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More foreigners tend to buy house in New Zealand, which causes  a housing crisis since the demand increases.

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SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Foreigners bought almost one in five of the residential properties sold in downtown Auckland in the first quarter, official figures showed on Thursday, compared to just three percent throughout New Zealand.

The data, released by Statistics New Zealand, shows foreign buyers targeted hotspots such as the economic hub of Auckland and the southern tourist destination of Queenstown, stirring debate around the causes of soaring house prices.

The majority of overseas buyers were from China and neighboring Australia, according to Statistics New Zealand.

The proportion of foreigners buying homes varied wildly throughout the country.

Nationwide, just 3.1 percent of property transfers - which include administrative ownership changes such as inheritance as well as sales - were to non-citizens in the first three months of 2018, Statistics New Zealand said.

Foreign ownership has attracted criticism in recent years as the country grapples with a housing crisis that has seen average Auckland prices almost double in the past decade to more than NZ$1 million ($704,000) and rise more than 60 percent nationwide.

New Zealand's Labour-led coalition government, with popular 37-year-old Jacinda Ardern at the helm, successfully campaigned in 2017 on a promise to clamp down on house price growth and reduce high rates of homelessness, in part by banning foreign buyers.

A law restricting most foreigners, including many with short-term residential visas, from purchasing residential property was introduced to Parliament in December and is set to come into force this year.

Ollie Wall, from boutique Auckland real estate firm Graham Wall, said realtors had seen a "flurry" of overseas buyers get in ahead of the ban on foreign buyers, which could have contributed to the first quarter result. "If there is a ban on foreign buyers there would be fewer houses built. That I am sure of," said Wall, adding that the 19 percent rise in downtown Auckland sales was likely due to the large number of apartments being built by Chinese developers.

The country's robust population growth, driven in part by many expatriate New Zealanders returning home, is a large factor in pushing up prices, according to economists.

($1 = 1.4209 New Zealand dollars)

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Foreign property buyers target New Zealand's economic and scenic...

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SYDNEY/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Foreigners bought almost one in five of the residential properties sold in downtown Auckland in the first quarter, official figures showed on Thursday, compared to just three percent throughout New Zealand.

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More consumers shift to be health-conscious and tend to keep away from the chocolate. In order to avoid the declination of customers' demand, Chocolate makers innovate to entice health-conscious consumers.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Raw chocolate KitKats, Dark Milk, vegan bars with quinoa and now "ruby" chocolate: the world's biggest chocolate makers are looking for ways to keep increasingly health-conscious consumers coming back for more.

Sales of mainstream milk chocolate bars have stagnated as consumers worried about obesity and heart disease turn to snacks with less sugar and fat, or hold out for the occasional indulgent splurge on expensive, high-end chocolate.

The shift in attitudes is forcing global firms from Mars Inc. to Mondelez International to Nestle to rebrand or reformulate their mass-market chocolates to create a healthier image, or sell a more expensive premium experience.

Smoother dark chocolate bars, protein bars with chocolate, sugar-free chocolate and single-origin chocolate are an answer to consumer demand for healthier and higher-quality bars, the companies say.

Critics of the confectionery industry say the new products are gimmicks to boost sales by giving a premium feel or a "healthy halo" to snacks still high in sugar and fat.

The companies want to find growth somewhere. The volume of confectionery products sold worldwide rose just 0.5 percent in 2016-17 after falling for two years, according to research company Euromonitor International.

"It's going to be very difficult to persuade consumers to buy more chocolate," said Wiebke Schoon, food analyst at Euromonitor. "But they are open to being convinced to have better chocolate, to spend more money on it."

While the volume of chocolate sales has been largely static, the value of sales rose 3.6 percent in 2016-17, according to Euromonitor, suggesting consumers may be prepared to pay more for chocolate they believe is healthier or better quality.

"Natural, locally-sourced ingredients are and will continue to be at the heart of what people are looking for," said Sandra Martinez, Nestle's global head of chocolate and confectionery. "Combined with that artisan flair."

