Bloomberg Chinese manufacturing activity rebounded strongly in March, signalling that the world’s second-largest economy is restarting just as it faces a growing threat from slumping external demand. For manufacturing, the official purchasing managers’ index rose to 52.0 this month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. That’s up from a record low of 35.7 ...

Bloomberg India’s coronavirus response has unwittingly done away with the endless paperwork that has come to define bureaucracy, as electronic files replace physical records and technology makes in-person meetings redundant. The Finance Ministry is practicing the government’s 21-day social distancing order to prevent the spread of coronavirus by moving all communication online, while keeping minimum staff on roster to attend ...

Bloomberg Indian Railways, the world’s fourth-biggest network, is converting at least 5,000 coaches into isolation wards amid fears the world’s most populous country after China may not have adequate infrastructure to deal with the pandemic. Mosquito nets and charging points for mobile phones and laptops have been fitted, and space has been created for paramedics, Indian Railways said in a ...

Bloomberg Indonesia plans to mobilize volunteers to fight the spread of coronavirus in coastal villages and the vast hinterlands of the archipelago with part of a $4.4 billion rural budget to be used to fund the initiative. The squads of volunteers will help authorities in increasing awareness about the pandemic in the country’s almost 75,000 villages, collect data on people ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong is warning residents to abide by home quarantine orders and social distancing regulations or they will face criminal prosecution and fines, as the Asian financial centre continues to battle a resurgence in imported coronavirus cases. The city has already caught more than 70 people violating some of the more than 50,000 home quarantine orders, sent them to ...

Bloomberg Japanese sellers of masks, toilet paper and other sanitary products are turning out to be rare beneficiaries of the coronavirus. Sales of masks, alcohol wipes and other healthcare products jumped by about 47% at Japanese drug stores, a record in trade ministry data going back to 2014. Outlays on daily necessities including toilet paper surged 31%, also a record. ...

Bloomberg Oil majors and traders are scrambling to book supertankers to try and divert a flood of American crude to Asia, betting the region is the best place to store the surplus while the market waits for a rebound. A dozen very large crude carriers are being sought to load from the US Gulf Coast over a 10-day period from ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s two largest fuel distributors declared force majeure on purchases of ethanol as the coronavirus pandemic hammers demand in Latin America’s largest economy. The Raizen venture owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Cosan SA sent a letter to suppliers invoking the clause for both anhydrous ethanol that’s blended in gasoline and the hydrous variety used directly in cars, ...

Bloomberg Pioneer Natural Resources Co and Parsley Energy Inc are asking Texas oil regulators for an emergency meeting to consider curbs on state output as a collapsing oil market envelops the nation’s biggest crude-producing state. Jointly signed by the chief executives of both companies, the letter seeks a virtual meeting among the three-member Texas Railroad Commission no later than April ...

Bloomberg What was meant to be a year that blew the wind energy industry well past its previous record for installations will more likely pass with gains that are merely solid. Developers are set to boost capacity by 9% this year to 66,422 megawatts, according BloombergNEF. That’s scaled back from the 24% expansion the London-based research arm of Bloomberg LP ...