including those from Taiwan. Indian solar companies were never that big and cost competitive anyway given the headstart and support of the Chinese backed companies. The price crash in 2011 has seen most of them close their factories as they can't even cover their costs at the Gross Margin Level.
January 18, 2012
Wind Power in India has been wildly successful and is the 5th biggest in the world because of substantial incentives from the government. One of them has been accelerated depreciation which has made hundreds of companies and rich individuals buy small wind farms. This helps them offset their tax liabilities providing a substantial 2 digit returns. However the big drawback in this from of green subsidy is that it does not incentivize the production of wind energy. Once the wind farm is set up, the incentive to produce lots of electricity is not there unlike the case of Feed in Tariff where your returns are solely based on the electricity generation.
January 16, 2012
China add the most electricity capacity annually in the world at around 100 GW and its total electricity generation capacity is second only to the USA which it will surpass in the next few years. China is highly dependent on thermal power for its energy needs which is becoming scarce and expensive by the day. Not to speak of the big disadvantages of coal as a fuel which causes thousands of deaths each year. Solar Energy has now reached grid parity in many parts of the world thanks to the low cost cheap solar panels being made by Chinese solar panel producers. With many countries now thinking of putting an anti dumping duty on Chiense solar modules, the government is looking to boost domestic demand . Chinese solar panel Tier 1 players like LDK, Suntech, Trina and Yingli besides some others are the biggest beneficiaries of this new solar policy from China.
January 11, 2012
The rising income inequality throughout the world is sowing seeds of dystopia according to a report released by World Economic Forum. The biggest risk amongst the 50 risks listed is the increasing wealth gap between individuals in all countries. Gini's coefficient has risen in most countries developing as well as developed and this has a strong correlation to globalization. The global artitrage of labor has tilted the scales towards capital and increasingly made wages become stagnant. Developing countries with weak institutions are showing income inequality in horrific forms with $2 billion homes existing in the middle of millions surviving on less than $2 day. US has already seen the OWS movement as a result of this increasing income gap between the have and have nots. Middle Eastern countries have also seen revolutions brought upon by the massive riches of the elite compared to the rising poverty of the poor and even the middle classes.
January 11, 2012
Europe has got the largest installed capacity of wind and solar energy due to the proactive policies enacted by the governments there.However the renewable energy industries have not been left unaffected by the European debt crisis. Offshore Wind Energy is a European development with most of the major offshore wind power farms located in Germany and UK. France which is tendering for 5 GW of offshore wind energy farms has seen reduced bank interest according to Areva. Offshore Wind Energy grew by more than 50% in 2010 and is expected to continue at above 50% growth rates over the next several years as the global installed offshore wind capacity multiples by more than 25 times over the next 10 years.
January 7, 2012
Wind Turbines are generally considered safe and reliable though there have been cases of Blade Cracks and Falling.However the recent cases of Wind Turbine Explosions and 15 feet blades flying off have generally been not seen before.With 112 mph winds,the extreme stress cases of wind turbines were tested in UK recently.The gale like conditions led to some of these wind turbines failing.While a couple of wind turbines burst into fire some of them saw their 15 ft blades flying off.This is not to say that wind energy is dangerous,just that extreme nature conditions can lead to accidents for solar panels and wind turbines as well.
January 5, 2012
Chinese Wind Turbine Companies have unleashed a global price war in which Western producers are unable to compete.While Solar Panel producers in the West are dying like flies,Western WTG Makers too face survival questions.Vestas which is the world's biggest turbine company in terms of installations announced another revenue shortfall for the nth time in the last couple of years.The company has already restructed ,reduce workforce etc etc.However the price competition from the Asian companies is too severe and too sustained for Vestas to surive too long.Like First Solar,Vestas seems a likely candidate for takeover by one of the big industrial conglomerates.It has become too tough for a renewable energy company in the West to survive on their own.
January 3, 2012
Chinese Solar Panel Producers have become a famous target of an anti dumping petition brought on by Solarworld and other companies.Though US Solar Installers have opposed the move as it will increase the solar panel prices in US,ITC has gone ahead with the investigation.Though the charges of subsidies and efficiency can be debated,the fact remains that US Solar Panel Producers can't compete with Chinese Solar Panles.Massive industrial overcapacity in China has made the prices of products very cheap and made it difficult for Western producers to compete in most areas such as Chemical,Renewable Energy,Textiles etc.The Chinese win because of their low interest rates,cheap labor,free land,massive government support.
January 3, 2012
Income Inequality is a Theme that is getting played across the world in developing as well as developed nations.Most of the turmoil in 2011 in the Middle East and the Occupy Wall Street Movement can be attributed to the growing Income Gap between the Have and Have -Nots.The Great Recession in 2008 can also be looked upon as a fallout of this.Gini's Coefficient which measures the income distribution gap has shown continued deterioration all over the world.The Middle Class is shrinking and growing poor by the day and it is not only the Poor Class that is getting affected.
