Good to be back in Beijing.
| Economy | Finance | Auto | Energy | Telecoms | Property | Tech | Agriculture | Retail |
Closer Look: Signs China’s Economy Transforming Linger behind Latest GDP Figure – What is worth more attention than the growth rate is a change in the economy that other NBS data reflect. In 2013, the tertiary sector’s contribution to total economic output exceeded that of secondary sector for the first time in modern Chinese history.
The latest results showed that services pulled ahead of production and construction even more, with the former accounting for 49 percent of total economic output in the first quarter. Last year tertiary sector’s share of GDP was 46.1 percent.
Many Chinese firms looking overseas: Poll[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn Approximately 60 percent of leading Chinese companies plan to move research and development centers and/or production overseas in the next five years, a study by Strategy& (formerly Booz &Co) and the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.
That figure roughly doubles the number of Chinese companies that are currently sending these functions abroad, according to the study.
Anti-Dumping The U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced last week that China, in a follow-up to its December 3, 2013 request for World Trade Organization (“WTO”) consultations, has asked for a dispute settlement panel concerning certain U.S antidumping methodologies. The USTR requests public comments on the issues identified by China in its panel request.
Beijing must stay the course despite the slowdown | China Economic Review If expectations are low, beating them doesn’t mean much. China’s GDP grew by 7.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2014, a notch above the market consensus of 7.3%.
But after three months of mainly gloomy economic data, analysts weren’t betting on a powerful punch in overall growth figures. The stats from March alone give reason to believe that China has yet to rebound from a tough start to the year. As for giving the economy a gentle fiscal nudge, Beijing has likely said all it intends to on that matter with some targeted measures in recent weeks. China Economic Review thinks that’s just fine as long as economic reform keeps abreast.
Internationalizing Your China WFOE | China Briefing News In the rush to get into China over the past decade, many foreign investors established WFOEs – either as trading and services companies, or as manufacturing entities in their own right. For many, this is a policy that has worked very well – the legal and regulatory structures are well defined and understood. Today though, as foreign investors start to eye other markets in Asia, the China WFOE is starting to prove awkward as a base from which to launch into Asia. There are a number of reasons for this:
China Resources Chairman Song Lin Faces Probe After Media Charge – Bloomberg Song Lin, whose company is the parent of five Hong Kong-listed units, is being probed for “suspected disciplinary violations,” the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement yesterday on its website using language that signals a corruption probe.
His company controls China Resources Power Holdings Co., which was accused last year of paying too much for three coal mines in Shanxi province in 2010. The probe is a signal that the Communist Party is intensifying a campaign to root out the corruption that President Xi Jinping has said threatens its six-decade hold on power. Party leaders have promised to target both “tigers and flies,” or cadres up and down the power ladder, over graft.
Bet the Farm, Or Settle for Table Scraps? In this intriguing essay, Shanghai-based consultant Kaiser suggests that for foreign companies, the glory days are over, and the only two strategies left are to either fight for one of the top two positions in your industry (against what might be brutal competition) or accept that your market in China will be modest, picking up what others cannot.
I really enjoyed the essay, because I like contrarian thinking on business in China. But I have a couple of problems right out of the gate.
McKinsey Greater China – Even Chinese SOEs Are Getting Media Savvy **Their websites still suck though** I recall state-owned insurance company announcements as being completely dire in the past. A large semi-lit room, partly filled. Executives sitting at a desk reading a script they didn’t care about to an audience who didn’t really want to be there other than for the drinks available at the end. And always running late.
The new version involved floor to ceiling LCD screens, which projected what was on the screen of the sales agent’s iPad on the stage as she demonstrated an actual sale in real time during the event. The speeches were concise, on time, and delivered with enthusiasm. The back of the room had further iPads so that the journalists could try (and film themselves doing so) the apps.
Disillusioned office workers: China’s losers | The Economist But Mr Zhu considers himself a loser, not a winner. He earns 4,000 yuan ($650) a month after tax and says he feels like a faceless drone at work. He eats at the office canteen and goes home at night to a rented, 20-square-metre (215-square-foot) room in a shared flat, where he plays online games. He does not have a girlfriend or any prospect of finding one. “Lack of confidence”, he explains when asked why not. Like millions of others, he mockingly calls himself, in evocative modern street slang, a diaosi, the term for a loser that literally translates as “male pubic hair”. Figuratively it is a declaration of powerlessness in an economy where it is getting harder for the regular guy to succeed. Calling himself by this derisive nickname is a way of crying out, “like Gandhi”, says Mr Zhu, only partly in jest. “It is a quiet form of protest.”
