China Economy - News & Updates

[oct605032048]

China's industrial output up 12.3% in August
English_Xinhua 2009-09-11 10:02:55 Print

BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial output accelerated 12.3 percent in August from a year earlier, after gaining 10.8 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

The August growth rate was 0.5 percentage points lower than the growth figure for the same month last year, but 1.5 percentage points up from July.

Compared with previous forecasts the growth rate of industrial output would be about 11.8 percent, the new figure is beyond most analysts' expectations.

The output of light industry, including the garment, textile and food sectors among others, rose 9.8 percent in August over the same month last year. The output of heavy industry increased 13.2 percent from a year earlier.

Power generation in August rose 9.3 percent over the same month in 2008 to hit 344.3 billion kwh. The output of coal and crude oil respectively rose 14.6 percent and 1.6 percent compared with August 2008.

In August, outputs of industrials invested in by foreign companies and investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan rose 8.0 percent from a year earlier, compared with a growth rate of 5 percent in July.

"A fast output growth reflects that demand from overseas markets began to increase," said Liu Tiejun, a senior analyst with Haitong Securities.

"It's also a sign of recovery in the country's exports sector," he said.

Friday's figures from the General Administration of Customs show the value of China's foreign trade continued to fall in August, but its downward rate slowed.

The total value of imports and exports for August was 191.7 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 20.6 percent compared with the same month last year, but a 2.3 percent increase from July.

According to the NBS, China's industrial output from January to August rose 8.1 percent over the same period last year.

The growth rate was 7.6 percentage points lower than that in the 2008 January-August period, but up 0.6 percentage points from the first seven months of this year.

 

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By Si Tingting (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-18 08:34
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Global investors' faith in China swells

China's charm for foreign investors has not waned despite the global credit crunch that dampened investors worldwide, according to a UN report on trends in foreign direct investment.

The economically recovering nation also capitalized on the financial crisis by buying cheap overseas assets, according to the World Investment Report 2009 released yesterday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. China is reportedly poised to join the list of top investing nations in the world.

Globally, the infusion of FDI fell from $2 trillion in 2007 to $1.7 trillion in 2008, a 14 percent drop, according to the report.

The report projected that FDI inflows will bottom in 2009, dropping by at least 40 percent, to below $1.2 trillion. A rebound is expected in 2010.

Despite the global gloom, FDI into China in 2008 rose by 30 percent to $108 billion, making it the third largest recipient of FDI in the world, after US and France.

Global investors' faith in China swells World Economic Recovery?
FDI to China dropped by 17.9 percent in the first half of this year, beating the 40 percent drop globally.

Recently, the UN conference ranked China as the most favorite destination for FDI, followed by the US, India, Brazil and Russia.

But growing overcapacity in some manufacturing sectors in China will force the infusion of FDI into Chinese agriculture and services sectors, said Zhuang Jian, a senior economist with the Asian Development Bank.

"As the Chinese government takes steps to support small-and medium-sized enterprises development, new energy and high-tech industries, FDI may flow into these sectors as well," he added.

China is also facing increasing competition to acquire foreign investments for labor-intensive industries from neighboring countries with cheaper labor, said James Xiaoning Zhan, head of the Division on Investment and Enterprise for the UN conference.

He said that China also has FDI competition from developed countries in high-tech industries, such as the green technology sector.

 

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china's nasdaq——Green light for 7 GEB suitors
By Bi Xiaoning and Zhang Ran (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-18 08:40
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Green light for 7 GEB suitors

[CFP]

The securities watchdog yesterday gave seven companies the green light for initial public offerings (IPO) on the to-be-launched growth enterprise board (GEB) anticipating the turnaround in the bourses to help boost investor sentiments.

A total of seven companies have entered the primary IPO review procedures yesterday. All the companies have met the listing requirements for the main board in terms of financial indicators.

According the companies' prospectuses, their accumulated net profit in the past three years has surpassed 30 million yuan ($4.4 million), the minimum threshold for listing on China's main board.

One of the firms, Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Co even posted 415 million yuan of accumulated net profit over the past three years.

"Besides the financial requirement for the GEB companies, we also pay much attention to the companies' information disclosure, growth prospects and the ability to innovate," said Jiang Xinhong, an experienced accountant and a member of the IPO review committee for the GEB.

