Millions of Levi Strauss jeans - the real ones -- will likely be rolling out of Chinese factories next year for the first time since the company pulled out of the country in 1993. Privately owned Levi Strauss & Co of San Francisco, the world's largest brand-name apparel manufacturer, announced today it had perceived improvements in human rights in China and it plans to resume product sourcing operations there. The company quit manufacturing in China five years ago over human rights concerns at a time when demand for jeans there was soaring and China turned out a ;billion square yards (836 million sq metres) of denim a year, one third of global denim output.

But Levi is going back in its president and the chief operating officer, Mr Peter Jacobi, said in an interview. ``We think that in Asia it's crazy...not to be engaged with China,'' Jacobi said. ``We are going to re-engage in China for a number of reasons. One, we believe that the environment has improved to the pointthat we can operate consistent with what we are.''

S. Korea to OK foreign takeovers

South Korea will lift a ban on foreign hostile takeovers of domestic companies in the first half of this year, the finance ministry said. Hostile takeovers are virtually unheard of in South Korea, in part because they are considered unethical. Friendly takeovers through private contact with the owners have been the customs. ``By revising laws, the government is trying to promote or to support foreign investments through the current regulatory system,'' the ministry statement said. The drastic measures had been widely expected at some point in the future. The government had already allowed partial hostile takeovers by foreigners and was due to scrap the current 55 per cent of foreign shareholding limit this year. But the earlier-than-expected announcement was seen as a gesture to demonstrate to the global industry how well South Korea was implementing broad restructuring programmes mandated by the InternationalMonetary Fund.

Chrysler posts profits

Chrysler Corporation posted record first quarter earning of $1.052 billion, and the 2.2 per cent increase over the previous year exceeded analysts' expectations, the company said. Chrysler said over revenue rose 4.3 per cent to $16.8 billion from $16.1 billion last year. The company attributed the rise to cost savings, strong sales of New Durango, Intrepid and Concorde vehicles, and a lower tax rate. The first quarter 1998 earnings per share were $1.60, marking Chrysler's highest quarterly earnings paid per share ever.

``We're very pleased with our first-quarter results. Our performance this quarter shows that we can respond in a difficult environment and continue to move the company for ward, said Chrysler chairman Robert Eaton.

``We will continue to build momentum and are gratified to see the results of our cost reduction efforts.'' Chrysler is America's third largest automaker and it delivered 825,720 total units in the first, up from 781,239 a year ago.The one dark spot came overseas where Chrysler's international sales were down 9 per cent at 50,843 vehicles.