China Economy - News & Updates

[SinoIndusFriendship]

Bruce Lee museum in design phase
Hong Kong government gathers items, commissions doc
July 20, 2009

Related: Bruce Lee's home to become a museum

HONG KONG -- The former home of Bruce Lee is now a love motel, renting rooms by the hour. But officials on Monday launched a design competition to turn it into a Hong Kong museum for the kung fu icon.

"I hope I can personally witness and oversee the completion of the Bruce Lee museum in my lifetime," owner Yu Pang-lin, who is in his 80s, said at a press conference marking the 36th anniversary of Lee's death.


Lee's fans have been calling for an official monument for their hero in his hometown for years.

Lee became a chest-thumping source of Chinese pride by portraying characters that defended the Chinese and the working class from oppressors in films like "Return of the Dragon." He died in Hong Kong in 1973 at age 32 from swelling of the brain.

Yu said he wants the museum to include a memorial hall, a library, a kung fu studio and a film archive.

Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, and a panel of architects and town planners will judge the design competition, and the winners will be announced in November or December, the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

Yu has offered to donate Lee's home and put up the HK$100,000 ($13,000) in prize money, but it is unclear how the museum itself will be funded.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government has started collecting Lee's personal items and commissioned a documentary about the late actor and one about the construction of the museum, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau said at Monday's press conference.

Officials showed an eight-minute trailer of the biography produced by veteran Hong Kong director Ng See-yuen. It included interviews with "Mission: Impossible II" director John Woo; Lee's frequent collaborator producer, Raymond Chow; Ip Chun, the eldest son of his kung fu teacher, Ip Man; and actress Betty Ting Pei -- in whose home Lee died -- as well as footage of Lee's body in an open casket at his funeral.



Bruce Lee museum, biopic unveiled
J.A. Media plans trilogy on kung fu master's life
By CLIFFORD COONAN


HONG KONG -- The family of martial arts king Bruce Lee is working with China’s J.A. Media Group to make a three-part biopic about Hong Kong’s most famous native son, who died 36 years ago this week.

“Bruce Lee,” which will start shooting in October, will be produced by Li Chen and directed by Manfred Wong. Tony Leung Ka-fai will play Lee’s father, but no other cast has been set.

Initial investment in the first movie will be 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) and it is scheduled for release on Nov. 27, 2010, the 70th anniversary of Lee’s birth.

Lee’s brother, Robert, and sister, Phoebe, appeared at a press confab with J.A. Media for the project in Beijing on Monday.

Robert Lee said he wanted to give an authoritative account of his brother’s life.

“We’ve read many books and seen many movies about Bruce Lee, but there are many inaccuracies in them,” he said.

The Hong Kong government is also memorializing Lee, whose success was crucial in bringing the local biz to a worldwide aud, by launching a design competition to build a museum for the kung fu master.

Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, and a panel of architects and town planners will judge the competition, and the winners will be announced in November or December. The museum is expected to include a kung fu studio, a film archive and a library.

The 5,600-square-foot town house was donated to the Kowloon regional government by real estate tycoon Yu Panglin, who has put up $13,000 in prize money for the design competition.

Rita Lau, Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, said the government has also commissioned a documentary about the building of the museum and a biography of Lee.

Lee was born in November 1940 in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, before his father sent him back to the States after a brawl as a youngster. As well as his martial prowess, he was also a ballroom dancing champion.

Lee made 46 kung fu movies, and his popularity around the world paved the way for stars like Jackie Chan and inspired filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino.

He was just 32 when he died of a swelling in the brain in 1973, while starring in and directing the movie “Game of Death” in Hong Kong, less than a month after the release of “Enter the Dragon,” the movie that turned him into an international star.

 

[oct605032048]

China heavy-duty equipment manufacturer signs biggest-ever deal with Spanish firm
BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry (ZPMC), the world's largest manufacturer of heavy-duty equipment, inked a deal worth 2.2 billion U.S. dollars with Spanish marine oil and gas explorer ADHK for supply of offshore engineering products on Monday.

The transaction, including 10 offshore jack-up drilling platforms, seven land drilling rigs, and two float cranes, was the largest sale contract of this kind to date in the country.

It was also the state-owned company's latest move to step up its momentum in the marine engineering business, said Tuesday's China Daily.