According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), 149 companies have submitted applications for listing on the GEB, which intends to raise a combined 33.6 billion yuan.

Though there are some market apprehensions that to-be-launched GEB may derail the rebound of the main board, industry analysts said there is no need for panic.

"The capital raised by these small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is quite limited. Even if all the 149 companies get approval, the total capital raised would be less than one blue-chip on the main board," said Lu Junlong, analyst, China Finance Online, a NASDAQ-listed finance group.

Earlier, China State Construction Engineering Corp issued 42.6-billion-yuan new shares. Metallurgical Corp of China recently announced plans to raise up to $5.3 billion through dual listings on the mainland and in Hong Kong. The capital raised by the two industry heavyweights both exceeded the combined 33.6 billion yuan of capital set to be raised by the 149 GEB companies.

The regulator said that six more companies would enter the primary IPO review procedures today, indicating that the GEB could be launched by early October to fund high-growth start-ups.

"Launching the GEB in October is ideal as the main board would have stabilized by then after a two-month correction and continue its rebound in tandem with the global rebound," said Li Daxiao, director of research at Yingda Securities.

Buoyed by the to-be-launched GEB, many listed securities companies saw their share prices go up yesterday. The country's top listed securities firms, including Hongyuan Securities, CITIC Securities Co and Haitong Securities Co, climbed about 2 percent yesterday.

"China's economic growth may quicken to 10 percent or more in the fourth quarter because of stimulus spending and a recovery in exports," Chen Dongqi, a researcher at the country's top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a conference in Shanghai yesterday.

JP Morgan also said in a recent report that it was optimistic about the A-share market in mid- and long-term, buoyed by the ample liquidity, the economy's strong recovery signals and active civil investment.

 

[grey boy 2]

China's Economy Can Achieve 8% Growth

China's economy can achieve 8% growth target: official
2009-09-19 lBEIJING: China's economy will be able to achieve a growth target of 8 percent this year, but the country should not rest on its laurels as problems remain, the statistics bureau's top economist was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a forum in Shanghai that the basis for China's economic recovery was still not stable, and many uncertainties existed.

Authorities have set a target of 8 percent gross domestic product growth this year, something most economists think is in sight since annual growth reached 7.9 percent in the second quarter and appears set to accelerate in year-on-year terms in the second half.

Yao said the 8 percent target will "be difficult but is not a problem", according to a report by the state-run China News Service.
Figures for August showed industrial output, investment and money supply growth all accelerated, prompting many economists to say the recovery is now solid. Officials have been more circumspect, though.

Yao said the slide in China's economic performance which began in the second half of last year had already been arrested.

"But we cannot be blindly optimistic about these achievements, as the basis for China's economic recovery is still not firm, and there exist many uncertainties," he was paraphrased as saying.

As for the possible threat of resurgent inflation, Yao said that at least for this year it would not be a worry.

 

[grey boy 2]

China's development a contribution to the whole world: UNESCO official
+ - 08:16, September 22, 2009

China's rapid development was a great contribution to the whole world and all nations were benefiting from it, UNESCO's Vice Director General told Xinhua on Saturday.

Marcio Barbosa said China's achievement in education was one of the most satisfying parts of the country's progress.

"I think the progress China has obtained in education is fantastic and very important for UNESCO," he said.

"We cannot forget the basis of development, which is education, the quality of people's lives and the determination of hard work, you have all of these," Barbosa said.

Barbosa expressed his optimism about China's future, saying "the country, with a population of 1.3 billion, is full of hope."

"I believe China will continue to make successes on the international stage," he said.

When asked what in China had left the biggest impression on him, the Brazilian official said it was undoubtedly the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"For me, the Beijing Olympic Games was the most important moment, because it was the opportunity to show the world the real China, and I think it was a great success."

"We have seen the change and all the infrastructure work China undertook for the Games. It was an extraordinary and incredible change," Barbosa said.

Barbosa's links with China started when he was in charge of Brazil's Space Agency in the late 1980s, and, when he was appointed vice director general of UNESCO in 2001, his engagement with China in education, culture and science increased.

Last year's Sichuan earthquake was another important memory for Barbosa.

"During my last trip to China, three months after the earthquake, I visited two global heritage sites, which are on the protection list of UNESCO and had suffered damage. I was surprised to see the reparation works being undertaking even when conditions were still terrible, which demonstrated the responsibility of the Chinese people and the authorities," he said.