How liquidity evaporates from China | South China Morning Post The difficulty of accurately calculating the mainland’s liquidity results from the unknown size of the shadow banking system in which non-banks borrow, lend and invest like a real bank but at market rates and outside the official regulated system. This market is calculated variously as 70 per cent of the mainland’s GDP, or 20 per cent of all credit.
But in reality, no one knows – except that it is significant. This black market has developed to allow market-based funding of smaller enterprises and individuals. It appears strange to have such a tightly regulated banking environment on the mainland when you can game the system so readily.
HEARD ON THE STREET: China’s Citic and the State Share Shuffle – WSJ.com Citic Group, a sprawling state conglomerate, laid out a more ambitious plan last month, with more details unveiled this week. The company will inject its entire $36 billion of assets—including businesses in finance, steel, publishing and more—into Citic Pacific, a Hong Kong-listed unit.
The listed company will pay mainly by issuing shares to the parent, but at a 6.5% premium to where they were trading before the announcement. The new assets will boost return on equity to 13% from 9%, partly because the old listed unit was weighed down by a struggling Australian iron-ore mine.
China eases M&A rules for insurers | Reuters China’s decision to partially relax mergers and acquisition rules in the insurance industry could see global insurance firms expand their footprint in the $288 billion market.
Beijing would allow insurers, including Chinese-based units of foreign insurance firms, to buy stakes in more than one peer that competes in the same market segment, according to a statement on the China Insurance Regulatory Commission’s (CIRC) website and dated last Friday.
RPT-Fitch Affirms Noble Group’s Guaranteed Bonds at ‘AAA(tha)’ | Reuters Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited has affirmed Noble Group Limited’s (Noble; BBB-/Stable) THB2.85bn guaranteed bonds due 2016 at National Long-Term ‘AAA(tha)’. The bonds, which are guaranteed by Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), have a Stable Outlook.
Chinese banks are passing the buck | Business Spectator Outstanding non-performing loans soared 19.5 per cent in 2013 from 390 billion yuan ($67 billion) to 467 billion yuan, according to data disclosed by 12 major listed Chinese banks. During the same period, these 12 Chinese banks either transferred or wrote off 102 billion yuan worth of loans, an increase of 206 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to Caixin.
The outstanding non-performing loans of the big five major Chinese banks — the Industrial and Commercial bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and the Construction Bank of China and Communication Bank of China — increased 16.1 per cent in 2013.
RPT-Fitch Affirms China Life at IFS ‘A+’; Outlook Stable | Reuters Fitch Ratings has affirmed China Life Insurance Company Limited’s (China Life) Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) Rating at ‘A+’. The Outlook is Stable.
China to Cut Reserve Ratio for Some Rural Banks -Caijing Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Wednesday said reserve requirements would be relaxed for qualifying rural banks in a sign that more loosening policies are likely on the way.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) sets different reserve requirements for banks, depending in part on the size of their loan business. The ratio stands at 20 percent for China’s biggest banks, around 16 percent for smaller, rural banks.
Jaguar Land Rover to recall vehicles in China – Business – Chinadaily.com.cn Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Trading (Shanghai) will recall 1,923 vehicles mainly due to problems with their warning lights, China’s quality watchdog announced on Thursday.
The recall, from April 17, covers 1,909 imported 2014-edition Range Rover vehicles in the Chinese mainland, which were produced from May 7 to Oct. 10, 2013, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
5.12 Million China Commercial Vehicle Industry Growth in 2017 Forecasts a Research Report | SYS-CON MEDIA According to China Commercial Vehicle Industry Report, 2014-2017 sales volume of China’s commercial vehicles is estimated to register a CAGR of 6% in 2014-2017, and will reach 5.12 million in 2017. The development of the commercial vehicle industry is closely related to the macro economy. In 2013, the growth rate of China’s GDP fell to 7.7%, while commercial vehicle market experienced slow growth at the same time, with output and sales volume increasing by 7.6% and 6.4%, respectively.
Chinese auto brands limp into Beijing show – SFGate **This is not in the Five-Year Plan!** Facing intense competition from General Motors, Volkswagen and other global rivals, local brands such as Chery, Geely and SUV maker Great Wall have suffered shrinking sales and market share this year while China’s overall auto market has grown. That is a blow to Chinese leaders who have made it a national priority to catch up with neighboring Japan and South Korea by creating globally competitive automakers.
Ford to Start Selling Luxury Lincoln Cars in China Lincoln is a late comer to China’s luxury car market, but Robert Parker, president of Lincoln China, said the brand is being introduced here after thorough research.
