GENEVA, June 9--Members of the World Trade Organisation, already at odds over trade in farm goods, on Friday bickered over the level of customs duties to be applied to industrial products, WTO sources said.
They said developed countries wanted to limit the maximum level of their industrial customs duties to 10 percent and the tariffs of developing countries to 15 percent.
But poor countries argued that too much was being asked of them compared with the concessions rich countries were prepared to make in agricultural trade, AFP said.
The figure proposed by developed countries “is not attainable, is not possible--it’s out,“ said Brazilian negotiator Clodoaldo Hugueney, as WTO members struggled to overcome differences that are preventing an agreement of the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks.
Brazil, India, South Africa and several other emerging market countries proposed a maximum industrial tariff level of 35 percent for developing nations.
That suggestion was shot down by the developed world, with the European Union representative, Eckart Guth, calling the 35-percent figure “astronomically high.“
A number of developing countries, notably Chile and Mexico, also found the proposal unrealistic.
China, which joined the WTO in late 2001, meanwhile argued that relatively new members should be given a longer time to apply trade-opening measures. But the United States, without mentioning China by name, said it would not agree to allowing “a major country“ to enjoy such a dispensation.
Negotiators hope to come to an agreement in principle on a Doha deal before the end of July.
The talks opened in late 2001 in Doha, the Qatari capital, and were to have concluded in 2004.
But deep disagreements on the concessions each of the major parties must make has prevented substantial progress toward an accord.

SHANGHAI, China, June 9--China had a trade surplus of $85.72 billion in the first five months of 2007, up more than 80 percent from the same period a year before, a commerce ministry official said on Saturday.
Exports in the first five months were $443.5 billion, while imports in the same period totaled $357.8 billion, Yang Hongbin, a vice special commissioner with the Ministry of Commerce, said in a speech to an industry conference in Shanghai, Reuters said.
The figures suggested that China’s trade surplus in May was $22.41 billion, exceeding forecasts of $18.8 billion by economists polled by Reuters.
May trade figures are expected to be announced on June 12 by the customs administration but could come earlier.
April’s trade surplus was $16.9 billion, taking the figure in the first four months of the year to $63.31 billion.
“At such acceleration, I think China’s surplus could hit $110 billion in the first half of this year,“ Yang said.
Yang also said China steel exports in May dropped to 6.17 million tons from April’s record 7.16 million tons, in part due to a week-long public holiday at the start of the month.
China’s steel products exports soared 117 percent to 27.44 million tons in the first five months of the year, Yang said, spurred partly by purchases from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries.
Imports of steel products into China were 7.28 million tons in the first five months, Yang said, indicating China’s steel trade surplus stood at 20.16 million tons for the period.

SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, June 9--A top Russian politician on Saturday sought to reassure world business leaders that Russia was growing more stable and open, despite rising tensions between Moscow and the West.
Speaking at the showcase Saint Petersburg International Russian Economic Forum, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov plotted out the next decade of the country’s development and told delegates: “There is no alternative to a strategy of openness and integration into the world.“
“The Russian people have made their historic choice in favor of democracy, openness, freedom of social and business initiatives. That is the groundwork that cannot be undone. That is the benchmark of our strategy.“
Ivanov’s speech set the tone for the opening day of the forum, an unprecedentedly high-powered gathering of politicians and businesspeople devoted to outlining Russia’s course up to 2020, AFP reported.
His insistence that Russia was on a Western course appeared aimed at calming the fears of potential investors after a Cold War-style war of words between Russia, the United States, and the European Union in recent months.
“Russia is an indispensible part of European civilisation,“ said Ivanov, who is seen as a likely front-runner in March 2008 elections to choose a successor to President Vladimir Putin.
“Its cultural and spiritual values are our values,“ he said.
His audience included chief executives from companies such as BP, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Deutsche Bank, Gaz de France, Deloitte and Mittal Steel, as well as a range of Russian companies.
Over a dozen world leaders were also set to attend the forum.
One veteran European politician and longtime ally of Moscow, former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, lent his support to Ivanov’s vision, saying: “Russia’s present political leaders are oriented toward Europe.“
“Russia is no longer the weak negotiating partner of the 1990s. Today Russia is self-confident both in economic and political terms. This however is a good, not a bad thing for Europe,“ Schroeder said, adding that Russia’s strength made it a more stable partner.
Outlining his economic vision for Russia, Ivanov gave a firm affirmation of Putin’s calls to reduce dependence on oil and gas and battle corruption, which he called Russia’s “Achilles’ heel.“
The country’s future integration into world markets will be based on powerful state holdings in sectors such as aviation and nuclear technology, he said, insisting they didn’t herald a return to state control of the economy.

