What's news

Consumption

COFCO signs deal for stake in Dutch firm

China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp, the country's largest food trader, signed official agreement with the agricultural and commodity trading group Nidera BV of the Netherlands to buy 51 percent of its stock and establish a strategic partnership. The deal is the largest international acquisition in the history of the Chinese agricultural industry.

Nu Skin fined over unregistered items

Direct-selling company Nu Skin Enterprises Inc of the United States has been fined 3.26 million yuan ($526,000; 380,000 euros) for distributing products that were not registered for direct sale, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce says. Nu Skin's China unit was penalized as well for product claims that were deemed to lack sufficient documentary support. The company said six sales staff were fined a total of 1.5 million yuan for unauthorized promotional activities.

Energy

Baosteel to improve loan system

Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp says it will invest up to 50 million yuan to establish a joint venture with Shanghai Ganglian E-commerce Holdings Co Ltd in an effort to improve secured loans in the industry. Baosteel says its subsidiary Dongfang Steel E-commerce is in talks with Ganglian to build an information-sharing platform that will support secured loans for steel mills.

Solar cell-maker calls for trading halt

Solar cell-maker Baoding Tianwei Baobian Electric Co said trade in its 1.6 billion yuan ($260 million) worth of bonds would be halted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on March 28 amid signals China's government will allow more defaults in the country's onshore bond market as the economy slows. The company reported a net loss of 5.23 billion yuan last year compared with 1.55 billion yuan the year before.

CNOOC finds natural gas deposit

CNOOC Ltd, the largest offshore oil and gas developer in China, says it has discovered a mid-sized natural gas deposit in the Bohai Sea. The discovery, Bozhong 22-1, is in the south central Bohai Sea, which has an average depth of about 25 meters. The daily gas production of the well was tested at about 14.2 million cubic feet, CNOOC said.

NEC buys Wanxiang's battery business

The Japanese systems integrator NEC Corp says it will buy A123 Systems LLC's battery systems integration business from Wanxiang Group Corp of China for about $100 million. NEC said it aims to strengthen its battery storage systems business by buying the unit, A123 Energy Solutions. Wanxiang bought A123 Systems of the US last year following a bankruptcy auction.

Yanzhou Coal ends proposed buyout

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co, China's fourth-largest producer, has abandoned a proposal to buy out its Australian unit, Yancoal Australia Ltd. Yanzhou Coal, based in Shandong province, had proposed buying the 22 percent of Yancoal it did not own in last July, gaining Australian government approval in December.

Tourism

Cruise passenger numbers set to rise

China could attract 4.5 million cruise passengers a year by 2020, a 33 percent increase from 2013 and more than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region, according to estimates by the Ministry of Transport. It recently issued guidelines on the health and sustainable development of China's cruise industry aimed at solving existing problems and supporting growth in the industry.

Real estate

Developers can now get equity financing

China has lifted a ban on equity financing for listed property developers, the first time it has done so in four years. The move may reduce government intervention in the sector and ease funding concerns as credit tightens and economic growth slows. Two Chinese property developers said on March 20 that they received regulatory approval for private placements of shares.

Technology

160b yuan for 4G network projects

China is expected to invest about 160 billion yuan ($25.7 billion) in fourth-generation mobile network construction this year, officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology say. Han Xia, head of the ministry's telecommunication management department said on March 19 that the number of 4G base stations in China is likely to hit 500,000 by year-end.

Finance

Chinese airlines lose on currency depreciation

Chinese airlines lost 700 million yuan ($113.8 million) on currency exchanges in February because of the renminbi's depreciation. They earned 100 million yuan of exchange income in the same month the year before, China Business News reported on March 20.

Yhd.com financing for suppliers and partners

Yhd.com, a Chinese e-commerce company majority-owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, has teamed up with the Postal Savings Bank of China to offer financing services to suppliers, e-retailers and other partners. Yhd.com and the bank will offer low-cost loans, requiring no collateral, Yhd.com of Shanghai said.

Tencent share split to lure smaller investors

Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's largest listed internet company by market capitalization, proposed a one-into-five share split to lower the investment threshold, the Hong Kong-listed company said on March 19. Tencent said small investors will be able to afford to buy into the company after the split, pending approval by current shareholders at Tencent's annual general meeting.

Auto

BYD sales up, but outlook not so rosy

BYD Auto said in a financial statement on March 19 that it had 52.9 billion yuan in sales last year, an increase of 13 percent year-on-year. Net profit rose nearly 600 percent to 553 million yuan last year but first-quarter profit is expected to fall to 5 million yuan from 15 million yuan as China's subsidy policy shifts to electric cars.

Manufacturing

China looks to its Czech mate

China and the Czech Republic have great potential for extending cooperation into manufacturing sectors, including energy conservation, environmental protection and sewage disposal, Sun Yongfu, general director for European affairs of China's Ministry of Commerce, said at a seminar to mark the 65th anniversary of China-Czech diplomacy. Cooperation in services, especially tourism and finance, highlighted investments between the two countries, Sun said.

SOEs' capital gains tax to rise this year

China's centrally-administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will pay more capital gains tax from 2014, the Ministry of Finance said on March 25. The proportion of paid-in state-owned capital gains by central SOEs will rise 5 percentage points, the ministry said in an explanation of this year's State-owned capital management budget. It means central SOEs in the budget should pay more from post-tax profits. The ministry is expected to collect 141.49 billion yuan ($23 billion) of post-tax profits from central SOEs this year, up 36.1 percent or 37.543 billion yuan from what was actually collected in 2013.

China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 03/28/2014 page18)