Earlier this year, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono through his ministers invited Taiwan to invest in Moratai Island, an island one-15th the size of Taiwan, with an area of 2,400 square kilometers on the northern tip of Indonesia.

The proposal was made to Taiwan’s economics minister Shih Yen-shiang, who led a delegation of over 100 people to Indonesia in October to study the Southeast Asian country’s economic and trade environment.

Hsia, who has visited Moratai, said the sparsely populated island of roughly 50,000 people is a prime location for investments in fishery, agriculture, light industry, and tourism because it does not experience typhoons or cold fronts.

Once the former military headquarters for U.S. General Douglas MacArthur during World War II, the remote islet is equipped with a seven-runway airport, which adds to its appeal, Hsia said.

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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has warned retailers and manufacturers about their use of sales gimmicks such as “buy one, get one free”, or “bogofs”, and “offer ends today”.

The regulator said that these “baiting” techniques could lead customers to make purchases they might not otherwise consider and could, in some cases, be breaking the law.

The OFT is launching a crackdown on these “harmful” pricing practices after publishing a study that confirms that they entice consumers to spend more.

“Drip pricing”, a favourite of the budget airline industry and online retailers where a product is offered at an initial price without add-ons such as tax and credit card fees included, is an area of particular concern.

An all-time high of around 37% of all fast-moving consumer goods are on some sort of promotion or offer as traders attempt to lure cash-conscious customers to the tills in the aftermath of the county’s worst recession in living memory.

The crackdown will focus on online and in-store activity as well as monitoring how retailers and manufacturers market their products in adverts.

John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, said: “Pricing practices, used in a transparent and fair manner, can provide consumers with a helpful shortcut to assess whether a particular offer is a good or bad deal. However, our research has h

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Brazilian industrial gases producer IBG’s sales are forecast to grow 37% in 2011 as a result of strong demand for industrial gases in the country, company president Newton de Oliveira told BNamericas.

Revenues in 2010, however, will be lower than the firm’s initial estimates, totaling approximately 90mn reais (US$52mn).

IBG has carried out several investments this year, but the company is currently having difficulties in expanding its sales team. “It has been very difficult to find qualified people to join the company and help increase our sales,” Oliveira said.

The company has invested approximately 34mn reais this year to boost capacities.

In 2010, IBG opened its first plant in the northeast region, which is focused on the supply of oxygen, nitrogen, argon and other gases. The unit was installed in Suape, in Pernambuco state, and required 2.7mn reais.

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A NEW report has cast doubt on the Welsh Assembly Government’s policy of focusing its business support on six key sectors.

The “Tomorrow’s champions: finding the small business engines for economic growth” report by global information services company warned that sector was a poor indicator of a business’ potential to grow and create employment.

The report found that across the UK less than 10% of SMEs were the key drivers of the economy, growing at more than 20% a year for three consecutive years.

It found that these “champion” businesses were responsible for two-thirds of all jobs created by the SME sector.

The Welsh Assembly Government’s Economic Renewal Plan focuses business support on six key sectors – ICT, energy and environment, advanced materials, creative industries, life sciences and financial and professional services.

But the report’s authors said: “Simply targeting sectors identified as having high growth potential, will not create the level of growth the economy needs. There are champions i

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UK house prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in November according to the property information group Hometrack.

Hometrack said that prices are likely to continue their downward trajectory and predicted that property prices would fall 2% in 2011 on the back of supply continuing to outstrip demand.

The value of the average house dropped by 0.85 month-on-month on the back of a 0.9% fall in October and a 0.4% drop in September meaning that the average UK home is now worth £155,000.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “The seasonal slowdown in the housing market has kicked in a month early, with demand for housing falling at the fastest rate for 20 months.

“Concerns over the economic outlook on the back of recent spending cuts, together with widespread expectations that house prices are set for a period of retrenchment, are driving the continued weakness in demand. It i

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