The Swiss food giant, which sells $8.8 billion (£6.59 billion) of confectionery a year, has turned to so-called chocolatories to try to turn its mass-market KitKat bar into a luxury, personalized product - with a premium price.

At boutiques in Japan, chefs conjure up creative recipes and customers can buy KitKats in more than 10 flavors including matcha, strawberry maple and Japanese citrus.

They can also buy KitKats made from premium dark, milk and raw - less processed - chocolate, or print a message on white chocolate bars and wrap them in custom packaging.

"It's cool to have your name on confectionery," said Shiho Sudo, 20, in a KitKat boutique in Tokyo, holding a trio of white chocolate wafers with her name and birthday printed in gold-colored letters. "This is a special gift for myself."

To print a message on three KitKat wafers costs nearly 2,600 yen ($23) while a regular KitKat costs 100 yen ($0.89).

ARTISANAL FLAIR

Nestle says the boutiques have been successful in taking KitKat upmarket. It is rolling out similar shops across Asia and has trialed pop-up versions in Europe with a view to making them permanent.

Rival Mondelez, which owns well-known brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cote d'Or, Milka and Toblerone, is also looking to make mainstream products appeal to more demanding consumers.

Mondelez is trying to widen the appeal of its premium dark chocolate brand Green & Black's by expanding in the United States and launching a Velvet edition in Britain that offers consumers a smoother, less bitter taste.

"It brings dark chocolate a little bit more to the mainstream," said Mary Barnard, president of Mondelez International's chocolate business in Europe.

While there is doubt over whether dark chocolate has health benefits, the perception it is healthier than milk chocolate has prompted a 31 percent rise in dark chocolate product launches in the past four years, according to market research firm Mintel.

In countries such as Australia and Russia, Mondelez has begun marketing high-cocoa versions of its mainstream bars such as Cadbury and Milka under the label Dark Milk.

Mars - the chocolate retail market leader according to Euromonitor - launched Dove Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Promises as well as Twix Dark in North America this year.

HEALTHY TREATS?

Large confectionery companies are also venturing into snack and cereal bars including chocolate, seeking to take advantage of growing global demand for healthier snacks.

According to Euromonitor, the volume of snack bar sales has risen an average 2.6 percent a year for the past five years and is expected to grow 2.4 percent a year going forward.

While these snacks are often smaller than traditional chocolate bars, they typically earn companies a bigger margin.

This year, Mars unveiled its goodnessKNOWS snack bars in Britain, its biggest product launch in the country in two decades. The bar, split into three bite-sized pieces, is made of nuts, dried fruit and dark chocolate.

Mars, which makes M&Ms and Snickers bars, has also taken a stake in KIND, the third-biggest maker of snack bars worldwide.

Other chocolate makers have turned to creating recipes with ingredients geared toward health-conscious consumers.

Germany's Ritter Sport, for example, has launched vegan chocolate with grains such as quinoa and amaranth and is working on a vegan "milk" chocolate bar, using a dairy substitute.

Emma Calvert, food policy officer at the European Consumer Organisation lobby group, is skeptical, however, about the health drive by major chocolate makers.

"For us, this is a marketing tool rather than any strategy to actually help improve the health of consumers," she said.

"They might be using coconut oil for fat or agave syrup instead of sugar," said Calvert. "But it's still a type of sugar and would contribute to your excess calories. It's a way to give a healthy halo to products that really shouldn't have it."

RUBY CHOCOLATE

Some niche chocolate makers are focusing on a combination of luxury and health.

At Rabot 1745 in London, a cafe, restaurant and shop owned by Hotel Chocolat, bars with cocoa beans from a defined part of the company's Saint Lucia plantation are sold alongside sugar-free 65 percent chocolate made with buffalo milk.

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and CEO of Hotel Chocolat, a British company with more than 70 outlets across the country, hopes different kinds of cocoa beans will attract the same premium value attached to certain coffee beans or grapes.

