The State Administration of Taxation said Friday value added tax (VAT) paid by the transportation equipment manufacturing industry grew 28.8 percent to 88.6 billion yuan (13 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, and business income tax revenue was 30.7 billion yuan, up 29.6 percent.

Meanwhile, automobile acquisition tax revenue increased 6.3 percent to 91.2 billion yuan, although taxation on the purchase of vehicles with engine displacements below 1.6 liters was reduced by half.

The State Council, or the cabinet, decided on the cut at the beginning of this year to stimulate domestic consumption.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimated the tax cut had contributed at least a 10 percent growth for the auto market.

Auto production and sales broke the 10 million mark in the fi...]]> Finance Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:43:21 +0800 /articles/09/1120/197910/MTk3OTEw0pznV9er.html

The book-entry treasury bonds, which is the 24th batch of its kind in the year, has a term of 273 days, said the ministry in a statement on its website.

The T-bonds will be sold at an issue price of 98.979 yuan, with an annual interest rate of 1.39 percent.

According to the ministry, a three-day sales will begin on Nov.23. The interests of the bonds will be calculated on Nov. 23 and become tradable on Nov. 27.

In his first presidential trip to Asia, Mr Obama lauded cooperative relations with China but sought to send a clear message to his tightly-controlled host country. Just as he said few problems can be solved unless the US and China work together, he prodded China to accept what he called "universal rights". "We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation," Mr Obama told students at a meeting in Shanghai, believed to be the first such forum held by a US president on Chinese soil. "But we also don't believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation." He added: "These freedoms of expression, and worship, of access to information and political participation - we believe they are universal rights. They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religiou...]]> Finance Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:05:28 +0800 /articles/09/1116/197405/MTk3NDA1kEtDKK5g.html Finance Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:41:27 +0800 /articles/09/1114/197157/MTk3MTU37Z0vLY2V.html Unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday.

Nineteen of the deaths resulted from traffic accidents related to the storms that began Nov. 9, the ministry said in a statement on its Web site.

The snowfall is the heaviest in the northern and central provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Henan since record keeping began after the establishment of the Communist state in 1949, the ministry said without giving detailed figures. It estimated economic losses from the storm at 4.5 billion yuan (US$659 million).

Chinese state media say some of the snow was induced through cloud seeding, although the precise amount of snowfall in all areas was not reported and it wasn't clear what the previous records were.

Hebei's provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, rec...]]> Finance Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:23:51 +0800 /articles/09/1112/197020/MTk3MDIwxt1OiqGN.html A dead man was named the only suspect in the March 19 incident, closing the shooting case in 2005, but many in Taiwan believe Chen's campaign set it up to draw sympathy votes.

No blood or bullet penetration was found on Chen, then an incumbent, after he was thought to be shot and slightly injured during a campaign rally in south Taiwan, Taiwan's Control Yuan said in a report. Running mate Annette Lu was also shot.

Today's ruling Nationalist Party (KMT), which lost the 2004 election, asked for a new probe earlier this year.

"There were no bullet holes in the underclothes or pants that ex-president Chen Shui-bian wore at the time of the incident, nor were there any traces of blood," the Control Yuan, a government agency charged with investigating ...]]> Finance Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:38:07 +0800 /articles/09/1112/197017/MTk3MDE3coZyLYGp.html Finance Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:31:20 +0800 /articles/09/1111/196863/MTk2ODYzcuFzjTcc.html

The growth rate was 5.9 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year, but 0.2 percentage points lower than that in the first nine months, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said at a press conference.

The NBS had no figure for the month of October.

The rise was 5.8 percentage points lower than that a year earlier, but 0.7 percentage points higher than that in September, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said at a press conference.

The first 10 months saw a 15.3-percent growth of retail sales to 10.14 trillion yuan year on year. The rate was 6.7 percentage points down from the same period last year, and 0.2 percentage points up from the first nine months this year, Sheng said.  

Shen Hao, secretary of the Communist Party of Xiaogang Village in eastern Anhui province, was found dead in bed last week after binge drinking while entertaining business associates during an official banquet, the China Daily newspaper reported.

It was the third reported case this year of a government official's death linked to alcohol poisoning, the newspaper said.

Two government officials in southern China died in separate cases earlier this year after they fell into comas following official banquets that involved excessive drinking.

