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Shares in Europe largely dipped Monday while Wall Street treaded water, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on ending the war with Russia.In New York, the broad-based S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq closed flat, while the blue-chip Dow edged down slightly.European indices also lost ground, except London’s FTSE which ticked up modestly.Oil prices nudged higher as traders weighed the impact of the talks and what they could mean for sanctions-hit Russia, a major producer of crude oil.The Washington gathering is a follow-up to Trump’s summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which failed to produce a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. It has been more than three years since Russia’s invasion.Zelensky, under pressure from Trump to give up Crimea and abandon Ukraine’s NATO ambitions, said ahead of the gathering that Russia “should not be rewarded” for its war. He also said US security guarantees were “the most important” thing.”Friday’s US-Russia meeting turned out to be a non-event, although financial markets are trading as if there might still be a path — however uncertain — towards an eventual peace,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst for trading platform FOREX.com.Investors are also focused on a speech this week by US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell at the annual retreat of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.Markets hope Powell will provide more clues about Fed plans for interest rates when it meets next month, after data last week provided a mixed picture about inflation.Consumer inflation remained steady last month, but producer prices accelerated.”The lack of progress at Friday’s Alaska summit, the upcoming Zelensky-Trump meeting in Washington, and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium all remain potential catalysts for market swings,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.Traders will also be eyeing a series of US retailers’ financial results expected this week, for signs of how Trump’s sweeping tariffs are impacting businesses and consumers.In Asia, Shanghai, Sydney and Taipei were higher Monday, while Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta fell back.Japan’s Nikkei ended up, posting a new record high and adding to gains on Friday after better-than-expected economic growth data.- Key figures at around 2020 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.1 percent at 44,911.82 points (close)New York – S&P 500: FLAT at 6,449.15 (close) New York – Nasdaq: FLAT at 21,629.77 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,157.74 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 7,884.05 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 24,314.77 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 43,714.31 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 25,176.85 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,728.03 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1666 from $1.1704 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN $1.3503 at from $1.3557Dollar/yen: UP at 147.89 yen from 146.85 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.40 pence from 86.34 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.1 percent at $66.60 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.0 percent at $63.42 per barrelburs/rmb/tw/bys/des

US and European shares largely dipped on Monday, ahead of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington.In New York, the broad-based S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq fell slightly, while the blue-chip Dow was flat. European indices also lost ground, except London’s FTSE which ticked up modestly.Oil prices nudged higher as traders weighed the impact of the talks and what they could mean for sanctions-hit Russia, a major producer of crude oil.The Washington gathering is a follow-up to Trump’s summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which failed to produce a ceasefire in the Ukraine war.Zelensky, under pressure from Trump to give up Crimea and abandon Ukraine’s NATO ambitions, said ahead of the gathering that Russia “should not be rewarded” for its war. He also said US security guarantees were “the most important” thing.”Friday’s US-Russia meeting turned out to be a non-event, although financial markets are trading as if there might still be a path — however uncertain — towards an eventual peace,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst for trading platform FOREX.com.Investors are also focused on a speech this week by US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell at the annual retreat of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.Markets hope Powell will provide more clues about Fed plans for interest rates when it meets next month, after data last week provided a mixed picture about inflation.Consumer inflation remained steady last month, but producer prices accelerated.”The lack of progress at Friday’s Alaska summit, the upcoming Zelensky-Trump meeting in Washington, and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium all remain potential catalysts for market swings,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.In Asia, Shanghai, Sydney and Taipei were higher Monday, while Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta fell back.Japan’s Nikkei ended up, posting a new record high and adding to gains on Friday after better-than-expected economic growth data.- Key figures at around 1535 GMT -New York – Dow: FLAT at 44,932.61 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 6,443.34 New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.2 percent at 21,579.61London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,151.13 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.6 percent at 7,878.99 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 24,302.27 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 43,714.31 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 25,176.85 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,728.03 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1670 from $1.1704 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN $1.3519 at from $1.3557Dollar/yen: UP at 147.88 yen from 146.85 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.32 pence from 86.34 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $66.13 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $62.27 per barrelburs/rmb/tw

