China's economy won't be hurt after Olympics(2008/8/20)
        BEIJING, Aug 18 -- China will not suffer from a "post-Olympic recession", senior officials said Sunday, because of the scale and potential of its economy.
"The Olympic Games won't be a watershed for China's economic growth," Wang Yiming, vice-president of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said. The academy is affiliated to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top planning body.
"The fundamentals propelling the country's economic development over the past 30 years will remain" even after the Games, he said.
The country's economy grew 11.9 percent last year. But after the growth slowed to 10.1 percent in the second half of this year, it raised concern that the economy could suffer after the Games, which in some ways has acted as booster.
The direct impact of the Games has been limited because of the size of country's economy, Wang said.
China won the right in 2001 to host the 17-day event, and its economy has grown at an average rate of 10.5 percent since.
A number of factors, such as the nation's entry into the WTO and the Olympic-related investment boom, have boosted the economy and made it the world's fastest growing.
To prepare for the Games, Beijing spent about 13 billion yuan ($1.89 billion) to build sports facilities and 280 billion yuan ($40.75 billion) to improve urban infrastructure.
Such investments helped Beijing's economy grow an estimated 10 percent faster in the past seven years, said Yang Kaizhong, president of Beijing Economic and Social Development Research Institute.
But the 293-billion-yuan bill, hefty as it is, only accounted for 0.55 percent to 1.06 percent of China's fixed asset investment between 2005 and 2008, the peak time for Olympic-related investments, Wang said.
And Beijing, the main recipient of Olympics-related investment, only accounts for 3.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Officials say China will continue its substantial investment in infrastructure even after the Games and that would help sustain the economy's growth momentum.
Beijing has plans to add six more lines covering more than 360 km to its tube network by 2015 to ease traffic congestion and improve connectivity to its suburbs. The investment will be more than what the city put in to build 149 km of subway in run-up to the Games.
Other mega-events, such as the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou the same year, are also likely to boost the economy, Wang said.
Earlier, the central government said it would strive to maintain a stable and fast economic growth while curbing inflation.
The country, especially its exports sector, has already felt the pinch of a falling growth rate and rising costs of labor and raw materials. More than 67,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises have reportedly had to shut down in the first half.
"Growth is likely to slow after the Olympics" but not because the Games would be over, Wang Tao, an economist with UBS Securities, said.

Economist: China's real estate to be optimistic(2008/8/19)
         The development of real estate in China has good prospects in the long run despite the sluggish demand, an expert from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said here Sunday.
"The development of the real estate has good prospects in a relatively long term. After rational adjustment, it will show a more sound development trend," said Wang Yiming, vice president of the Macro Economy Research Institute of the NDRC.
Amid an estimated continuous urbanization drive in China, more people may move to cities in the next decade and more, creating increasing demand for houses, Wang told a press conference at the 2008 Beijing International Media Center.
Relative policies and measures will be worked out sooner or later to promote the stable and sound development of the sector, which is of great significance to the national economy, said Wang.
However, he ruled out any direct links between the Olympic Games and the housing market, saying the key factors affecting the real estate is the urbanization drive and reforms of the traditional house distribution system in the country, which pushed more people to buy commercial apartments.
Statistics show that real estate investment accounted for nearly 20 percent of the total investment in fixed assets last year, driven up by about 5 percent as against 2000, according to the expert.
He said real estate investment increased by more than 30 percent between January and July this year, despite the shrinking housing demand since the second half of last year.
The housing price decline in some cities has strengthened a wait-and-see attitude among housing buyers, which retarded housing sales.
The country's real estate developers, which experienced huge profits in the past decade, sold out about 260 million square meters of houses in the first six months this year, and the sales value totaled one trillion yuan, representing an decrease of 7.2 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively, over the same period last year, statistics show.