At Lincoln dealerships, Chinese customers will be greeted with a waterfall, considered auspicious, and their new Lincoln car will have a custom fragrance pleasing to Chinese noses, Parker said.
China Shenhua Energy Company Limited (HKG:1088) More Than a Coal Company Morningstar analyst Zhao Hu says investors would be wise not to look at China Shenhua Energy Company Limited (HKG:1088) as only a coal story. Even if coal continues to underperform, Hu says China Shenhua’s other businesses will offset the negative impact.
“China Shenhua is a little bit different than the other pure-play coal companies we cover primarily because of its vertical integration strategy,” Hu says. “The company recognized the coal sector’s volatility and was able to expand upward and downward into different sectors that include railway transportation, power generation as well as some shipping and port operations.”
CNOOC Limited Filed 2013 Annual Report on Form 20-F – Yahoo Finance CNOOC Limited (the “Company”, NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 00883, TSX: CNU) announced today it has filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) its 2013 annual report on Form 20-F (“annual report”) that included audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2013.
The annual report is available on the Company’s website at www.cnoocltd.com as well as SEC′s website at www.sec.gov.
Sinopec Wins Dismissal Of $5B False Imprisonment Suit – Law360 A California federal judge on Tuesday tossed a Chinese foreign national’s $5.17 billion suit alleging China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec Corp., colluded with the Chinese government to falsely imprison him, ruling the court did not have jurisdiction over the claims.
U.S. District Judge Beverley Reid O’Connell granted Sinopec’s motion to dismiss the July suit, which accused Sinopec officials of interrogating, threatening and ultimately having Tiangang Sun imprisoned for five years after he sued the company in China for breaching a pipeline contract
Your Industry News – Three International wind power exhibitions to take place in Shanghai in July 2014 **Would hope there is a major Scottish presence at these events. Wind power getting important there as oil declines** The Offshore Wind China Conference & Exhibition, the Wind Farm O&M China Conference & Exhibition and Distributed Generation China will take place concurrently at Shanghai Mart in Shanghai on 2-4 July 2014.
China Money Network − Yingli, Shanghai Sailing To Jointly Launch $160M Renewable Energy Fund New York Stock Exchange-listed Chinese solar panel producer Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd. says that it has signed an agreement with Shanghai Sailing Capital Management to jointly form a renewable energy fund in Shanghai to invest in downstream solar energy projects in China, according to a company announcement.
The joint fund will have an initial size of approximately RMB1 billion ($160 million). Yingli China will commit around 51% of the total capital in several installments through its wholly owned affiliate in China.
PetroChina to Expand Installation of Honeywell Technologies to 30 Plants | Control Engineering Asia PetroChina Company Limited will expand its use of Honeywell advanced information management and process modeling software tools to 17 additional refining and petrochemical sites across China, to help meet the country’s growing demand for chemicals and transportation fuels. PetroChina currently uses Honeywell’s information solutions at 13 locations.
Alibaba unit to offer mobile phone service in China from June – Livemint The service will include voice and third-generation data packages on network capacity leased from all three state-owned carriers, according to Alizila, a website run by Alibaba. The packages will be sold through Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall sites and can be paid for with Alipay, the company’s e-payment affiliate.
Alibaba, Tencent take rivalry to mobile network services | South China Morning Post Alibaba, the mainland’s biggest e-commerce service provider, said yesterday that it would launch 3G data and voice services in June through subsidiary HiChina, one of 19 companies licensed to operate as a mobile virtual network operator in the country.
The announcement, made through the Alizila website of Hangzhou-based Alibaba, followed reports earlier this month that online retail platform operator JD.com in which Tencent is a major shareholder, would launch its own mobile virtual network operator service next month.
ZTE Q1 profit grows – BUSINESS – Globaltimes.cn ZTE Corp, China’s second-biggest telecommunications equipment maker, said first-quarter profit matched its estimate after benefiting from the country’s introduction of 4G networks.
Net profit rose 204 percent to 622.2 million yuan ($100.01 million) from January to March, compared with an estimated range of 425 million yuan to 637 million yuan, the Shenzhen-based company said on Thursday.
China Unicom profits rise – BUSINESS – Globaltimes.cn China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the country’s second-biggest mobile carrier by subscribers, posted a 74 percent rise in first quarter net profits, beating estimates, as an increase in data usage offset a slowdown in subscriber growth.
China Unicom said on Thursday net profit from January to March was 3.3 billion yuan, higher than the 1.9 billion yuan in the same period one year ago.
