Month: August 2020

(Xinhua)15:21, August 01, 2020

BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — Chinas investment in oil and gas exploration set a record high of 82.13 billion yuan (about 11.76 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, up 29 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

National exploitation of oil and gas saw a total investment of 252.71 billion yuan last year, rising 24.4 percent from the previous year, the ministry said in a report on its website.

During the period, newly added proven oil reserves saw year-on-year growth of 17.2 percent to reach 1.12 billion tonnes, while new proven natural gas reserves declined 2.7 percent year on year to 809.1 billion cubic meters.

Meanwhile, Chinas petroleum output in 2019 rallied by 1.1 percent year on year to 191 million tonnes, recovering from a 1.2-percent decline in 2018, the ministry said.

The countrys natural gas industry also reported faster expansion, with the sectors production hitting 150.9 billion cubic meters, up 6.6 percent from a year ago.

By the end of last year, the countrys accumulated oil production stood at 7.13 billion tonnes while the output of natural gas reached 2.23 trillion cubic meters, the report said. Enditem

(Xinhua)12:19, August 02, 2020

SHANGHAI, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — The container throughput of Shanghai port exceeded 3.9 million TEUs in July, hitting a record high, according to Shanghai International Port (Group) Co., Ltd. (SIPG).

The port saw its container throughput total 149,565 TEUs on Thursday, representing a record single-day high.

As Chinas economic recovery picked up speed in the second quarter, the country has seen rapid growth in cargo trade. Shanghai port has been receiving more containers since the second quarter, said Huang Haidong, general manager of the operation and business department of the SIPG.

Under scientific management and the assistance of automation technology, staff of Shanghai port have overcome obstacles brought by COVID-19, summer heat and the flood season to secure this great achievement, Huang said.

The container throughput of Shanghai port totaled 43.3 million TEUs last year, ranking the first in the world for the 10th consecutive year.

(Xinhua)12:46, August 02, 2020

BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) — A total of 207 million passenger trips were made on trains in China last month as summer holidays drove up travel demand, the latest data showed.

The figure is 24 percent higher than that in the previous month, according to the China State Railway Group.

July saw 6.67 million passenger trips made each day on average, with a peak of 7.9 million registered on July 25, the highest daily number since this years Spring Festival travel rush, the company said.

The firm has taken a raft of measures including e-ticket utilization to increase efficiency during the summer holidays.

The rollout of e-ticket services has benefited more than 99 percent of railway passengers, covering a total of 2,700 railway stations nationwide, the firm said.

E-tickets were piloted in high-speed train stations on the island province of Hainan in November 2018, and were fully implemented on high-speed rail and inter-city lines on the Chinese mainland in late April.

(Xinhua)08:21, August 03, 2020

The following are highlights of Chinas local business news from the past week.

KWEICHOW MOUTAI

Chinas leading liquor producer, Kweichow Moutai, said its net profit rose by 13.29 percent year on year to 22.6 billion yuan (about 3.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2020.

The company also said in its H1 earnings report that it generated operating revenue of 43.95 billion yuan, an annual increase of 11.31 percent.

HIGH-POWER ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE

China has developed a high-power electric locomotive, marking a major breakthrough in the countrys railway technology.

On Wednesday, an electric locomotive with a single-unit power of 28,800 kW and a traction force of 2,280 kN rolled off the production line of CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. Dubbed Shen-24, the locomotive has a maximum speed of 120 kph and can pull a 10,000-ton freight train on a 1.2 percent slope.

GAS PIPELINE

The China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline has delivered over 19 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China in the first half of this year, the PetroChina West Pipeline Company said Thursday.

The pipeline runs from the border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, passes through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and links up with Chinas West-to-East Gas Pipeline in Khorgos of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

GAMING MARKET

Chinas gaming industry saw an actual sales revenue of 139.49 billion yuan (about 19.96 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of this year (H1), up 22.34 percent year on year, said an industry report released at the China Digital Entertainment Congress in Shanghai on Thursday.

The number of game users in China reached nearly 660 million in H1, up 1.97 percent year on year, the report said.

GAMING REAL-NAME AUTHENTICATION

China plans to launch a real-name authentication system for online games before September to prevent gaming addiction among teenagers.

Feng Shixin, an official with the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, told a forum of the ChinaJoy Expo Thursday in Shanghai that gaming companies will be asked to join the system after its launch.

HYDROGEN ENERGY

Guangzhou, capital of south Chinas Guangdong Province, announced Thursday that its hydrogen energy industry is expected to reach 200 billion yuan (about 28.6 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.

