Tantalum Capacitor Demand Falls 20%-30%

The worldwide tantalum capacitor market will decline over the next several years because of weak prices, sluggish demand and the greater use of ceramic capacitors instead of tantalum. Suppliers say tantalum capacitor demand this year has been down 20-30%, but some see business picking up in the second half compared to the first.

Researcher DECISION, based in Paris, says the global market for tantalum capacitors will decline from $2.3 billion in 2008 to $2.1 billion by 2010, but then increase to $2.3 billion by 2012.

One reason revenue has declines is that prices have fallen. Purchasing's monthly surveys on purchasingdata.com show that the price index for tantalum capacitors has dropped from 70.32 in January 2009 to 64.17 in September. The base year for the index is 1999, when it was 100.

"We started to see some an uptick in demand in the second quarter in the notebook market," says David Valletta, executive vice-president for worldwide sales at Vishay Intertechnology, based in Malvern, Pa. "It became more evident in the third quarter," he says. "We see improving conditions in all applications."

In fact, demand has picked up to the point where "we are wrestling with capacity issues," says Valletta. He says the industry slashed production earlier in the year and suppliers are now "scrambling to bring it back up."

While demand decreased earlier in the year and prices declined, prices are now stabilizing, according to suppliers. "Demand was down so much no one had an appetite for reducing prices," says Valletta. "Buyers did not have volume to award so they weren't pushing too hard for price reductions. And suppliers were not willing to give up margin. It was a fight for survival at that point."

Tantalum capacitors' share of the capacitor market is eroding in part because more OEMs are designing ceramic capacitors into their products. Tantalums were traditionally used where high capacitance was needed because they provide higher capacitance values than ceramic caps. However, suppliers have been improving the capacitance values in ceramic capacitors as well.

Quoted from: PURCHASING.COM

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More Small Stores, But Market Share Falls

While overall grocery sales remain fairly robust despite the economic downturn, there is a growing number of small traditional grocery stores despite a steady decline in their market share, a survey shows.

Nielsen Company Indonesia revealed Wednesday that the share of traditional counters in the grocery trade declined to 62.9 percent during the January-March 2009 period from 63.6 percent a year earlier, on the back of the increasing popularity of modern larger retailers.

The survey also finds that what has happened in Indonesia follows a regional trend.

In South Korea, the market share of traditional groceries also dropped, but from 15.9 percent to 13.9 percent during the same period. In Taiwan, the figure is down to 6.2 percent from 7.7 percent; Malaysia to 49.1 percent from 49.2 percent; and in India down to 96.9 percent from 97.4 percent.

By contrast, modern retailers enjoyed a boom in sales and gained a greater market share.

Mini-markets or convenience stores, for example, enjoyed 13.29 percent sales growth in Indonesia during the same period, taking 16.2 percent of the national grocery market share in 2009 compared to 14.3 percent in 2008.

Nielsen shows that modern retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour organized spin-off small-scale modern shops as part of their strategy to gain markets in big cities.

"In 2008, the number of mini markets grew by about 17 percent from the previous year, representing more than 100,000 stores.

"The biggest part of the figure happened in Indonesia, where more than 1,500 mini-markets were started-off in 2008, bringing the total to more than 10,500 outlets," said a director of Nielsen, Yongky Susilo.

Despite the decreasing market share of traditional grocery traders Nielsen found that the number of traditional grocery stores in Asia, Southeast and South Asian nations in particular, rose by 1 percent to 12.3 million stores in January 2009 from 12.1 million stores a year earlier.

"This year, consumers from all Asian nations tended to save money rather than shopping for expensive goods. As a result, people spent more in groceries on fast-moving consumer goods *FMCG*.

"In addition, most Asian people find that the atmosphere of traditional markets suit their needs. They find that such markets are more comfortable for daily shopping. Traditional markets also provide more social connections and more affordable prices," Yongky said.

In Indonesia, the number of traditional stores has now reached over 2 million, about 2 percent more from a year earlier. In 2004, the number reached 1.7 million.

Aside from the shifts in shares between traditional and modern markets, total grocery sales continued to rise, from Rp 69.91 billion (US$7.23 million) during the January-September 2008 period, up by 5.9 percent to Rp 74.03 billion in 2009.

The growth, however, is lower than in previous years, as a result of the negative impacts of the global economic crisis.

In 2008, the increase in national grocery sales hit 21.1 percent, the highest growth since 2003. (bbs)

Quoted from: THE JAKARTA POST

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Big Boys Going Open-Source to Cut Costs

The wave of migration from propriety software to open-source applications is gaining momentum as big companies are jumping on the bandwagon to make cost efficiencies and avoid legal charges for piracy.

The enthusiasm for "going open-source" was summed up at the 2009 Global Conference on Open Source held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta on Monday which was attended by hundreds of open-source users from across the globe.

Indonesia's largest telecommunication company PT Telkom has studied the use of open-source software applications since 2005.

"We began with only two computers as the pilot projects in 2005, and it worked very well," Telkom director for information and technology Indra Utoyo said in his presentation.

By the end of the year, he said, about five percent of the computers used by the company had migrated to open-source. "Our final target is 80 percent by the end of 2010."

Indra said officials from Indonesia's biggest oil company PT Pertamina and Bank Mandiri, the biggest bank by assets, had expressed their interest in migration and asked him for advice.