The company's shares resumed trading on Tuesday after a four-day suspension before the massive contract was clinched.

ZPMC's container cranes have a global market share of nearly 78percent. More than 72 percent of the company's total revenue was generated from this sector during 2008.

However, the company posted 18 percent year-on-year decline in net profit during the first quarter of this year due to drastic export slips amid the global downturn.

Analysts projected the company's growth in its mainstay business to reach its ceiling within two to three years, after a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent in yearly sales from 2004 to 2008.

The market for heavy-duty equipment particularly for offshore oil and gas extraction has been emerging as a new profit engine for the company.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Investors In China Fuel Fast Expansion

Indicators Suggest Less Rosy Picture

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, July 29, 2009



HONG KONG, July 28 -- China's first initial public offering in nearly a year rose so high, so fast on Monday that regulators were forced to halt trading twice. The Hong Kong stock exchange's Hang Seng Index this week soared to double its low point last fall. And new lending on the mainland tripled to more than $1 trillion in the first six months of 2009.

While most other countries around the world struggle to stabilize their economies, China's appears to be rocketing back.

China's leaders say that the economy may have bottomed out in the second quarter of this year. The National Bureau of Statistics in China reported that gross domestic product, or the value of goods and services it produced, was up 7.9 percent in that period -- surprising analysts who had predicted growth rates to skid to as low as 4 percent. At this pace, China is on track to overtake Japan as the world's second-largest economy as soon as year's end.

But some secondary indicators contradict the picture of a miraculous comeback for China, economic analysts say.

Income tax revenue is plummeting, for instance. Profits of state-controlled companies are down nearly a quarter for the first half of the year. Wages are dropping in some areas. And credit card balances are rising.

In Hong Kong, the unemployment rate has remained high even as real estate prices have soared to the point where buying a home has become unaffordable for some middle-class earners. Approved loans jumped nearly 37 percent in June to $4.95 billion, a level higher than just before the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

There's a growing worry that the weaknesses in China's economy and Hong Kong's, which has become increasingly entwined with the mainland's, are similar to the problems the United States faced as its own crisis began: Consumers are overleveraged and banks are taking on too much risk, creating the potential for bubbles in stock and property markets.

"It is true the Chinese economy is recovering faster than in other parts of the world. But soaring capital prices are bringing unstable factors," said Dong Tao, chief regional economist for Credit Suisse.

China's central bank on Tuesday warned that inflation might rebound in the second half of the year. An increase in the price of food and consumer goods at this time could pose political challenges for the Communist Party, which has struggled to contain outbreaks of unrest driven by unemployment in its urban centers over the past year.

A cornerstone of China's $586 billion stimulus package that was rolled out last fall was pumping an eye-popping amount of government money into the economy. The value of loans China gave out in the first half of this year was similar to its gross domestic product during the same period. This type of "credit expansion hasn't been seen in the past 20 years," said Wendy M. Liu, head of China Research for ABN Amro.

Tao, a Hong Kong-based analyst for Credit Suisse, said that there's so much money that "enterprises and companies have no other places to invest it in the real economy.

"So they invest the money in buying lands and capital price soared. The credit is out of control now," he said.

The frenzy could be seen in Monday's initial public offering of Sichuan Expressway, a toll-road company, on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It was offered at 3.6 yuan, opened at about 7.6 yuan, hit 15.25 yuan before closing at 10.9 yuan -- analysts had estimated shares to be worth no more than 6 yuan.

China's domestic stock markets are driven by individuals rather than the institutional investors who dominate other larger stock exchanges around the world and speculation has created a dangerous boom-and-bust cycle in the past.

Stock analysts will be watching the Wednesday debut of China State Construction Engineering closely to see whether it duplicates Sichuan Expressway's performance. China State Construction, China's largest housing contractor, is the world's biggest initial public offering this year. It has raised $7.35 billion.

"The massive fiscal stimulus package has shown some early signs of success, and this is why investors are now returning to the stock market . . . The recent momentum is certainly unsustainable," said Sherman Chan, an economist at Moody's Economy.com.

