China :: Business & Economy

U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Friday on its website that it is investigating inaccurate fuel gauges on 865,000 General Motors Co. SUVs, according to Detnews. The Federal regulator said it had opened a preliminary investigation into 865,000 of the most popular SUVs built by GM, including 2005-07 Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier and Saab 9-7, after consumers complained about incidents of inaccurate and random fuel level readings while driving. NHTSA said it has received 668 complaints of the issue, including 58 reports, in which consumers said that vehicle stalled when it ran out of gas, even though the gauge indicated that fuel remained. The faulty fuel gauge even allegedly led to a vehicle crash after the vehicle stalled while exiting the interstate, became disabled, and was struck from behind. NHTSA also said they received most complaints last year, indicating an apparent increasing trend. GM spokesman Alan Adler said t...

Despite the U.S. Federal Reserve's indication that it will end its massive bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing, or QE2, China's inflationary pressure is not likely to ease in the short term, said economists in Beijing. Zheng Liansheng, a researcher with the Financial Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, said he expected the QE2 to end in time. However, because it remains to be seen when the Fed will begin to raise its bank interest rates, the upward trend in international commodity prices will definitely continue. "Imported inflationary pressure on all other countries is still on the rise," he told Xinhua. The Fed said in a statement released on Wednesday that it would finish its Treasury bond purchase program at the end of June as scheduled, as the U.S. economic recovery is "proceeding at a moderate pace." Despite this, interest rates will remain low for an "extended period...

Baidu released its earnings report for the first quarter of 2011 on April 28. The report shows that Baidus total revenue in the first quarter of 2011 stood at more than 2.4 billion yuan (about 372 million U.S. dollars), an increase of more than 88 percent compared with the same period of 2010. The net profit of Baidu in the first quarter of 2011 stood at nearly 1.1 billion yuan (about 163.5 million U.S. dollars), an increase of 123 percent compared with the same period of 2010. Most of Baidu's revenue in the first quarter of 2011 comes from Internet marketing revenue, which stood at more than 2.4 billion yuan (about 372 million U.S. dollars), an increase of more than 88 percent compared with the same period of 2010, and the number of Baidu's active Internet consumers stood at about 274,000, a decline of nearly 1 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2010 and an increase of 24 percent compared with the same period of 2010. "Negative news brought much i...

The price of Chinese farm produce fell last week, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday, indicating easing inflationary pressures this month. During the week of April 18 to 24, wholesale prices of 18 types of vegetables dropped for the fourth consecutive week, registering a 21.1 percent decline from one month ago, said a statement posted on the ministry's website. The price of peppers, cabbages and chilis slid by 20.9 percent, 12 percent and 8.9 percent respectively from a week earlier, the statement said. Egg prices continued to fall last week, posting a 0.2 percent decline. However, the prices of rice and flour both climbed by 0.2 percent from the previous week. Falling produce prices are likely to ease some of the country's inflationary pressures. China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, accelerated to 5.4 percent in March, exceeding the government's full-year target of 4 percent. Source: Xinhua ...

STOCKS closed at another 2011 high yesterday despite modest US economic growth in the first quarter. The economy grew at a 1.8 annual rate between January and March. That's the weakest rate since last spring. Higher oil prices cut into consumer spending and bad weather slowed down construction projects. Stocks rose modestly as investors bet that the economy would grow at a faster annual rate once gasoline prices stabilized. The S&P 500 rose 4.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,360.48. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 72.35, or 0.6 percent, to 12,763.31. The Nasdaq composite gained 2.65, or 0.1 percent, to 2,872.53. The Russell 2000 index rose again, a day after reaching a record high. The index of small companies rose 3.24, or 0.4 percent, to 861.55. Corporate earnings were mixed. Procter & Gamble Co. rose nearly 1 percent after the maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers reported higher earnings but cut its forecast for the year due to rising costs for raw materials....

