China :: Business & Economy

An employee from Sinopec fills the tank of a piece of farming equipment. The government has prioritized energy supplies for agriculture to ensure a sufficient harvest. Cui Peilin / For China Daily China has called upon its energy companies to ensure fertilizer producers get ample supplies of natural gas for the spring planting season, to avert shortages as demand grows for foodstuffs including grain and meat. China National Petroleum Corp, China Petrochemical Corp and CNOOC Ltd are barred from selling gas to other customers until they fill farm-related orders, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Sunday in a statement. China's farms face pressure in the coming years to supply the nation's food needs, Shanghai Securities News reported on Jan 28, citing Chen Xiaohua, a vice-minister of agriculture. In the next five years, annual demand for grains is expected to grow by 4 million metric tons, vegetable oils by 800,000 tons and ...

ENERGY stocks led indexes higher yesterday, the first day of trading since the growing unrest in Egypt caused the largest one-day drop in the broad stock market in more than three months. Exxon Mobil Corp. gained 2.1 percent after it reported its most profitable quarter since 2008. Massey Energy Co. jumped 9.8 percent after Alpha Natural Resources Inc. said that it would buy the coal producer in a US$7.1 billion deal. Alpha Natural Resources fell 7.2 percent. The Massey deal suggests "maybe coal isn't dead," said Kim Caughey Forrest, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. It also raises hopes for similar deals in the future, she said. Concerns remained over Egypt's impact on oil prices. The country is not a major producer of oil, but it plays a key role in the industry because it controls the Suez Canal, a major route for oil tankers and cargo ships. Crude oil prices rose 3 percent to US$92.19 a barrel. "The market wants to work its way higher,"...

AMERICANS spent at the fastest pace in three years in 2010, boosted by a strong finish in December. Consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in December, the sixth straight monthly increase, the United States Commerce Department reported yesterday. Households saw their incomes rise 0.4 percent, the same as November. For all of 2010, consumers boosted spending 3.5 percent. That was the best performance since a 5.2 percent rise in 2007, before the recession began. The government reported on Friday that consumer spending rose at a 4.4 percent rate in the final three months of 2010 - the most since 2006 and helping retailers to the best holiday shopping season in that time. Economists expect a cut in Social Security taxes will lift January's spending and incomes even further that last month. But Paul Dales, senior US economist at Capital Economics, said the boost could be short-lived without job growth. For 2010, incomes rose 3 percent after having fallen 1.7 percent in 2009. Still, incomes ...

China's current account surplus jumped 25 percent from one year earlier to 306.2 billion U.S. dollars last year, China's foreign exchange regulator said Monday. The country's capital and financial account surplus hit 165.6 billion U.S. dollars last year, compared with 109.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2009, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said in a statement on its website. In the fourth quarter of 2010, China's current account surplus rose 13 percent year on year to 102.2 billion U.S. dollars, almost unchanged from the third quarter's 102.3 billion surplus. Further, China's capital and financial account surplus amounted to 83.5 billion U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter. Source: Xinhua

China's National Audit Office (NAO) found non-compliance issues in operations and accounting totaling 3.02 billion yuan (458.33 million U.S. dollars) at two major insurers, according to audit reports for 2009 released Monday. The NAO said it inspected the 2009 books of China Life Insurance (Group) Co. - the parent of China's largest life insurer, China Life Insurance Co. - and People's Insurance Company of China (PICC) - the parent of China's largest property insurer, PICC Property & Casualty Co. At China Life, the auditors found 698 million yuan of non-compliance in insurance operations and 380 million yuan in accounting. At PICC, auditors discovered 1.5 billion yuan of non-compliance in operations and 440 million yuan in accounting. At China Life, the operations misconduct included registering individual clients under the name of corporate clients, promising fixed earnings, and relaxing insurance restrictions. In Dec. 2009, for example, its subsid...

Chinas National Audit Office (NAO) found non-compliance issues in operations and accounting totaling 3.02 billion yuan (458.33 million U.S. dollars) at two major insurers, according to audit reports for 2009 released Monday. The NAO said it inspected the 2009 books of China Life Insurance (Group) Co. the parent of Chinas largest life insurer, China Life Insurance Co. and Peoples Insurance Company of China (PICC) the parent of Chinas largest property insurer, PICC Property & Casualty Co. At China Life, the auditors found 698 million yuan of non-compliance in insurance operations and 380 million yuan in accounting. At PICC, auditors discovered 1.5 billion yuan of non-compliance in operations and 440 million yuan in accounting. At China Life, the operations misconduct included registering individual clients under the name of corporate clients, promising fixed earnings, and relaxing insurance restrictions. In Dec. 2009, for example, its subsidiary in Qiqihar in northeast Chinas Heil...