Guangzhou plans to build a hydrogen energy industrial chain with a production value of over 60 billion yuan by 2025, and an industrial system that consists of production, storage, transaction and application with an output value of 200 billion yuan by 2030, Chen Jianrong, deputy director of Guangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference.

(Xinhua)08:55, August 03, 2020

Chinas electronic information manufacturing sector logged revenue and profit growth in the first half of the year (H1), despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.

Total profits of firms with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about 2.86 million U.S. dollars) surged 27.1 percent year on year, while the operating revenue of these firms rose 4.6 percent, expanding from the 1.3-percent rise in the first five months, according to the MIIT.

Value-added output of major electronic information manufacturers rose 5.7 percent year on year in H1, while fixed-asset investment in the industry registered a 9.4-percent yearly growth, 0.9 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

Export delivery of major firms in the sector rose 17.5 percent year on year in June, accelerating the pace of growth by 16.3 percentage points from one year ago.

In breakdown, the communications equipment manufacturing sub-sector saw its profits soar 41.3 percent year on year in H1, leading among major sub-sectors of the industry, said the MIIT.

In June alone, the output of smartphones hiked 26.1 percent year on year, while that of laptops and tablets rose 5.6 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.

(Peoples Daily Online)10:37, July 14, 2020

Screenshot of the report by Project Syndicate

China’s industrial policies did not come at the expense of the rest of the world, and the US and Europe should not try to undercut China’s economic progress, according to an opinion piece published by Project Syndicate in July 9.

In the article, Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, highlighted though Sino-US tensions are real, economics should not become hostage to geopolitics or reinforce and magnify the strategic rivalry.

The article illustrated China’s strength in the production of medical supplies. By the time the crisis erupted, China had become the world’s largest supplier of key products, accounting for half of all European and US imports of personal protective equipment.

“China has laid the groundwork to dominate the market for protective and medical supplies for years to come,” according to a recent report by the New York Times.

Noting the fact that the strategic and geopolitical tensions between the US and China are real, the author stressed that economics should not become “hostage to geopolitics or, worse, to reinforce and magnify the strategic rivalry.”

One-half of China’s economic miracle, it cited, reflects its turn to markets after the late 1970s, the other half is the result of active government policies that protected old economic structures while a wide array of industrial policies boosted new industries.

“[T]hese gains did not come at the expense of the rest of the world…The growth policies that today arouse other countries’ ire are the reason China has become such a large market for Western exporters and investors.”

In regards to some complaints that Chinese industrial policies are unfair to competitors elsewhere, the author suggested outsiders to exercise caution before reaching such a verdict.

Noting that Chinese policies are a case of “fixing market failures,” the author said, “[I]f Chinese policymakers effectively targeted activities where social benefits exceed private benefits, producing improved economic performance, then it is not clear why foreigners should complain.”

The article cited an example of China’s policy on the renewable energy industry, saying Chinese subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines have produced a decline in the cost of renewable energy, which is “an enormous benefit for the rest of the world.”.

Other countries should not stand idly by while China progresses to ever more sophisticated industries, the author warned.

Meanwhile, the US and Europe are recommended to focus on building more productive, more inclusive economies at home, “not simply to outcompete China or try to undercut its economic progress.”

(Peoples Daily Online)14:11, July 14, 2020

New infrastructure projects in China have become hot attractions in the eyes of foreign investors. Since this year, a number of these projects co-funded through foreign investments have been launched around the country.

The Siemens PLM Software Company (Shanghai), an arm of German technology giant Siemens, recently inked an agreement with the government of Urumqi in northwest China鈥檚 Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to build a China-Europe digitalized industrial new infrastructure innovation base in the city.

The base aims to become a platform of technological innovation, intelligent manufacturing services and talent cultivation in areas such as intelligent manufacturing, new energy and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The German company also plans to build a digitalized factory and exhibition center in Harbin, northeast China鈥檚 Heilongjiang province, and an IoT platform for the catering industry through collaboration with Foodom Restaurant Group under Chinas leading property developer Country Garden.

Investment in new infrastructure will bring a new round of market opportunities for related companies, said Lothar Herrmann, CEO of Siemens Greater China. Siemens is working with hundreds of Chinese companies to implement digital transformation and upgrading. The company hopes to continue supporting Chinas innovation and development in a sustainable manner, and looks forward to more relevant policies for new infrastructure. We will continue to take root in China and seek common development, he said.