A NUMBER of retailers, including Shanghai Landmark Department Store, a Parkson store in Beijing and a Gome outlet in Wuhan, have been found guilty of price frauds by China's top economic planning agency. The shops were found cheating customers with "fictional" prices or by covering up terms and conditions of promotions, the National Development and Reform Commission said on its website yesterday. The commission has told local authorities to issue fines, which can be as much as 500,000 yuan (US$76,903). In one example highlighted by the NDRC, a pair of women's shoes originally priced at 468 yuan at the Shanghai Landmark store on Nanjing Road E. were tagged 768 yuan and sold at 576 yuan during a sales event, the NDRC said. But a manager with Shanghai Landmark's advertising department surnamed Chen told Shanghai Daily this had been a misunderstanding. He said the price of the shoes had been cut to 468 yuan from 768 yuan at a previous sales event on April 1-7. Chen sa...

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Thursday slashed its economic forecast for fiscal 2011 due to the impact of last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami. Japan's central bank said its policy board currently expects a 0.6 percent growth in real gross domestic product for the fiscal year that started April 1, from a previous projection of 1.6 percent made in January. The devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck east and northeastern regions of Japan caused severe damage to production facilities in the region and also knocked out key infrastructures, leading to broad scale supply chain disruptions nationwide that have also had an adverse affect on global supplies from Japan to overseas markets, the bank said. In addition, the nuclear crisis at a power plant in Fukushima prefecture, coupled with damaged caused to other power providers, has led to sizable electricity shortages which the central bank has factored into its economic forecast for the nation....

Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Thursday with the key Nikkei index jumping 1.63 percent. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Average advanced 157.90 points from Wednesday to 9,849.74. The broader Topix index expanded 11.98 points, or 1.43 percent, to 851.85. The leading winners included the air transport sector, the glass and ceramics, and rubber products sectors, while the miscellaneous sector and the sea transport sector were the only decliners. The turnover was about 1,603 billion yen (19.63 billion U.S. dollars). Source: Xinhua Weekly review April 20 Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail to remove luxury seats April 18 China undergoing shift into nation of consumers April 18 ...

Visiting Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia on Wednesday agreed to strengthen relations between the two countries. "This is a historic event and represents a new model of integration, and it represents a positive, realistic, and active example of integration in the century 21st," Garcia said in referrence to the Agreement on the Deepening of the Pacific that he and Calderon will sign on Thursday. After their meeting, both presidents hailed the agreement which will be singed together with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. Garcia and Calderon signed a joint declaration aimed at deepening the two countries' friendship, cooperation, integration, trade, investments and the permanent fight against poverty and organized crime. The two presidents also expressed solidarity over the need to defend the recovery of cultural and archeological heritage in the form of artifacts that have...

McDonald's Corp will recruit 50,000 employees this year in China as it quickens its pace of expansion in the fastest-growing market for the world's biggest restaurant chain. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's now operates 1,300 restaurants and employs 70,000 employees in China since it first entered the market 21 years ago. It plans to raise the store number to 2,000 in China by 2013, and the chain will open 175 to 200 new outlets this year. Total sales for fast-food chains in China rose 12 percent last year to 60 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg News, citing London-based researcher Euromonitor International. Yum! Brands' restaurants accounted for 40 percent while McDonald's had 16 percent, the researcher said. Yum!, which runs 3,200 KFC, 500 Pizza Hut and 20 East Dawning Chinese food outlets in China, earlier said it plans to open 500 new stores annually over the next three years. Analysts say that talent is crucial for McDonald's development in China.

Net profit at SAIC Motor Corp fell sharply in the first quarter from the same period a year ago to 4.5 billion yuan (US$691 million). The nation's largest auto group said net income for the first three months of this year climbed an annual 56 percent but this was a significant tumble from the 359-percent surge seen in the first quarter in 2010 when the car maker earned 2.9 billion yuan. SAIC is among car makers in China that reported slower sales after overall auto sales in the nation eased following a nearly two-year boom. Demand was hit by the expiry of government incentives on small-engine vehicles and measures by several cities to curb traffic congestion. Sales in the world's largest auto market rose 8.1 percent to 4.98 million units in the first quarter this year, and again the growth trailed the 72 percent gain a year ago. Although Citic Securities Co forecast China's overall auto sales to grow at a moderate pace of 10 to 15 percent this year, it says "leading ma...