"The wine world has achieved a much better balance between growing grapes and the added value of the final product," he said. "Chocolate has lost its way but is finding it again."

While companies such as Hotel Chocolat source specialty cocoa with a more distinct flavor from Ecuador or Brazil, most mainstream chocolate is made from mass-processed beans grown in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world's top two producers.

The beans are usually mixed together without regard for whether cocoa from different trees or plantations can produce varied tastes, textures or colors.

But this could be changing. Barry Callebaut, the world's leading provider of chocolate products for businesses, unveiled a new type of chocolate this year with a pink hue and fruity taste: ruby chocolate.

Barry Callebaut determines if beans have the properties that make ruby chocolate by testing cocoa pods on plantations for particular genetic properties.

"The market is moving more toward understanding taste," said Bas Smit, head of global marketing for Barry Callebaut. "It's about hunting for the unique."

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food distribution and convenience stores (trbc)

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Chocolate makers innovate to entice health-conscious consumers

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LONDON (Reuters) - Raw chocolate KitKats, Dark Milk, vegan bars with quinoa and now "ruby" chocolate: the world's biggest chocolate makers are looking for ways to keep increasingly health-conscious consumers coming back for more.

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The more education those workers have, the more advanced technological skills they would apply to increase the supply. Therefore, the supply curve will shift to right, driving down the prices.

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Higher Education Minister in Japan for technology meeting

Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, Itah Kandjii-Murangi emphasised the Namibian Government's commitment towards leveraging science, technology and innovation as drivers of economic growth and sustainable development.
A media statement released on Monday she made the remarks in her official opening address during a three-day conference on science, technology and innovation that started at the Japanese town, Kyoto on Sunday.
Kandjii-Murangi also highlighted Namibia's vision for developing a people-centred industrialised country and to accelerate the attainment of the sustainable development goals through the strategic use of science, technology and innovation.
"Key to Namibia's vision to develop a national system of innovation that translates our primary commodities into high-value goods requires a renewed focus on the development of technical vocational education training skills as well as higher education programmes that will enhance the employability of our young people," she told the conference.
According to her, an open innovation strategy grounded on smart science, technology and innovation partnerships to address challenges such as climate change, food security, water and sanitation as well as the creation of an inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem is, therefore, imperative.
The science, technology and innovation conference is a global gathering of higher education ministers that is devoted to the promotion of science, technology and innovation.
It is also aimed at seeking synergy between the advancement of science and technology and the safety of society, the statement noted.
Namibia's higher education minister and her delegation are expected back home on 13 October 2018.
The conference ends on Tuesday.

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Higher Education Minister in Japan for technology meeting

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Higher Education Minister in Japan for technology meeting Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, Itah Kandjii-Murangi emphasised the Namibian Government's commitment towards leveraging science, technology and innovation as drivers of economic growth and sustainable development.

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The production cost will increase due to the higher tariffs on Chinese imports for the U.S. Less people could afford the goods that used to be cheaper, hindering the numbers of supply. This shifts the supply curve to left, driving up prices.

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CLOSE

Few stores, and shoppers, are as affected by the Trump administration's escalating trade fight with China as Dollar Tree and its massive base of low- and middle-income customers.

Late last month, President Donald Trump slapped a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. Unlike previous rounds of tariffs on Chinese products, which largely taxed industrial goods, the new duty touches everyday consumer items. That's the sweet spot for the Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree, which owns 15,000 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar discount variety stores across the U.S., and may soon need to pull items off shelves, or take other steps to offset the higher costs. The tariff may also hit communities if the company pulls back on store openings and hiring.

Many of its inexpensive products can be made only in China, company executives said. Dollar Tree imports about 42 percent of its products, while Family Dollar imports about 23 percent, according to estimates from the Telsey Advisory Group, a research and consulting firm. Most of the shipments are from China, the firm said.