China's urban fixed assets investment up in first seven months(2008/8/18)
          (Xinhua) -- China's urban fixed assets investment totaled 7.216 trillion yuan (1.05 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months, up 27.3 percent from the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.
The figure represented a slight acceleration, of 0.5 percentage points over the first half figures and of 0.7 percentage points over the figures for the same period in 2007.
Investment in the booming real estate sector grew 30.9 percent to 1.58 trillion yuan, according to the NBS. The growth rate was 2.6 percentage points lower than that of the first half.
Wang Tongsan, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that with the overall stable growth of fixed assets investment, the country could actively respond to uncertainties and risks in the economy and maintain a stable and relatively high economic growth rate.
According to the NBS, the growth rate in the primary sector (farming, fishing, forestry) was the fastest among the three major sectors in the first seven months, up 61.9 percent, compared with the secondary sector at27.9 percent and the tertiary sector at 26 percent.
"The 61.9 percent surge in investment in primary industry was a good sign as the government moved to shore up agricultural development and the foundation of the national economy," Wang said.
Statistics from the NBS showed investment in projects authorized by the central government rose by 25.3 percent in the first seven months over the same period of 2007. In local government-approved projects, investment expanded by 27.5 percent.

China's retail sales up 23.3% in July(2008/8/15)
         (Xinhua) -- Domestic retail sales leaped a brisk 23.3 percent to 862.9 billion yuan ( 125.8 billion U.S. dollars) in July this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)said on Wednesday.
The growth rate was 6.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year and 0.3 percentage points higher than the previous month.
That brings China's retail sales of consumer goods in the first seven months of this year to 5.9672 trillion yuan, up 21.7 percent, compared with 15.5 percent growth rate recorded over the same period of last year, the NBS said.
The NBS said urban consumption hit 590.5 billion yuan, up 24 percent year-on-year, compared with 272.4 billion yuan spent by rural residents, up 21.8 percent.
Wholesale and retail sales rose 23.3 percent to 730.3 billion yuan, while catering and hotel activity rose 26.5 percent to 116.8billion yuan.
Clothing sales rose 26.8 percent, while daily consumer goods were up 19.5 percent and household appliances were up 18.8 percent. Grain and edible oil jumped 18.3 percent year-on-year.

Inner Mongolia raises the electricity price for alloy production(2008/8/20)
   According to sources, the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a notice, saying that the government decided to raise the electricity price for ferroalloy production by 0.07 Yuan per KWH since September, which will add 600 to 700 Yuan per ton of production cost for the ferro-silicon producers. According to the Notice on Several Questions about the Electricity Price in Gansu Province and Guangxi Autonomous Region by National Reform and Development Commission, the price in two province and region will be partly raised.
According the participants, the rise in electricity price will no doubt add pressure to the producers. 0.07 Yuan per KWH means 600 to 700 Yuan per ton increase in production cost for the ferro-silicon producers, therefore they have to raise the products sale prices in turn. Offer prices of ferro-silicon have moved up in Wuhai, with silicon 75% product ex-work offer up to 8,400 to 8,500 Yuan per ton, silicon 72% offer to 7,800 to 8,000 Yuan per ton.
Yesterday, offer of silicon 75% ferro-silicon from E’erduosi came to 8,400 to 8,500 Yuan per ton, and that of silicon 72% ferro-silicon came to 8,100 to 8,200 Yuan per ton, both of ex-work prices. With the offer in Shizuishan Ningxia were 7,800 to 7,900 Yuan per ton and 7,600 to 7,700 Yuan per ton respectively.
In Gansu, the basic charge for electricity for large industry consumers will maintain at the same level, but the electricity price will rise and the electricity price for general industries will be adjusted. Now the list price of electricity for large industry consumers during the low water period is: 1 to 10 KV, 0.5542 Yuan per KWH; 35 to 110 KV, 0.5312 Yuan per KWH; 110 KV, 0.5092 Yuan per KWH; 220 KV and above, 0.4932 Yuan per KWH.

Zhanjiang steel project fed by local metal resources(2008/8/14)
    Rich resources such as limestone for flux, dolomite ore and serpentine ore around Zhanjiang area have been confirmed by the Guangdong Hydrology Bureau after 2 years of exploration in neighboring Zhanjiang area including southwestern Guangdong as well as central and southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region since August 2006.
These resources could cater to the 140 billion yuan Zhanjiang steel base project, promoted by Baosteel and Shaoguan Steel in May 2006 and designated to produce 20 million t/y of steel, including 10 million tons of high-grade steel for auto and electric consumer goods, according to related authorities in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.