"We have been saving a lot of money. As many as 16,000 out of our 22,000 computers have migrated to open-source.

"Open-source costs only about US$30 per user while Microsoft may cost up to $400. You do the math," Indra said when asked how much money had been saved.

Indra's experience was shared by the minister of communication and information, who was just sworn-in last week, Tifatul Sembiring.

Tifatul said in his speech that the government would continue to promote open source as well as locally produced software.

"The government has adopted free and open-source software not only because it is cheaper, but also because of the freedom and rights by we can freely modify and redistribute applications in line with our needs," Tifatul said.

Tifatul said the use of open-source software would be a smart way to tackle piracy which was still prevalent despite the 2002 copyright law which carried a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp 500 million ($52,715).

Research from the International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that Indonesia's software piracy rate increased by 1 percent to 85 percent from 2006 to 2008, causing an estimated $544 million worth of losses to the state.

The next wave of migration to open source is not going to happen exclusively in office spaces, but also on the Internet via web applications.

A noted IT expert Onno W. Purbo said most web applications do not require high-profile hardware and are more cost efficient compared to traditional open source applications.

"It suits small and medium enterprises. By using an old PC with only an operating system and web browser installed, you have access to hundreds of applications for free, as long as you have a good internet connection, of course," Onno told the The Jakarta Post.

Quoted from: THE JAKARTA POST

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Trade Expo Opens Amid Green Shoots

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu on Wednesday officially opened the annual Trade Expo Indonesia amid an improving international market outlook with “green shoots” sprouting in the global economy.

The concerted efforts Indonesia had made to diversify its export market had begun to bear fruits, with a steady increase in sales to non-traditional markets such as Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bangladesh, Brazil and Bulgaria, Mari said.

“We will further increase our marketing efforts by opening several more international promotion centers overseas, notably in countries with promising markets for our products,” Mari said.

The four-day trade expo, displaying a wide range of Indonesian natural-resource commodities and manufactured goods, attracted more than one thousand foreign buyers from the US, Europe, New Zealand and the Middle East, as well as other parts of Asia.

The Trade Ministry would also improve cooperation with other government agencies such as the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and Culture and Tourism Ministry in promoting Indonesia’s export products overseas, Mari said.

Since September 2008, Indonesian exports have declined sharply on impacts of the global financial crisis and economic slump.

Recent data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that Indonesian exports fell around 15 percent to US$10.55 billion in August, from a year earlier.

For the first eight months of this year, exports reached a total of $70.30 billion, down 26.30 percent.

Of this figure, non-oil goods accounted for $60 billion, 18.31 percent less than for the same period last year. Manufactured exports suffered the biggest decrease (25 percent) in the eight-month period.

However, exports in August booked a month-on-month increase of almost 9 percent from those in July, of which non-oil commodities accounted for $8.91 billion, down 6.28 percent from July last year.

Major export destinations in August were Japan, the US, China and the European Union.

The monthly export development indicated that after a year of pain and pessimism, there are clear signs of an economic recovery and that green shoots are beginning to sprout, although the economy is not out of the woods yet.

At the opening ceremony, Mari also honored 26 small and large companies with Primaniyarta export awards for outstanding performance in the international market.

Outstanding among those awarded was PT Musim Mas, an integrated palm oil company based in Medan, North Sumatra, which had won the ward for the 10th time, and PT Megasurya Mas, also a palm oil-based company in Sidoarjo, East Java, winning for the fifth time.

Other notable winners included PT Indorama Synthetics, LG Electronics Indonesia, PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, PT Sorini Agro Asia Corp., PT Timah, PT Eagle Glove Indonesia and PT Cahaya Sakti Furintraco.

The expo’s opening day attracted more than 1,000 foreign buyers.

quoted from: THE JAKARTA POST

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Crude Oil Price is Stuck Around $67/barrel

Crude oil market pricing is adopting a bearish tone from high inventories and still-weak demand. Spot prices of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are around $67/barrel this week and futures are trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at that level through January. But, there is a chance they could deteriorate in coming weeks.

"Energy's fundamentals still are uninspiring with a fundamental market backdrop typified by sluggish end-user demand, rising stocks, and poor OPEC compliance," writes analyst Ed Meir at MF Global in New York, noting that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel continues to pump oil above its own quotas. "So, prices should remain confined to the $65-$75 trading range for some time to come. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi tells Reuters that $75 a barrel was "a fair price for oil" and he sees no need for OPEC to change production ahead of the group's next meeting in December. "We believe that around $75 (a barrel) is a fair price for both producer and consumer," Naimi says. 

So far this year, WTI is averaging $56/barrel and the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast $60 for this year-and $72 in 2010. However, a Reuters poll of 36 analysts is bearish and sees WTI averaging $59 next year. Goldman Sachs Group disagrees, suggesting crude oil prices are likely to be higher in the future due to a recovery in demand and a decline in production. 

Global demand is still very weak so that, when inventories reach record levels, oil prices will be pressured downward, says economist John Mothersole at the IHS Global Insights office in Washington.

Near-term prices also could slide since the American Petroleum Institute's report shows that crude oil stocks shot up 2.8 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 25 to 340 million barrels, substantially more than forecast. Distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, jumped 2.3 million barrels, also ahead of estimates, to 170.7 million barrels. Gasoline stocks fell 1.7 million barrels to 212.5 million barrels.

quoted from: Purchasing.com

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