Vincent Chan, head of China research for Credit Suisse, was more blunt. Chan said that right now he thinks most stocks are only slightly overvalued in the mainland and in Hong Kong, but that "if this boom continues for some time it will reach 'crazy' status.' "

Investors In China Fuel Fast Expansion

 

[aimarraul]

Chinese first large dia seamless pipe plant starts trial run
Saturday, 18 Jul 2009
China North Industries Group Corporation announced that, under the help of Tsinghua University etc, it spent three years working out 36,000 tonne ferrous metal extrusion vertical press, the largest one in the world.

As per release, China made 36000 tonne ferrous metal extrusion vertical press has finished the first trial production which rolled out the first batch of 700*200 seamless steel pipes indicating great breakthroughs in manufacturing history all over the world.

Mr Zhang Guoqing GM of China North Industries Group Corporation said the project will be carried out into two stages to realize 50,000 tons and 125,000 tonnes of the production goals respectively in the days to come.

In past, China had to import a great number of large caliber seamless steel pipes in higher prices due to the lower production level. But in recent several years, with the supports of NDRC and Ministry of Finance etc, China North Industries Group Corporation has jointly cooperated with some high technology and research institutions to work out the world largest 36,000 tonne ferrous extrusion vertical press.

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

Chinese first large dia seamless pipe plant starts trial run
Saturday, 18 Jul 2009
China North Industries Group Corporation announced that, under the help of Tsinghua University etc, it spent three years working out 36,000 tonne ferrous metal extrusion vertical press, the largest one in the world.

As per release, China made 36000 tonne ferrous metal extrusion vertical press has finished the first trial production which rolled out the first batch of 700*200 seamless steel pipes indicating great breakthroughs in manufacturing history all over the world.

Mr Zhang Guoqing GM of China North Industries Group Corporation said the project will be carried out into two stages to realize 50,000 tons and 125,000 tonnes of the production goals respectively in the days to come.

In past, China had to import a great number of large caliber seamless steel pipes in higher prices due to the lower production level. But in recent several years, with the supports of NDRC and Ministry of Finance etc, China North Industries Group Corporation has jointly cooperated with some high technology and research institutions to work out the world largest 36,000 tonne ferrous extrusion vertical press.

Fascinating news. If each person works towards common development and prosperity, instead of wars we'll all be better off.

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

China-ASEAN free trade area to be completed on schedule


The China-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Free Trade Area would be completely operative in 2010 as scheduled, a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

"The free trade zone will cover a population of 1.9 billion and involve about 6 trillion U.S. dollars in gross domestic product," Lu Kejian, director of the ministry's Department of Asian Affairs, said at the opening of the fourth Pan Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Forum in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China.

The free trade area project was first brought up in 2002，and completion set down for next year.

Ma Biao, chairman of the Guangxi regional government, said at the two-day forum that the free trade area would be the world's largest by population.

Du Ying, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said strengthening economic cooperation in the Pan-Beibu Gulf region would boost its economic growth and competitive edge.

He called for greater efforts to increase mutual investment, improve transportation links and step up cooperation in petrochemical, steel and electronics sectors.

ASEAN is China's fourth largest trade partner after the European Union, the United States and Japan. In 2008, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN totaled 231.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 14 percent from 2007.

But the first half of this year witnessed a 24 percent drop from the first half of 2008 to 88.1 billion U.S. dollars because of the global economic downturn.

In April this year, the Chinese government proposed a fund of 10 billion U.S. dollars and a loan of 15 billion U.S. dollars to build infrastructure in the region over the next three to five years.

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2009)

 

[aimarraul]

China cuts US Treasury holdings in June
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-08-18 10:45

NEW YORK: China reduced its holdings of US Treasury debt in June by the biggest margin in nearly nine years, according to a US Treasury Department report issued on Monday.

China cut its net holdings by 3.1 percent to $776.4 billion in June from $801.5 billion in May, the report says. This is also the first large-scale reduction of US Treasury debt by China so far this year.

However, its June holdings were still larger than April's $763.5 billion and $767.9 billion in March, according to the statistics of the Treasury Department.

Reuters data show the drop in China's treasury holdings in June was the biggest percentage reduction since a 4.2 percent cut in October 2000.

On the other hand, Japan, the second-largest holder of US Treasury securities, increased its holdings to $711.8 billion in June from $677.2 billion in May.

The United Kingdom, the third largest holder, also increased its holdings to $214 billion in June from $163.8 billion, a surge of 30.6 percent.

