China Economy Forum

[sweetgrape]

首台AP1000核电站环形起重机制造完工
First AP1000 Nuclear power plant polar crane was completed.

??AP1000????????????---?????????

12月14日，山西太重集团首台AP1000核电站环形起重机制造完工验收仪式在太重集团举行。据了解，AP1000环形起重机配套服务于AP1000第三代核电站，能够满足核电站内一体化堆顶组件、堆内构件的调运。AP1000环吊的起升机构采用X—SAM超级安全系统，能够降低操作人员的工作难度，提高效率。环吊的桥架具有726t承载能力，是目前国际上承载能力最大的环形起重机。新华社记者 詹彦 摄


December 14, Shanxi Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group Co.,LTD celebrate the completion of first polar crane for AP1000 nuclear power plant. it is reported that, the polar crane will serve AP1000 3rd Generation Nuclear power plant, it will meet the need of the moving of intergrated equipment inside and outside reactor. the crane adopt X-SAM super safety system, which will reduce the difficulty of operating and increase the efficiency. the polar crane have hoist capacity of 726 ton, which is the polar crane that have the biggest hoist capacity in present world. Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhan Yanshe

 

[yusheng]

Chinese space probe flies by asteroid Toutatis


12-15-2012 08:58 BJT

Special Report:Chang’e 2- Journey to the Moon |


BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's space probe Chang'e-2 has successfully conducted a maneuver in which it flew by the asteroid Toutatis, about seven million km away from the Earth.

Travelling in deep space, Chang'e-2 made the flyby on Dec. 13 at 16:30:09 Beijing Time (08:30"09 GMT), the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) announced on Saturday.

The flyby was the first time an unmanned spacecraft launched from Earth has taken such a close viewing of the asteroid, named after a Celtic god.

It also made China the fourth country after the United States, the European Union and Japan to be able to examine an asteroid by spacecraft.

Chang'e-2 came as close as 3.2 km from Toutatis and took pictures of the asteroid at a relative velocity of 10.73 km per second, the SASTIND said in a statement.

Sources with the administration told Xinhua that Chang'e-2 is continuing its deep space travel and will reach a distance of more than 10 million km away from Earth in January next year.

Chang'e-2 was launched on Oct. 1, 2010 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center and later orbited the moon to finish a more extensive probe than its predecessor Chang'e-1.

Chang'e-2 left its lunar orbit for an extended mission to the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrangian point on June 9, 2011, after finishing its lunar objectives, which collected data for a complete lunar map.

The probe departed from L2 this year and began its mission to Toutatis.

"The success of the extended missions also embodies that China now possesses spacecraft capable of interplanetary flight," said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar probe program.

Chang'e-2's extended missions, which were conducted millions of km away from Earth, have tested China's spacecraft tracking and control network, including two newly built measuring and control stations in the northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and northeast Heilongjiang province, according to the SASTIND.

Related stories
China is scheduled to send Chang´e - 3 next year 2012-10-11

China to launch Chang' e-3 in 2013 2012-07-31

 

[shuttler]

Dear Shuttler,

Could you please tell me what is the price of A95 benzin in China's gas stattions in average in EUR/USD? I have an argue about it
Thanks in advance.

Check this out. 【油价查询|今日油价查询-全国90_93_97_0号油价最新趋势】-易车网

 

[cirr]

PetroChina in shale gas partnership with Encana

Updated: 2012-12-15 02:32

By DU JUAN ( China Daily)

PetroChina Co Ltd, Asia's biggest oil producer, will partner with Canadian company Encana Corp to develop a shale gas project in Alberta, in another major investment by a Chinese company in Canada.

Less than a week after CNOOC Ltd's $15.1 billion purchase of energy producer Nexen Inc was approved by Ottawa, natural gas giant Encana said on Thursday that PetroChina will pay C$2.18 billion ($2.14 billion) for a non-controlling 49.9 percent stake in Encana's Duvernay field, a promising shale gas formation in Alberta, which also has other resources.

"Shale gas development needs a large amount of capital investment, which makes it a good time to invest in an energy field in Canada. That country is working hard to develop its energy exploration to boost the economy," said Wang Ruiqi, an analyst at energy information consultancy ICIS C1 Energy.

The Chinese company's investment enables Encana to accelerate the pace at which the full production potential of the Duvernay field can be achieved, said Randy Eresman, president and chief executive officer of Encana.

The companies said that C$1 billion will be paid over the next four years to help Encana pay for the development costs of the project, which the Canadian company estimates to have reserves of about 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent petroleum. During this period, the joint venture partners will invest a total of C$4 billion in new drilling and processing facilities.

Encana expects to more than double its planned pace of development in the Duvernay field in early 2013.

Earlier this week, PetroChina bought the mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd's stake in a liquefied natural gas project in Australia for $1.63 billion. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of next year.