The tariff will hit about 10 percent of Dollar Tree's merchandise, or several thousand items, including household, health and beauty products, food, hardware and electronics, the company's chief executive, Gary Philbin, said at a hearing before the U.S. trade representative in late August.

The higher tariff is forcing Dollar Tree to pay more to import the goods. It can eat the higher costs, pass them on to customers or find a way to offset them.

While most discount store shoppers could feel the pinch, customers of the so-called dollar stores are especially budget-constrained and would be hurt by what is essentially a new tax on their purchases. And higher costs lay ahead: The new tariff is set to rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1.

Philbin said in a letter to the U.S. trade representative last month that his company simply can't raise prices at Dollar Tree, which sells everything for $1. At Family Dollar, the company has a little more wiggle room, with about 40 percent of items priced at $1 and the vast majority costing $3 or less.

As a result, if the U.S.-China standoff isn't resolved soon, customers are likely to see slightly less merchandise in stores, smaller packages at the same price for certain items and perhaps some higher prices at Family Dollar, Philbin said. Dollar Tree also may pull back investment and hiring in communities if its profits fall, he said.

More than 60 percent of Dollar Tree's shoppers - at both the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar chains - have less than $40,000 in annual household income, Philbin wrote in his letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Half of that group earns less than $20,000 a year.

"They truly are among the most vulnerable U.S. consumers," Philbin said in the letter. At the hearing, he said they depended on the stores' offerings "to make ends meet."

Among the products affected by the tariffs are: vegetables, perfume, shampoo, makeup, dog leashes, handbags, paper, bed sheets, dishes, cups, carpet, batteries, clothing, hats, tweezers, screwdrivers and lamps.

"The U.S. consumer will suffer," Philbin said at the hearing.

Company officials would not comment for this article.

Outside a Dollar Tree in Annandale, Virginia, last week, Edgar Escobar, 48, said he shops at one of the chain's area stores about twice a week, buying staples such as bread, soda and candy, as well as plastic containers and mirrors.

"I like it because everything is cheap," said Escobar, a house painter. If the store carries fewer items because of the tariffs, he said he would clip supermarket coupons but still couldn't match the deals he gets at Dollar Tree.

Joseph Feldman, analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, believes Dollar Tree will likely rely mostly on reducing package sizes, a tactic shoppers will notice. "The consumer is really smart," he said.

The current 10 percent tariff likely will have some effect on the stores in coming weeks, Feldman said. But he added, "You can probably figure out a way to deal with it," in part by absorbing some of the added cost and coping with narrower profit margins.

Philbin told analysts in August that the company "can also attempt to negotiate price concessions" with suppliers.

But the 25 percent duty in January will take a bigger toll, Feldman said.

Philbin said the tax will make Dollar Tree's stores less competitive with higher-priced discount retailers.

"This could result in slower growth," he said at the hearing. The tariffs, if sustained, would shave company revenue by tens of millions of dollars a year, he estimated.

That, he said, could slow new store openings, limit the need for new distribution centers and curtail hiring.

The company opened 603 stores last year and has been adding more than 6,000 retail associates a year. The tariffs "put these new jobs and possibly existing jobs at risk," Philbin said. Dollar Tree employs about 175,000 workers.

The duties also threaten Dollar Tree's plans to open a new distribution center every 12 to 18 months, he said. Each generates about $100 million in investment and about 400 new jobs.

Philbin said many of its products can be sourced only from China because they're crafted or packaged by hand, incurring labor costs that would be exorbitant in the U.S. Also, he said, the U.S. lacks some injection plastic molding techniques and sufficient production and distribution capacity for many products.

One factory in China has expanded to more than 400 injection molding machines to meet Dollar Tree's demand, Philbin said.

"That type of production capacity simply does not exist anywhere outside of China," he wrote in the letter.

The company, he said, is exploring production in foreign countries outside China. But, he said at the hearing, "We believe it will take two to four years to improve their supply chains."