A salesman at a Shanghai residential property receives a visitor on Saturday. (Photo/Xinhua) The trade volume of this city's housing market slumped 40 percent on the first day of a new local property tax, and transaction volumes fell further over the weekend, according to figures from the Shanghai Real Estate Trade Center. A total of 571 first-hand residential apartments, containing 59,388 square meters of space, were sold on Friday, the first day the new tax took effect. That was fewer than the 933 units, containing 98,682 sq m of space, that found buyers the day before, according to the center's website. Meanwhile, 420 units of commercial properties were being traded on Friday, or an aggregate gross floor area of 42,300 sq m. Both numbers had dropped more than 25 percent from the previous day. "Apparently, the property tax has started to have an effect on the housing market," said Lu Qilin, deputy director of the Shanghai-based Uwin ...

SHANGHAI'S stock index rose this morning, led by water firms and metal producers. The Shanghai Composite Index added 1 percent to 2,780.15. Turnover rose to 56.4 billion yuan (US$8.54 billion) from last Friday morning's 54 billion yuan. China's central bank announced yesterday that the target for M2 growth, the broadest measure of money supply, was set at 16 percent in 2011. The figure was in line with market expectations and eased concerns about over-tightening, according to Shanghai Securities News. Water firms rallied after China's State Council last Saturday announced plans to double its annual investment in water conservancy in the next 10 years. Market watchers said that a total of 4 trillion yuan will be invested in the sector in the next ten years. Qianjiang Water Resources Development Co surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to 18.15 yuan. China Gezhouba Co, a dam builder, hiked by 6.4 percent to 15.19 yuan. Metal producers gained after Jiangxi Copper Co, the...

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's statement "welcoming" China overtaking his nation as the world's second-largest economy points to a positive and strong change in future China-Japan relations, according to analysts. Kan made the comment at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which he visited on Saturday to address the VIP gathering. In his speech, Kan said "the world faces major changes that can be likened to a tectonic shift both in the national security and economic fields", and Asia is "the center of major tectonic changes". Against this background, he said, the Japan-US alliance "is becoming even more important" and should continue to play a key role in the Asia-Pacific region. "For Japan, its relationship with China, which is expanding its influence in Asia as it achieves remarkable economic growth, is extremely important," Kan added. "Both Japan and China have an important responsibility to bear in the ...

China central bank says inflation still high Beijing (AFP) Jan 30, 2011 - China's central bank governor warned Sunday that inflation is higher than expected and that banks' reserve ratios could be tightened further to soak up excess liquidity in the economy. People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that although the rise of prices slowed slightly last month, it was stronger than anticipated, Dow Jones Newswires reported. "Inflation is still higher than many people expected. It may be still going up a little, so we should keep vigilant on that," Zhou said on the sidelines of meetings in Kyoto, Japan. Asked whether China needed to again raise banks' reserve requirements due to the excessive liquidity conditions, he answered: "Maybe we need to continue our efforts." Ever fearful of inflation's historical potential to spark social unrest, China's leaders have been pulling on a variety of levers to rein in consumer prices and tame ru...

China central bank says inflation still high Beijing (AFP) Jan 30, 2011 - China's central bank governor warned Sunday that inflation is higher than expected and that banks' reserve ratios could be tightened further to soak up excess liquidity in the economy. People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that although the rise of prices slowed slightly last month, it was stronger than anticipated, Dow Jones Newswires reported. "Inflation is still higher than many people expected. It may be still going up a little, so we should keep vigilant on that," Zhou said on the sidelines of meetings in Kyoto, Japan. Asked whether China needed to again raise banks' reserve requirements due to the excessive liquidity conditions, he answered: "Maybe we need to continue our efforts." Ever fearful of inflation's historical potential to spark social unrest, China's leaders have been pulling on a variety of levers to rein in consumer prices and tame run...

Shanghai (AFP) Jan 30, 2011 China price regulators are seeking to fine French retail giant Carrefour 2.5 million yuan ($380,000) -- the maximum fine for overcharging customers, state media reported Sunday. Municipal regulators fined three Carrefour stores in Shanghai and two in southwest China's Yunnan province 500,000 yuan each on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency reported. However, the final fine will be decided only after a hearing where regulators said Carrefour representatives will be able to respond to the charges, the report said. It gave no further details about the hearing. A total of 11 Carrefour stores were accused of charging more than the price they displayed on products ranging from cotton underwear and tea leaves to rubber gloves, according to reports. Three Wal-Mart stores also face fines for overcharging. Carrefour "sincerely apologises" and has offered to refund customers five times the difference between the price charged and that on the label, ...