PetroChina is boosting its acquisitions overseas to meet the increasing domestic demand for natural gas, Wang said.

"However, neither of the two agreements involving PetroChina announced this week mentioned the productionsharing details, which makes the two projects' exact contribution to China's energy supply unclear," Wang added.

As the country's energy consumption grows rapidly, Chinese companies are expected to accelerate their gas-related acquisitions overseas to own more exploration rights and reserves.

"Chinese and foreign oil and gas giants are investing more in the gas sector than in the oil sector because gas is profitable and environmentally friendly," said Wang.

The Chinese natural gas market has huge potential, said Peter Voser, Shell's chief executive officer, during an earlier interview with China Daily.

Wang Hui, an analyst at chem365.net, an online information provider for the petrochemical industry, said: "As an energy company with most of its assets in Asia, PetroChina has to look for more assets in other parts of the world to become diversified."

PetroChina in shale gas partnership with Encana<br/> |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn

 

[Audio]

Until now, Beijing&#8217;s monthly import and export numbers have been considered absolutely reliable, yet there is growing evidence to suggest that in recent months they have been distorted by fabricated transactions.
Especially suspect are the export figures for this September and October. China&#8217;s exports for September soared 9.9% year-on-year. In the following month, they jumped 11.6%. For many observers, the September number signaled the beginning of the long-awaited recovery of the Chinese economy. The September-October period is now beginning to look like an anomaly from the baseline, represented by the more-typical August and November figures. In fact, the numbers for August and November look remarkably similar. In August, exports increased 2.7%. In November, they were up 2.9%. Imports, always a key sign of growth, fell 2.6% in August. In November, they were unchanged.

China's Recent Trade Statistics Have Been Artificially Inflated - Forbes

The article insinuates that the recent flurry of activity driving Chinese growth and improving economic indicators were all a consequence of government stimulus pushed through banks who were forced to give credit. All of this for a smooth transition.

 

[Kolaps]

China's Recent Trade Statistics Have Been Artificially Inflated - Forbes[/url]

The article insinuates that the recent flurry of activity driving Chinese growth and improving economic indicators were all a consequence of government stimulus pushed through banks who were forced to give credit. All of this for a smooth transition.

I probably will believe that if it's not said by Gordon Chang.

 

[Type 055]

China's Recent Trade Statistics Have Been Artificially Inflated - Forbes

The article insinuates that the recent flurry of activity driving Chinese growth and improving economic indicators were all a consequence of government stimulus pushed through banks who were forced to give credit. All of this for a smooth transition.

when I saw who wrote the article, I immediately stopped reading.

 

[terranMarine]

when I saw who wrote the article, I immediately stopped reading.

LOL, point the link without clicking on it

 

[Audio]

The People's Bank of China's (PBOC) fourth quarter survey of economic expectations, published on Tuesday, saw a jump in the number of bankers anticipating monetary easing in Q1 2013, even as recent hard data shows a mild rebound taking hold in Q4.

China's exports growth in November slowed sharply to 2.9 percent, much lower than the 9.0 percent expected and far behind October's 11.6 percent pace, underscoring the global headwinds dragging on an economy showing otherwise signs of a pick-up in domestic activity.

Despite efforts to rebalance the economy towards domestic consumption, exports generated 31 percent of gross domestic product in 2011, World Bank data shows, and supported an estimated 200 million jobs.

External risks impede China recovery, more easing seen | Reuters

Basically what Gordon Chang described in his article, just from another, independent source. None of you find it slightly suspicious exports "picked up" when the CCP was switching people?
Why am i asking, right, 50c says you dont find anything suspicious in China.

In a bid to attract more FDI (which has been falling on a year to year basis), your Central Bank even loosened the limits for investing.

Chinese stock markets on Friday had their biggest single-day jump since 2009, which some analysts attributed to expectations of further relaxation of rules on foreign investment in stocks.

Others, however, offered alternative explanations for the unusual jump, such as behind-the-scenes share buybacks by state-owned entities trying to engineer a rebound for the end of the year.

China lets foreign sovereigns, central banks exceed $1 billion investment limit | Reuters

Can you say ponzi scheme with me! effin' bots lol. feel free to laugh it off, not much you can argue against anyhow.

 

[shuttler]

Shanghai car license plate costs on the rise


China Daily

December 17, 2012

Strong demand among urbanites and regulations to ease congestion drive up prices

Getting a car license plate in Shanghai costs almost as much as buying an economy family car, and industry insiders predict prices will continue to rise.

The city's monthly number plate auction on Saturday saw a record-high average bid of 69,346 yuan ($11,000), up 3.58 percent from November, authorities said. The lowest transaction was 68,900 yuan, also a record.

The cost of the plate is roughly the same as the cost of a Yaris, one of Toyota best-selling family cars.

