China Economy Forum

[Sasquatch]

China scientists find ways to clean polluted soil

There are ways to clean heavy-metal-polluted soil, according scientists that attended a two-day forum in Beijing that ended Thursday.

A total of 300 soil scientists and ecology experts attended the 2012 Forum on Heavy Metal Soil Remediation and Ecological Restoration.

Chen Tongbin, researcher with Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources research under Chinese Academy of Sciences told Xinhua, "Heavy metals, different from organic pollutants, are non-biodegradable and can't be separated from the polluted soil."

"They can cause serious pollution to farmland and drinking water."

Chen's team is running a project to clean polluted soil in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region by using the Chinese fern, Pteris vittata L that has a strong capacity to extract arsenic from the soil.

They also cultivated a dozen more pollution-extracting plants, called "hyper-accumulators" that can ensure "soil recovery with lower costs and lower risks of secondary pollution," said Chen.

By inter-cropping with sugarcane and mulberry, Chen said his solution could bring a certain degree of profits for farmers.

Researchers from South China University of Technology have found new applications for maize straw aside from using it to make biomass energy.

"Agricultural castoff, like stalks, have many pores. It can be used to effectively absorb soil cadmium after modification," said Yang Chen, associate professor of environment sciences.

However, Wang Qi, a solid waste specialist from China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, said the heavy metal cleansing was a systematic project, requiring a combination of technologies covering all industry process.

"A single technology can be promising, but the after-treatment is always neglected by enterprises. The material absorbed with heavy metals tend to be simply buried, causing some potential risks," said Wang.

Chen's brake fern project has taken heavy metals recovery into account. "The fern reaped are to be incinerated to solidify the arsenic that can be recycled into industrial materials," Chen said.

China's 12th Five-Year Plan on environmental protection has urged efforts to carry out the cleansing of heavy-metal-polluted soil.

"The growing public awareness and the national policy over heavy metals could also bring a considerable market potential in soil repair," Chen said.

 

[Holmes]

China, Japan begin direct currency trading
SHANGHAI -- China and Japan started direct currency trading on Friday as Beijing marked another stage on its journey to foster the yuan's use internationally in line with its growing economic clout.

Market participants can now swap Japanese yen for Chinese yuan without having to use the U.S. dollar as an intermediary currency, making foreign trade settlement more convenient and cutting transaction costs.

The move comes as China, the world's second-largest economy just ahead of Japan, gradually moves to make the yuan freely convertible with an eye towards rivaling the mighty dollar, analysts said.

China maintains a tight grip on its currency, which is not convertible on the capital account, over fears that speculative flows could hurt its economy. That policy has long fostered trade tensions with the United States.

“Yuan-yen direct trading is just a small step toward making the yuan a reserve currency, but what's foremost is whether China can carry out future reforms,” Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist of Nomura Securities, told AFP.

“The move may be another step toward free convertibility of the currency, but from a long-term perspective, China has a long way to go,” he said.

On China's national foreign exchange market, the yuan weakened against the yen on the first day of trading under the new practice, due to the Japanese currency's overnight gains against the dollar, dealers said.

“Trading has been active this morning and demand for yen is mostly from China-based Japanese companies,” a dealer at a foreign bank in Shanghai told Dow Jones Newswires.

The yuan ended at 8.1298 to 100 yen, weakening from Thursday's close of 8.0737, according to the Shanghai-based China Foreign Exchange Trade System, the market operator.

British banking giant HSBC, one of the newly appointed market makers in China, said the launch of direct trading will help build a benchmark for non-dollar transactions.

“It is also a significant step forward in the internationalization of China's currency, supporting the growing demand for yuan payment and settlement globally,” David Liao, managing director of global markets for HSBC China, said in a statement.

The Chinese currency will be allowed to fluctuate within a 3 percent band above or below a daily mid-point, according to media reports. China has not publicly announced the trading band.

Earlier on Friday, China set that central parity rate at 8.0686 yuan to 100 yen, weakening from 8.0293 on Thursday.

But for the first time, China determined the rate based on an average directly from market makers, instead of using the U.S. dollar as a base, the market operator said in a statement before trading began.