CHINA'S top planning body is studying ways to keep real estate developers' profit margins within reasonable levels as it continues to fight against house price bubbles. The National Development and Reform Commission is currently conducting investigations into real estate companies' costs and profitability. It is considering applying to mainstream residential housing a 1995 regulation on curbing excess profits, the China News Service reported yesterday, citing Xu Kunlin, head of the NDRC's pricing supervision department. The country is to launch a batch of new measures to further regulate developers' pricing practices and this initiative to curb excess profits would be a major element, Xu said. "Profiteering in China's property market is high," said Mei Xinyu, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. While affirming the need to cool China's overheated property market by cracking down on profiteering, Mei...

Google Inc. and Apple Inc. also collect location data from computers, according to new reports in the U.S. media Tuesday amid privacy concerns over the technology giants tracking mobile phone users. The two companies obtained the information after a computer scans the area around itself for available Wi-Fi wireless networks, typically after users give a website permission to determine the computer's approximate location, The Wall Street Journal said in a report on its website. Google is believed to gather the location data through software in its Chrome browser or search toolbar. The same software can also be found in other browsers, such as Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer and Mozilla Corp's Firefox. When users explicitly agree to let certain websites find their location, their computers will scan for nearby available Wi-Fi networks, and then the Google browser or toolbar will send the information back to Google's location database. Apple's metho...

Haier Group, one of the world's leading white goods and home appliances makers, announced Wednesday that its first quarter net profit jumped 47.17 percent year on year to 531 million yuan (81 million U.S. dollars). In a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Haier said its total value of assets increased 8.39 percent year from a year earlier to 31.7 billion yuan as of the end of March this year. Earnings per share soared 47.21 percent year on year to 0.396 yuan, said the statement. Haier attributed the profit surge mainly to an export boom and tax rebates. The Qingdao-based Haier sells its products in over 100 countries and regions around the world. Source: Xinhua Weekly review April 20 Beijing-Shanghai high-speed...

Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for talks to boost economic engagement between the two nations, officials said. Khullar will lead in the Indian delegation in official talks in Islamabad on April 27 and 28. The Indian Commerce Secretary arrived via Wagah border near the eastern city of Lahore, and did not talk to media on his arrival. Pakistani Commerce Secretary Zafar Mehmood will lead his country's delegation. The trade talks were suspended in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks in November 2008. This is the second high-level interaction between the two countries after the resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue on all comprehensive bilateral issues. Both countries resumed formal talks and Home Secretaries of the two countries met in New Delhi on March 28 and 29. The talks were termed "extremely positive" and in the right direction. The Home Secretaries meeting was followed by an informal meeting between Indian Prime M...

The Chinese government announced Tuesday that it has launched an emergency program to protect farmers from produce price slumps and stabilize the produce market. China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in a statement on its website that local authorities are being urged to take measures to help farmers sell produce after a large harvest brought down vegetable prices in many areas of China, including the national capital of Beijing. Produce is being sold at surprisingly low prices in some regions, causing huge losses for farmers. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), the average prices for 18 types of vegetables plunged 9.8 percent from April 11 to 17. Local authorities should encourage large supermarkets to directly purchase produce from farmers to keep prices at reasonable levels and set up special sales counters for vegetables that have faced price slumps, according to the MOC statement. The ministry also encourages cuts for marketplace booth fees...

CHINA'S top economic planning agency yesterday published a detailed list of industries that it would encourage, restrict or ban, a blueprint that could have a far-reaching impact on investment activity in China over the coming years. The 111-page list published by the National Development and Reform Commission ratcheted up the minimum size requirement for coal mines, oil refineries and steel-making blast furnaces while lending support to alternative energy sources. The list, an update of one published in 2005, will serve as a guideline for Chinese regulators in making policies on tax, bank credit, land and trade, and will also be a reference for the country to decide which foreign investors are welcomed. On the hit-list, the NDRC said it would get rid of oil refineries with capacity of less than 40,000 barrels per day, on-grid coal-fired power generators of up to 100 megawatts and coal mines below 30,000 tons per year. Such efforts are part of a plan to clean up China's most po...