Workers maintain charging facilities at a station in Ningbo, east China鈥檚 Zhejiang province. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

In mid-May, U.S. industrial conglomerate Honeywell opened its emerging market headquarters and innovation center in Wuhan, central Chinas Hubei province.

Honeywell hopes to take this opportunity to better meet the needs of Chinese industries and consumers, and develop new technologies, products, and models through actively engaging in new infrastructure, said Zhang Yufeng, president of Honeywell China.

Other multinational corporations such as Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Schneider Electric have also said they will publicize or are about to publicize plans in the new infrastructure sector.

China has huge potential in new infrastructure and the country welcomes South Korean companies to take an active part in the construction of information infrastructure, integrated infrastructure and innovative infrastructure, said Chinese ambassador to South Korea Xing Haiming at an online seminar attended by South Korean companies.

Sun Guojun, an official with the State Council, said new infrastructure, which is open to all market entities, will bring equal opportunities to Chinese and foreign companies alike.

The construction of charging facilities for electric vehicles, he said, will deliver opportunities to foreign companies, as the domestic new energy vehicle market is shared by both Chinese and foreign companies.

The Chinese government also gives policy support and creates a good environment for the new infrastructure sector.

For instance, Shanghai is expected to invest a total of around 270 billion yuan (about $38.1 billion) in its first batch of 48 major new infrastructure projects in the next three years.

The metropolis plans to set up 34,000 new 5G base stations and 100,000 smart charging piles for electric vehicles in the next three years, according to a three-year action plan from 2020 to 2022 issued by the municipal government.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 outbreak, new infrastructure has served as a new option for multinational corporations and injected new impetus into the global economy.

Citibank projected that the direct investment related to new infrastructure will total 10 trillion yuan, while indirect investment will reach 17.1 trillion yuan.

鈥淐hina is expected to become the largest 5G market in the future, and is playing an increasingly important role in the globalized development of Qualcomm,鈥?said Qualcomm China Chairman Meng Pu.

(Xinhua)15:33, July 14, 2020

BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) — China saw its foreign trade rise 5.1 percent year on year in June, with exports and imports up 4.3 percent and 6.2 percent respectively, official data showed Tuesday.

The country registered better-than-expected foreign trade performance in the first half of the year, said Li Kuiwen, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs (GAC) at a news conference.

Foreign trade of goods went down 3.2 percent year on year in the first half to 14.24 trillion yuan (about 2 trillion U.S. dollars), narrowing by 1.7 percentage points compared with the decrease for the first five months.

Following the turbulence in the first quarter, imports and exports of the second quarter showed signs of recovery and stability, and the exports have risen for three consecutive months, Li said.

During the January-June period, ASEAN remained Chinas largest trading partner with trade up 5.6 percent year on year to 2.09 trillion yuan, accounting for 14.7 percent of Chinas total foreign trade.

Trade with the European Union and the United States decreased 1.8 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, during the period, GAC data showed.

Combined trade with countries along the Belt and Road saw a slight decline of 0.9 percent year on year to 4.2 trillion yuan in H1, 2.3 percentage points lower than the countrys overall decrease in foreign trade.

Exports of epidemic prevention supplies grew rapidly with sales of medicines and pharmaceutical products, and medical equipment expanding by 23.6 percent and 46.4 percent, respectively.

Noting that Chinas exports and imports continue to face a grim and complicated situation in the second half of this year, Li said the countrys foreign trade is resilient and has more leeway. He assured that more efforts will be made to ensure stable and high-quality foreign trade.

(Xinhua)08:42, July 13, 2020

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) — Sales of new-energy vehicles (NEVs) in China posted robust month-on-month growth in June, as the worlds largest auto market steadily expands its recovery, industry data shows.

Some 104,000 NEVs were sold last month, up 26.8 percent from the previous month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The year-on-year sales drop during the January-June period was 1.3 percentage points smaller than that registered in the first five months. Some 393,000 NEVs were sold in the first half of the year, down 37.4 percent year on year.

CAAM data also shows that Chinas auto market maintained recovery momentum last month, with both production and sales registering double-digit growth.

Total output reached 2.33 million units in June, up 22.5 percent year on year, while sales hit 2.3 million units, up 11.6 percent.

The association said the figures came in better than expected as measures to boost car consumption continued to prop up the market.

However, the association noted that uncertainties brought by the global COVID-19 situation remain and overseas market demand has yet to recover. It advised companies to monitor the changes in the domestic market and make adjustments accordingly.