 

[white_pawn]

CIC may invest in US mortgages​

Updated: 2009-08-18 08:04

China's $200-billion sovereign wealth fund is set to invest up to $2 billion in US mortgages as it eyes a property market recovery, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

China Investment Corp (CIC) plans to invest soon in US taxpayer subsidized investment funds of toxic mortgage-backed securities, which it sees as a safer bet than buying into the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), also backed by the US Treasury.

Under the Public-Private Investment Plan (PPIP) launched earlier this year, the US government plans to seed a number of public-private investment funds that would combine taxpayer money with private capital to buy as much as $40 billion in toxic securities from banks.

Compared with TARP, the new and smaller PPIP program focuses on safer toxic securities, which must have so-called "Triple-A" ratings by at least two agencies, and are debts guaranteed by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), sources explained.

"In this case, CIC feels safer to invest and the safer it feels, the more confident it will naturally feel about its investments, as well as in the prospects for the US economy," said one of the sources.

"The Chinese government is always trying to seek a more ideal way to invest in US assets rather than purely buying US government bonds all the time," said the source.

"Some might think $2 billion for a $200-billion sovereign fund is not big money, but it can be regarded as an innovative and positive option for Chinese investment."

CIC is in talks with nine designated PPIP managers, which include Alliance Bernstein LP, with sub-advisers Greenfield Partners LLC and Rialto Capital Management LLC; Angelo Gordon and Co LP, with GE Capital Real Estate; BlackRock Inc; Invesco Ltd; Marathon Asset Management LP; Oaktree Capital Management LP; RLJ Western Asset Management LP; Trust Company of the West; and Wellington Management Co LLP, said the sources who did not want to be identified.

CIC is expected to decide this month which of the nine designated PPIP managers it will mandate for its investments in financial products, said the sources.

The fund is likely to select several, not all, of the firms, said the sources, CIC cannot invest directly in the PPIP.

 

[white_pawn]

Chinese banks pip foreign rivals in first-half lending​

While Chinese banks are seeing a credit boom due to the nation's huge stimulus package, their foreign peers have not been so lucky and might just be facing their most difficult period as far as business expansion in China is concerned.

According to the central bank's latest monetary policy report, in the first half of 2009, lending by foreign financial institutions in China dropped by 32.7 billion yuan. This is in stark contrast to the recording-setting 7.37 trillion yuan in new loans that Chinese banks gave out in the same period.

Analysts said foreign banks in China, restrained by their global development strategy and disadvantages in competing with Chinese banks for funding major government-led projects, could see a significant decline in business revenue this year.

Foreign banks have rushed to extend their presence in the Chinese market since the nation fully opened up its banking industry in December 2006, but the unexpected global financial crisis, which badly hurt the banks' parent companies at home, has curbed their aggressive expansion spree in China.

"The main clients of foreign banks in China are foreign companies, whose demand for loans has shrunk significantly in the current economic downturn," Lian Ping, chief economist of Bank of Communications, said.

"On the other hand, major Chinese banks gained an upper hand in funding State-backed infrastructure projects, which are usually less risky than lending to companies and are not easily accessed by foreign lenders," he said.

State-controlled banks, main lenders to the government-led 4-trillion yuan stimulus package, advanced 3.26 trillion yuan in new loans in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly half of the nation's entire lending in the period, while foreign banks are commonly believed to be at a disadvantage in making such lending because they lack government connections.

"Chinese banks have natural advantages in that there is a strong government inference that State companies should park their deposits and seek loans from State banks," an industry source at a Shanghai-based foreign bank said.

After experiencing galloping growth in 2007, foreign banks saw their business expansion in China slowing significantly last year as a result of the global financial turmoil, with their total assets growing by just 13.2 percent, down 35.3 percentage points from a year earlier. Analysts said the situation could be even tougher this year.

"Some foreign banks in China are likely to lose customers to their Chinese rivals, as they could not give out loans at favorable interest rates due to tightened liquidity and prudent lending practice," Li Mingxu, an analyst with Anbound Consulting Firm, said.

"Besides the lending front, some companies have also started to shift their deposits to Chinese banks and more high-end individual customers are turning to Chinese banks for wealth management," Li said, adding such customer drift could be a short term phenomenon.