The London stock market opened higher slightly on Tuesday with the leading FTSE 100 index up 14.05 points, or 0.23 percent, at 6,032.36 points in early trading. Shares in International Consolidated Airlines Group SA rose 2.41 percent and ARM Holding added 1.98 percent. Mining firms saw their share prices fall as metals prices eased. Randgold Resources dropped 1.79 percent, and Antofagasta slipped 1.58 percent. Source: Xinhua Weekly review April 20 Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail to remove luxury seats April 18 China undergoing shift into nation of consumers April 18 Zhejiang checks food, raids illegal bun makers April 19 SASS: Chinese student...

Fishery products imported from areas other than Japan have been gaining popularity among South Korean customers anxious about radiation poisoning, local media reported Tuesday. Sales of saury and mackerel between March 22 and April 24 have skyrocketed 204 percent and 80 percent, respectively, at Lotte Mart, one of South Korea's top three retail chains, compared to the same period last year, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing industry sources. The whopping sales growth for the two items has come after Lotte Mart halted sales of pollack imported from Japan amid mounting public concerns over food safety due to radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. Lotte Mart has been selling mackerel from Norway and saury from China's Taiwan at prices about 40 percent cheaper than local market prices, Yonhap said. "Sales of saury and mackerel have jumped greatly as they have become popular among customers due to their price competitiveness against J...

Shares in TCL Corporation soared by 9.14 percent in the morning session on Monday after the company denied reports that it was planning to invest in the world's largest rare earth mine in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Guangdong-based TCL said the company had signed a framework agreement with Urumqi Economic & Technological Development Zone, to build an industrial park project in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for the production of components for LCD/LED televisions and other electronic devices. There had been reports in the media last Thursday that Xinjiang TCL Energy Company was scheduled to cooperate with the local Xinjiang government, to exploit the rare earth mine in Baicheng county. However, TCL denied the reports and said the company had never signed any agreements related to rare earth. "Shares of TCL performed well before last week. It was said the company would invest in rare earth, which proved to be a rumor. The good performance is based on TCL's succe...

The central bank is planning new investment funds to diversify holdings in the nation's $3 trillion foreign exchange reserves, to hedge against depreciation and inflation risks, according to a news report. The proposed funds will invest some of the foreign reserves in energy and precious metal markets, the New Century Weekly said on Monday, citing unnamed sources close to the People's Bank of China. However, the report did not disclose the size of the proposed funds, their operation methods or the timing of their possible launch. The central bank was not available for comment. Foreign exchange reserves jumped by $197 billion to $3.04 trillion in the first quarter, marking the second-biggest increase on record, central bank statistics show. That fueled concern over devaluation risks and over-exposure to US debt. "This is a positive way to diversify investment risk, especially as China holds such large amounts of US debt," Xu Hongcai, a finance professor at the China ...

MAYBANK, the largest financial institution in Malaysia with a total asset of more than US$100 billion, sets its sights on more foreign investments from China as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will visit Malaysia tomorrow. Abdul Wahid Omar, Maybank president and CEO, said yesterday in Kuala Lumpur that the visit would pave the way for a more open market. "We have been investing our time and effort in promoting Chinese fund managers to come and look at Kuala Lumpur," Abdul Wahid said. During Wen's visit, a series of cooperation deals may be signed, spanning from education and trade cooperation to banking, between the two countries.

Applications for trademark registration in China increased 25.4 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier and will hit a record high this year, said a government official on Monday. China had 4.885 million effective registered trademarks by the end of March and is estimated to have 8 million at the end of 2015, said Fu Shuangjian, deputy director of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. He said that by the end of March, the number of applications had reached 8.563 million, topping the world for the ninth year. Meanwhile, the country continued to clamp down on trademark violations. Since Chinese police launched a special campaign in November targeting fake goods ranging from food, medicine, cosmetics, to electronics, home appliance, and DVDs, they had investigated 59,500 trademark rights infringement cases, with 9,691 involving overseas companies, by April 15. The authorities will continue to promote international cooperation in trade mark registratio...