The world's largest wholesale market for small products in east China's Yiwu city is slipping into a holiday lull as traders go home for the Lunar New Year after a year of good business. The noise of bargaining that characterizes the 4-million-square-meter Yiwu International Trade Mart was gone. Small groups clustered in front of the stalls that sell New Year decorations over the weekend. "About 80 percent of the 62,000 resident businesses in the trade mart have closed for the holiday," said Chen Jianfei, an administration official. He said the number of visitors had shrunk from 200,000 to about 2,000 a day. Yiwu, a relatively small city in Zhejiang Province, is at the forefront of the country's export economy. About 1.4 million migrants, including 20,000 foreigners, have come to live in the city of 700,000 local residents. According to the municipal trade department, Yiwu's exports grew 34 percent last year to 2.86 billion U.S. dollars. The Un...

The first ten years of Chinas WTO membership has supported one of the countrys fastest and best growth periods and the next ten years will embrace more opening up, said Chen Deming, Chinese Commerce Minister at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In the last ten years, China cut its tariffs to 9.8 percent to 15.3 percent and opened more than 100 service sectors. The countrys exports and imports were 4.9 times and 4.7 times as much as ten years ago. China became the worlds second largest importer in 2010 and its imports in goods reached 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 10 percent of the worlds total. That is also one of the best and fastest period of the economic growth in China, Chen said. The countrys GDP more than doubled, Chinas per capita income was 800 U.S. dollars in 2001 and rose to 2,500 U.S. dollars in 2009, with more than 200 million people out of poverty. In addition, China attracted more than 70 million U.S. dollars of foreign investment...

China will take measures to ensure energy supplies in 2011 to meet growing demand, a National Energy Administration (NEA) official said Friday. The government will boost energy production and control consumption, Wang Siqiang, deputy director of the NEA General Affairs Department, said at a press conference on China's 4th-quarter of 2010 energy situation. Wang did not specify an energy consumption control target. Coal supply will be improved with the construction of 14 large coal bases and increased imports, he said. Net coal imports totaled 146 million tonnes in 2010, he said. Installed electricity capacity is forecast to expand by 80 million kilowatts in 2011 to 1.04 billion kilowatts, he added. China will focus on offshore oil and gas exploitation during the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period, he said. Offshore oil and gas output exceeded 50 million tonnes in 2010, he said. The Chineseenergy sector has faced difficulties in...

Dongguan Times , January 27, 2011 The Dongguan Times today shows a picture from the Dongguan Spring Festival gala put on on the day of 'Little New Year.' The event took place at the Dongguan Yulan Theater (玉兰大剧院), guests included rock star Cui Jian (崔建). The latest regulations are out to control housing prices: A second property purchase requires first down payment to be 60% of the total price, and third property purchases has been forbidden altogether. In a separate devlopment, Reuters' Trading China Twitter account just announced the following: BREAKING NEWS: MAYOR OF CHINA'S CHONGQING CITY WILL ANNOUNCE PROPERTY TAX PLAN ON THURS EVENING - OFFICIAL TELLS REUTERS Finally, more news on chunyun (春运) or the Spring Festival Rush. At Dongguan East Station, tickets for going home can no longer be bought. Open dates for the hotline for a return ticket from a place like Hunan has been extended to the 31st, but they are running out fast too. The paper gives numbers for tra...

Chinas first online shopping street platform, chunxi.tianya.cn, was formally activated on Tianya Club Thursday, one of the most popular Internet forums in China, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Supported by the Chengdu government, Tianya Club plans to virtualize the services provided on the citys shopping street Chunxi, including selling general merchandise, catering, entertainment, among others. Currently, dozens of shops on Chunxi Road have registered virtual stores in the online Chunxi Road. Geographical limitations will no longer be the problem for people who are interested in services and goods, said Shen Liang, an official from Chengdu government. According to the report, companies registering at the chunxi.tianya.cn are growing, and by the end of 2011, over 600 shoppers will be also found on the online platform. On April 15, Tianya Club will launch a 3D roaming service online, after which netizens will be able to get a whole view of the road. Chunxi Road is located in the h...

