A Summary of Vital News You Will Find Only in Chinese Language Publications
Chinese, American companies ink contracts worth $10.6 billion
April 28, 2009
JRJ.com
Chinese and U.S. firms signed 32 trade and investment contracts worth $10.6 billion on April 27, 2009. China Telecom signed contracts with Cisco, Microsoft, Dell and Emerson. China Mobile signed contracts with Hewlett-Packard, Alcatel - Lucent, Oracle, Emerson, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems. China Construction Bank signed contracts with Microsoft, IBM, HP and Cisco. No details of these contracts have been disclosed.
Customs data indicated that during the first two months of 2009, China's exports to the United States reached $29.1 billion, down 16.1% on year-over-year basis. Meanwhile China’s imports from the U.S. declined 20.9% to $10.4 billion. The cumulative trade surplus reached 18.7 billion U.S. dollars.
China energy consumption improves in Q1
April 28, 2009
Xinhua
Energy supply and consumption increased in China during the first quarter of 2009. Major energy consumption enterprises reported lower decline rates, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Preliminary statistics show that in the first quarter, the total national energy supply (production plus net imports) was approximately 655 million tons of standard coal, up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis and up 1.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. As part of the total supply, 585 million tons of standard coal were produced, an increase of 4.3%. Net imports declined 3.3% to 69.8 million tons of standard coal.
In the first quarter of 2009, total national energy consumption was 664 million tons of standard coal, up 3.0% year over year and an increase of 2.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. By the end of the first quarter, energy inventory declined 2.9% year over year.
Coal, electricity and other energy consumption categories have also increased, while oil consumption dropped. During the first quarter, coal consumption was 649 million tons, marking a 2.7% increase year over year. Electricity consumption declined 4.0% year over year to 781 billion kwh. Refined oil consumption dropped 6.4% year over year to 57.4 million tons.
Preliminary statistics show that during the first quarter, the energy consumption from major industrial enterprises (annual energy consumption is more than 10,000 tons of standard coal) was down 5%. Energy consumption from key industrial enterprises continued to show recovery for the fourth consequent month with a 2.3% increase.
China will take actions to increase production capacity in 13 industries
April 23, 2009
Reuters China
Chinese Environmental Protection Minister Zhou Shengxian said, in 2009 that the state government will take actions to shut down low-capacity factories in 13 industries. These industries are power, steel, iron, ferroalloy and coke industries. The policy will set strict environmental controls within these industries while ensuring national environmental security and stimulating the domestic consumption.
China’s 1st government fund to help small and medium-sized enterprises
April 21, 2009
Reuters China
China's Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance approved six venture capital equity investment fund projects on Tuesday, which is the first time the Chinese government cooperated with investment companies to support small- to medium-sized technology start ups. Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday that the government invested 159 million yuan from the central budget and the six venture funds jointly raised 105 million yuan to pool together the 264 million yuan.
China’s steel export dropped sharply, switching back to become a net importer in March
April 17, 2009
Xinhua
According to China Customs, during the first quarter of 2009, Chinese steel exports declined 55% to 5.2 million tons. In March, China exported 1.7 million tons of steel while importing 1.3 million tons and therefore had net imports of approximately 460,000 tons.
In 2008, Chinas steel’s output and export volume ranked first in the world. However, China's steel prices are very low this year, set at the equivalent of levels in 1994. At the same time, China has about 160 million tons of surplus steel. Industry insiders believe that China's steel exports fell sharply because China's economic stimulus policies supported the domestic steel market, which is better than the international market. In addition, the appreciation of the Yuan against the U.S. dollar and the depreciation of other currencies against the U.S. dollar further hindered exports while stimulating demand for imports.
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