Japan's Nikkei index rose Monday morning, boosted by a stronger yen. The benchmark Nikkei-225 index gained 27.90 points, or 0.29 percent, from Friday to 9,710.11. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 2.09 points, or 0.25 percent, to 844. 27. Source: Xinhua Weekly review April 20 Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail to remove luxury seats April 18 China undergoing shift into nation of consumers April 18 Zhejiang checks food, raids illegal bun makers April 19 SASS: Chinese students mentally healthier than Asian peers April 23 The week in pictures A...

While China's economy continues to grow at a blistering pace, its people don't seem to be feeling too good about their lives. According to Gallup's 2010 global wellbeing survey, only 12 percent of people on China's mainland judged themselves to be thriving, the same level as countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen. The survey, released last week, classifies wellbeing as "thriving," "struggling," or "suffering," according to how people rate their current and future lives. China's score compares with a world median of 21 percent across 124 countries and regions. The percentage ranged from a high of 72 percent in Denmark to a low of 1 percent in Chad. Some 71 percent of people on China's mainland thought of themselves as struggling, the survey said, with 17 percent saying they were suffering. In Hong Kong, 21 percent were thriving and 66 percent were struggling. China has increased interest rates four times since mid-October in an atte...

China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, will rise between 4.9 and 5.1 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2011, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Sunday. The CPI will rise to about 5 percent in the first half of the year and move slightly lower in the second, Xu Lianzhong, director with the NDRC's Analysis and Prediction Office said at the 5th China Xu said China still faces grave inflationary pressures caused mainly by rising costs of production, which pushed up prices of foods, commodities and services, as well as carryover effects. "The country has raised minimum grain purchase prices this year which will, in turn, keep the prices of meat, eggs and vegetables at high levels," he said. Meanwhile, rising prices of labor and production, including fertilizers, diesel oil and seeds, will push up food prices, Xu said, adding that prices of high-processed foods might also pick up the upward trend...

Bangladesh's overall trade deficit in the first eight months of the current 2010-11 fiscal year (July 2010- June 2011) widened to 4.86 billion U.S. dollars, official statistics showed Sunday. Statistics of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) showed that the country exported 14.11 billion U.S. dollars of goods while it imported items worth 18.97 billion U.S. dollars in the July-February period. The overall trade deficit in the same period of the previous 2009-10 fiscal year (July 2009-June 2010) was 3.315 billion U.S. dollars when Bangladesh's export earning and import payment stood at 10.049 billion and 13.364 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, the BB data showed. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year, it showed, Bangladesh's export and import earnings surged 40.42 percent and 41.92 percent respectively compared with the same period a year earlier. Bangladesh's trade deficit in the last fiscal year ballooned nearly 10 percent year on year to over 5 ...

Some super markets, school and company canteens are on a buying spree in east China's Shandong Province as the government urged them to help relieve farmers from an oversupply of vegetables. Municipal authorities should take immediate actions to "help farmers tackle difficulties in selling their produce and maintain a stable market," said a notice from Shandong's commerce department Friday. Farmers had been throwing away unsalable vegetables, the prices of which plunged after vegetables in north China ripened early, impacting the market already saturated with vegetables from southern China. After a heavy loss from his cabbage land, farmer Han Jin committed suicide on April 16 in Jinan City, capital of Shandong, attracting public attention on the oversupply's influence on farmers' lives. Cabbage was sold at less than 0.2 yuan per kilogram while it cost more than one yuan to grow. Han was deep in debt, his wife said. Some farmers blamed vegetabl...

China should reduce its excessive foreign exchange reserves and further diversify its holdings, Tang Shuangning, chairman of China Everbright Group, said on Saturday. The amount of foreign exchange reserves should be restricted to between $800 billion to $1.3 trillion, Tang told a forum in Beijing, saying that the current reserve amount is too high. China's foreign exchange reserves increased by $197.4 billion in the first three months of this year to $3.04 trillion by the end of March. Tang's remarks echoed the stance of Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of China's central bank, who said on Monday that China's foreign exchange reserves "exceed our reasonable requirement" and that the government should upgrade and diversify its foreign exchange management using the excessive reserves. Meanwhile, Xia Bin, a member of the monetary policy committee of the central bank, said on Tuesday that $1 trillion would be sufficient. He added that China should invest its foreign exch...