Winning bids in January's auction were about 53,195 yuan, a sum that has climbed throughout the year, with the exception of a slight drop in June and July.

A strong demand among urbanites to own a car, and government regulations to ease traffic congestion, are believed to be the two main drivers pushing up the price of the license plates.

"It's by far the most effective congestion charge," said Feng Shiming, an automobile market analyst, as he compared traffic jams in Shanghai with other Chinese cites such as Guangzhou and Beijing.

"To ease the problem of the growing number of vehicles on the roads and the limited traveling space through price restrictions may sound unfair, but it's better than the (lottery) system in Beijing, and has been proved effective," Feng said.

Residents in Shanghai spend an average of 47 minutes commuting to work, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences' latest China Urbanization Report.

The time is one minute less than Guangzhou and five minutes less than Beijing.

Shanghai was the first city to introduce an auction to control plate supply, while in Beijing car plates are distributed through a lottery system. Guangzhou introduced a system similar to Shanghai's earlier this year.

The car plate quota in December was 9,300, the lowest in six months, while the Shanghai Urban Construction and Communications Commission said it plans to further reduce the annual quota of car plates to below 100,000 because of the "limited traffic space downtown", convincing many that the price of car plates will continue to rise.

"Buying a car is just a matter of sooner or later," said Jiang Weichang, 60, who recently retired from a Shanghai factory. "Since the price keeps going up, it's better now than later."

Having just invested 100,000 yuan in a brand new Buick, he said he is trying to decide between a Shanghai car plate and one from a neighboring province, which could save him tens of thousands of yuan.

"I bought a new car mainly to take my wife and parents for short trips, as I have lots of time after retirement," said Jiang, who said the regulation banning car plates registered outside Shanghai on highways during rush hours will have little effect on him.

A survey by Mercer Consulting, the world's largest human resource consulting firm based in New York, found that in 2012 Shanghai topped all Chinese mainland cities in salary growth rate &#8212; 9.1 percent &#8212; while the automobile industry, among other sectors, achieved the biggest salary jump &#8212; 9.7 percent.

Jiefang Daily reported that Mercer attributed the increase to the "full-speed development" and "brisk sales" of the domestic automobile market.

 

[shuttler]

Electricity consumption reaches record high in Nov

Updated: 2012-12-18 14:27
By Du Juan ( chinadaily.com.cn)

China's electricity consumption, an important barometer of the country's economic activity, reached 413.9 billion kilowatt-hours in November, up 7.6 percent year-on-year and a record high in 2012, according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The commission said on Monday that this is the first time that all provinces and autonomous regions in the country saw a growth in power consumption since April, which means that China's economy is warming up.

The country's electricity consumption increased 5.1 percent in the first 11 months compared with last year.

The western area of the country consumed 109.4 billion kilowatt-hours in November, up 11.8 percent year-on-year. The area's growth rate is higher than in eastern and central China.



dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn

China claims biggest global silver market

Updated: 2012-12-18 13:46
By Wu Yiyao in Shanghai ( China Daily)

China has become the world's biggest silver market, according to an industry report, both as a physical investment and in paper trading of silver futures and other similar products.

The Washington-based Silver Institute said total silver demand in China increased by more than 100 million ounces, or Moz, in the past 10 years, to a record of 170.7 Moz in 2011.

China has been liberalizing its silver market since the start of 2000, creating more investment channels for buyers and sellers of silver.

In 2009, the country started offering investors the chance to buy silver bullion bars, and within two years the net demand for silver bars and coins soared to 17 million Moz, equivalent to some $600 million, making up 8 percent of global net purchases, said the report, compiled by Thomson Reuters GFMS.

In May this year, the Shanghai Futures Exchange began trading silver contracts with a standard trading unit of 15 kilograms and a daily price limit of 5 percent of either side of the previous day's settlement price.

Its goal was to provide Chinese market participants with direct market access, and give them the capability of hedging domestically. Regulators also expressed hopes the silver futures contracts would ease price volatility and provide a pricing mechanism.

According to the report, the first five months' trading saw total volumes of 17.436 Moz through to the end of November.

With an average daily turnover of 123.7 Moz, the Shanghai exchange has already become an important commodity exchange for global silver futures trading, second only to Comex in New York.

The report added that an increasing number of commercial banks are now offering silver brokerage services to clients, and many wealth management service providers are including silver in client portfolios.

"Compared to gold, silver presents more volatility and is a more leveraged choice," said Chen Bin, a wealth manger with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

China's share of global silver supply stood at 14 percent at the end of 2011, tripling from 94.2 Moz in 2002 to 281.5 Moz in 2011, according to the report.

Its share with global silver demand had hit 17 percent by the end of 2011, rising from 67.1 Moz in 2002 to 170.7 Moz, a 154 percent increase, the report said.

