Takashimaya to market goods made of cotton grown on tsunami-swamped rice paddies

Department store chain Takashimaya Co. announced a plan to sell goods made of cotton grown on rice paddies that were inundated by tsunami after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Paddies flooded by tsunami often remain unsuitable for rice cultivation for years because of salt left behind from seawater. Cotton, however, not only can be cultivated in soil with high salinity, but also helps to desalinate it.

Takashimaya said the goods will hit the shelves March 11 next year, the first anniversary of the disaster. Clothing makers and other companies have enlisted in the disaster relief program, which will link tsunami-affected farmers directly with consumers.

Sock maker Tabio Corp., cotton yarn spinner Taishoboseki Industries Ltd. and other companies have formed the Tohoku Cotton Project, which helps keep farmers working by having them grow cotton instead of leaving their fields fallow and purchasing their cotton harvests. Cotton is now being grown in rice paddies in Sendai and elsewhere.

Takashimaya plans to request its business partners to manufacture towels and shawls using yarn made of cotton cultivated in rice paddies.

"We hope to provide assistance by developing goods that consumers can directly touch and use," a Takashimaya official in charge of merchandise said.

About 25 companies said they will participate in the project, including jeans manufacturer Lee Japan Co., clothes chain United Arrows Ltd. and Japan Airlines Co. Each of these partners will come up with plans for their original goods. JAL, for example, is considering making cardigans to be worn aboard planes. The project plans to call for more participants and expand the cultivation area to 10 hectares next year from the current 1.6 hectares.

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Intervention in exchange market remains short-term option: Noda

The government views currency market intervention as a short-term option for weakening the yen, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Friday.

Emphasizing the need to make budgetary arrangements to ease tensions over the yen's yearlong ascent, Noda also said the situation would be dealt with in a "timely and appropriate" manner, hinting another dip into the foreign-exchange markets and further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan have not been ruled out.

"We may intervene or respond in various other ways, including monetary policy, for the time being," Noda said.

If the trend is entrenched, however, the government will need to formulate a long-term response to handle the fallout, which could involve the use of emergency measures in a third supplementary budget for fiscal 2011.

The intervention threat continues at a time when major exporters are taking big losses from the yen's de facto rise against the limping dollar and other currencies, eroding the global competitiveness of Japan's manufacturers. The dollar has been hovering in the mid-¥76 level, flirting with its postwar record of ¥76.25 set in March.

The government is now reworking the extra budget, which was originally aimed at financing efforts to rebuild from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Noda acknowledged that the yen's rise is still being influenced by speculative bets. The minister also called for closer cooperation among the Group of Seven leading economies.

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Japan Says G-7 Eyeing Market Turmoil as China Urges Rebuilding Confidence - Bloomberg

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg

Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- K.C. Chan, Hong Kong's secretary for financial services and treasury, talks about the measures to boost cross-border investments between the city and mainland China. China will start an exchange-traded fund linked to Hong Kong stocks and expand sales of yuan bonds in the city, Li Keqiang, the front-runner to replace Wen Jiabao as China’s premier in 2013, said at an Aug. 17 economic forum in Hong Kong. Chan also discusses Hong Kong's economy and global financial markets. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)

Japan called on Group of Seven nations to work closely to counter market turmoil and Asian officials sought to calm investors as stocks slumped on concern the U.S. recovery is faltering.

The G-7 needs “very close cooperation in coming weeks,” Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in Tokyo, where the Topix index fell to a two-year low. Hong Kong financial official K.C. Chan urged investors to “stay calm” and not be “spooked by the market,” as the Hang Seng Index slumped 3.1 percent. In Beijing, Vice President Xi Jinping said his nation will avoid an economic hard landing.

Plunging equity markets are crushing consumer and business confidence, worsening the outlook for a global economy already hampered by the debt burdens of developed nations. Speculation that European banks may have insufficient capital and signs of weakness in the U.S. economy are helping to drive a stock rout that returned to Asia today.

“Business confidence is tailing off and global growth slowing, and Europe’s debt situation appears to be getting worse and worse without any coordinated policy response,” said Matt Riordan, who helps manage almost $6.6 billion in Sydney at Paradice Investment Management Pty. “The worst case is that you go back to a 2008-type financial crisis.”

In South Korea, the financial regulator urged insurers to boost capital in preparation for a potential crisis, and the benchmark Kospi index (KOSPI) plunged 6.2 percent, the most since 2008. South Korea’s exchange earlier said it temporarily halted program trading of shares on the Kospi after futures tumbled.

Asked how policy makers should respond to market turmoil, Noda referred reporters to an Aug. 8 pledge by G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors to “take all necessary measures to support financial stability and growth.” He didn’t specify any likely next step.

A past example of joint action is the intervention that temporarily weakened Japan’s currency after the nation’s March earthquake. Developed nations are hampered in stimulating their economies because of their debt burdens, and have limited or no room for interest-rate cuts after reductions that countered the financial crisis of 2008.

In Beijing, Xi told U.S. counterpart Joe Biden and business executives that global confidence must be rebuilt after “destabilizing factors” intensified. Xi said Biden briefed him on the steps America was taking to spur growth and tackle its deficit, with the Chinese leader expressing confidence in the U.S. economy’s resilience.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 1 percent lower, down about 10 percent for the year.

In Hong Kong, Chan, the secretary for financial services and the Treasury, told Bloomberg Television that investors should “stay calm” and not be “spooked by the market.” Market volatility may persist as investors monitor the sovereign-debt crisis and the risk of a “double-dip” recession in the U.S., he said.

In Seoul, central bank official Min Sung Kee said that investors seem “too nervous” and are reacting “more than what I expected.” In a phone interview, Min, director general of the financial markets department, said that officials are “watching the markets 24 hours a day and we need to monitor the U.S. market more closely tonight.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Toru Fujioka in Tokyo at tfujioka1@bloomberg.net; Kate Andersen Brower in Washington at kandersen7@bloomberg.net

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