Category Archives: Business

business news from China, Sweden and the world.

H&M Conscious Exclusive 2016 – Historic art inspires fashion for the future

Stockholm, Nov. 25(Greenpost)–

H&M has announced a collaboration with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, located in the Palais du Louvre in Paris to celebrate the new H&M Conscious Exclusive collection. This beautiful new range has been inspired by the archives of the museum, and will be launched on Thursday 7th April to coincide with the opening of the hotly anticipated exhibition, Fashion forward – Three centuries of fashion. H&M is delighted to also reveal that Parisian Art Director, style maven and sustainability champion, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, will be the face of the campaign.

“I am honoured to be the ambassador of such a unique project. I think that the idea of creating a collection inspired by the history of art and fashion is fantastic. Especially since it is made with innovative and sustainable materials which are the future of fashion” says Julia. Known for her distinctive, personal sense of style, Julia is the embodiment of effortless, conscious and modern cool.

For this Conscious Exclusive collection the H&M design team has worked closely with the museum, delving into their collections of archival fashions as well as the work of artists such as Gustave Moreau to find inspiration. The outcome is a glamorous line of modern red carpet pieces infused with tactile charm, a nostalgic aesthetic and a historical legacy.

“With this collection we brought the idea of sustainability to new levels. Working with new innovative materials such as beads and rhinestones made from recycled glass and Denimite, a material made from recycled worn-out denim. We have created contemporary styles imbued with a sophisticated charm” says Ann-Sofie Johansson, Creative Advisor at H&M.

H&M will be the exclusive sponsor of the upcoming exhibition which will include selected styles from the H&M archives, including a look from the first ever H&M designer collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld in 2004 as well as one silhouette from the new Conscious Exclusive collection.

Swedish Pork to go to Chinese Table

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, Nov. 25(Greenpost)—Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht is going to visit China in order to get the permit to export Swedish pork and other food product to China.

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To pave the way to China, Bucht and Chinese Ambassador Chen Yuming and others held a seminar focusing on the conditions for the export of Swedish pork to China in Restaurant Formosa, in Stockholm recently.

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”I have long been impressed by the Chinese cuisine. Sweden has paid great attention to use minimium antibiotics in raising animals, and Sweden has vast land for food products. So Swedish food production is focused on quality and sustainability,” said Bucht at the Lunch Seminar.

He said he will lead a delegation to China to see opportunities to increase the Swedish food exports to China. The aim is to obtain export permits for Swedish food to China. The trip will be organized by Business Sweden.

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Chinese Ambassador Chen Yuming said he suggested that the delegation understand the Chinese market and relevant regulations. He believed this cooperation has great potential and cooperation in agriculture and food production can be mutually-beneficial. He likes to see more Chinese food products in Sweden too.

The Swedish side held that China is now the world’s largest food importer and imports a large part from the EU countries. But Sweden’s export to China only accounts for 0.8 percent of its total exports, mainly to neighboring countries and EU as well as America.   Thus, there is great potential for Sweden to catch up since Sweden is somewhat lagging behind in exporting to China in food products compared with its neighboring countries like Denmark.

Kött & Chark Företagen CEO Magnus Därth, HK Scan’s Magnus Sjöholm and Business Sweden’s Tobias Glittertind were also at the seminar.

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In an interview with Greenpost.se, Därth said they had gotten the permit from Sweden to export pork to China, but it still takes time to get China permit. They hope that they can get it by the end of next year.

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Chinese ambassador Chen Yuming is showing the Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht how to use chopsticks.

After the seminar, participants tasted eight delicious dishes cooked by Chinese cook with Swedish pork and Chinese cooking methods—a perfect cooperation between China and Sweden.

The seminar was hosted jointly by Swedish KCF and Swedish Chinese Cuisine Association, a member of Sveriges Kinesiska Riksförbundet.

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President Ye Keqing of Sveriges Kinesiska Riksförbundet, Counsellor Bai Xiaomei and Commercial Counsellor Han Xiaodong were among the participants during the seminar.

In another development,  Swedish Poultry Association is also considering to export Swedish chicken feet to China.