Stock markets diverged Monday ahead of talks between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.The talks are a follow-up summit to Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, which failed to produce a ceasefire.Zelensky, who is under pressure from Trump to give up Crimea and abandon its NATO ambitions, said ahead of the gathering in Washington that Russia “should not be rewarded” for its war.London, Paris and Frankfurt stock markets were all lower in midday trading on Monday.”The focus is still on Ukraine this morning, as the world reacts to the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska last Friday,” said Jim Reid, managing director at Deutsche Bank. Oil prices fluctuated as investors weighed the impact of talks between Trump and Zelensky on Russia, a major crude producer.”With less talk of tougher sanctions on Russia, oil prices dropped back as supply concerns faded,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.”But amid the ongoing uncertainty Brent crude has begun creeping higher,” she added.This week, investor eyes will also be on any clues on US interest rates at the Federal Reserve’s annual retreat at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.The Fed chair’s speech at the retreat has “often been used to send important policy signals”, Reid noted.In Asia, Shanghai, Sydney and Taipei were higher Monday, while Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta fell back.Japan’s Nikkei ended up, posting a new record high and adding to gains on Friday after better-than-expected economic growth data.Thailand’s economy also grew by 2.8 percent in the second quarter, the country’s economic planning agency said on Monday, boosted by strong exports ahead of US tariffs taking full effect.Before the Alaska talks, US stocks wavered on Friday after mixed economic data, with retail sales up but an industrial production index and a consumer survey both down.- Key figures at around 1045 GMT -London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,130.31 pointsParis – CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 7,860.63Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.3 percent at 24,276.28Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 43,714.31 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 25,176.85 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,728.03 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 44,946.12 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1683 from $1.1704 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN $1.3545 at from $1.3557Dollar/yen: UP at 147.41 yen from 146.85 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.24 pence from 86.34 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $63.07 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $66.33 per barrelburs-ajb/lth

Asian stocks were mostly higher Monday ahead of talks between Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders in Washington.US President Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, but the summit failed to yield any breakthrough on a ceasefire in Ukraine.Zelensky, who will be joined in Washington by European leaders, however called a US offer of security guarantees to Ukraine “historic”.”Trump and Putin walked away without a ceasefire, without even the illusion of one,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”What they did offer was theatre: enough ‘progress’ for Trump to declare victory and quietly holster his double-barreled threat — tariffs on Beijing for buying Russian barrels and sanctions on Moscow’s crude,” Innes said.Before the Alaska talks, US stocks wavered on Friday after mixed economic data, with retail sales up but an industrial production index and a consumer survey both down.After a drop on Friday, oil prices, which have been volatile for several days — Russia is a major crude producer — were up Monday.Japan’s Nikkei ended up, posting a new record high and adding to gains on Friday after better-than-expected economic growth data.Thailand’s economy also grew by 2.8 percent in the second quarter, the country’s economic planning agency said on Monday, boosted by strong exports ahead of US tariffs taking full effect.But the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) forecast overall growth for 2025 to fall between 1.8 and 2.3 percent. This is below the 2.5 percent seen in 2024, with the NESDC blaming the expected drop on the likely impact of US tariffs. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Taipei were higher Monday, while Seoul and Jakarta fell back.In Europe, London saw early gains while Paris and Frankfurt fell slightly at the open.This week investor eyes will be on any clues on US interest rates at the Federal Reserve’s annual retreat at Jackson Hole.- Key figures at around 0700 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.8 percent at 43,714.31 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 25,327.51Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,728.03 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 44,946.12 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,164.54 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1695 from $1.1704 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN $1.3546 at from $1.3557Dollar/yen: UP at 147.38 yen from 146.85 yen Euro/pound: FLAT at 86.34 pence from 86.34 pence West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $63.19 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $66.16 per barrelburs-aph/jfx

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports slipped 4.6 percent in July from a year earlier, government data showed Monday, as shipments to the United States plunged by more than 40 percent.Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is heavily reliant on international trade and is vulnerable to any global slowdown induced by the tariffs — even if Singapore only faces a baseline 10 percent levy from US President Donald Trump. On August 6, Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on chips from firms that do not invest in the United States, and threatened levies of up to 250 percent on pharmaceutical imports.  The 42.7 percent July contraction in main exports to the US — Singapore’s biggest market — was largely caused by a 93.5 percent decline in pharmaceutical shipments, the government body Enterprise Singapore said on Monday. Meanwhile, exports of specialised machinery dropped 45.8 percent and food preparations were down 48.8 percent. Non-oil domestic shipments to China and Indonesia also declined in July, but grew to the EU, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.The city-state last Tuesday raised its 2025 economic growth forecast, but warned the outlook for the rest of the year remains clouded by global uncertainty, in part due to US tariffs. The trade ministry lifted its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 1.5-2.5 percent from an earlier range of 0-2.0 percent.   Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday said that he took “little comfort” from the 10 percent baseline tariff rate the US imposed on Singapore. “Because no one knows if, or when, the US might raise the baseline, or set higher tariffs on specific industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors,” he said in a National Day speech. “What we do know is that there will be more trade barriers in the world. That means small and open economies like us will feel the squeeze,” Wong added. 