China has no need to revalue its yuan currency for trade reasons, as export growth will slow to a still strong 10 percent this year and its surplus is set to contract by 2015, its trade chief said on Friday. Imports from the world's second largest economy will probably grow faster than exports this year, Commerce Minister Chen Deming said. Chen dismissed calls for China to strengthen the yuan to tackle the trade surplus, and called instead on countries with reserve currencies to prevent their currencies from weakening. "It is not a sound argument to ask China to appreciate the yuan for trade reasons," Chen told Reuters in an interview during the World Economic Forum in Davos. In 2010, China posted growth of about 30 percent in exports, with its factories churning out everything from shoes to steel. China joined the World Trade Organization 10 years ago -- a symbol of its opening to the world -- and last year overtook Germany as the world's biggest exporter. China'...

China will face pressures ensuring farm product supply meets demand over the next five years, the Shanghai Securities News reported Saturday citing Chen Xiaohua, China's vice agricultural minister. Chen said in the five-year period from 2011 to 2015, China will annually consume an extra 4 million tonnes of grain, 800,000 tonnes of vegetable oil and 1 million tonnes of meat. To meet that increased demand, China will boost agricultural development during the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period with more policy support, Chen said. The government will provide more funding for agriculture and subsidize technology development for farmers, Chen added. The government will also enhance agricultural market regulation and boost farmers' income, Chen said. In 2010, China produced 546.4 million tonnes of grain, 39.2 million tonnes of cooking oil and 77.8 million tonnes of meat. Source: Xinhua

OIL prices surged yesterday as thousands continued to riot against the government in Egypt, and unrest threatened to spread across the Middle East. Benchmark oil rose US$3.70, or 4.3 percent, to settle at US$89.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil rose as high as US$89.73 a barrel at one point. Prices shot up about US$2 a barrel in less than half an hour at midday after the White House expressed its concern about the violence in Egypt. The State Department advised Americans to avoid non-essential travel to Egypt, and many airlines canceled flights in and out of the country. Anxious traders pulled money from other assets to buy oil, gold and the dollar, which are considered less risky in uncertain times. "This is definitely a flight into safety," said Rich Ilczyszyn, a senior market strategist with futures brokers Lind-Waldock. "I think it's just kind of the feeling that this could continue to spread, or just the whole nervousness about the region, not...

China will take measures to ensure energy supplies in 2011 to meet growing demand, a National Energy Administration (NEA) official said Friday. The government will boost energy production and control consumption, Wang Siqiang, deputy director of the NEA General Affairs Department, said at a press conference on China's 4th-quarter of 2010 energy situation. Wang did not specify an energy consumption control target. Coal supply will be improved with the construction of 14 large coal bases and increased imports, he said. Net coal imports totaled 146 million tonnes in 2010, he said. Installed electricity capacity is forecast to expand by 80 million kilowatts in 2011 to 1.04 billion kilowatts, he added. China will focus on offshore oil and gas exploitation during the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period, he said. Offshore oil and gas output exceeded 50 million tonnes in 2010, he said. The Chinese energy sector has faced difficulties in recent years, including imported inflation and ext...

China will take measures to ensure energy supplies in 2011 to meet growing demand, a National Energy Administration (NEA) official said Friday. The government will boost energy production and control consumption, Wang Siqiang, deputy director of the NEA General Affairs Department, said at a press conference on China's 4th-quarter of 2010 energy situation. Wang did not specify an energy consumption control target. Coal supply will be improved with the construction of 14 large coal bases and increased imports, he said. Net coal imports totaled 146 million tonnes in 2010, he said. Installed electricity capacity is forecast to expand by 80 million kilowatts in 2011 to 1.04 billion kilowatts, he added. China will focus on offshore oil and gas exploitation during the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period, he said. Offshore oil and gas output exceeded 50 million tonnes in 2010, he said. The Chinese energy sector has faced difficulties in recent years, including imported i...

Chinas gold output in 2010 totaled 340.876 tons, up 8.57 percent year on year, according to the latest data from China Gold Association. The countrys gold output has been the worlds largest since 2007, when it surpassed that of South Africa. Chinas gold output recorded only 4.07 tons in 1949 and rose to 13.8 tons in 1975. China started to invest heavily in the gold industry since the 1970s. In 1995, Chinas gold output exceeded 100 tons for the first time and reached 200 tons in 2003. Stimulated by the upward trend of gold prices, the gold output increased by 11.34 percent in 2009. Currently, gold producing has become a major industry and an important source for fiscal revenues in over 100 counties. Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Yunnan and Fujian were the top five gold producing provinces in 2010. The average gold price in the international market in 2010 was 1224.53 U.S. dollars per ounce, 25.6 percent higher than 2009. Gold demand in Chinas domestic market was also strong. Over 510 tons o...