An earlier central bank report revealed that late last year, when the global financial crisis was in full swing, it was very difficult for foreign banks in China to get funds on the inter-bank market due to market concerns about the financial situation of their parent companies.

Major locally incorporated foreign banks HSBC (China) and Citibank (China) have declined to comment on their business operations this year, while Standard Chartered Bank (China) said it had not seen a major dent in its credit volume this year.

In contrast, analysts believed that Chinese banks could achieve decent growth for the whole of this year thanks to the lending spree in the first half, but remained vigilant on a possible bad loan surge next year.

Chinese banks pip foreign rivals in first-half lending

 

[white_pawn]

New program will lower drug costs​

Patients at public hospitals will save more money beginning Sept 25, when the government starts to heavily subsidize a list of common medicines.

China's first essential medicine list is part of the country's ongoing medical reform, which aims to assure all Chinese have basic healthcare services.

Most of the 307 drugs on the list are prescription-only drugs, 200 of which are western medicines. The rest are traditional Chinese medicines, which have long been used in China and are proven to be safe, effective and reasonably priced, experts say.

"The inclusion of essential medicines in the overall reform signals the government's intent to ensure high-quality care that is affordable for the whole population," said Vivian Tan, press officer of the Beijing office of the World Health Organization.


The list is a primary step in establishing a drug supply and usage institution that will secure drug safety and lower the general drug costs.

The institution will cover 30 percent of the cost of China's public medical facilities, particularly the grassroots ones, by 2011 and all of them by 2020.

"For patients, the national essential drug institution will help lower their drug expenses substantially," Hu Shanlian, public health expert with the Shanghai-based Fudan University, told China Daily yesterday.

Under the institution, different government agencies will work together to ensure ample supply, safety and quality of the listed drugs for the treatment of the most common diseases, and promote their uses at public hospitals, Hu said.

Previously, some cheap but effective drugs were not available largely due to pharmaceutical companies not producing them. Instead, the companies focused on the manufacture of drugs that were more profitable, reports said. Therefore, patients had no choice but to pay more for drugs.

That in turn passed on the cost to the government, which aims to cover more than 90 percent of the entire population by 2011 through the health reform.

Currently, the annual drug cost of China is approximately 500 billion yuan ($73 billion), accounting for more than 45 percent of the country's entire healthcare expenditures, official statistics show.

"It's much higher than the international average of 20 to 30 percent," Hu said.

The usage of the more common, essential drugs at health facilities, which now takes up 25 percent of the total drug use, will be widened under the institution and thus lower the total drug costs, he said.

Listed drugs will be sold with zero cost added at the grassroots health facilities in both rural and urban areas.

"More patients will go to grassroots health facilities at community level or village level for cheaper drugs, which will help optimize limited medical resources," Hu said.

Some Chinese welcome the new initiative.

"I don't understand why drugs for a common cold costs me nearly 1,000 yuan," said Yuan Kang in Beijing.

"I hope with the new system I can have cheap and good medicines," the 26-year-old office clerk said.

Zhao Mingwu, who heads the internal medicine department with the leading Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing, also welcomed the essential drug institution.

The system will ensure drug supply for health facilities, particularly grassroots ones, and lower medicine costs substantially for patients, he said.

The list will be updated every three years to better meet the demands of both doctors and patients.

New program will lower drug costs

 

[white_pawn]

CNNC gets nod for Tianwan phase III​

By Wan Zhihong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-20 08:05

China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), the country's largest nuclear power plants operator, plans to start building the third phase of its Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province from October next year.
The two reactors (number 5 and 6), of 1,000-mW capacity each, have got preliminary approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the company said in a statement on its website.

Construction of the number 5 reactor is scheduled to begin in October 2010, said the statement.

It did not say which technology the two reactors would use.

The Tianwan power plant is designed to have eight reactors, and it already operates two 1,060 mW reactors.

Once all eight reactors come into commercial use, the site will have a combined capacity of over 8,000 mW, by when it would become one of the nation's primary power bases, a CNNC source who declined to be named told China Daily yesterday.

The Tianwan nuclear power base will develop into China's third nuclear generating complex, following those built in Qinshan in Zhejiang and Daya Bay in Guangdong, he said.

China and Russia last year signed an agreement for the second phase of the Tianwan project, under which Russia will supply two 1,060-mW reactors using Russian technology.