An Australian court fined Qantas Aus$90 million (US$59 million) on Monday for illegally laying off 1,800 ground staff during the Covid-19 pandemic, ending a five-year legal battle over the workers’ rights.Federal Court Justice Michael Lee said he wanted the penalty to be a “real deterrence” to firms that might be tempted by the financial rewards of breaching employment law.Qantas decided to sack the workers and outsource their jobs in August 2020, a period of lockdowns and border closures when no Covid-19 vaccine was widely available.Australia’s Federal Court subsequently found that Qantas had acted illegally despite its stated “commercial imperatives” because it prevented staff from accessing their rights to collectively bargain or take industrial action.It later dismissed an appeal by the airline.Long-dubbed the “Spirit of Australia”, 104-year-old Qantas has been on a mission to repair its reputation, which was hit in recent years by the illegal sackings, soaring ticket prices, claims of sloppy service, and the selling of seats on already-cancelled flights.Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson took over in 2023, promising to improve customer satisfaction. She replaced Alan Joyce, who stepped down earlier than planned as Qantas endured criticism over its treatment of workers and passengers, despite delivering bumper profits for shareholders.- ‘We sincerely apologise’ -Qantas said it accepted the penalty.”The decision to outsource five years ago, particularly during such an uncertain time, caused genuine hardship for many of our former team and their families,” Hudson said.”We sincerely apologise to each and every one of the 1,820 ground handling employees and to their families who suffered as a result,” she said in a statement.Qantas had worked for 18 months to change the way it works and “rebuild trust”, the airline boss said.”This remains our highest priority as we work to earn back the trust we lost.”Qantas’ fine is to be paid in two parts, the court said, with Aus$50 million going to the Transport Workers Union and Aus$40 million being held for future payments to the former workers.The penalty is in addition to a compensation payment of Aus$120 million for affected former employees that Qantas agreed to last year.”It has been five long years. Today is a victory, not just for our colleagues but for all Australian workers,” said Anne Guirguis, who worked at Qantas for 27 years cleaning aircraft before being laid off.”We can close this chapter and move on now,” Guirguis told reporters outside court. Transport Workers’ Union National Secretary Michael Kaine described Monday’s decision as a “final win” for the Qantas workers.”Qantas was not sorry to workers when it illegally outsourced these workers, many finding out they’d lost their jobs over a loudspeaker in the lunch room,” Kaine said.”Qantas is only sorry now that it has to pay the largest penalty fine of any employer in Australian corporate history.” 

