Paper Talk: Big waves on Japan seabed boost prices of dried scallops in Hong Kong
A look at what’s making news around town
Sunday, Sing Tao Daily
Big waves on Japan seabed boost prices of dried scallops
Prices of festival dried seafood for the coming Lunar New Year have been volatile. Dried scallops from Japan, for example, have been 5 per cent more expensive as a result of a poor harvest caused by big waves on the seabed, said Mr Poon, the boss of On Kee Dry Seafood Company in Cleverly Street, Sheung Wan. However, prices of greenlip abalone from Australia have dropped to a five-year low thanks to a weakening Australian dollar. Poon also noted that canned abalone and refined dried shark’s fin have been the best sellers at his shop as they are convenient for cooking. He expected sales of the two items to rise by 5 to 10 per cent this year.
Monday, Apple Daily
Festival food items for sale online risky for consumption
Food experts and doctors interviewed about the safety of consuming home-made festive food items brought from online shops, such as turnip cakes and cookies, said buyers should beware, as substandard packaging could cause food poisoning, and it was difficult to hold people responsible as such items mostly carried no ingredients labels, shop names or addresses of manufacturing sites. A turnip cake ordered online by reporters was a case in point. It was just put in a transparent plastic box, rather than a heat-resistant container as claimed on the shop’s website.
Tuesday, Apple Daily
Now not good time to make yuan deposit: money expert
HSBC, one of the note-issuing banks in the city, has raised its interest rate for three- and six-month yuan deposits to a new high of 4.1 per cent, with a minimum deposit amount of 20,000 yuan. However, Denise Cheung Pui-yee, Asia Pacific region president of Money Concepts (Asia) Holdings, said it is not a good time to make a yuan deposit as the currency might further depreciate by between 2 and 4 per cent this year. The yuan’s exchange rate has been very volatile recently, having dropped by as much as 2.9 per cent this year. As a result, HK$100 could be exchanged for only about 84.4 yuan on Tuesday.
Wednesday, Oriental Daily
Tiles bulge and break after most severe cold spell in 59 years
Wall and floor tiles in residential flats and corridors in many housing estates in districts such as Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Ma On Shan, Chai Wan, and even the dormitories at Shue Yan University in North Point, bulged and broke on Wednesday when temperatures in the city returned to 14.9 degrees Celsius from as low as 3.1 degrees (in urban areas) during the most severe cold spell in 59 years on Sunday. Tiles on the outer walls of many buildings in San Po Kong were seen falling on the streets, constituting a danger to pedestrians.
Thursday, Apple Daily
Rare dolphin might have got lost off Gold Coast in Tuen Mun
A young pantropical spotted dolphin – a species of dolphin mostly found in tropical waters such as those west of Guangxi and east of Taiwan – was found swimming near the Gold Coast Yacht and Country Club in Tuen Mun on Tuesday morning. Dolphin expert Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, who leads the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, said it was the first time this species was found appearing in Hong Kong waters. Hung believed it had got separated from its group.
Friday, Ming Pao Daily
New scheme draws applications for more foreign workers to undertake infrastructure projects
The Labour Advisory Board has so far received two applications from China Harbour Engineering Company to import 548 foreign workers to work on two infrastructure projects as part of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project – accounting for about 58 per cent of all the foreign workers working in the city last year – under a new scheme that allows importation of foreign workers to work for one contractor on different construction projects in the city with a multiple-entry permit issued by the board.
Compiled by Nelson Cheng