Chicken feet was considered as a beauty making delicacy for many Chinese women because one can taste the good taste without gaining any weight. It was also partly because chicken feet was very cheap in the past. Whether the Chinese women still think the same way, that needs to be discovered.

Another consideration to deal with China is to consider if there is any restrictions at the EU level.

(Photo by Anneli  Larsson)

 

China Focus: Belt and Road to boost China-ASEAN economic ties

BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) — China’s Belt and Road initiative, highlighted during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam and Singapore last week, is set to boost bilateral ties and facilitate trade and investment between China and Southeast Asian nations.
The deepening cooperation on the Belt and Road with the two countries, major members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and key areas along the routes, will expand and upgrade China-ASEAN economic relations, analysts said.
The Belt and Road was proposed by China in 2013 as a trade and infrastructure network. It will connect Asia to Europe and Africa through the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
During Xi’s three-day trip, China and Vietnam reached consensus on expanding cooperation within the framework of the initiative and Vietnam’s “Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan, as well as on production capacity cooperation.
In a 20-point statement, China and Singapore agreed to cooperate in Belt and Road construction, trade, city planning, education and customs, among others.
Song Hong, researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Belt and Road will generate fresh opportunities and infrastructure cooperation that will boost integration of China and ASEAN economies.
Sharing a land border of over 1,000 km, China and Vietnam have been in close contact on infrastructure cooperation with new express roads and railways starting operations almost every year.
A joint communique issued Friday said the two countries have reached an agreement on a feasibility study of the Hanoi-Lao Cai-Hai Phong Railway in northern Vietnam.
New railways in Vietnam are only part of the infrastructure improvement in Southeast Asia as China promotes the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway that will connect Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
“Thanks to improved infrastructure, logistics are cheaper and faster, along the routes,” Huo Jianguo, former president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Echoing his remarks, Song recognized brightening prospects of China-ASEAN cooperation and cited fresh opportunities in capital-intensive industries, like energy, cement and steel, and labor-intensive sectors including textiles and garments.
“Those industries are mature in China, will help the industrial upgrade of ASEAN members and are the best choice for cooperation,” Song said.
China and Vietnam also signed a number of cooperation documents covering such fields as party-to-party exchanges, transportation, production capacity, railway, energy, finance and local affairs.
More than 1,000 km away from Vietnam, Singapore is also a significant link in the Maritime Silk Road.
When meeting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Xi said the two sides will promote a third government-to-government project this time in Chongqing, southwest China, and explore cooperation between the enterprises in third markets.
Zhao Lei, associate professor of the Institute for International Strategic Studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, expects Singapore will deepen Belt and Road cooperation and build a fourth project in China’s western regions in the future.
Singapore has been a major source of foreign investment in China. Between 1990 and 2014, its cumulative investment in China totaled 72.3 billion U.S. dollars.
The two leaders agreed to redefine China-Singapore ties as a partnership of all-round cooperation keeping with the times during Xi’s visit to the city-state.
Belt and Road cooperation will help upgrades to China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) and integration of Asian-Pacific region.
Thanks to the FTA, since 2010, China has become ASEAN’s largest trading partner, while ASEAN is China’s third largest trading partner. Trade between China and ASEAN increased 8.23 percent year on year to 480 billion U. S. dollars in 2014.
Given growing economic ties, the two sides are seeking for an FTA upgrade and have seen steady progress after negotiations in goods and service trade, investment and technological cooperation.
“The FTA upgrade is actually the implementation of the Belt and Road construction,” Song said.
Huo said China welcomes countries along the routes to actively participate into the process.  Enditem

Netease (NTESE.NASDAQ) net profits up 62pct o-y to RMB1.882 bln in Q3

BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — China’s Internet giant Netease, Inc. (NTESE.NASDAQ) earned 1.882 billion yuan in net profits in the third quarter of 2015, surging 62 percent year on year, according to the un-audited financial report released by the company on Thursday.
Meanwhile, its net income amounted to 6.672 billion yuan during the reporting period, as compared with the 3.117 billion yuan registered in the same period last year.
Earning per ADR reached 0.56 U.S. dollars in the third quarter. Enditem

 

Chinese telecom giant eyes age of “superphone”