The global games industry gathers for the vast Gamescom trade fair in Cologne this week, with hopes that upcoming heavy-hitters like “GTA VI” can help the industry escape its doldrums.Tuesday’s opening night event will show off major releases slated for the months ahead, with the starring role going to “Black Ops 7” — the new instalment in the sprawling “Call of Duty” saga.Trade visitors will have Wednesday to peruse the stands and make connections, before tens of thousands of enthusiastic gamers are unleashed on the vast salon from Thursday to Sunday.Last year’s Gamescom drew almost 335,000 people to the Cologne exhibition centre, where studios lay on vast stands with consoles or PCs offering hands-on play with the latest releases.Nintendo is back in 2025 after staying away last year, surfing on record launch sales for its Switch 2 console.And Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division will show off new portable hardware expected to be released towards the end of the year.Sony, the Japanese giant behind the PlayStation, has opted out this time around.The mood is mixed for the roughly 1,500 exhibitors attending this year, as major publishers have recently steered back into profitability but the job cuts seen over the past two years continue.In early July, Microsoft said it would lay off around 9,000 people, with hundreds leaving game studios like “Candy Crush” developer King and several games cancelled, including “Perfect Dark” and “Everwild”.- Battle for attention -“The industry is consolidating quite a bit” after the bumper years when Covid-19 lockdowns created a captive audience, said Rhys Elliott of specialist games data firm Alinea Analytics.Around 30,000 workers have lost their jobs since early 2023, according to tracking site Games Industry Layoffs — more than 4,000 of them so far this year.Revenue in the global games market should hold steady at just under $190 billion this year, data firm Newzoo has forecast.The number of players and hours spent with the medium are stable while an ever-expanding number of titles are jostling for attention.And with leviathans like “Roblox” or “Fortnite” swallowing the attention of hundreds of millions of monthly users, “everyone’s fighting for a smaller share of that pie,” said Circana expert Mat Piscatella.The need to find new audiences has pushed Microsoft’s Xbox, the biggest games publisher in the world, to switch strategy, increasingly offering its titles on competing console makers’ hardware.”They’ve had really great success on the PlayStation platform. Sony is making a bunch of money on that too,” Piscatella said”It’s a little bit of a win-win all the way around.”Some PlayStation games are making the trip in the opposite direction, with “Helldivers 2” the first to be made available on Xbox as well as the traditional PC port.- Success on a budget -Shoring up sales is vital in an era where the cost of developing high-spec “AAA” games has mounted into the hundreds of millions of dollars — exposing studios to massive risk should their games not perform as hoped.But several breakout hits have recently shown that lower-budget games can still win over players with gameplay, story and art style, such as four-million-selling French turn-based battler “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33″.”There’s a realisation you don’t need to spend masses of money to deliver a high-quality game that can appeal broadly and so everyone is rushing towards that model,” said Christopher Dring, founder of industry website The Game Business.But “for every ‘Clair Obscur’ success story, there are 10 games that fail to find an audience at all,” Piscatella pointed out.”It’s hyper-competitive for those products outside of that big sphere” and smaller developers must fight hard for the funding they need to get games to market.Nor is the cult-hit trend likely to displace the mega-budget mastodons.Analysts predict that Rockstar Games’ vast “Grand Theft Auto VI” could notch up the biggest launch for any entertainment product in history.That might be the juice the flagging industry needs to regain some of its mojo.

Asian stocks were mostly higher Monday while oil dipped ahead of talks between Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders in Washington.US President Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, but the summit failed to yield any breakthrough on a ceasefire in Ukraine.Zelensky, who will be joined in Washington by European leaders, however called a US offer of security guarantees to Ukraine  “historic”.”Trump and Putin walked away without a ceasefire, without even the illusion of one,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.”What they did offer was theatre: enough ‘progress’ for Trump to declare victory and quietly holster his double-barreled threat — tariffs on Beijing for buying Russian barrels and sanctions on Moscow’s crude,” Innes said.Before the Alaska talks, US stocks wavered on Friday after mixed economic data, with retail sales up but an industrial production index and a consumer survey both down.Oil prices, which have been volatile for several days — Russia is a major crude producer — fell back on Monday, adding to a drop on Friday.Japan’s Nikkei was up, posting a new record high and adding to gains on Friday after better-than-expected economic growth data.The Hang Seng, Shanghai, and Sydney were also higher while Taipei fell back.This week investor eyes will be on any clues on US interest rates at the Federal Reserve’s annual retreat at Jackson Hole.- Key figures at around 0130 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 43,678.12Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 25,293.34Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,704.76New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 44,946.12 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 9,138.90 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1699 from $1.1704 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN $1.3556 at from $1.3557Dollar/yen: UP at 147.47 yen from 146.85 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.30 pence from 86.34 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $62.69 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $65.65 per barrelburs-stu/fox