Just last month, China made another move toward liberalization, allowing the yuan to trade against the dollar in a wider 1-percent band on both sides of the mid-point, double the previous 0.5 percent.

China's tightly controlled forex regime is a long-running source of friction with the United States, which accuses Beijing of artificially undervaluing the yuan to boost exports, and which wants more flexibility.

The yuan trades freely offshore, so China's trading-band restriction will not apply in dealings on Tokyo's foreign exchange market.

Rates in the Chinese and Japanese markets could be different at the outset but are likely to converge very quickly, traders in Tokyo said.

China overtook Japan to become the world's second-largest economy in 2010, and the neighbors are forging closer business ties despite frequent diplomatic spats over territorial claims and lingering historical animosities.

China is Japan's largest trading partner, but about 60 percent of their mutual trade is denominated in U.S. dollars.

The forex launch will save about US$3 billion in annual costs tied to using the dollar in trade transactions, Chinese state media have reported.
China, Japan begin direct currency trading - The China Post

 

[Martian2]

Making sense of IMF GDP data

U.S. GDP for 2011 is based on economic growth rate and inflation.

Five months have passed for the year 2012. This year is special, because Chinese nominal GDP will exceed 50% of U.S. GDP. We are about to cross the halfway mark as Chinese GDP closes in on U.S. GDP.

I was looking at the IMF data and I want to try and explain the GDP numbers for the United States and China.

I think it was ChineseTiger1986 who complained that the IMF data was incorrect, because the U.S. economy did not grow 4% between 2010 and 2011. I found his insight intriguing and I've been thinking about the issue.

My conclusion is that the IMF data for the U.S. is correct. U.S. GDP is determined by two factors: actual economic growth and the inflation rate. If you assume approximately 3% actual economic growth and 1% inflation then the IMF data for the U.S. looks about right.

For China, its nominal GDP is determined by three factors: actual economic growth, inflation rate, and currency exchange rate. If Chinese inflation is low, the market will reward China with a stronger currency. If Chinese inflation is too high, the market will punish China with a weaker currency.

Similarly, if Chinese economic growth is stronger than the U.S. then the Chinese currency will probably grow stronger. If Chinese economic growth is weaker than the U.S. then the Chinese currency will probably grow weaker.

By the way, ignore the IMF projections for Indian GDP. The Indian Rupee has fallen off a cliff and its nominal GDP has shrunk dramatically.

To show you that I'm not picking on the Indians, I will warn you that Turkey's currency has also fallen off a cliff. You should ignore IMF projections for Turkey's GDP as well. Both India and Turkey are running massive trade deficits.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

US can still grow 1 trillion annually starting in 2015, IMF must live in a parellel universe.

 

[Martian2]

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of machine tools

By far, China is the world's largest producer of machine tools at $28 billion in 2011.

You know how the U.S. likes to brag it spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined? Well, China consumes more machine tools than the next 15 countries combined! Take that ole U.S. of A.!

Reference: 2012 World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey - Producers

 

[Sharki]

My question: How much is minimum revenue in China?

 

[oct605032048]

My question: How much is minimum revenue from China?

Define “minimum revenue from”.

 

[Sharki]

Define “minimum revenue from”.

Minimum wages per month in China.

 

[Martian2]

Minimum wages per month in China.

Why do you want to know? Are you planning to apply for a job in China? Tell me which city and I'll tell you the minimum wage.

 

[Sharki]

Why do you want to know? Are you planning to apply for a job in China? Tell me which city and I'll tell you the minimum wage.

Hong Kong and Shanghai..

 

[Martian2]

Hong Kong and Shanghai..

You do realize that you could have Googled the answers in ten seconds? I thought you wanted to ask about a less-well-known Chinese city where data is difficult to find.

For everyone else, please read my post (see below) on China's unbeatable machine tool production and consumption.

----------

Shanghai raises minimum wage standard - China.org.cn

"Shanghai announced Wednesday it would raise minimum wages by up to 14 percent from April 1 to help low-income families keep up with surging prices.

The hike would bring the minimum monthly wage in the city to 1,280 yuan (194 U.S. dollars) from the current 1,120 yuan, the city's government said at a press conference.

It is the 18th adjustment since 1993 when Shanghai established the minimum wage mechanism."