SINGAPORE, Nov. 12 (Greenpost) — China’s telecommunication giant Huawei said here Thursday that the next-generation mobile phone, which is called “superphone”, will emerge around 2020 and open up a new era in which physical and digital realities are fused.
Shao Yang, President of Strategy Marketing, Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG), shared Huawei’s vision of how the “superphone” will take mankind closer to a world where the physical and digital realities will be further integrated.
At the Huawei Innovation Day Asia, Shao said the advent of the “superphone” will eventually build a new world of all things digital, all things connected, seamless intelligence integration, and merging intelligence.
“Through evolution and adaptation, the ‘superphone’ will be more intelligent, enhancing and even transforming our perceptions, enabling humans to go further than ever before.”
Shao said that with the evolvement and adaptation of the “superphone”, the physical world will be reconstructed through digitalization.
To embrace this new era, Huawei has entered into a number of strategic partnerships with major automobile brands, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, and has been pursuing the development of cloud services, according to Shao.
The company has also established a partnership with the University of Manchester to explore ways of using graphene’s applications in consumer electronics and mobile communication devices, said Shao.  Enditem

 

 

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China, U.S. should increase legislative exchanges: top legislator

 BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Greenpost) — Chinese top legislator Zhang Dejiang has met with U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, calling for more exchanges and communication between China’s top legislature and the U.S. Congress.
Calling China-U.S. relations “of great importance,” Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), said China and the United States agreed to continue to build a new type of major-country relations during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States in September.
Both presidents made clear the correct direction of development of bilateral ties and reached a series of agreements during the visit, sending a positive signal to the outside world that China and the United States are committed to dialogue and cooperation, Zhang said.
He called on the NPC and U.S. Congress to enhance communication and exchanges, deepen mutual understanding and advance substantial cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and common ground.
The chairman encouraged both sides to do more to promote mutual trust and cooperation so as to promote the development of bilateral relations and benefit the people of both countries and the world.
Speaking highly of the meeting between the two presidents, Pelosi said she expected the two countries’ legislatures to step up exchanges to boost friendship between the two peoples.
Earlier on Thursday, Zhang Ping, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, hosted a meeting between the NPC and the U.S. congressional delegation led by Pelosi.
The two had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on issues including bilateral ties, legislative exchanges and climate change.  Enditem

Source Xinhua

Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson

 

Alibaba to expand exposure of branded products to rural China

HANGZHOU, Nov. 12 (Greenpost) — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will make more oversea brand available at its rural service stations during the upcoming Chinese new year, it announced Thursday.
Alibaba said will begin a campaign in mid-January to promote local specialty products to urban online shoppers and more than 500 overseas products to rural buyers ahead of the Spring Festival, a time when families tend to shop more to prepare for the celebration.
Chinese online retailers, chief among them Alibaba and JD.com, have been seeking to unlock the consumption potential in rural China. Alibaba and JD.com have both established physical stations in rural areas with computers and products displayed to educate rural Chinese on how to shop online.
Alibaba said it has built more than 8,000 rural Taobao stations where villagers can shop on Alibaba’s online marketplace and bring their own farm produce and local specialties to sell online.
It added the upcoming campaign marks the first time more than 500 global brands will be exposed to rural consumers through its Taobao stations.
Such stations have increased branded products’ exposure to rural consumers whereas a less developed physical retail infrastructure in rural China has limited farmers’ choices.
A study by consulting firm Bain & Company found online retail has reduced the disparity in sales of branded products between China’s top and lower tier cities, thanks to the growing penetration of the internet in China. Enditem

 

China Headlines: Stock market to play bigger role in China’s economy

BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Greenpost) — Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest remarks on the stock market have charted a course for future reforms and signaled a bigger role for the market in supporting the economy, analysts said.