Ten days before China's National Day on Oct. 1, Barbosa expressed his congratulations for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. "Certainly, the Chinese people should be proud of and content with the progress achieved in their country. It is a country that has changed the people's lives through years of enthusiastic work. The progress we observed is remarkable."

"China is going to celebrate its 60th birthday, and the 60 years is a phase of peace and stablization and full of industrious work. I wish this kind of development continues, all the world will benefit from it," he said.
China's development a contribution to the whole world: UNESCO official - People's Daily Online
Source:Xinhua

 

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ADB says China GDP growth at 8.2% this year
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-22 10:40
The Asian Development Bank said Tuesday that it revised its forecast on China's year-on-year economic growth to 8.2 percent for 2009.
The new projection for this year is higher than the bank's previous forecast of 7 percent on March 31 and above the goal of 8 percent set by the central government.

The lift in the GDP growth forecast was because of "a surge in bank lending and vigorous fixed-assets investment".

The government rolled out a 4-trillion-yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package in November last year, aiming to boost economic growth slowed by a slump in exports amid the global economic downturn. It also implemented moderately relaxed, proactive policy to help revive the economy.

"The policy has softened the blow from the global slump," the bank said.

China's economic expansion will surge to 8.9 percent in 2010, the ADB said. The momentum is mainly coming from infrastructure investment, the construction industry and consumption, while exports are also making a contribution.

The bank estimated China's consumer price index (CPI) would fall 0.5 percent from a year earlier this year and rise 3.0 percent in 2010.

"Authorities face the challenge of balancing the need to maintain aggressive monetary stimulus until growth is sustainable against the risk the flood of bank lending will be diverted into speculation and excess industry capacity," the bank said.

"Such a scenario might trigger a round of severe monetary belt-tightening in the medium term to pull growth down again," the ADB said.

 

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Coal consumption is slashed
(China Daily/Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-05 06:59

China's consumption of standard coal was 1.10 tons per 10,000 yuan ($1,500) of gross domestic product last year, down from 3.39 tons in 1980, the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday in a statement.
The progress was a result of China's efforts to cut emissions and develop low-carbon economy, the NBS said.

Since the 1980s, especially during the past few years, China had raised energy efficiency by eliminating high energy-consuming equipment and introducing energy-saving technologies, it said.

The energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP was down 1.79 percent year on year in 2006, 4.04 percent in 2007, and 4.59 percent in 2008, according to NBS.

China has set a target to cut energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan of GDP by 20 percent from 2006 to 2010 in its 11th national development plan.

Statistics of the NBS showed China's national economy grew by 9.8 percent annually during the past 30 years, with its energy consumption up 5.2 percent annually for the same period.

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China's firms raise $113.8b by overseas listing
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-05 15:05

By the end of last July, China's domestic enterprises had raised $113.8 billion through listing their shares on overseas bourses, China's top securities regulator said Monday.

Statistics from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) showed 154 Chinese enterprises had started initial public offering overseas by the end of last July.

Tsingtao Brewery Corporation started listing H-shares on the Hong Kong bourse in June 1993, becoming China's first firm to list outside the mainland.

Meanwhile, China opened up its capital market to foreign investors by launching qualified foreign institutional investors.
By the end of July, China had approved nine Sino-foreign securities ventures, 33 joint venture fund management companies, 113 foreign securities institutions and 38 foreign assets management companies, according to CSRC.

China is also considering allowing high-quality overseas firms to list in China in an effort to stabilize foreign direct investment, Vice Minister of Commerce Chen Jian said in July.

 

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China Southern Airlines to increase Dhaka-Guangzhou flights
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-05 13:57

China Southern Airlines will increase the flights for Dhaka-Guangzhou route from once a week to three times a week from October 11, according to the company's source on Monday.

The flights from Guangzhou to Dhaka are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and those from Dhaka to Guangzhou on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Gao Bo, China Southern Airlines representative in Bangladesh, told Xinhua.

Since China Southern Airlines inaugurated Dhaka-Guangzhou route on August 2 this year, it has been providing the lowest price for one return ticket at $150 (not including tax).

Gao said they will increase the prices after they fly three flights per week.

"The lowest price will be $300 (not including tax) for one return ticket," he said.
Gao said the increasing of flights will attract more Bangladeshi passengers to choose Southern Airlines to go to Guangzhou or southern China.