In Annandale, Kay Durra, 41, was at the second of three Dollar Tree outlets she was hitting that night as she tried to cobble together enough feather boas for a Halloween flamingo costume.

She typically buys party decorations and craft items at the shop that cost a third as much as they do at traditional stores, as well as snacks. "They have pretty interesting stuff you can't get anywhere else," said Durra, a retirement administrator.

"It would be pretty disappointing if they didn't have the variety of things or the quantity (in a package) that you'd expect," she said. You'd have to go to (big-box stores) and pay more."

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Dollar Tree, and its customers, feel pain of tariffs on Chinese imports

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CLOSE Few stores, and shoppers, are as affected by the Trump administration's escalating trade fight with China as Dollar Tree and its massive base of low- and middle-income customers. Late last month, President Donald Trump slapped a 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

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China wants to make a reform of changing the manufacturing sector to services factor. However, this reform costs up and employment shrinks. The abrupt employment contraction reduces labor power in the market, causing the supply to decrease in general. This shifts the supply curve to left, driving up prices.

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BEIJING, (Reuters) - China's services sector grew at its fastest clip in three months in September on improved demand, a private survey showed on Monday, though sentiment worsened as firms started shedding jobs after over two years of expansion while rising cost pressures pointed to a squeeze on profit margins.

The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 53.1 in September from 51.5 in August, and staying above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction.

The faster growth is a welcome signal for a key part of the world's second-largest economy as it faces rising headwinds from a heated trade row with the United States.

An official gauge of the non-manufacturing sector for last month published on Sept 30 also pointed to continued expansion, which analysts say was largely driven by a jump in construction in a sign the government's fiscal easing may be gaining traction.

Monday's survey showed most of the pick-up came from higher new business orders, as the sub-index rose at its quickest pace in three months with a reading of 52.4, compared to 51.7 in August.

China is counting on services, particularly high value-added services in finance and technology, to lessen the economy's traditional reliance on heavy industry and investment. Policymakers have also quickened project approvals lately to prop up infrastructure investment growth.

Strength in the services sector would alleviate some pains already felt by China's manufacturing sector from the impact of U.S. tariffs. Factory activity stalled in September after 15 months of expansion, with export orders falling the fastest in over two years, a separate Caixin survey just over a week ago.

Government statistics show the services sector, accounting for slightly over half of China's economy in the first half of 2018, grew 7.6 percent in that period from a year earlier, easily outpacing overall GDP growth of 6.8 percent.

Caixin's composite manufacturing and services PMI, also released on Monday, rose marginally to 52.1 in September from 52.0 in August.

ABRUPT EMPLOYMENT LOSS

While the uptick in the services activity could be a relief for Chinese policymakers battling a protracted trade war with the United States, an abrupt employment contraction in the sector may signal emerging stress.

"What we should be wary of is that overall employment contracted in September," Zhengsheng Zhong, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, said in a note accompanying the data release.

The employment sub-index fell to 49 in September, marking its first contraction since July 2016, and the lowest level since March that year, leading to a slight pullback in business expectations for the next 12 months.

China's state planner has said trade dispute with the United States created uncertainty for its job market, while finance minister Liu Kun also told Reuters he is highly concerned about potential job losses.

Beyond trade shocks, China's state-led deleveraging campaign, as part of Beijing's resolve to reduce financial risks from years of reckless debt build-up, has also hurt some regional governments and companies' ability to finance new projects and pay off debt interests.

"The deterioration in employment will test policymakers' determination in pressing ahead with reforms," Zhong added.

Service companies may have felt a profit squeeze in September as prices charged fell for the first time in 13 months while input price inflation picked up to their highest since January.

Companies reported greater fuel, raw material and salary costs in the month, the survey showed.

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China services sector expands in September, but costs up and...

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China's services sector grew at its fastest clip in three months in September on improved demand, a private survey showed on Monday, though sentiment worsened as firms started shedding jobs after over two years of expansion while rising cost pressures pointed to a squeeze on profit margins.