During a meeting of top economic officials on Tuesday, Xi urged the development of a stock market with sound financing functions, regulation and investor rights protection.
By giving priority to the financing role of the stock market, the president’s call was a response to some deep-seated problems plaguing the market, such as excessive controls on initial public offerings (IPOs) and rampant insider trading, many economists observed.
“Xi’s remarks set the future direction for stock market development,” said Xu Gao, chief economist of Everbright Securities. “The market has not performed well as a financing vehicle, which should actually be its fundamental role.”
Unlike in more mature economies like the United States, the stock market only contributes a small part to corporate financing in China.
Direct financing, including stocks and bonds, took up less than a fifth of the country’s total social financing, according to official data for the first eight months of 2015.
While the government tries to expand the share of stock financing, the public often sees the market as a tool for money grabbing by listed firms instead of a platform for value investment.
To let the stock market play a better role in financing, the government needs to improve its rules in various ways, including overhauling the current approval system for IPOs and reducing interventions in their pricing, said Li Xunlei, chief economist with Haitong Securities.
Investors should also be allowed to use more effective legal means, such as class action lawsuits, to protect their legitimate interests and increase compensation costs for listed firms who cook the books, according to Lin Caiyi, chief economist of Guotai Junan Securities.
China’s stock market has seen rapid development, but listing and trading is still distorted by administrative forces and imperfect regulation rather than based on corporate performance.
For example, IPOs are limited in number and require authorities’ approval, while the supply of funds is unrestricted as millions of individual investors seek returns that are better than bank interest rates.
As a result, the prices of newly listed shares are usually pushed high, providing hefty profits for original shareholders of the listed companies.
Meanwhile, lack of truthful information disclosure and frequent insider trading often lead to market volatility, causing losses for retail investors.
The problems became more evident during a market rout in summer. Regulators suspended IPOs in July after the main market index plunged 30 percent from its June 12 peak.
Last week, authorities announced a resumption of IPOs and introduced significant changes to IPO procedures, allowing investors to subscribe without paying into escrow accounts in advance, giving more priority to information disclosure instead of pre-IPO approvals, and simplifying procedures for smaller IPOs.
The moves were viewed as preludes to a change of the current approval-based IPO system to a registration-based one, giving a bigger say to the market while improving regulation.
The reforms were in line with Xi’s vision to develop a stock market with “sound financing functions,” which will help reduce the funding costs for Chinese companies and prevent economic risks, Li said.
Chinese firms have seen their debt burden soar since the global financial crisis, as an industrial glut and weak trade hurt their profits and slowed the economy.
The ratio of debt owed by non-financial firms to the country’s GDP reached 317 percent in 2014, compared with 195 percent in 2007.
A healthier stock market will also boost China’s innovation drive, which is at the core of economic upgrades and demands more financing with an appetite for risk, said Lu Qiang, a researcher at Genial Flow Asset Management.
“A lot of innovation-based companies will be formed and then disappear. Their financing cannot rely on banks, which favor big firms with mature operations and steady cash flow,” Lu said.
He expects faster reforms of the stock market, including the introduction of a registration-based IPO system and new boards that cater to the financing needs of tech firms and smaller companies.  Enditem

 

China’s satellite expo opens
BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — A satellite exposition opened on Thursday in Beijing, displaying more than 6,000 new products and academic achievements.
The three-day exposition, Satellite Application China 2015, will attract nearly a hundred specialists, scholars and entrepreneurs from the aerospace and satellite application industry.
Products to be exhibited include a test communication satellite co-designed by private companies and universities, personal outdoor terminals supported by BeiDou navigation and a new domestic-made satellite communication system.
Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said BeiDou navigation has already been applied in the regional network.
BeiDou services are expected to cover most countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road by 2018, and offer global coverage by 2020, Ran added.
The exposition is held by the China Users Association for Satellite Communications, Broadcasting and Television and the Electronics and Information Industry Sub-Council of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.  Enditem