China steel exports up 20 percent in July(2008/8/13)
    (Xinhua) -- China's steel exports swelled to 7.21 million tonnes in July, up 21.38 percent year on year. The amount was 1.99 million tonnes more than June, China Securities News reported on Tuesday, quoting China Customs statistics.
Experts attributed the surge to the deferred export of June's alloy steel.
Tianjin Port started to check alloy steel exports in June. "At least 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes of alloy steel were kept within the harbor till July because of the half-month checking time," said umetal.com analyst Zhang Ping.
"The 5 percent tax rebate on alloy steel was also part of the reason for the export surge."
Spurred by rising prices on the international market, the country's steel exports have showed signs of rebounding since March. The upward trend urged Chinese Customs last month to suggest reinforcing supervision over steel exports to prevent it from getting out of control.
Customs statistics showed national steel exports stood at 34.15million tonnes in the first seven months this year, down 14 percent over the same period in 2007.
July's net export, however, reached 5.77 million tonnes, representing a 45.7 percent month-on-month increase.

Guangxi will construct a large iron and steel base by 2012(2008/8/7)
   According to the 100 Billion Yuan Industry and Key Industries Development Plan of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, till 2012, the production value from metallurgy industry in Guangxi will reach 170.0 billion Yuan, and the value added will reach 49.0 billion Yuan, while the production of iron and steel products will increase to 20 million tons, and that for pig iron to 17 million tons. Till then, the steel production of Guangxi will take a ratio of 3.7% among the whole in China, up from 1.7% in 2007, and Guangxi will enter the top ten producers of steel production in China. Guangxi will be a large iron and steel base in China.

Puyang Iron and Steel had a net profit of 596 million Yuan during the first half(2008/8/19)
 From Jan to June of 2008, Puyang Iron and Steel in Hebei Province realized sale income 703 million Yuan, profits 654 million Yuan and net profit 596 million Yuan. Meanwhile, the company had an asset of 7.3 billion Yuan in total till the end of June 2008. With the support from commercial banks in the city, the company’s had one 120 tons converter and one 1,250 hot rolled steel coils production line launched operation in July, which boosted the crude steel capacity to 6.00 million tons, and rolling capacity to 6.00 million tons.

Shougang Cold Rolled Sheet Co. opens(2008/8/19)
 Shougang Cold Rolled Sheet Co., Ltd., the group’s only premium steel production project in Beijing, received business license on August 12, 2008 and is to launch at the end of this year. Affected by the ongoing Olympic Games, three out of the four blast furnaces in Shougang have already been shut down with steel capacity limited to two million tons per year.
The 8.4 billion yuan project is jointly set up by Beijing Shougang Co., Ltd, Shougang Group and Beijing Automobile Investment Co., Ltd, with a registered capital of 260 million yuan.
The main facilities of the project started constructing on July 2, 2005. Pickling rolling and continuous annealing machines were completed in November 2007 and May 2008 respectively. As of the end of July 2008, the company had produced 178,000 tons of cold rolled sheet and 52,000 tons of annealing coil. Two galvanized machines will be hot commissioned in August and November 2008.

Masteel, Laiwu Steel benefit on higher steel prices(2008/8/19)
 China’s steel producers enjoyed profitable results in the first half of this year thanks to a steady rise in steel prices. Masteel and Laiwu Steel posted a first-half net profit of 653 million yuan and 2.261 billion yuan respectively, up 103.52 percent and 29.99 percent year-to-year. Wisco also saw an increase of 37 percent in its net profit. The profit hike was down to rising steel prices.
Statistics showed the domestic composite steel price index in January grew less than 1 percent from a month earlier. However, the price indexes in February and May exceeded seven percent though this upward trend softened in March, April and June. The average price index stood at 144.77 points in the first half, up 30.92 percent from last year.
Meanwhile, production costs also shoot up in the first half. The price of PCI coal purchased by medium and large steelmakers was up 36.85 percent; that of coking coal was up 61.63 percent, that of coke was up 81.8 percent and that of imported iron ore was up 53.86 percent.

420 million Yuan steel products trading center was constructed in Linyi (2008/8/18)
 On 12th Aug, Shandong Linyi Steel Products Trading Center, which had an investment of 420 million Yuan in total, was opened, and the relocation of Linyi Hedong Steel Market was over.
To modernize the market, and expand the industry chain of steel products, local government in Linyi Hedong decided to move Hedong Steel Product Market to a new site with better location and more convenient transportation systems, which had a trade value of 2.0 billion Yuan per year. Therefore, the government invested 420 million Yuan and constructed a new steel products trading center. The new center has 1,860 stalls, and is divided into three areas, including finished steel products, steel scraps, and waste machinery and electronic equipments.
The new steel products trading center will be a large metal materials distributing center in North China.