An extensive advertising campaign ahead of the Euro 2012 Soccer Championship will begin Sept. 1 this year, the Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister said Friday. "There is no sense starting it earlier. The summer is really a lull season. And in September the campaign will be successful. It will be working non-stop until July 1, 2012," Boris Kolesnikov told journalists here. "Ukraine has adhered strictly to schedules of building basic infrastructural facilities," the minister said, adding that the most painful issue for Ukraine was road construction. He said building the highways required in two years was almost impossible. "I think in at least five or seven years Ukraine will get a new road infrastructure, if those who are responsible for it faithfully fulfill their obligations," Kolesnikov said. He said special attention had been paid to ensuring the construction and reconstruction of stadiums was on sc...

Metro Cash & Carry International, the international self-service wholesale retailer based in Germany, is aiming to double the number of its Chinese outlets to 100 by 2015, a top executive said on Friday. "We want to expand first in the 35 cities in which we already have a presence to increase our current network. However, as China is not very homogeneous in terms of economic development, we are focusing on three very prosperous areas: the Bohai Bay area, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta," Tino Zeiske, president of Metro Jinjiang Cash & Carry Co Ltd, told China Daily. "We've also noticed that the western part of China is growing faster than before, with the government pushing ahead to fuel domestic consumption," he added. The company is also looking into investing in third- or fourth-tier cities, such as Jiangyin and Yangzhou in East China's Jiangsu province. "Metro is taking advantage of the fast development pace of the lower-ti...

AMAZON'S web-services disruption issues have not been completely resolved yesterday morning, as some websites still in slow recovery. Amazon said in an update early yesterday that meaningful progress has been made and is expected to continue over the next few hours. Reddit, a social news website, said on its homepage that "we are slowly getting our capacity back," and users may be able to log in if lucky. Some sites appeared to have recovered, including location-based social networking site Foursquare and HootSuite, an online brand management and social websites monitoring service. Amazon has not released the number of companies which have been disrupted by the outage and when the web-services will fully recover. The outage highlights risks of relying on public cloud service. Security and reliability have been experts' concerns on public could web-hosting service. Many Internet startups have been relying on the service to bring their costs down. Elastic Compute Cloud ...

Geothermal power is expected to provide 1.7 percent of China's total energy in 2015, as the country speeds up its exploration of renewable and clean-power sources, an official with the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Friday. Guan Fengjun, director of the ministry's department of geological environment, made the comment on Friday, International Mother Earth Day - which this year the ministry gave the motto "cherishing the earth's natural resources and transforming our economic growth pattern". Using geothermal power for heating and generating electricity is a significant part of China's low-carbon development strategy, Guan said. By 2015, this green-energy source can replace 68.8 million tons of coal and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 180 million tons, Guan said. Geothermal power has advantages over other clean-energy sources, said Dorje, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering who specializes in this energy source that uses heat generated by ...

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday said that ties between Japan and Australia go far beyond economics although suggested that a free trade agreement between the two countries would be mutually beneficial. Speaking at Japan's National Press Club as part of the Australian leader's four-day trip beginning Wednesday, Gillard underscored the importance of the Australia-Japan alliance and said that the lifting of trade tariffs between the two countries would be of mutual benefit. "Such a free trade agreement would contribute to Japan's economic growth and could help pave the way for a new wave of Japanese integration into the regional and global economies," Gillard said. "A free trade agreement would make us more prosperous," she added. Both countries have been discussing the notion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) since 2007, but Japan has held off due to concerns over its sensitive farming industry, but Gillard said both parties...