China’s progress in IPR protection, anti-counterfeiting

   BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — Public satisfaction improved regarding the government’s work against fake products and intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement in 2014, according to a new report.
Public satisfaction with government work in IPR protection rose 4.5 percent year on year to 69.4 percent in China in 2014, according to the China Annual Report against IPR Infringement and Counterfeit, released Thursday by the Office of the Leading Group for the Campaign against IPR Infringement and Counterfeit, a government body under the Ministry of Commerce.
There were fewer counterfeit-related complaints among 800,000 respondents in the latter half of 2014 compared to the previous period, according to the report, which was compiled based on work reports of government bodies both at the central and local levels.
China has toughened its stance against IPR infringement and fake products through a variety of measures, but challenges have emerged with the rise of e-commerce. According to a report delivered to Chinese lawmakers earlier this month, only 58.7 percent of items sold online were genuine or of good quality last year.
Chai Haitao, an official with the Office of the Leading Group, said rampant IPR infringement and fake products on the Internet have posed a challenge for supervisors.
“We hope that the report will awaken China to the importance of IPR protection and help improve merchandise quality,” Chai said at a press release for the report.
Lin Xiuqin, the report’s executive editor-in-chief, said that the publication is a display of government determination to fight illegal activities in the market.
The Chinese version of the report was released Thursday in China and globally. An English version is expected to be published in the near future.  Enditem

 

China Focus: Social capital eyes booming EV charging market

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — China’s electric vehicle (EV) charging sector, with an estimated market size of over 100 billion yuan, has been witnessing waves of investors vying to break into the lucrative business.

At an exhibition of charging technology held here on Friday, active players including Nari Technology (600406.SH), TGOOD Electric (300001.SZ), Nancal Energy & Engineering, and Wanbang BJEV all put on display their latest EV charging products and technology.

TGOOD Electric alone has set up EV charging joint ventures in 30 cities across China and plans to build 60,000 power poles in more than 80 cities by the end of this year. In an effort to further consolidate its market presence, TGOOD said it would invest an additional 4 billion yuan to expand the company’s charging network across the county next year.

Wanbang BJEV will have 10,000 power poles established nationwide by the yearend and plans to double the figure by March 2016.

In the meantime, cooperation between enterprises is getting deeper. Nancal Energy & Engineering has teamed up with leading Chinese refiner Sinopec to build multiple charging stations in Beijing and several other cities.

China’s major power grid operator the State Grid, another leading performer in the charging market, had build up 618 charging stations and 24,000 power poles by the end of 2014. The power grid giant is moving forward to build more charging networks along China’s highways and in more major cities and the Being-Tianjin-Hebei and the Yangtze River Delta regions.

The central government expects to establish a comprehensive charging network that could accommodate five million electric vehicles by 2020, said the State Council in late September.

In order to support the operation of 5 million electric vehicles, China needs to build up 4.8 million charging poles and 12,000 charging stations, which means that at least 960,000 charging poles should be built every year by 2020, said Tong Guangyi, vice-director of the Power Department of the National Energy Administration.

The direct market size of the EV charging sector would surpass 130 billion yuan in light of the booming demand, said Tong.

More than 40,000 public EV charging poles had been set up across China by the end of September, according to data provided by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. (Edited by Shi Chunjiao, shichunjiao@xinhua.org)

China Focus: China’s listed stockbrokers’ A shares expected to regain strength as earnings improved

   BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — China’s listed stockbrokers witnessed remarkable profit growth in October after suffering from profit declines in September thanks to a round of market bull run since the beginning of October.

Analysts deem that foundation for rebounding of the stockbrokers’ stocks is mature as their valuation has come to a reasonable level after over five months of deep correction and the negative factors in the industry have been digested.

 

— Stockbrokers’ profits bottom out in October

According to the financial results released by the listed brokers on Thursday, an overwhelming majority of the listed stock brokerage companies made profits in October. CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. (600030.SH), Haitong Securities Co., Ltd. (600837.SH) and Guotai Junan Securities Co., Ltd. (601211.SH) ranked top three by profit earnings, which recorded a net profit of 1.3 billion yuan, 1.12 billion yuan and 891 million yuan in the month, surging 95.19 percent, 33.08 percent and 87.3 percent from that of the previous month, respectively.

Meanwhile, many brokers achieved a net rise of over 100 percent, of which Pacific Securities (601099.SH), Sinolink Securities (600109.SH) and Orient Securities (600958.SH) saw a net rise of 400 percent, 180.05 percent and 157 percent as compared with that in September.

Although the stockbrokerage companies’ earnings were heavily hit by market plunges since June, the whole industry still enjoyed higher growth in both revenue and net profit in the first three quarters of the year as compared with the corresponding period of 2014.

