Interview: Financial crisis tells us global economic challenges need global solutions(2009/9/15)
   LONDON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The main lesson from the financial crisis is that the economic problems that the world now faces will always in future be global problems and the solutions will have to be global, said Andrew Cahn, CEO of UK Trade and Investment.
He told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the global economic crisis is the first truly global event of its kind. "We as a global financial community and as a group of nations can only address the sort of challenges that the credit crunch has created if we work together in partnership," he said.
"It is also clear to me that now and for the future we must involve what we call the 'emerging economies,' like China, but which really are economies that have already emerged and which are important vital partners in finding any solution to the future of the global economy."
He said that everyone could learn that appropriate, well targeted, expert regulation is essential if the financial markets are to work effectively.
"We cannot do our financial regulation alone; we cannot manage our markets alone. We must do it in partnership with the other major economies of the world, which includes China which is clearly now a major economy," Cahn added.
"We must ensure in future that we have appropriate regulation agreed at a global level and that we have the appropriate financial infrastructure, including the international financial institutions, which can deal with future crises."
He admitted that there will be future crises and that is the nature of all financial systems. But he said: "We need the right institutional architecture and the right regulatory systems to reduce the severity of the crises and to deal with them effectively when they do arise."
As for the recent recovery signs of the global economy, Cahn said the most important thing is that "we have averted and avoided the really serious crisis that could have happened."
"We looked over the precipice, decided we didn't like what we saw and we moved back. Governments have found the way to avoid falling over the precipice. In that sense, it's a very optimistic thing."
When asked how to sustain the economic recovery, he said that the most important thing is to keep markets open and to avoid a fall into protectionism.
"When life is difficult, when unemployment is high, when production is falling, when exports are difficult to achieve, the natural political response is to say we will close our borders, we will look inward," he said.
"But that way will make all of us poorer. The right response is to not only keep markets open but to liberalize them further because that will promote trade, that will increase economic activity, that will increase efficiency and competitiveness and that will make us all the more prosperous."
He believed keeping markets open and increasing the amount of trade and investment is absolutely key to returning prosperity.
He is satisfied with the efforts made by British and Chinese governments to promote bilateral trade and reach the target of 60 billion U.S. dollars set for 2010.
"We will have new, even higher targets to reach because only by setting ourselves targets and achieving those targets for the amount of trade and the amount of investment between our two countries, in both directions, only that way I think can we help our economies to thrive," he said.
Cahn added that China was the market that Britain had to serve properly, really effectively and China was the market Britain had to learn about, to understand, to enter into for the long term. "I am particularly impressed with China's performance this year, where growth remains robust."
As for the upcoming G20 Pittsburgh summit, he said Pittsburgh Summit is another vital step in the process of returning the global economy to normality. "There are many issues to be addressed and they have to do with the future architecture of global financial arrangements," he said.
He said that G20 now provides a Forum with the right membership. "China is there, as it should be, at the top table, participating in the debate. There can be no solutions, no answers to the global crisis without China's participation," he said.
The International Capital Conference of Bo'ao Forum will be held again in London on September 15-16. Cahn said: "Bo'ao forum is a key way of increasing understanding between our two countries and the understanding between politicians, the understanding between regulators, and the understanding between business people."

China urban fixed-asset investment up 33% in first eight months(2009/9/14)
   BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Fixed-asset investment in China's urban areas rose 33 percent in the first eight months of 2009 from a year earlier to 11.3 trillion yuan (1.65 trillion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.
The growth rate was 5.6 percentage points higher than the rate in the same period last year, up 0.1 percentage point compared to the first seven months of this year.
June alone recorded a 35.3-percent rise. The NBS did not provide monthly figures for July and August.
The growth rate in the primary sector for the first eight months -- including farming, fishing and forestry -- jumped 60.4 percent from a year earlier.
For the first eight months the industrial sector investment rose 27 percent. In the tertiary sector covering commerce, finance and services, there was a 37.3-percent growth.
China unveiled a 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package last November to boost investment in factories, property, roads and other facilities to counter falling exports and fuel growth of the world's third largest economy.

Chinese economy may keep 8% growth for two years: economist(2009/9/11)
    BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese economy is experiencing a "V" shape recovery and the growth rate may reach 8 percent both this year and next year, said Chinese economist Fan Gang said here Saturday.
Fan, a monetary policy adviser to China's central bank, said at the 2009 annual conference of CEO in Beijing, that the economy will see a sustainable recovery and will be back to normal in 2011,according to a report of the China News Service.
He predicted that the real estate investment will increase by around 30 percent in 2010, which will add one percentage point to economic growth.
Corporate investment is expected to grow prominently next year and as the global trade is warming up, Chinese export, which still enjoys the cost advantage, will recover.
"After the economy is back to normal in 2010, the government will adjust the macro-economic policy. But before that happens, the current stimulus policy should stay to sustain the recovery," he said.
Fan said people should adjust their expectation of economic growth and not regard recovery simply as a double-digit growth. A growth grate of 8 percent to 9 percent is sustainable growth.