Stock markets wavered on Friday as investors digested mixed American economic data and monitored a landmark US-Russia summit aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.In choreographed drama, US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin each arrived in their presidential jets and greeted one another on the tarmac of a US air base, before walking a red carpet together to an honor guard salute.Trump, setting off for the Alaska meeting with Putin, had described his Russian counterpart as a “smart guy” and hailed a “good respect level” on both sides.The possibility of an end to a conflict that Putin began in 2022 had put the markets in optimistic mood, analysts said, although oil prices had been volatile owing to Russia’s status as a major producer and uncertainty over the summit’s outcome.After rallying about two percent on Thursday, oil prices gave back most of those gains Friday.Wall Street stocks finished mostly lower following a mixed round of economic data.London and Frankfurt ended lower while Paris rallied to finish in positive territory. Tokyo’s main stocks index extended a record-run higher following Japanese economic growth data that beat expectations.US retail sales climbed 0.5 percent in July to $726.3 billion from June, in line with analyst expectations and a solid performance after numerous tariff announcements by Trump.But the Federal Reserve’s index for industrial production edged down in July, while the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey fell for the first time in four months.Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers said Friday’s reports amounted to a “difficult combination” of data that the market took in stride.”When the news is good, (stocks) react really positively,” he said. “And when the news isn’t good, they just go down a little.”Trump continued his tariff campaign on Friday, saying he would soon announce massive import duties on semiconductors.Shares in chip giants Nvidia and AMD were down following the news.Markets were also waiting for the Trump-Putin meeting, with Russia’s foreign minister saying his country would not make guesses on the outcome.Putin, landing in Alaska, stepped onto Western soil for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a war that has killed tens of thousands of people.Every word and gesture will be closely watched by European leaders and by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not invited and has publicly refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia.- Key figures at around 1540 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 44,946.12 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 at 6,449.80 (close)New York – Nasdaq: DOWN 0.4 percent at 21,622.98 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 9,138.90 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,923.45 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,539.30 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.7 percent at 43,378.31 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.0 percent at 25,264.47 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 3,696.77 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1704 from $1.1648 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3557 from $1.3532 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 146.85 yen from 147.76Euro/pound: UP at 86.34 pence from 86.07 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.8 percent at $62.80 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.5 percent at $65.85 per barrelburs-jmb/mlm

Outside Havana, a combine belonging to a private Vietnamese company is harvesting rice, directly farming Cuban land — in a first — to help address acute food shortages in the country.  The Cuban government has granted Agri VAM, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s Fujinuco Group, 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of arable land in Los Palacios, 118 kilometers (73 miles) west of the capital.Vietnam has advised Cuba on rice cultivation in the past but this is the first time a private firm has done the farming itself.The government approved the move after a 52 percent plunge in overall agricultural production between 2018 and 2023, according to data from the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy at the University of Havana. The rice numbers are even worse. Total rice production dropped from 300,000 tons in 2018 to 55,000 tons in 2021, in the depths of the COVID pandemic. The number is slowly recovering, authorities say. Rice is a staple of the local diet, with Cubans consuming 60 kilos (132 pounds) of rice per person per year. – Promising yields and daunting obstacles -During a media visit to its rice fields in May, an Agri VAM representative said the harvest yield to date is seven tons per hectare, “but we want more.”  That number dwarfs the ton and a half yield-per-hectare of Cuban growers.Vietnam experienced the kind of food shortages that Cuba is going through now, in the 1980s. Today, the Southeast Asian country is the world’s third exporter of rice and a valued consultant to other rice-growing nations.”The climate and the temperature are very good for agriculture,” but Cuban growers lack necessary farming products such as fertilizers, the Agri VAM representative told reporters.Though Agri VAM can import some materials, it faces other obstacles such as fuel shortages, transportation problems and frozen assets, Cuban economist Omar Everleny Perez and other sources with knowledge of the situation told AFP.Agri VAM and other foreign firms in Cuba may be making profits but “they cannot transfer them abroad because the banks have no liquidity, no foreign currency,” Perez said.An independent Cuban media outlet, 14ymedio, recently published excerpts of a letter dated in May, in which Agri VAM asked the Cuban government to unfreeze $300,000 in its account at state-owned International Financing Bank. Vietnam’s state press in May quoted deputy agriculture minister Nguyen Quoc Tri asking the government in Havana “to eliminate investment barriers that Vietnamese companies encounter.” AFP contacted Agri VAM and Cuban officials but got no response.- Foreign investment: badly needed -Cuba is mired in an acute economic crisis and desperately in need of foreign investment. Vietnam and other allies have shown interest.In July, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz announced that Havana was taking measures “to energize foreign investment” as he authorized “wholly foreign-owned companies” in the hotel sector. After three years of promises, Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Chernyshenko announced in May that Russian businesses want to invest $1 billion in Cuba. Moscow will give them preferential financing rates, he said.But he cautioned that there is “still hard work to be done” and said it is “impossible to achieve things immediately, as if by magic.”