July 7, 2011
Nuclear Energy has become a hugely contorversial topic after the Fukushima incident in Japan where a nuclear disaster took place because of the earthquake and tsunami.Both the pro and anti nuclear groups have come out with strident arguments for and against nuclear energy.However in some countries like Germany,Switzerland the anti nuclear sentiment has gained so much support that they have decided to permanently end nuclear electricity generation despite the high costs.Before this nuclear based power was gaining ascendancy leading many to call it a nuclear renaissance as countries like China and India made plans to increase their nuclear power plant capacities massively.But the nuclear accident has thrown a spanner in the works with huge protests being seen in India and China despite its authoritarianism also slowing down its nuclear expansion plans.
July 6, 2011
Nuclear Power like other forms of Energy cannot be defined by a single cost as nuclear power plants differ in their technology and sources of fuel.No two power plants can have the same cost of electricity production similarly nuclear energy plants cannot have the same kilowatt hour cost.However nuclear energy is known for its very low costs of 2-3c/kilowatt hour which can only be currently be met by coal.But nuclear energy cost is based on older nuclear power plants which have already been depreciated.This cost is also controversial as the costs of nuclear waste storage is generally not included.USA and Japan which are the largest nuclear power producers have not constructed permanent nuclear waste storage sites despite accumulating thousands of tons of nuclear waste.Also these days extra safety measures are being taken due to the Fukushima disaster which means that the costs of nuclear energy is going up.
July 5, 2011
There are a lot of books,pundits and websites that are starting to guarantee amazing returns by giving you nifty future tips.These scamsters and fraudsters have only one game plan which is not to make you money but to take your hard earned money.Note there is nobody who will give you nifty future tips that will make you money.Simple reason is that if these jokesters knew a way to make money,they would be making it themselves rather than wasting time and effort giving you tips.Have you ever heard of a successful person in a field giving you sureshot tips in generating easy wealth.Then why should these websites give you tips for paltry sums.These websites have a very simple business model which is to lure common people to their scams by paying money for a month or a year then giving them useless shit which will lose you more money.
July 5, 2011
PWND is a good Wind ETF with strong weighting on China and Wind Utilities.Note the center of Wind Energy Manufacturing and Development has shifted towards China from the Western world with almost 50% of the world's wind power installations happening in China in 2010.8 out of the top 15 Wind Turbine Manufacturers are now from China which makes it very important that Top Wind Energy Investments have a substantial weighting on Chinese Wind stocks.PWND has a good combination of Wind Utilties and Wind Turbine Stocks from China which gives exposure to the biggest wind power market in the world.It has also got a decent investment in top Wind Utilities in Europe which still have the biggest wind farm portfolios in the world.With 30 stocks,it has not over diversified as well with good concentrated holdings in top wind power stocks.While 0.75% expense ratio is slightly high it is not a deal killer.The 2010 and 2011 performance of Wind Energy has been dismal to say the least with the Copenhagen Global Climate Change Meeting going to the dogs in 2009 end.However there remains little alternative to Wind Energy as Coal,Gas and Oil get increasingly scarce,costly and are continuing to pollute the environment.With only $19 million left as the corpus PWND may not continue long,however if it does it might be the best time to invest in a good WInd Energy ETF when the sector is so unloved.PWND is the best Wind Energy ETF and probably the best wind stock investment out there
July 4, 2011
Japan is now looking to develop mines in Vietnam and Kazakhstan to secure these minerals which are essential to the green and defense industries.The desperation seems high amongst the Japanese as they are also looking to prospect for these minerals in the seas surrounding Japan.Besides these efforts to secure these minerals from newer sources,METI is also looking to recycling and efficiency measures.A University of Tokyo geologist has said that around 100 billon of rare earth deposits have been discoverd on the sea floor of the Pacific in international waters.Note around 100-150,000 tons of rare earth minerals are used per year which would imply that just using this deposit would keep the global rare earth demand supplied for 10,000 years.
July 2, 2011
Vestas has been getting bigger orders and has been streamlining operations,however its stock price has continued to go down as investors see bleak future prospects wit hthe entry of Korean shipbuilders into the industry.Other heavyweights like Gamesa and Suzlon too have faced massive losses as margins have evaporated in the face of declining topline and prices.But now Vestas has got a lifeline from the renewable energy subsidiary of the French giant utility EDF.The order from is for 2000 MW of Wind Turbines over the next few years.While pricing was not disclosed,it would be certainly be at a discount to the normally premium prices charged by Vestas.This given order visibility to Vestas and provides price safety for EDF.The next frontier for Wind Energy Companies is going to be Offshore Wind and Siemens has stolen a march.Vestas is not going down without a fight recently introducing a 7 MW wind turbine for this segment
July 1, 2011
Cheap Financing by massive state owned Chinese Banks like Chiina Development Bank (CDB),China Construction Bank etc is being used as a strategic weapon to push Chinese renewable energy exports.Note cheap financing has always been used by big nations like Japan and USA to push exports by their domestic companies.United States EXIM Bank has been financing solar projects in India at very cheap interest rates to help First Solar sells its Solar Panels.Similarly China too has started using the huge balance sheet of its state owned banks to push its large green companies.Note CDB has extended almost $35 billion in credit lines to big Chinese solar companies like Suntech,Trina,Yingli,LDK and others.These credit lines can be used by renewable energy companies to finance the projects of their customers.Note Chinese Banks had bankrolled massive power equipment purchases in India being made by Dongfang and Shanghar Electric Groups.