The company has started selling the tickets for the new schedule. "Around 70 percent of the tickets on October 11 have been sold, it is a good sign," Gao said.

Gao said the Canton Autumn Fair is going to be held. "The fair will bring us good business opportunities," he said.

China Southern Airlines is the second airlines of China in Bangladesh after China Eastern Airlines. In 2005, China Eastern Airlines launched Dhaka-Kunming flight.

 

[oct605032048]

Two high-speed railways open in east China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-28 14:24

Two high-speed passenger railway lines linking east China's Fujian province with neighboring Zhejiang province went into operation today, which greatly shorten the travel time from mountainous Fujian to the Yangtze River Delta.
The Fuzhou-Wenzhou line shortens the travel time from 15 hours to 100 minutes. Trains can run at 250 km per hour on the line, said Gao An'gang, official with Nanchang Railway Bureau. which is responsible for the construction.

The other line links Wenzhou with Ningbo cities, both in Zhejiang...

The full text is available in the September Issue of Logistics China. Please visit Please visit E-Shop for more subscription details. for more subscription details.

 

[hembo]

The ugly side of uncontrolled industrial developmet....

China to move residents from lead smelter base-report
Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:27pm

BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - China will move 15,000 residents living near the country's biggest lead smelter base after more than 1,000 children were found to have excessive amounts of the metal in their blood, a Chinese newspaper reported.

The weekend edition of the English-language China Daily said the residents of Jiyuan in central Henan province would be relocated from the smelters, which have become a source of local discontent and another symbol of China's often unbridled industrial growth.

Chinese state media reported last week that over 1,000 children in Jiyuan had excessive levels of lead in their blood. The smelter operator, Yuguang Gold and Lead (600531.SS), said its plants bore some responsibility. [ID:nPEK331271]

A child exposed to heavy concentrations of lead can develop anaemia, muscle weakness and brain damage, and a rash of reported poisonings across several Chinese provinces has raised pressure on officials and companies to deal with the problem.

The mayor of Jiyuan, Zhao Suping, said 15,000 people in 10 villagers around the plants would move at a total cost of about 1 billion yuan ($150 million), allowing the lead plants to keep operating, the China Daily reported.

Not all locals had been mollified, said the paper.

"I am not satisfied with the current steps by the government," said one resident, surnamed Li, according to the paper. She said her two granddaughters were found to have lead levels far above safe limits.

"I think the government should respond faster and do more to prevent similar cases from occurring."

After the people move, the smelters will rent their abandoned land and plant trees to serve as a barrier protecting nearby villages, the report said.

An official in one of the villagers set to move said the residents were likely to be shifted to a site 4 km (miles) from their present homes. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills and Dean Yates)

 

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[oct605032048]

Automobile numbers could be capped
By Qian Yanfeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-19 09:02

As many as 5.5 million cars will be on Beijing's roads by 2015, although the growth rate will stabilize in the next five years, a senior local transport official said.

Beijing's car community will hit 4 million by the beginning of next year and will then grow by an average of 300,000 cars a year, compared to the present rate of 400,000, to reach 5.5 million in 2015, Liu Xiaoming, director of the Beijing municipal committee of communications, said.

Liu said the municipal government would not restrict the number of cars on the road at the moment, but would not rule out doing so in the future.

"But efforts would be made to reduce public needs for cars and restrict their use and parking through overall traffic planning and related policies," he said.
By next year, Beijing's car community will have grown by 1 million in only two-and-a-half years. It took cities like Tokyo 12 years to reach that rate of growth.

Authorities have tried to ease persistent traffic jams and reduce emissions with an on-going car ban in the city, which stops motorists from driving one day every week based on their license plate number.

They have also attempted to enlarge and enhance the city's public transport system. Official estimates show public transport would make up to 50 percent of the total passenger trips in the central urban areas by 2015, while 20 percent of journeys will be made on bicycles.

Liu said that less reliance on private cars would ensure that vehicle emissions do not exceed that of 2008, despite increasing vehicles.

But Jia Yuanhua, a transportation professor at Beijing Jiaotong University who is a proponent for car controls, said the government should control the number of vehicles since the road resources are limited.

"The government would not restrict the purchase of cars because they need to support the growth of the industry and increase GDP during the financial crisis," he said.