----------

Minimum wage enforced in Hong Kong

"May 1, 2011 – Hong Kong's minimum wage is raised to 28 Hong Kong dollars (3.6 U.S. dollars) per hour as a new wage ordinance takes effect from Sunday."

----------

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of machine tools

By far, China is the world's largest producer of machine tools at $28 billion in 2011.

You know how the U.S. likes to brag it spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined? Well, China consumes more machine tools than the next 15 countries combined! Take that ole U.S. of A.!

Reference: 2012 World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey - Producers

 

[oct605032048]

This is a mining excavator...2000 ton.

 

[sweetgrape]

This is a mining excavator...2000 ton.

People watch an operation demonstration of the WK-75 mining excavator produced by the Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group Co., Ltd in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, June 5, 2012. The large equipment, about 37.5 meters in length, 17.3 meters in width and 2,000 tons in weight, is the largest mining excavator in the world. It is capable of digging five million tons of coal in a single month. (Xinhua/Yan Yan)
One of world's largest excavators produced in north China - Xinhua | English.news.cn
A leading manufacturer in north China's coal-rich Shanxi province said Tuesday that it has produced one of the world's largest excavators.

The WK-75 mining excavator, which stands 23.5 meters tall and weighs 2,000 tonnes, can dig up to 12,000 tonnes of coal hourly, said Wang Chuangmin, president of Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group Co., Ltd.

The machine covers an area the size of a basketball court, Wang said, adding that the excavator is equipped with the world's most advanced electronics and monitoring systems.

Established in 1950, Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Group Co., Ltd. has a 92 percent share of the country's mining excavator market. It has sold products in several resource-rich countries, including Russia, Peru, India, South Africa and Mongolia.

 

[oct605032048]

May import and export value of $ 343.58 billion, both record monthly high

5½?3435.8? ??¶¸_????

 

[Martian2]

According to CCP, the Chinese economy is growing a trillion a year when the auto sales are down, and steel, concrete, and coal output is flat.

It is time for people to realize that the Chinese government published figures are all BS.

Chinese efficiency improvements generate a massive jump in economic productivity

What about all those dams, railroads, airports, nuclear power plants, high rises, subways, highways, etc. being built? Also, what about the growth in China's service sector? How about the 7% increase in total exports year-to-date over last year? What about the growth in China's electronics and semiconductor sectors? Lenovo is having record sales and profits.

What about the return on investment from China's massive $3 trillion in forex reserves?

What about the increase in efficiency in China's economy from phasing out inefficient coal-fired plants (e.g. 25% efficient) and replacing them with modern ultra-supercritical coal-fired plants (e.g. 44% efficient)? Coal consumption may be flat, but energy-extracted efficiency is taking a massive jump.

The Chinese government continuously mandates stricter fuel efficiency for cars. With the same amount of fuel, more car mileage is achieved. Hence, economic productivity has increased.

The same point can be made for insulating buildings. Also, the Chinese government has mandated the use of energy-efficient LED light bulbs and phasing out inefficient incandescent bulbs. Same energy, but more output due to increase in efficiency.

New bridges are being built, such as the one that directly connects Shanghai to Ningbo (see citation below). The transportation time has been cut dramatically and efficiency has been significantly increased in the reduced consumption of gas.

Do they count in your definition for an economy?

Why the selective anti-China propaganda?

----------

Hangzhou Bay Bridge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The bridge shortened the highway travel distance between Ningbo and Shanghai from 400 km (249 mi) to 280 km (174 mi) and reduced travel time from 4 to 2.5 hours.[3]"

[Note: I just wanted to save a copy of my answer for future reference.]

----------

I should have added two other prominent examples. As the rail passenger traffic is moved onto China's High Speed Rail (HSR), the older railway system has become a dedicated freight network. China's freight transportation system has become a single-purpose ultra-efficient system to move goods.

Also, the installation and completion of Ultra-High Voltage (UHV) transmission lines have eliminated the cumbersome need to move millions of tons of coal. Instead, the coal can be burned near the source of production and the electricity is efficiently transmitted across new Chinese UHV lines.

The recurrent theme is that new technology can bring dramatic jumps in efficiency. Therefore, China can use the same amount of energy and yet, there is a massive jump in economic productivity.