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The world's hottest stock market is in China - Apr. 2, 2015

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German institute's patent analysis shows China's lead in Industry 4.0 technology
Xinhua, April 1, 2015

The first paper of a research project revealed on Monday that China has now far outstripped the United States and Germany when it comes to patents for basic technologies of Industry 4.0.

According to the German Fraunhofer Institute of Labor Economics and Organization (IAO), part of its China TechWatch research project involves analyzing developments in Chinese technology.

As the IAO summed up, China is an attractive market for solution providers of Industry 4.0, a term for the technological concepts of cyber-physical systems.

Since 2013, Chinese inventors have filed over 2,500 patents in this field, putting China way ahead of the United States (1,065 patents) and Germany (441), as more than 300 Chinese companies and research institutes have applied patents on Industry 4.0 technologies.

China is not only ahead in terms of the number of patents, but has also developed highly innovative inventions, said the paper.

As it showed, China is moving towards advanced technological fields, from a centralized control system to intelligent, decentralized and self-adaptive control.

In March of this year, the Chinese government announced a new strategic program "Made in China 2025," aimed specifically at promoting Industry 4.0 technologies.

This should grab the attention of the local industry in Germany, said Fraunhofer IAO, adding that China has been working hard on the technologies that underpin the fourth industrial revolution for years now.

The challenge facing Western companies is to identify high-quality inventions without spending undue time and money, as Fraunhofer IAO pointed out.
 
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Pirelli eyes growth, clean tech with ChemChina
Xinhua, April 4, 2015

Industrial business and clean technology are the plans in the mind of Pirelli CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera days after the signing of an agreement that paves the way for China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina)'s takeover of the Italian tiremaker.

In a recent interview with Xinhua held at the headquarters of 140-year-old Pirelli in Milan, Tronchetti Provera highlighted the strategic value of the operation.

"It is an agreement between ChemChina and Camfin (the holding company that controls Pirelli) based on cooperation in the industrial tire business," the CEO told Xinhua.

He predicted a solid future with the Chinese partner, adding he does not see the possibility that other players could join.

"We chose each other because of a common interest," Tronchetti Provera went on saying. He said ChemChina has a strong presence in China but needs higher level of technology to keep pace with the market's rapid development. On the other side, Pirelli has the technology and a global footprint.

As a result of the takeover, Pirelli, that is focused on the premium segment with 20 percent of market share, will double its capacity in the industrial business.

"We will become a global player able to face competition in the next years and deliver advanced technology to China," he said.

"I see that we can accelerate the process of innovation of products in China and also create a new business model based on retreading of the tires to have the carcasses last 130,000 km instead than 40,000 km," the CEO elaborated.

"That means that we deliver environment-friendly and less costly products to fleets, and create new jobs, Tronchetti Provera, who based on the agreement will remain CEO of Pirelli until 2021, explained to Xinhua.

"I think ChemChina is the right partner to guarantee the independent future of Pirelli," he pointed out.

In fact Pirelli used to be a takeover target with "big eyes around that could have had an interest in buying and splitting the company," he noted. "With ChemChina we will have a business model that is more sound," he insisted.

The agreement was the fruit of a dialogue with ChemChina that first started three years ago.

"We shared our views on the future of our industry. But at the time there were some complexities so we did not go ahead. Then we met again last October. We restarted talking and we shared the same vision, we imagined how to build this venture," the CEO recalled.

The experience was no doubt positive.

"I had the chance to meet an entrepreneur, Ren Jianxin (Chairman of ChemChina) who has a really modern, updated approach to economy. I saw a very open China that wants to be part of the global world ... I saw that all what we agreed was consistent with the outcome of our agreement," he said.

In response to the concern expressed in Italy for the latest in a series of acquisitions by Chinese investors in recent years, Tronchetti Provera called on his beloved home country to seizing the opportunities brought by global flows of capital.

"I think in the last decades our leaders did not see as a priority to have the industrial structure of the country becoming sounder and bigger. In Italy there was the myth that small is beautiful, I can say that big is even better because also provides opportunities to small companies," he noted.