Watch Video Play Video Japanese carmakers have suffered major setbacks to production following last month's quake and tsunami. But the twin disasters haven't prevented them from showcasing their latest vehicles at the Shanghai Auto Show. Production of the world's top selling auto maker won't return to normal until November or December. Apologizing to overseas customers at the Shanghai Auto Show, Toyota's president promised his company would bounce back. Akio Toyada, Toyota President, said, "I trust that hard work from our employees will help provide more cars to more customers as early as possible." Apologizing to overseas customers at the Shanghai Auto Show, Toyota's president promised his company would bounce back. The March 11th twin disasters have already caused Toyota's monthly production to drop by 260-thousand cars. Earlier this week, the company resumed production at all of its Japanese plants. However, operations are still at half ca...

CHINA'S top securities regulator may allow 10 overseas-listed companies to be the first group to sell shares on Shanghai Stock Exchange's international board when it opens later this year, media reports said. The 10 firms, including foreign companies, will trade their stocks on the new board in a trial program after two years of preparation, the 21st Century Business Herald reported today. All the candidates are required to have at least a market capitalization of 30 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion) and a combined three-year net income over 3 billion yuan. Net profit in the previous year should exceed 1 billion yuan, according to the disclosed plan of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Their initial share prices on the international board will be based on market consultation while their prices in overseas markets will be a reference, the plan said. The amount of shares to be traded on the board should be no less than 5 percent of the company's tradable shares. Funds r...

Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday it had filed lawsuits against Apple Inc. in South Korea, Japan and Germany, a week after its rival sued it over allegedly violating patents and trademarks of the iPhone and iPad. Samsung said it filed a suit Thursday in the Seoul Central District Court alleging infringements of up to five patents by Apple. Separate suits were filed in Tokyo citing two patent infringements and in the German city of Mannheim citing three. " Samsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business," the company said in a statement. Apple's lawsuit, filed last Friday in San Francisco, claims Samsung allegedly copied the design of its iPhone and iPad. Samsung said at the time it had conducted its own research and development and would contest the allegations.

SHANGHAI'S stock market was slightly lower in the morning session as gold miners gained while banks and the property sector were weak. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.07 percent, or 2.09 points, to 3,024.58. Turnover fell to 74.2 billion yuan (US$ 11.4 billion) from yesterday morning's 84.6 billion yuan. Gold miners jumped after gold bullion prices touched US$1,509.60 per ounce yesterday in New York as the US dollar index dropped to a record low in 32 months. Zhongjin Gold Mining Co was up 2 percent to 40.04 yuan. Zijin Mining Co edged up 0.5 percent to 8.13 yuan. Banks and property developers dropped. Agricultural Bank of China fell 0.7 percent to 2.90 yuan. China Construction Bank fell 0.6 percent to 5.21 yuan. China Vanke, China's largest property developer, was down 0.8 percent at 8.61 yuan. Gemdale Corp lost 0.6 percent to 6.66 yuan.

A subsidiary of China's biggest plane maker has sealed the purchase of Teledyne Technologies' piston engine business in a US$186 million transaction, which marks a key step for the Chinese firm to tap the global aviation industry. AVIC International Holding Corp, a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corp of China, bought the entire stake in Continental Motors Inc and Mattituck Services Inc through its subsidiary Technify Motor (USA) Inc from United States-based Teledyne. AVIC International said the acquisition is vital in its strategy. "China is gradually opening its low-altitude airspace and the deal will pave the way for the development of the domestic general aircraft market," said Wu Guangquan, president of AVIC International. The Chinese civil aviation regulator has said previously that it would fully open the country's low-altitude airspace to support the general aviation industry by 2015. The Civil Aviation Administration of China has already opened the low-al...

Statistics recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics show that China's CPI was up 5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. This figure has drawn wide attention at home and abroad. Some Western media agencies have even criticized China for transferring inflationary pressure to the West and imposing greater economic pressure on the West. In response, Zhu Hongren, head engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said during a press conference on April 20 that the fact is that the rise in international commodity prices has affected China, posing a severe challenge on the stability of China's CPI. He said frankly that criticisms claiming China is exporting inflation to the West are simply unjustifiable. China is a victim of imported inflation Zhu said that the world economy is interrelated and interactive against the backdrop of economic globalization. The process of China's economic development is also a process of fu...