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Company wins $1.3M Air Force contract

Honolulu-based Commercial Data Systems has been awarded a $1.3 million contract to supply computer hardware and software for a program operated by the Air Force Services Agency.

The agency, based in San Antonio, manages the financing and maintenance of Air Force service clubs and recreational facilities.

A company spokesman said Commercial Data Systems' products will be used in the agency's Enterprise Resource Planning and Oracle financial applications and enable the new software to integrate with the agency's existing systems.

Best-selling author to give speech

Fons Trompenaars, a global management consultant and the author of an international best-selling book, will speak in Waikiki next week on "How Eastern Values are Transforming Western Business Practices -- Leveraging Cross-Cultural Competence for Business Performance."

Trompenaars' best seller, "Riding the Waves of Culture & 21 Leaders for the 21st Century," was awarded Book of the Year by the Order of Experts and Consultants on Organization and translated into 12 languages.

The lecture, co-sponsored by the Star-Bulletin, will be held Aug. 5 in the Tropics Showroom at Hilton Hawaiian Village.

The N.H. Paul Chung Memorial Lecture is held annually and features a distinguished speaker with expertise in international management. It is held in honor of the late Dr. Paul Chung, who founded the Pacific Asian Management Institute in 1977.

Tickets are $38 for the general public, $33 for students with a valid ID and free for University of Hawaii PAMI students, faculty and staff. The registration deadline is Monday. For information, call 956-8041, or register online at pami.hawaii.edu.

Housing prices set another record

The nation's roaring housing market set its second record in three months as sales of existing homes climbed 2.7 percent in June, to 7.33 million, according to a report released yesterday.

Low mortgage rates and strong demand drove the frenetic sales activity, which defied expectations that the market was starting to cool, at least in some of the hottest regions. The median price -- half the homes sold were more expensive, half were less expensive -- rose at nearly its highest annual pace in almost 25 years, 14.7 percent, to a record $219,000. It was just short of the April advance of 15.1 percent.

The report, from the National Association of Realtors, provides yet another sign that the housing market remains vibrant and is playing a big part in the nation's economic expansion. But it added to fears among some economists and policymakers that the boom might eventually turn into a bust in some locations.

Sugar output may not stem falling inventory

World sugar output may not rise fast enough next year to stem a decline in stockpiles as record oil prices prompt Brazil to make more ethanol from sugar cane, and Europe and Central America face smaller crops, F.O. Licht said.

Sugar prices have jumped 24 percent in the past year in New York after lower output in India and Thailand caused a global shortage of the sweetener, forcing users to dip into inventories.

Congress seeks delay in study of CNOOC bid

U.S. lawmakers agreed to order a review that may delay by 141 days a decision by the government on whether to allow CNOOC Ltd.'s $18.5 billion bid for Unocal Corp.

House and Senate negotiators from both parties agreed late yesterday to add a provision to an energy policy bill requiring the Department of Energy to prepare a study within 120 days on the effect China's energy demands will have on the United States. The Committee on Foreign Investment would then have to wait for 21 days before completing its review of CNOOC's bid.

Unocal's board voted last week to pass over CNOOC's cash offer in favor of an improved stock-and-cash bid from Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, worth $17.3 billion at yesterday's close. Unocal shareholders are scheduled to vote Aug. 10 on the agreement with Chevron.