In his view, Italy has to be able to keep and protect its know-how and human resources but at the same time provide large access to foreign capital.

"I can say that in my experience the approach of a Chinese State-owned company has been very fair ... ChemChina has been respectful of our roots and technology and has helped guaranteeing that the technology will remain within Pirelli and the headquarters in Italy," he underlined.

"We have been able to combine the priorities of both groups and are working hard at the same side of the table willing to build a better future both for ChemChina and Pirellib ... so it is a win-win cooperation and this approach I think can be replicated in other cases," he concluded.
 
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China deposit insurance paves way for deregulation of interest rates

Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, told reporters last month that China could remove the cap on bank deposit rates — the last remaining domestic interest rate subject to administrative regulation — by the end of this year.

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Deposit insurance lays the foundation for freeing up rates by ensuring that savers are protected even if competition for deposits leads to excessive risk-taking and bank failure. The People’s Bank of China said deposits up to Rmb500,000 ($80,600) would be insured.

“Deposit insurance is a precondition for interest-rate liberalisation. The implementation of the system means rate liberalisation is speeding up,” said Tao Wang, greater China economist at UBS in Hong Kong.

Economists say lifting the cap on bank deposit rates will lead to higher interest rates as banks compete for funds. That should improve capital allocation as lenders seek out more productive borrowers able to afford higher rates, including small, privately owned businesses that have long struggled to obtain bank loans.

The PBoC was widely expected to launch deposit insurance last year but bankers say behind the scenes wrangling led to delays. Larger banks resisted a structure that would have forced them to pay a disproportionate share of insurance premiums, in effect subsidising smaller lenders that are most likely to fail.

The details of the system largely match those of a draft plan released in late November last year. Analysts said at the time that the Rmb500,000 limit would fully cover about 98 per cent of Chinese depositors, though the large share of deposit funds held by wealthy savers means that would still leave a significant chunk of the banking system’s Rmb126tn in deposits uninsured.

Citing the experience of other countries, the International Monetary Fund has previously said that the rollout of deposit insurance could lead to deposit outflows from smaller banks, as it highlights bank failure as a realistic possibility and explicitly defines some deposits as unprotected.

Almost all Chinese banks are state-owned, and domestic savers have traditionally viewed all bank deposits as carrying an implicit government guarantee.

In reality, even with deposit insurance in place, analysts remain sceptical that China’s government — with its focus on financial and social stability — would allow a bank failure. A series of technical defaults on risky high-yield debt has been permitted in recent years, but in each case the government ended up bailing out retail investors.

The PBoC added that it could adjust the insurance limit if economic conditions change. The central bank will manage the deposit insurance fund, which can invest in government bonds, central bank bills, and other high-rated bonds.

Additional reporting by Ma Nan in Shanghai

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/71061e08-d78b-11e4-94b1-00144feab7de.html#axzz3WOvHCIUq
 
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China's transport investment surges 17% in Jan.-Feb.
Xinhua, April 4, 2015

China invested 176.3 billion yuan (28.7 billion U.S. dollars) on construction of railways, roads and waterways in the first two months of 2015, up 16.9 percent year on year, latest data revealed.

In break-up, railways investment during the period hit 46.2 billion yuan, up 8.2 percent; roads investment stood at 116.4 billion yuan, up 15.9 percent while waterways investment reached 13 billion yuan, up 85.5 percent year on year, according to data released Friday by the Ministry of Transport.

The ministry said the sharp rise in waterway investment in the first two months was due to a low base in the same period last year.

The data also showed that the nation's railways, roads, and waterways recorded 3.67 billion passenger trips in the Jan.-Feb. period, down 2.9 percent year on year. The ministry did not specify reasons to the decline, but said road trips declined the most, dropping 3.5 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the volume of freight transport during the period hit 5.96 billion tonnes, up 9.2 percent year on year, the data showed.
 
