Cost of Euro mobile roaming falls

The European Commission wants to make roaming rates the same as domestic rates by 2015

The cost of making and receiving mobile phone calls while travelling in Europe has come down again.

From today, operators cannot charge more than 32p per minute (plus VAT) for outgoing calls, and 10p per minute (plus VAT) for incoming calls.

The new tariffs are the latest in a series of annual price reductions forced on the mobile industry by the European Commission.

Brussels has said it aims to equalise roaming and domestic charges by 2015.

Price regulation was introduced in 2007 by the then commissioner for information society and media, Viviane Reding.

Since then, the maximum call charge has been reduced by approximately 6% per year.

A group of UK mobile operators - O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile - attempted to challenge the Commission's price-cutting agenda, taking their case to the European Court of Justice.

However, their complaint was dismissed in June 2010.

Along with the lower rates for phone calls, the commission also reduced the wholesale rate of mobile data from 80 euro cents (72p) to 50 euro cents (45p) per megabyte.

Whereas the price cap on voice calls applies directly to the way consumers are billed, the data changes only affect what operators charge each other. There is an expectation, rather than obligation to pass-on the savings.

Operators are compelled to place a 50 euro (£45) cap on users' data consumption, in order to avoid unexpectedly high bills. Customers who wish to continue their data roaming can request to have the limit removed.

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UBS says Axel Weber set to be its next chairman

Mr Weber had been expected to join Deutsche Bank

Swiss bank UBS has said it will nominate former Bundesbank boss Axel Weber to be its next chairman.

The bank said the board would nominate him at the annual meeting in May 2012 and, if elected, he will succeed Kaspar Villiger as chairman in 2013.

Mr Weber headed Germany's central bank from April 2004 to April 2011.

He had been seen as a front runner to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as chief of the European Central Bank but ruled himself out of the race in February.

The appointment will see a German running Switzerland's biggest bank, while a Swiss, Josef Ackermann, currently heads Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche Bank, although Mr Ackermann is due to stand down in 2013.

The announcement also puts an end to speculation that Mr Weber would succeed Mr Ackermann at Deutsche.

Analysts were surprised by the news but said it was a good move by UBS.

"I think it's positive that they were able to announce it two years in advance. He's a strong candidate who was also in talks to become chairman of the management board at Deutsche Bank, so it's very good news," said Cheuvreux analyst Christian Stark.

"Villiger was always seen as a temporary solution to help UBS get through the crisis and Axel Weber's clearly got more of a connected network into the international banking industry."

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China manufacturing slows as Beijing reins in growth

The manufacturing sector been one of the biggest drivers of growth in the Chinese economy

China's manufacturing sector expanded at its slowest pace in 28 months following government policies to prevent the economy from overheating, according to an official survey.

China's purchasing manager's index (PMI) fell to 50.9 in June from 52 in the previous month.

The PMI is a key an indicator of conditions in the sector, which is a big contributor to China's growth.

China is the world's second-largest economy.

Even though the figure remained above the threshold level of 50, indicating expansion in the sector, the drop from the previous month indicates that growth is slowing.

Beijing has been trying to slow down its credit-fuelled growth in an attempt to prevent asset prices from overheating.

Analysts said the government's policies are starting to hurt the manufacturing sector.

"It think the primary reason is monetary tightening and a reduction of credit," said Sitao Xu of the Economist Intelligence Unit in Beijing.

"Both central bank and the government are taking a hawkish stance to prohibit high credit growth."

'Synchronised slowdown'

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

What the government is trying to do is prevent the economy from overheating ”

End Quote Sitao Xu Economist Intelligence Unit

While internal policies are curbing growth in the sector, analysts said that external factors are also playing a key role.

"The other reason is the synchronised slowdown in developed countries," Mr Sitao said.

The recovery in the US has not been as fast as expected, hence demand from the world's biggest economy has been sluggish, he said.

He added that the debt crisis in European countries had also affected demand for Chinese goods from the region.

However, the overall health of the Chinese economy remained robust, despite the slowdown in manufacturing, he said.

"I don't think it's the end of the world, we are not seeing a hard landing or a recession," he said.

"What the government is trying to do is prevent the economy from overheating."

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Eurozone manufacturing growth at 18-month low

The figures showed weakness across the board

Growth in the eurozone's manufacturing sector lost steam in June as both exports and domestic demand slowed, falling to an 18-month low, a key survey has shown.

Markit's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 52.0 last month from 54.6 in May, its lowest reading since December 2009.

Any reading above 50 indicates growth.

"Increasing numbers of countries are showing signs of sliding back into recession," Markit said.

Italy's manufacturing sector shrank for the first time in 20 months, while Spain's contracted for the second month in a row.

Growth in the German and French sectors slowed considerably, while the UK's manufacturing expansion fell to a 21-month low.

Gilles Moec, senior European economist at Deutsche Bank, said the data reflected two main factors: inflation hampering consumer demand and the end of stimulus measures in a number of regions, including the US.

"The weakness is no longer simply in the peripherals, it's now moving to Italy for instance," he told the BBC.

"This is painting a different picture from the one we had a few weeks ago."

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Plunge in corn prices may ease food inflation

The price of corn suffered its biggest fall for 15 years on Thursday, prompting speculation that the high cost of food may start to ease.

Corn prices fell 10% after a US Department of Agriculture report said that farmers were sowing unexpectedly large amounts of the grain.

The price of other crops, including soybeans, also fell on speculation that future stock levels will remain high.

Corn prices recently hit a record, helping to fuel inflation worries.

The report said farmers in the vast crop regions of Iowa and Minnesota had been planting substantially more grain.

Corn futures, which were just under an all-time high of $8 (£5) a bushel at the start of June, finished 9.9% down at $6.29 on Thursday. At one point, the price was down almost 12%.

Wheat futures ended 8.8% down, with soybeans 2.1% lower. The falls continued on Friday, with wheat futures down almost 2% in early Asia trading.

The Agriculture Department report, which said that far more grain acreage was being planted than expected, came despite recent bad weather in the US mid-west.

"There are some big surprises in this report," said Karl Setzer, commodity expert at the MaxYield Cooperative in Iowa.

The report said farmers had planted 92.282 million acres with corn this spring, well above an average trade estimate of 90.767 million acres.

The increase in planting comes as Russia is expected soon to lift a year-long ban on grain exports.

Price delay

Corn futures recently reached a record high of almost $8 a bushel at the start of June

More expensive grain has led to food price rises, with everything from meat and cereal to soft drinks costing more in the supermarket.

A huge harvest in August is likely to slow food inflation, which was predicted to rise between 3%-4% this year in the US.

Analysts say it typically takes about six months for changes in commodity prices to feed into retail food prices.

"All of us who perceived tighter [corn] supplies... were proven wrong today," said Jason Ward, an analyst with Northstar Commodity.

However, Mr Ward pointed out that the extra acreage had yet to be harvested and could be damaged by further bad weather

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