"But that is not sustainable and we have to take into consideration the traffic capacity."

Lu Huapu, director of the institute of transportation engineering, Tsinghua University, also expressed concern over the city's infrastructure capacity.

"The Chinese people like to use their cars frequently once they have one and I really doubt whether we can support such an enormous need," Lu said.

China's automotive output hits 10 mln mark

 

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China's first subway tunnel traversing the Yangtze River is expected to begin construction this month in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, local officials said Saturday.

The 3,100-meter-long tunnel is located between the country's first bridge on the river, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and its first road tunnel beneath the river, officials said.

The subway tunnel is expected to undertake 50 percent of the city's traffic flow across the river. And it is designed to withstand a 6.0-magnitude earthquake and a flood that occurs once every 300 years, they said.

The tunnel is part of the city's No 2 metro line with a length of 27.98 km, which is expected to be completed in 2012.

About 14.9 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) will be invested in the construction of the metro line, officials said.

The first road tunnel was built in Wuhan, and opened for traffic since last December.

Another two road tunnels under the Yangtze River in Shanghai and Nanjing, captial of East China's Jiangsu Province, are expected to open for traffic respectively at the end of this year and in July, 2010.
The 6,300-km-long Yangtze River, which originates in Northwest China's Qinghai province and flows through 10 provinces and municipalities before emptying into the East China Sea, is a major transport link between the west and east China. More than 100 bridges across the river are in use.

 

[genmirajborgza786]

China car output 'breaks record'

Chinese annual car production has topped 10 million for the first time as carmakers boost output to meet growing demand, state media has said.

The 10 millionth car produced this year rolled off the First Automobile Works Group assembly line in Changchun, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Despite the downturn and falling sales at most global carmakers, demand for cars in China is booming.

State incentives, such as tax cuts on small cars, have boosted sales.

Like many other governments around the world, China has also introduced subsidies to trade in older vehicles.

Previously, only the US and Japan had produced 10 million cars in a single year.

Domestic Chinese car sales overtook those in the US for the first time in December of last year, and this trend has continued.

Global carmakers are now increasingly targeting China as a key growth market.

Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Business | China car output 'breaks record'

Published: 2009/10/20 06:32:25 GMT

© BBC MMIX

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[oct605032048]

China's growth accelerates to 8.9% in 3Q
(chinadaily.com.cn/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-22 10:11
China's economy expanded a blistering 8.9 percent in the third quarter, fueled by lavish government stimulus spending that has helped the nation spearhead recovery from the global recession.

Growth in the world's third-largest economy accelerated from 7.9 percent in the second quarter and for the first nine months of the year was 7.7 percent, the National Statistics Bureau said Thursday.

Officials have said they expect the economy to at least reach the annual growth target of 8 percent.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, was up 0.4% in September from the previous month, said the National Bureau of Statistics. The CPI dipped 1.1 percent year on year in the first nine months.
The producer price index (PPI), a major measurement of inflation at the wholesale level, dropped 6.5 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year. The September PPI rose 0.6 percent from a month earlier.

China's retail sales in the third quarter of this year rose 15.1 percent year on year, or 17.0 percent after deducting price factors, said the National Bureau of Statistics.

Fixed-asset investment in the first nine months increased by 33.4 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Fixed-asset investment in urban and rural areas rose 33.3 percent and 33.6 percent respectively, compared with the same time last year.

Industrial output rose 8.7 percent in the first three quarters of the year, and 12.4 percent in July-September - signaling accelerating demand, the statistics bureau said.

China has countered the global downturn with a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan involving massive spending on infrastructure such as rail and roads to pump up the domestic economy as exports slumped.

The mixture of liberal credit, strong government backing for massive public works and incentives for domestic industries like autos have enabled China's economy to quickly rebound while the US, Japan and Europe continue to flounder.

However, on Wednesday, China's top leaders signaled their concerns over imbalances in the economy, with the State Council saying policy will shift to dealing with waste and other problems of high growth.

"In the first three quarters, the pace of economic growth quickened," the State Council said in a statement after a meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao. "At the same time, we also are clearly aware that there are still difficulties and problems in the economic and social development of our country."

China's economic stimulus plan remains on track, but greater efforts will be made to curb industrial overcapacity, promote new industries, maintain liquidity and lower unemployment, it said.