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Apple has stolen the No. 1 spot in smartphone sales in urban China from local rival Xiaomi, according to market researcher Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

For the three months that ended in February, Apple's iPhone 6 was the top selling phone in urban China with a market share of 10.2 percent, up from 9.5 percent for the prior three months. The iPhone 6 Plus was the third best-selling phone just behind Xiaomi's Android-based RedMi Note in second place. With the two new iPhones as well as older models selling robustly in China, Apple jumped to the top spot with 27.6 percent market share overall, Kantar said Wednesday.

As the world's largest smartphone market with almost 520 million users, China is prime territory for Apple and other mobile phone vendors. Apple aggressively pursued deals with China's three major mobile carriers, including top carrier China Mobile, to bring the iPhone to the country. China-based smartphone rivals, such as Xiaomi, have typically held the upper hand by offering high-quality phones at low prices. So Apple's rise in China is a clear sign of the appeal of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

"There has been a strong appetite for Apple's products in urban China seen since the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and this has continued into Chinese New Year," Kantar Worldpanel research chief Carolina Milanesi said in a statement. "China Mobile's subscribers accounted for 59 percent of the 27.6 percent volume share recorded by iOS in the latest period."

Apple also made some headway against Android in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Over the three months ended in February, Apple's smartphone market share climbed by 2.9 points in those five countries, while Android's share fell by the same amount. Still, Google's Android OS by far remained the dominant platform with a 67.6 percent share compared with Apple's 20.9 percent.

"In Great Britain, as Samsung prepared the channel for the arrival of the new flagships Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, sales of the Galaxy S5 grew slightly over the previous period and captured 8.7 percent of smartphone sales, keeping this model as the second best selling smartphone after the iPhone 6," according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe business unit director Dominic Sunnebo.

Consumers who chose the iPhone 6 cited such factors as the phone's reliability and durability and its attractive design. Those who opted for the Galaxy S5 pointed to its reliability and durability as well but also said it was a good deal based on the contract.

In the United States, Apple's smartphone share inched down to 38.8 percent for the three months that ended in February, compared with 39.3 percent during the same period last year. But the iPhone 6 was still the best selling iPhone across the US. Buyers of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 mentioned screen size as the No. 1 factor, followed closely by 4G LTE support. Among those who went for the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, 70 percent cited screen size as the top reason.

Apple takes smartphone crown in China - CNET
 
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I have both an iPhone 6(5500yuan) and Xiaomi4(2000yuan).
They are both excellent smartphones, I won't give up any of them.
And China being the biggest market of smartphone, all international brands and domestic brands can make a fortune, and best wishes for them.
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Just last month, my girl went to HongKong and bought a Iphone6 Plus/64G with 6,000+ RMB price ... she ever used a Iphone4 and have a XiaoMi-3 smartphone.

But me ... currently still using HuaWei. Girl only like Apple, why ?
 
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Just last month, my girl went to HongKong and bought a Iphone6 Plus/64G with 6,000+ RMB price ... she ever used a Iphone4 and have a XiaoMi-3 smartphone.

But me ... currently still using HuaWei. Girl only like Apple, why ?
Girls like Apple?
I think science & engineering nerds like Xiaomi, girls like huge-screen smartphone. :lol:
 
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China's 2014 exports total $2.343 trillion

China's Top 10 Exports - World's Top Exports

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US 2014 exports total $1.623 trillion

United States Top 10 Exports - World's Top Exports

"In 2014 exports from America amounted to US$1.623 trillion, up 27.1% since 2010."
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German 2014 exports total $1.28 trillion

German exports hit record high in 2014 | Business | DW.DE | 09.02.2015

"Germany exported a record 1.13 trillion euros ($1.28 trillion) worth of goods and services last year - 3.7 percent more than in 2013, according to figures released Monday by the country's statistics office, Destatis."
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Japanese 2014 exports total $0.691 trillion

Top Japan Exports

"...Japan was the world's number 4 exporter in 2014. Japan shipped US$691.2 billion worth of goods, down by 10.2% since 2010."
 
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