As indicated in the third-quarter financial reports, the 24 listed brokers as a whole generated revenue totaling 311.92 billion yuan in the first nine months of the year, jumping 161.4 percent year on year. Their combined net profits stood at 130.72 billion yuan, rocketing 210.2 percent on a yearly basis.

For the whole industry, China’s 124 stockbrokerage companies posted a combined net profit of 192.465 billion yuan in the first three months of the year, of which 119 ones realized profits, according to statistics from the Securities Association of China.

 

— Multiples favorable factors expected for stockbrokers

Stockbrokers’ shares posted sharp surges since November 4 with all the brokers’ shares rising by a daily limit up of ten percent. The strong momentum extended in the following two trading days and the index tracking the block realized its biggest weekly gain of nearly 30 percent since December 2014.

The robust rebounding of the stocks was interpreted as an inflection of market expectation for improved earnings of the stockbrokers in 2015.

Haitong Securities deems that along with the regulator’s clearing work to illicit stock trade accounts and activities approaching an end and the negative effect from de-leveraging work on brokers’ margin trade business being digested, the negative factors on the stockbrokerage companies have been gradually fading out.

Shen Juan, an analyst with Huatai Securities, thinks that a string of upcoming reforms including introduction of a classification system for companies listed on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) stock market, revision to the Law of Securities and an adoption of a registration mechanism to replace current approving mechanism for new share offerings is expected to bring bigger opportunities for stockbrokers.

Meanwhile, improved market sentiment, recovery of trading vibrancy, expansion of margin trade turnover will also cast positive impact on the stockbrokers, Shen added.

 

— China’s 13th Five-Year Plan to benefit stockbrokers

Many analysts believe that the just-released proposal for China’s 13th Five-Year Plan has also given strong impetus to the stockbrokers’ shares.

According to the Proposal, China will actively foster a more transparent and healthier capital market, pushing ahead reform on stock and bond issuing and trading systems, raising proportion of direct financing and lowering leverage ratios in the next five years. China will also push forward two-way opening-up of the domestic capital market and gradually remove restrictions on investment quota for both domestic and overseas investors.

Analysts hold that the stockbrokers’ earnings in investment banking business are expected to be largely fattened thanks to the policy support for direct financing in the next five years. (Edited by Li Xueqing, lixueqing@xinhua.org)

China Focus: China’s PPI drop expected to expand further in Oct.

   BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — China’s producer price index (PPI) is expected to drop by 6 percent in October from a year earlier, 0.1 percentage point more than in September, according to forecasts from a range of institutions.

For the whole year of 2015, the index may fall 5 percent, expanding 3 percentage points from 2014.

As analysis show that affected by the negative growth of PPI in over three years running, the real economy is struggling with a weak recovery and although the monetary policy has been eased all the way, its effect has not been transmitted to the majority of enterprises. Under the pressure of slowing economic growth, more stimulus measures will be taken at once, experts predict.

Although oil prices rebounded in October, prices of coal, steel, chemical products and other production materials have been staying at low levels, and deflation in the industrial sector will continue, experts believe.

The Bank of Communications forecasts the PPI will decrease 6.1 percent in October. It also says that commodities prices still have potential to decline and the drop of the price index for purchasing raw materials has accelerated due to imported deflation. For the whole year, it predicts the PPI may fall between 5 percent and 5.4 percent.

Over 40 months of negative PPI growths have exerted a serious influence on the real economy. The deflation in industrial sector has caused profits of non-financial companies lower than financial costs, led to a falling value of collateral and rising ratio of bad loans in banks, made it difficult for a huge amount of money to enter into the real economy and further worsened the debt burdens of enterprises and local governments, said Zhang Ping, vice director of the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The deterioration of profitability of industrial companies has also been transmitted to downstream companies, general equipments, special equipments, automobile and machinery building industries have all been affected, says Dong Wenyan, an analyst at China Academy of Telecommunication Research.

China’s central banks have lowered the interest rates and the RRR for several times this year, but it’s still far from enough, says Xu Gao, chief economist at Everbright Securities. In his opinion, the weak investing willingness of the real economy has slowed the transmission speed of the monetary easing policies to the real economy and when the transmission effect works remains to be observed.