Yahoo Still Set to Get Value From Alibaba After IPO – Bloomberg That’s because Yahoo, which owns about 24 percent of Alibaba, will still have a sizable chunk of the Chinese e-commerce company after it goes public as soon as this year. The Web portal is set to sell about 40 percent of its Alibaba stake in the initial public offering, leaving it with the majority of its holding. Yahoo can hang onto that piece indefinitely if it chooses.
Investors who had bought into Yahoo as a proxy for privately held Alibaba thus may not be tempted to dump the Web company’s shares — at least not right away. For Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer, who has relied on Yahoo’s Alibaba stake to boost the company’s share price, that may buy just enough time to accelerate a nascent sales rebound.
Xiaomi looks to steal thunder from OnePlus with launch of mysterious new gadget on same day, April 23 The mysterious device is set to launch on the same day as the OnePlus One, the new brand’s first ever phone. We doubt Xiaomi’s timing is unintentional as the OnePlus One phone is designed to compete with Xiaomi’s flagship phone, the Mi3.
Coolpad obtains fresh funds for 4G smartphone expansion | South China Morning Post Coolpad Group, the third-biggest smartphone supplier on the mainland, is poised to boost its 4G mobile phone development plans and global expansion with new financing worth as much as US$175 million.
Shenzhen-based Coolpad, formerly known as China Wireless Technologies, obtained yesterday a US$107 million, three-year loan facility through a syndicate of mostly Taiwanese banks, according to the firm’s filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Towers where no lights burn at heart of China’s puzzle – FT.com The main reason for the slowdown is a slump in fixed asset investment, the biggest driver of the Chinese economy.
The slide was largely owing to declining real estate investment, which also experienced its weakest growth in more than a decade. The situation is certain to get worse in the coming months as new housing floor space under construction contracted 27.2 per cent in the first quarter.
Why China Needs to Let More Companies Go Bankrupt – China Real Time Report – WSJ China needs to let more companies go bust.
That was the message from several executives at a real-estate conference in Shanghai on Thursday, as the latest string of loan defaults among real-estate developers and a small construction firm have some people talking about bankruptcy more freely.
China Money Network − Sina’s Weibo Downsized IPO By 21% To $286M Chinese social networking platform Weibo Corporation has raised $286 million by offering 16.8 million American Depository Shares (ADR) at $17 per share. The size of its IPO is 21% smaller than its initial target of of $380 million, according to an announcement.
Weibo gains 5% in Nasdaq trading debut – MarketWatch **I wouldn’t put money on Weibo** Shares in Weibo Corp were last up 5% on Thursday in their trading debut on the Nasdaq after initially dropping. Late Wednesday, the Chinese social-media company raised $286 million by offering 16.8 million U.S.-listed shares at $17, according to Renaissance Capital. That $17 price was at the low end of an expected range of $17 to $19.
As Weibo launches IPO, here are all the facts and stats you need to know In less than an hour, China’s top Twitter-esque social network, Sina Weibo (NASDAQ:WB), will launch its long-awaited IPO. As that happens, let’s look at all the facts and stats you need to know about Weibo.
Chinese graduates deepen hi-tech inroads | South China Morning Post The Chinese for more than a decade have been potent rivals to American and European manufacturers. Now, China is giving Westerners something new to worry about: a generation of workers able to compete in higher-technology endeavours. The aim is to develop service industries and shift from producing simple exports – often assembled from parts made elsewhere – to making a larger share of more sophisticated products.
China Says Nearly One-Fifth of Its Arable Land Is Polluted – WSJ.com **But doesn’t say what constitutes “polluted” or “highly polluted”** Nearly one-fifth of China’s arable land is polluted, China’s environmental ministry said. The new report confirms the worst fears of environmentalists and researchers about the effects of decades of rapid industrialization on the country’s soil.
The release of the report Wednesday shed unexpected light on the scale of China’s environmental problem. Environmental authorities had previously declined to disclose national soil pollution data, calling it a “state secret.”
China backs away from price controls on basic drugs | Reuters **Healthcare in China is FUBAR** China has backtracked on its policy of capping retail prices on medicines and will allow pharmaceutical companies to set prices for some drugs, after criticism that controls had caused a drug drought that derailed treatment for millions of patients.
Beijing has been struggling with rising healthcare costs, violent conflicts between patients and doctors and medicine safety issues, and President Xi Jinping has said providing affordable, accessible healthcare is a government priority.
Gap sees China sales tripling to $1b in three years – Business – Chinadaily.com.cn The push comes as Gap Inc tries to become less reliant on North America, where it generates 84 percent of its sales. North American sales have cooled of late at Gap Inc’s three major brands, which also include Banana Republic.
Posted from Diigo.
China Stocks Watch 