WB report: World economies set new record in business regulation reform(2009/9/10)
   WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- A record 131 economies around the world reformed business regulation in 2008/2009, according to a report released by the World Bank and its private sector-leaning arm the International Finance Cooperation (IFC) on Tuesday.
The report, "Doing Business 2010: Reforming through Difficult Times", recorded 287 reforms between June 2008 and May 2009, up 20 percent from the previous year.
Reformers around the world focused on making it easier to start and operate businesses, strengthening property rights and improving commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy procedures.
"Business regulation can affect how well small and midsize firms cope with the crisis and seize opportunities when recovery begins," said Penelope Brook, Acting Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development for the World Bank Group.
"The quality of business regulation helps determine how easy it is to reorganize troubled firms to help them survive difficult times, to rebuild when demand rebounds, and to get new businesses started," he said.
Singapore, a consistent reformer, is the top-ranked economy on the ease of doing business for the fourth year in a row, with New Zealand as runner-up.
But most of the action occurred in developing economies. Two-thirds of the reforms recorded in the report were in low-and-lower-middle-income economies.
For the first time a Sub-Saharan African economy, Rwanda, is the world's top reformer of business regulation, making it easier to start businesses, register property, protect investors, trade across borders and access credit.
Reformers were particularly active in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, according to the report.
This year, there were four new reformers among the top 10: Liberia, the United Arab Emirates, Tajikistan and Moldova.
Others include Rwanda, Egypt, Belarus, Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan and Colombia. Colombia and Egypt have been top global reformers in four of the past seven years.
Doing Business analyzes regulations that apply to an economy's businesses during their life cycles, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and closing a business, according to a statement released by the World Bank.
Meanwhile, the report does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors. For example, it does not measure security, macroeconomic stability, corruption, skill level, or the strength of financial systems.

Auto steel: the lighter the more promising(2009/9/15)
 Experts at the 2009 International Conference for Auto Steel and Its Applications in Dalian have arrived at a consensus about the importance of greenfield, energy-saving auto steel to its producers. Since carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the vehicle-dominated transportation sector account for about one quarter of the world’s total CO2 emissions, outcries for tightening controls on car emissions have been mounting. Therefore, steelmakers are increasingly required to produce materials of high quality to meet this trend. As steel comprises 70 percent of the car structures, it is imperative for the industry to focus on the production of lighter, higher strength, precision and easier-cutting steel. Attempts have been made by various producers around the world to concentrate on light metal, high-strength compound materials as an alternative to the traditional steel-frame parts.

Steel export growth continues in August(2009/9/14)
 Customs data showed China exported 2.08 million tons of steel products in August, up 270,000 tons from July, down 72.9 percent year-on-year; and exported 40,000 tons of coke, down 97.16 percent from a year earlier. The country imported 1.59 million tons of steel products in August, down 150,000 tons from the previous months and up 19.55 percent from the same period last year; 350,000 tons of billet, down 220,000 tons month-on-month; and 49.68 million tons of iron ore, up 32.83 percent from a year earlier. In the first eight months, China exported 13.24 million tons of steel products, down 68.4 percent; and 320,000 tons of coke, down 96.7 percent while importing 11.47 million tons of steel products, up 3.7 percent; and 404.90 million tons of iron ore, up 32 percent.

China opposes US duties on OCTG imports(2009/9/14)
 China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) expressed a strong protest against a United States preliminary decision to impose duties ranging from 10.9 percent to 30.6 percent on OCTG imports from China. A spokesman of the MOC said that the way the U.S. defined as a kind of state subsidies no matter OCTG producers bought round bar from state-owned or private suppliers was wrong, which resulted in higher subsidy rates and would "greatly hurt" the interests of Chinese enterprises. He stressed that the United States should stop new trade protectionism actions before the end of 2010 and shun trade remedies as the government promised in the G20 summit in London.

August steel output hits all-time high(2009/9/11)
 Despite a 1,000 yuan per ton plunge in steel prices, China produced 51.65 million tons of crude steel in August with a daily output of 1.67 million tons, all breaking the record highs, according to the latest data from CISA. The figure equated to 608 million tons at an annual rate, far in excess of the 460 million tons first targeted early this year. Minister of Industry and Information Technology reckoned China’s steel capacity has surpassed 660 million tons, not mention to roughly 58 million tons of new capacity under construction, whereas apparent consumption would be short of 500 million tons this year. The price dives are supposed to gradually throw its weight on the market in September.

Panzhihua Steel develops high-speed rail switch(2009/9/15)
 Panzhihua Steel, a leading rail producer, has successfully developed China’s first 50-meter rail switch 60D40 for high-speed trains with quality and sizes all meeting the requirements. The success was based on the techniques the mill used to roll out the country’s first 100-meter 350 kmh rail and 28.8-meter rail switch in 2005.

Wisco’s presence in Hubei soars(2009/9/10)
 Data showed Hubei-headquartered Wisco sold 3.89 million tons of steel products to customers within the province in the eight months to August, close to the four million tons it sold in the whole year 2008. 36 key steel-consuming customers in Hubei bought 756,100 tons of steel from the mill, of which 410,700 tons, or 54 percent, were bought by the auto, shipbuilding, bridge and railroad sectors. Wisco’s share in the province is expected to jump from 45 percent last year to 80 percent by the end of this year.

CRM to participate in two Australia’s iron ore companies(2009/9/10)
  China Railway Materials Corporation (CRM) announced it had agreed to purchase 12 percent of shares of Ferr Aus Ltd, an emerging iron ore producer in Australia, for about A$12.6 million so as to win the chance of exploiting iron ore in eastern Pilbara, West Australia. In a separate deal, CRM is looking to join its forces in the development of Railway Iron Ore Deposit in the company with United Minerals Ltd by taking over 11.38 percent share in the latter for A$27.2 million. Both deals are still pending upon the approval from China’s relevant authorities.

Baosteel cuts prices for October shipment(2009/9/9)
  Baosteel has informed its customers of cutting steel prices for October shipment following two quarters of price rise in a row. The new price of hot rolled pickling and color coating will be slashed by 200 to 500 yuan per ton from September to 4,442 yuan per ton on average while shipbuilding steel, wide heavy plate and cold rolled prices remain unchanged. Yet the group’s prices of some products are higher than the average levels. Buyers who deemed the prices still unworkable have no option but to trim or even drop orders. Experts say other mills will likely follow suit encouraged by their strongly profitable Q3 results.