The storm didn't reduce oil production from the ground during the week, but did delay shipments for three days.

NEW YORK, June 9--Oil futures plunged by more than $2 a barrel Friday after news that Cyclone Gonu had spared major oil installations in the Persian Gulf and alleviated supply worries.
Traders also let go of earlier concerns over poor refinery runs.
“It’s slip sliding away on a summer afternoon,“ said Phil Flynn, an energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “The bulls are disappointed we didn’t settle above $67 yesterday and they’re running out of reasons to be long.“
Light, sweet crude for July delivery dropped $2.17 to settle at $64.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after dropping as low as $64.60 in the session, AP said.
The contract had jumped above $67 a barrel early Thursday and settled 97 cents higher at $66.93 a barrel following a US government report that showed refinery utilization fell 1.5 percent last week to 89.6 percent of capacity.
Brent crude for July lost $2.40 to settle at $68.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
After pummeling Oman and Iran’s southeastern coast, Cyclone Gonu weakened into a rainstorm late Thursday. It spared the region’s oil installations, sending oil prices down.
“It’s a little silly in a way. The resumption of exports from Oman is putting pressure on the market, but the market should have anticipated this was going to happen,“ said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets.
The storm didn’t reduce oil production from the ground during the week, Evans said, but did delay shipments for three days.
“Especially here in the US where inventories are pretty comfortable, waiting three days isn’t a problem,“ Evans said.
Gasoline futures also slipped 6.56 cents to finish at $2.1271 a gallon as the fifth inventory increase in a row weighed on prices.
The Energy Information Administration reported this week that gasoline inventories jumped by 3.5 million barrels in the week ended June 1, beating estimates. Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a 1.5 million barrel increase. On Thursday, the market focused on the decline in refinery utilization, but the markets now are treating it as a temporary problem, Evans said.
Inventories of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, rose by 1.9 million barrels last week, according to the report. Analysts had forecast distillate stocks to grow by 800,000 barrels.