Currently, the two parties are still negotiating to finalize the agreement, CNNC said in its statement.

Analysts said the expansion of the Tianwan plant would help meet Jiangsu's voracious appetite for power. The province is one of the fastest growing and most prosperous regions in China.

"The project has also changed the overall energy structure in Jiangsu. Before Tianwan, the province had no nuclear power, which is a clean source of power," Jiang Guoyuan, an executive with CNNC had told China Daily earlier.

Jiangsu is now shuttering many small highly-polluting coal-fired power plants and has plans to further develop clean energy sources, including nuclear power, he said.

Located in Lianyungang in Jiangsu, construction of the Tianwan nuclear power project started in 1999. The first phase of the project includes two 1,060 mW reactors using technology from Russia.

With a total investment of nearly 30 billion yuan, Tianwan phase one was then the largest joint project ever undertaken between China and Russia.

The Tianwan nuclear power plant still uses second-generation nuclear power technology. China is now focusing on developing the third generation technology.

Compared with reactors using first or second generation technology, reactors with third generation technology are simpler in design, thus reducing capital costs. They are also more fuel-efficient and safer.

The country has set up the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp Ltd, which is mainly responsible for domestic development of nuclear power using advanced third generation technology from overseas.

China has signed a deal with a consortium led by the US-based Westinghouse Electric Co to build four third-generation nuclear power reactors. The country will use Westinghouse's AP1000 technology to build two reactors in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, and in Haiyang, Shandong province.

China has also signed an 8-billion-euro agreement with the French nuclear company Areva to supply technology for two other third generation nuclear reactors. Areva will supply two reactors for a project in Taishan in Guangdong.

According to the NDRC, China's nuclear power industry has seen accelerated development in recent years. In 2005, China had planned to increase its nuclear power capacity to 40 gW by 2020, when it would account for 4 percent of the nation's total power capacity.

NDRC has readjusted its earlier goal in order to coordinate with the boom in industrial development, by increasing it to some 5 percent of the total power capacity in 2020.

 

[white_pawn]

Bank of Communications H1 profit beats estimates(Xinhua)​

Updated: 2009-08-20 09:53

Bank of Communications, one of the largest mainland-based commercial lenders, on Wednesday reported a net profit of 15.6 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) for the six months ended June 30, up 0.3 percent.

This was better than the market estimates of declines, most of which were less than 1 percent.

The company declared an interim dividend of 0.1 yuan.

The net interest income totaled 29.8 billion yuan, representing a decline of 9.78 percent from the same period last year. But cumulative realized net fee and commission income rose 17.69 percent to 5.5 billion yuan, accounting for 14.76 percent of net operating income.

The company said it "moderately increased its loans disbursements while keeping risks within acceptable levels in support of the country's investment promotion policy," with loans increasing 30.15 percent, or 400.6 billion yuan in the first half to reach 1,729.2 billion yuan.

Net interest margin decreased by 5 basis points to 2.21 percent from the end of the first quarter, but net interest income began to increase compared with the first quarter after reporting two quarters of quarter-on-quarter declines.

This "signaled an upturn in the bank's net interest income," the report said.

The bank's impaired loans ratio decreased by 0.41 percent to 1.51 percent from the beginning of the year and provision coverage of impaired loans was 123 percent.

The capital adequacy ratio declined slightly from beginning of the year to 12.57 percent, while core capital adequacy ratio declined to 8.81 percent.

The company said it expected a period of stability for the domestic economy in the second quarter, but nevertheless added that there remained uncertainties head. It said it would actively adapt to macroeconomic changes and leverage on the opportunities arising from the Shanghai World Expo and the role of Shanghai as a key center.

 

[aimarraul]

China, Australia ink $41B gas deal, biggest ever
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-18 19:59

PERTH/BEIJING: Australia and China struck their biggest trade deal ever on Tuesday as the world's two most valuable listed oil companies, Exxon Mobil and PetroChina, agreed a $41 billion liquefied natural gas deal.

"It's a statement about the nature of our two economies and the fact that Australia is important to China, just like China is important to Australia," Australian Resources Minister Martin Ferguson told Reuters in Beijing.

