China :: Business & Economy

Diaoyutai No.7 Complex, located in western Beijing's Haidian District, was priced at more than 300,000 yuan per square meter by the developer. China's most expensive luxury apartment is no longer up for sale, the apartment's developer said on Friday, following high media exposure and a government investigation concerning a possible case of profiteering. The luxury penthouse apartment in downtown Beijing was being sold for more than 300,000 yuan per square meter, with a total price tag of more than 300 million yuan (about 46.2 million U.S. dollars), before the city government halted its sale two weeks ago. On June 3, Beijing's housing authorities suspended sales of 23 apartments in the Diaoyutai No. 7 Complex in western Beijing's Haidian district and launched a profiteering investigation targeting the complex's developer, Sinobo Real Estate. The Sinobo Group, the developer's parent company, said on Friday in a statement on its website that it had decided to n...

China will further cut import tariffs on certain items, including certain mid-range and high-end products, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian on June 15. "There is a growing consensus among Chinese government agencies that lowering tariffs has become an irresistible trend," Yao said. Yao noted that domestic consumption grew slower in 2011 than last year, but overall China has witnessed strong growth in the total retail sales of social consumer goods in recent years. The countrys economic growth mainly relies on domestic demand, especially on the demand for final consumption, indicating that consumption will continue to be the driving force behind economic growth. According to the recent Hurun White Paper on Chinese Luxury Travelers, tourists from the Chinese mainland accounted for 17 percent of the global luxury spending, ranking first in the world. Watches and jewelry led the list of Chinese tourists favorite products, accounting for 31 percent of t...

An automobile assembly line at a Ford Motor Co factory in Nanjing. The company aims to boost its presence in the Chinese market and increase global sales by 50 percent in four years. [Photo / China Daily] Ford Motor Co broke ground on Thursday on a $500 million engine factory in Southwest China as the automaker seeks to expand in the world's largest market and boost global sales by 50 percent in four years. The plant in the Southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing will more than double engine capacity for joint venture Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Co to 750,000 units when output starts in 2013, according to its statement. Ford forecast last week that growth in Asia will help boost global sales by 50 percent to 8 million vehicles a year by 2015. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally expects 55 percent of vehicle sales will be small cars and a third will be in Asia by 2020. Ford, which still gets most of its sales and profit from the United States and Europe, holds a 2....

Watch Video Play Video Vehicles made in China are not a rare sight in Russia. Topping the list of these imported automobiles is the Great Wall series, as six stores and more than 80 dealers are established lots across the country. Hover is the best selling SUV in the Great Wall series, Moderate prices and excellent performance are the major characteristics attracting middle class customers. A local resident in Moscow said, "About cars made in China, actually,I don't know too much. But I'd prefer those imported from China, instead of those assembled here in Russia. Maybe imported cars are more reliable." The SUVs at local markets, automatic transmissions. Great Wall Hover A vehicle dealer at Moscow said, "Several years ago, when we began to cooperate with Great Wall, someone said this might be a risk, because nobody knew how vehicles from China would perform. The facts, today, prove what we did years ago was right" Wang Peng, director of Great Wall Russ...

More than 100 residential projects are expected to be released in Shanghai in the second half of this year, with nearly 25 percent in Pudong New Area, Soufun.com, a major real estate website, said yesterday. Between July and December, a total of 104 housing developments, consisting of 59 apartment projects, 34 villa developments and 11 mixed ones, will go on sale across the city, Soufun data showed. By districts, Pudong led all others in terms of supply for the coming six months, immediately followed by outlying districts of Songjiang, Baoshan, Minhang and Jiading. By proximity to downtown, 74 percent of the new developments are outside the city's Outer Ring Road, according to Soufun. "While the number of projects, based on our research as of Wednesday, seems to be smaller than what was registered in the same period last year, we expect more projects to launch as time goes by," said Tang Zhengwei, a Soufun analyst. Tang said some developers that planned to release project...

OIL stayed near a four-month low yesterday as investors continued to worry about the European financial crisis. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude rose 14 cents to settle at US$94.95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London Brent crude rose US$1.01 to settle at US$114.02 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Oil dropped more than 4 percent on Wednesday as Greece's financial troubles deepened. And worries about Europe's economy continued yesterday. The fear is that a Greek default on its debt could seriously impact other European nations with debt problems, like Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Europe consumes about 18 percent of the world's oil, and oil demand would likely drop if Europe's economy stalls. "I don't think anyone is convinced this is going to go away overnight," PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said. At the very least "the demand outlook is really murky," he said. Analyst and trader Stephen Schork said that the US econ...

Property remains the top investment choice in China despite the fact that nearly three-quarters of residents think housing prices are too high and "difficult to accept," according to a central bank survey released on June 16. The survey, conducted by the People's Bank of China and covering 20,000 urban depositors in 50 cities, showed that 74.3 percent of the surveyed think housing prices are too high and "difficult to accept." The figure was almost the same compared as the first quarter of this year. As to the trend of the housing market in the second half of 2011, more than 34 percent of those surveyed predicted that property prices will remain stable, while nearly 26 percent said prices would trend upward and almost 19 percent believed they would fall. Nearly 15 percent of them expressed willingness to buy property in the coming quarter, 0.8 percentage points lower than last quarter. Among major investment channels, 22.2 percent of people chose...