It added that driven by the country's manufacturing sector and heavy investment in infrastructure, fabrication demand for silver in China has increased by more than 82.4 Moz in the past decade to 159.5 Moz.

During the same period, industrial silver fabrication in China has experienced an almost uninterrupted period of growth, posting a 135 percent increase.

The electrical and electronics sector, driven by its semi-conductor industry, contributed the largest share of the country's industrial silver demand, rising from 17.1 Moz in 2002 to 40 Moz in 2011.

During that year, industrial applications accounted for 56 percent of the total fabrication demand across the country, which was 159.5 Moz, mainly from cell phone and computer production.

A strong demand for silver also came from makers of personal electronics goods, including tablet computers and light emitting diode backlit televisions.

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[shuttler]

BYD to make electric buses in US

Updated: 2012-12-18 11:17
By Li Fangfang ( China Daily)


Plans call for a California plant that will build up to 100 vehicles in 2014, 500 in '15

The Chinese battery and electric vehicle producer BYD Co Ltd will establish its first wholly owned manufacturing plant overseas in 2013, going to the United States to produce electric buses, a company executive has said.

An electric car produced by BYD Co Ltd is exhibited at an auto fair in Detroit, the United States. The company will establish its first wholly owned overseas manufacturing plant in the US in 2013, a company executive has said. [Zhang Jun / Xinhua]

BYD - K9 Electric Bus

The factory will be in California, in an exact location to be announced in March or April, Xinhua News Agency cited Li Ke, BYD senior vice-president, as saying.

Speaking in Los Angeles, Li said the Warren Buffett-backed company will put the plant into operation in 2013 and will be able to produce 50 to 100 buses there in 2014.


"Starting in 2015, the production capacity will exceed 500 vehicles."

Li said managerial and other positions at the plant will be filled with local residents, but some of the parts and production lines used there will come from China.

BYD's K9 electric buses, which have already passed road tests, will carry a price of $550,000 to $600,000 each. They will come to the US market in March and first be used at Apple Inc's headquarters in Cupertino, California; at Los Angeles International Airport; and at Stanford University, said Li.

The Shenzhen-based company last week signed a joint venture agreement with a Bulgarian company to set up its first factory to assemble electric vehicles in the East European country.

Situated near the country's capital, Sofia, the plant will mostly produce electric cars and buses. Starting in February, it will roll out 50 to 60 of the company's K9 electric buses each month, said Alexander Usachev, CEO of BYD's Bulgarian partner Bulmineral Ltd.

The operation will be further expanded by adding BYD batteries and LED lights to the products made there.

The move to Bulgaria comes as a result of BYD's ambition to use local production to bring its electric buses to more European countries. The company has signed agreements to export the vehicles to the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark.

Besides Europe, BYD also has agreements with local governments in Singapore, Uruguay, Canada and the US over the use of its buses in public transportation.


According to electric vehicle geographic forecasts recently released by the US-based market research and consulting firm Pike Research, California will remain the main market for electric vehicles in the US in the next eight years. After that time, 25 percent of the electric vehicles sold in the country are expected to be sold in that state.

By the same date, the number of electric vehicles sold in California's main cities is expected to make up 4.5 percent of all of the passenger vehicles purchased in the state. For the US market as a whole, the current comparable figure is 1 percent.

Analysts said local government policies in California will help BYD establish a presence in the state.

In China from 2010 to 2011, BYD saw its sales slump from 520,000 vehicles to 448,500 vehicles. And the company's passenger vehicle business remained mired in the first half of this year, showing an 11 percent year-on-year sales decline.

But its electric vehicle business, especially its buses and taxis used in "green" public transportation, has started to show signs of improvement.

The Shenzhen government recently said 50 percent of the buses in the southern city will be powered by new sources of energy by 2015, and all of the taxis there will be electric cars by the same year.

Analysts said those changes will help BYD, the dominant player in the city's electric public transportation industry, collect 36.5 billion yuan ($5.85 billion) in additional revenue in the next three to five years, an amount equal to 75 percent of its total revenue for 2011.

The city plans to add 8,000 energy buses and 15,000 electric taxis to its fleet in the next three to five years.

lifangfang@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[Type 055]

Damn we are already the largest market for platinum, palladium and silver. We have a good chance of being largest gold market too. Then we would be the largest market for all 4 major precious metals. Rise of China is unstoppable. This is definitely our century.

 

[shuttler]

Damn we are already the largest market for platinum, palladium and silver. We have a good chance of being largest gold market too. Then we would be the largest market for all 4 major precious metals. Rise of China is unstoppable. This is definitely our century.

The road ahead is still bumpy as we cannot be staying clear of the troubles in other parts of the world.

The base of these coaches is very low - good for maintaining stability but it cant run well on rough roads!

 

[Kolaps]

Compare to mainland China, Taiwan look stagnant.

Our current government is idiot! BIG BIG IDIOT!