The gas sale agreement between Exxon and PetroChina comes just weeks after Exxon inked a A$10 billion Gorgon LNG sales deal with India's Petronet, which marked Australia's first ever LNG contract with India.


China, Australia ink $41B gas deal, biggest ever CNOOC strikes Qatar LNG deal
The deals, along with regulatory approvals process from the federal government now nearing completion, means that the Gorgon project partners could approve the massive LNG project, located off Western Australia, by early as next month.

The latest Gorgon gas sale would bring PetroChina's total LNG purchase from the project to a total of 3.25 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) for 20 years -- making it the largest buyer of gas from the project.

Despite the volumes it is buying, the fact that PetroChina has not secured a minority stake in the project is an indication that demand for long-term LNG supplies is still buoyant despite the current economic downturn.

With a long list of around a dozen proposed LNG projects in the Asia-Pacific region, buyers are also eager to lock in supplies as quickly as possible from projects that are most likely to be developed.

In the deal signed on Tuesday, PetroChina will buy 2.25 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of gas from the Gorgon LNG project for a period of 20 years, Ferguson said in a statement.

The sale is Australia's most valuable trade deal ever with China, Australia said, adding that the agreement was a reflection of the strength of Australia's continuing trade and investment relationship with China.

The massive Gorgon LNG project, operated by Chevron Corp which owns a 50 percent stake, is located off western Australia and has a proposed annual output of 15 mtpa. Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell each own a 25 percent stake in the project.

Chevron and its partners may give final investment approval for the much-delayed Gorgon project as early as next month, with the project expected to cost about A$50 billion, according to Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett.

 

[aimarraul]

China outstrips US as Japan's No.1 trade partner
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-19 21:37

TOKYO: China becomes Japan's biggest trading partner in both exports and imports in the first six months this year, as the global economic downturn affected Japan-US trade more seriously, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) said Wednesday.

Exports to China fell 25.3 percent from a year earlier to $46.5 billion and imports from the country dropped 17.8 percent to $56.2 billion, however, trading with other countries and regions including the United States showed larger declines, JETRO said in its report.

It is the first time exports to China surpassed those to the United States.

In the January-June period, the trade with China accounted for 20.4 percent of the total trade volume of Japan, while that with the United States accounted for 13.7 percent and that with South Korea 6.1 percent.

JETRO also projected a decline of Sino-Japanese trade for the whole year of 2009, the first yearly contraction since 1998 Asian financial crisis.

 

[oct605032048]

Beijing steel giant says annual output to reach 30 mln tonnes
English_Xinhua 2009-09-02 17:04:40 Print

BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Shougang Iron and Steel Group(8th largest iron producer in china) expects its annual steel output to reach 30 million tonnes by 2012,two years after its Beijing facilities are to be shut down, the group's chairman said Wednesday.

Shougang, meaning "Capital Steel", was Beijing's biggest polluter before it began cutting output at its Beijing plants for last year's Olympics. It is now moving production to a 10-million-tonne, state-of-the-art mill on the nearby coast of Hebei Province.

The 21-square-kilometer new plant in Caofeidian, an islet 220 km east of Beijing, will replace Shougang's old facilities in Beijing next year, to become the country's largest steel production base.

"The new plant will produce 9.7 million tonnes by the end of next year," said Chairman Zhu Jimin at a Beijing assembly commemorating the group's 90th founding anniversary.

He said the group would further expand production by launching new projects as well as merging and acquiring smaller plants in different provinces.

In its latest expansion plan, Shougang last month acquired 90 percent of the equities of Changzhi Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., a 3.6-million-tonne plant in the northern Shanxi Province.

"By 2012, we'll be producing 30 million tonnes of steel a year," said Zhu.

Meanwhile, the Beijing factory site will become a development zone for a wide range of industries including logistic services, real estate development and auto spares production, which will yield an additional 100 billion yuan (14.7 billion U.S. dollars) a year, he said.

Founded in 1919, Shougang is widely considered the flagship of China's heavy industry. With its production base just 17 km west of Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, however, it has long been blamed for causing heavy pollution as the plant's chimneys belch out thick clouds of smoke.

Its Beijing plant produced more than 12 million tonnes of steel annually before it was forced to cut output and pollution in 2007.

Last year, the plant said it cut output and pollution by 70 percent to ensure better air quality for the Beijing Olympics.