Over the next 25 years, modernizing and expanding the water, electricity, and transportation systems of the cities of the world will require approximately $40 trillion, says a study.
The figure is roughly equivalent to the 2006 market capitalization of all shares held in all stock markets in the world, says the Booz Allen Hamilton study, TradeArabia News Service said.
“But the cost of not meeting the challenge could be even greater than $40 trillion. A city’s ability to respond effectively to a crisis for instance, such as pandemic disease or a terrorist attack, also depends on robust infrastructure: not just standard access to water, power, and mobility, but the extra capacity and backup needed for life under duress. In short, although the threats of global climate change and terrorist attack have occupied much of the industrialized world’s collective attention, inadequate and fragile urban infrastructure could well do more harm to a larger number of people. Sooner or later, the money needed to modernize and expand the world’s urban infrastructure will have to be spent,“ said Walid Fayad of Booz Allen Hamilton.
“Every major city around the world has its own story of electricity, transportation, or water systems in crisis. Although the circumstances vary from one urban area to the next, they all have one thing in common: The critical infrastructure that is taken for granted by both their citizens and their government leaders is technologically outdated, woefully inadequate, increasingly fragile, or all of the above. In some cities, the quality of water, power and transportation infrastructure is noticeably declining. In others, it was never very good to begin with. And few cities have enough of it to meet future needs,“ he said.
“The Middle East region faces the same challenges as any other region in the world when it comes to electricity, transportation and water systems,“ said Fayad. “The countries here must work alongside the private sector to build a lasting infrastructure that will have positive benefits for years to come.“
The demand for essential infrastructure is exploding. The world’s population is projected to increase by one-third, to exceed 8 billion by 2050, with--for the first time in human history--more than 50 percent of humanity living in metropolitan areas. The requirements for water, power, and mobility will rise accordingly, even as population density makes it more difficult to build and protect the robust infrastructure needed to satisfy that demand, the study said.
The typical life cycle of urban development also reinforces demand for infrastructure. As more people live and work in metropolitan areas, they need and expect more affordable housing. The default result, barring a coordinated effort to align mass transit systems and transit-oriented development, is a sprawling metropolitan area encompassing miles of suburbs--and in less-developed countries, shantytowns. In such low-population-density environments, roads and highways become the only transportation mode that works. This, as we have seen time and again, becomes a recipe for gridlock. Water and electricity grids must also serve more people over greater distances than in the past, it said.
Meanwhile, the quality and quantity of supply are increasingly threatened everywhere in three primary areas: power, transportation and water. The need for better facilities and infrastructure to deliver more of these to growing populations is greater than ever.
These three problem areas would be challenging enough if they were happening separately. But they may all be hitting a crisis point simultaneously. Cycles of infrastructure fatigue seem to be timed in many metropolitan areas so that major replacement efforts will have to occur within a few years of each other--and decay in one technological arena may well exacerbate decay in others.
Citizens seem unwilling to make many concessions to improve the quality of their infrastructure. Urbanites regularly say they want to live in a place with high quality of life, but they resist the easiest means by which governments can pay for it: increased highway tolls, abandonment of water and heating fuel subsidies, and energy taxes. Because the political will to provide more than minimal services at the lowest possible cost doesn’t exist in many places, delivering infrastructure services on a sustainable cost-recovery basis is beyond the financial ability of most urban authorities.
Many governments have responded to these pressures during the last few decades by muddling through. They fix problems in a piecemeal fashion, “satisfying“ the population, giving residents just enough improvement so that they don’t boil over in anger or move away.
To be continued

LONDON, June 9--A Latin American stock index posted its biggest weekly drop in three months on concern that rising bond yields in the US will curtail investment in emerging market equities and restrain global growth.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International index of Latin American shares, little changed today, fell 4.3 percent this week, to 3,600.04 its biggest weekly drop since March 2, led by mining company Cia. Vale do Rio Doce. Indexes in Mexico and Brazil also fell this week, Bloomberg reported.
Rising yields on US government bonds made emerging market assets, including currency and equities, less attractive. US Treasury 10-year notes were poised for their biggest weekly decline in more than two years. The US yields are also a sign that interest rates there may rise, curbing growth in the nation that buys the most products from Brazil and Mexico.
``There are rising rates practically everywhere in the world except Brazil,’’ said Carlos Eduardo Ramos, who helps manage 3.6 billion reais in assets at ARX Capital Management in Rio de Janeiro. As growth rebounds in the U.S. ``investors are now pricing in that there won’t be a rate cut within the next 18 months.’’
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet indicated that policy makers may raise borrowing costs further after increasing the benchmark refinancing rate to 4 percent this week, the highest since August 2001.
Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s biggest iron ore and nickel producer, led the Latin stock index’s weekly slide, falling 3.3 percent this week to 72.70 reais and paring its gain for the year to 34 percent. The shares sank 1.1 percent today as nickel prices fell in London for a fourth day.

BERLIN, June 9--German industrial production fell the most in seven years in April, led by a slump in construction.
Output dropped a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent from March, when it rose 0.2 percent, the Economy and Technology Ministry in Berlin said today. That’s the biggest drop since June 2000 and the first decline in six months. Economists expected a gain of 0.6 percent, according to the median of 36 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year ago, output rose 3.8 percent, Bloomberg reported.
German economic growth may have reached a plateau after powering the 13-nation euro-region economy to its fastest expansion this decade last year. Manufacturing orders declined for the first time in three months in April and exports rose less than expected.
``The slowdown in construction is not surprising after the strong first quarter,’’ said Stefan Bielmeier, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt. ``Overall, this does not change our optimistic outlook for the German economy.’’
Bielmeier forecasts economic growth of 2.8 percent this year, matching last year’s expansion, which was the fastest in six years.
Construction output dropped 2.9 percent in April and manufacturing output declined 2.4 percent, today’s report showed. In a two-month comparison, which smoothes out monthly volatility, industrial production declined 0.8 percent.