BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gasoline price gap unchanged
Advertiser Staff
The gap between O'ahu's average prices for retail regular gasoline and wholesale regular gasoline remained unchanged at 29 cents a gallon during the week ended Oct. 29, the state Public Utilities Commission reported this week.
Lawmakers mandated the disclosure in hopes it will discourage unfair pricing after the suspension of controversial gasoline price caps in May 2006.
The average retail price before taxes held steady at $2.54 a gallon, while the average wholesale price remained unchanged at $2.25.
The PUC's average wholesale price has been criticized as inaccurate and inflated because it combines different types of wholesale transactions into one price.
Under the program, oil companies must file monthly and weekly reports disclosing in some cases crude oil costs, wholesale prices, gross margins and other figures.
HAWTEL TV BID DEADLINE EXTENDED
A state deadline to decide whether Hawai'i's major telephone company can offer television services has been delayed until Jan. 31.
The prior deadline was Dec. 31. Hawaiian Telcom requested the extension — its 15th.
Hawaiian Telcom is seeking a cable franchise license from the state, which would give the company the right to offer video service in Honolulu over its phone lines. The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is reviewing the company's application.
Hawaiian Telcom has said it plans to launch the Internet-based television service in the first half of 2008. The service would compete with Oceanic Time Warner Cable.
The two already compete for telephone customers. Oceanic in 2005 began offering telephone service to customers over its cable network.
HOKU SIGNS $306M POLYSILICON DEAL
Kapolei-based Hoku Scientific Inc. announced a new agreement to supply Solarfun Power Holdings Co. with polysilicon, a material used in making solar cells.
The deal is worth up to $306 million, with the first shipments set for the second half of 2009.
Since June, Hoku has signed polysilicon supply contracts that could be worth more than $1.5 billion through 2019, including an agreement with Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. that could reach $678 million.
Hoku, which is building a polysilicon plant in Idaho, also has contracts with Solar-Fabrik AG and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. Shipments to each company will begin in 2009.
Cowen & Co. analyst Rob Stone said buyers are gaining confidence in Hoku, which is already planning to expand the capacity of the Idaho plant.
"The fact that Hoku was able to secure an expansion-phase contract, in addition to deals already in place with Sanyo, Suntech, Solar-Fabrik, suggests that customers view the Hoku plant as a credible source of future poly supply," he said.
SHIPMENTS OF CEMENT TO ISLES FALL
Shipments of finished portland cement to Hawai'i fell 9.2 percent in October compared to a year earlier, indicating a slowing of the state's construction industry.
The decline compared with the average 3.7 percent drop for the nation as a whole, according to U.S. Geological Survey data cited by Bloomberg News.
Cement is the basic ingredient in concrete, mortar and stucco, and shipments are an indicator of construction activity.
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