Xu believes against the headwinds to the economy, more stimulus policies are in expectation. On one hand, more measures will be applied to channel funds from the financial system to the real economy and relieve financing pressures; on the other hand, proactive fiscal policy will be further implemented to coordinate with monetary policy. He also predicts that the central bank is likely to cut the RRR again to replenish domestic liquidity against the capital outflows. (Edited by Yang Qi, kateqiyang@xinhua.org)

China pilots MAH system for medical products in some provinces, cities

   BEIJING, Nov. 6 (-Greenpost) — Ten provinces and cities of China will carry out the marketing authorization holder (MAH) system for medical products under a trial program, the Chinese central government has decided.

Under the trial program, R&D organizations and researchers of medical products in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong and Sichuan are allowed to apply for the drug approval number and assume the responsibility for drug quality.

In the past, only medicine producers had access to the drug approval number in China. Medicine producers had to get a drug approval number from China Food and Drug Administration before they could produce a certain medical product.

In the 10 provinces and cities involved in the trial program, the marketing authorization holders and producers of medical products are separated. The holders can entrust the production to different drugmakers and take the responsibility for the safety, effectiveness and quality of medical products.

The MAH system is expected to arouse enthusiasm of researchers and promote innovation in medical products, said Xu Jinghe, head of the law department under China Food and Drug Administration.

Source Xinhua

Editor  Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Bank of China launches global commodity business centres in Singapore

   SINGAPORE, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — Bank of China(BOC)launched two global commodity business centres in Singapore, the bank announced at the China and Singapore Commodity and RMB Summit on Friday.

The global energy commodity business centre and the global commodity repo centre based in Singapore are set up as BOC eyes Singapore’s location as the crossroads of Southeast Asia’s major shipping routes, the bank said.

It said that Singapore is also the largest global fuel trade as well as the world’s second largest agribusiness trade centre and oil refining hub.

During the summit, BOC and International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) also inked an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on six key areas, said IE Singapore Chairman Seah Moon Ming in his opening speech.

Under the MoU, BOC will provide 50 billion Singapore dollars (35.7 billion U.S. dollars) of financial services to support enterprises from China and Singapore, which invest into countries along the “Belt and Road” region, while IE Singapore will facilitate the introduction of enterprises to BOC.

Other collaborations include setting up a new trade ecosystems in Singapore, and both parties will jointly promote RMB internationalization.

Singapore is the first regional financial center outside China to have a yuan clearing bank. And in 2014, it has surpassed London to become the second largest renminbi off-shore center in the world.

“We are optimistic that these initiatives will strengthen the relationship between IE Singapore and Bank of China, and also between Singapore and China. And in the process, assist Singapore enterprises in their international efforts, as well as Chinese enterprises internationalizing through Singapore,” said Seah. Enditem

MIIT mulls over telecom industry reform

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) — China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is mulling over a fresh round of telecom industry reform, said Zhang Feng, chief engineer of MIIT, on Thursday at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

Zhang said the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee put forward deepening telecom industry reform further in the 2016-2020 period. The development and integration of enterprises are decided by market demands. MIIT is mulling over the progress and orientation of telecom industry reform.

As the authority discloses expectation for telecom industry reform, share prices of Besttone Holding (600640.SH) and China Unicom (600050.SH) once rose to the upper limits, and those of Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary (Group) (600831.SH), Datang Telecom Technology (600198.SH), Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group (600804.SH) and ZTE Corp. (000063.SZ) also increased immediately.

Thanks to the stimulus policy that encourages private capital invest in broadband operation, operating revenue of Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group rose 12.00 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year to 5.75 billion yuan and the net profit attributable to shareholders of parent company soared 41.5 percent to 597 million yuan.

Chinese authority licensed pilot operation of virtual carriers on December 26, 2013 and there are 42 virtual carriers so far. The pilot scheme will be ended at the end of this year and formal licenses are expected to be issued next year.

Guotai & Junan Securities held that the reform on state-owned telecom enterprises has begun and significant investment opportunities are likely to exist in the near future.

An analyst with CITIC Securities suggested A-share investors to pay attention to listed companies under Datang Telecom Technology & Industry Group, FiberHome Technology Group, China Potevio, and China Electronics Corp. (Edited by Luo Jingjing, luojj@xinhua.org)