The cases highlight the heavy ritualized role drinking plays in business and government circles in China. Bai jiu, the potent rice liquor, is a permanent presen...]]> Finance Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:24:44 +0800 /articles/09/1106/196406/MTk2NDA2mod5x08o.html

Qingdao Port invested 200 million yuan (about 29.4 million U.S. dollars) and China Marine Bunker (PetroChina) Co. Ltd., China's largest marine fuel provider, 170 million yuan in the project, the newspaper said.

The first-stage of the project includes construction of four 50,000 cubic meter bonded fuel oil tanks and other supporting transportation facilities, according to the newspaper. 

The growth rate for the first three quarters was 23.9 percentage points lower from a year earlier. However, the rate was 8.2 percentage points higher than that of the first half of this year, the ministry said in a statement on its official website.

The monthly growth rate posted a fourth straight rise of 30.1 percent in September from 12.2 percent in June, due to the economic recovery and stimulus measures adopted by the government, said the ministry.

During the first nine months, China's consumption taxes rose 79.1 percent year on year, business revenue up 13.1 percent, and individual income taxes up 4.1 percent.

However, the tariff fell 0.4 percent and 26.7 percent to 106.09billion yuan, brought down by import and export slump caused by the financial crisis.  

The trial of Xie Caiping is part of a months-long crackdown in the city that has exposed widespread government and police involvement in providing cover to numerous local gangs, or "black societies." It has also riveted China's state-controlled media with tales of a violent underworld.

Twenty-one others were sentenced to between one and 13 years in prison, according to a notice on the Chongqing court Web site.

The crackdown in Chongqing has been extensive, netting more than 1,544 suspects - gangsters, prominent businessmen and 14 high-ranking officials. Six gang members in the city have already been sentenced to death for crimes including murder and blackmail, the first among hundreds expected to go on trial.

Xie, 46, is the sister-in...]]> Finance Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:25:22 +0800 /articles/09/1029/195605/MTk1NjA1mjvFmt3g.html

The NPL ratio fell by 0.76 percentage points, compared with data reported at the beginning of 2009, to 1.66 percent.

Bill Gross, PIMCO

Asset appreciation in U.S. and other G-7 economies has been artificially elevated for years. In order to prevent prices sinking even lower than recent downtrends averaging 30% for stocks, homes, commercial real estate, and certain high-yield bonds, central banks must keep policy rates historically low for an extended period of time. If policy rates are artificially low, then bond investors should recognize that artificial buyers of notes and bonds (quantitative easing programs and Chinese currency fixing) have compressed almost all interest rates. But while this may support asset prices—including Treasury paper across the front end and belly of the curve—at the same time it provides little reward in terms of future income. Investors, of course, notice this inevitable conclusion by referencing Treasury bills ...]]> Finance Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:09:20 +0800 /articles/09/1027/195361/MTk1MzYx8AeK8x1o.html China will give swine flu vaccinations to thousands of Muslims about to make the annual pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, state media said, as authorities reported the mainland's third death from the illness.

Concerns over the hajj, which attracts about 3 million Muslims every year to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have led several countries to impose travel bans over fears the mass gathering could speed the spread of swine flu. Arab health ministers in July banned children, the elderly and those with chronic illnesses from attending this year.

All of China's 12,700 Muslims making the pilgrimage this year will be inoculated against swine flu, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing an earlier announcement by the China Islamic Association.

China has acted aggressively to detect and contain swine flu cases after being accused of failing to move quickly enough to stop the 2003 outbreak of SARS. Despite earlier measures such as strict qu...]]> Finance Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:51:54 +0800 /articles/09/1027/195332/MTk1MzMyPOFbpwLn.html Finance Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:26:06 +0800 /articles/09/1025/195171/MTk1MTcxGNp1Sjza.html

About 97.9 percent of all the 2,598 involved coal mines have signed merging deals and the issuance of new business licenses are in full swing, the provincial administration of land and resources and coal industry told Xinhua on Sunday.

Shanxi, China's leading coal production base that has suffered frequent fatal mining accidents, is expected to see the eradication of all small mines with an annual production capacity of below 300,000 tonnes by the end of the year -- the scheduled deadline.

By cutting off about 60 percent of its existing coal mines, the province will finally have 1,053 collieries, 20 percent are state-owned firms, 30 percent are privately-run companies and 50 percent with mixe...]]> Finance Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:40:34 +0800 /articles/09/1024/195073/MTk1MDcztXQzyOWr.html

The profits totaled 551.96 billion yuan (81.17 billion U.S. dollars) between Jan-Sept. The decline rate was 2.7 percentage points lower than that for the first eight months.

Their business revenue was 8.67 trillion yuan, down 2.9 percent year on year, 1.7 percentage points lower than that for the first eight months.

The enterprises paid taxes of 804.65 billion yuan, up 5.3 percent year on year.

The volume of retail sales topped 6.10 billion yuan in urban areas, up 14.8 percent year on year, and 2.87 trillion yuan in rural areas, up 16.0 percent.

In terms of sectors, sales in wholesale and retail rose 15 percent in the first three quarters, and expanded 17.4 percent in accommodation and catering.

Among consumer goods, furniture sales rose 32.3 percent and automobile sales climbed 24.5 percent in the first three quarters from the same period last year.

Profits in the country's SOEs fell 17.6 percent year on year in the first nine months to 936.61 billion yuan (137.13 billion U.S. dollars), two percentage points lower compared with the Jan.-August period, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Monday.

The MOF statement did not give the September figure alone but said it was 12 percent lower than the August profits.

Profits of central SOEs totaled 679.68 billion yuan from January to September, down 13 percent from a year earlier. Central SOEs covered 133 centrally-administered SOEs and 82 SOEs affiliated to central departments.

Business revenue of SOEs fell 1.7 percent year on year to 15.84trillion yuan in the first nine months.

Every time the dollar increases in value against the enfeebled US dollar and other major currencies, Australian exports become more expensive for customers and less competitive in global markets.

Once known as the Aussie battler, the dollar has risen about 50 per cent in the past year from lows of US60c, and based on this week's stellar performance is quickly heading towards parity with the greenback.

Driving the gains are the wide interest rate differential from Australia to the rest of the world, the general decline in the value of the US dollar and the strength of commodity prices, because about 70 per cent of Australia's exports are commodity-related.

In economics this is called the resources curse -- you have a strong currency because of demand for your reso...]]> Finance Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:09:17 +0800

Fiscal revenue in the first three quarters topped 5.15 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.3 percent from the same period last year. 

Non-cash payments, including commercial papers and bank cards, in China's eastern provinces went up 2.3 percent in the second quarter this year, the central bank said in its latest report.

China saw its first-ever decline in non-cash payments in the third quarter last year, a proof of a less active economy amid the global economic downturn, according to a central bank report.

In the second quarter, transactions made with non-cash payment tools rose 25 percent to 4.44 billion times valued at 157.5 trillion yuan (23.06 trillion U.S. dollars), according to the report.

The report also showed non-cash payments in China's central, western and northeastern regions grew faster than in the east, by 26.4 percent, 10.5 percent and 52.5 percent year on year respectively...]]> Finance Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:46:02 +0800 /articles/09/1005/193106/MTkzMTA26XOPdJkE.html Finance Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:54:09 +0800 /articles/09/1004/193060/MTkzMDYw0aVaRor7.html

The output was down 6.2 percent year on year, but the decline was 2.4 percentage points smaller than that of last month, CPCIA said in its latest reports.

The sector saw a 3.7 percent month-on-month decrease in its output value this July, the first decline this year. The output was down by 8.6 percent from a year earlier, which was 0.5 percentage points bigger than that of June, according to the report.

The report showed the output value of the country's chemical industry grew by 7.4 percent in August, the fastest rise this year. The output of oil and natural gas exploration fell by 37.4 percent year on year, and oil refinery went down by 12.1 percent.

From January to August, the output of China's petrochemical industry was down 9.6 percent...]]> Finance Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:23:15 +0800 /articles/09/0928/192494/MTkyNDk0Ha9JWkjN.html Finance Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:16:07 +0800 /articles/09/0928/192467/MTkyNDY3dG4ncf83.html

Ning made the remarks during his visit to the Xinjiang-based subsidiary companies of the corporation, the country's largest oil and food producer.

Currently, COFCO's accumulative investment in the region is about 5 billion yuan, focused on tomato processing, sugar manufacturing, and beverages.

Ning said the corporation would double investment over the next five years due to confidence in the region's growth potential, but did not say for which the future investment would be targeted.

In 2005, COFCO made an investment in Xinjiang's Tunhe Investment Co., Ltd. by taking over a 37.2 percent share of Tunhe. So far COFCO Tunhe has become the largest tomato ketchup producer in Asia, and the s...]]> Finance Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:25:30 +0800 /articles/09/0928/192466/MTkyNDY2NW4O1KRj.html

Geng Ruguang, deputy general manager of AVIC, said making big passenger vehicles has become the the corporations's guiding plan for development in its auto business.

Geng revealed the figure at a ceremony marking AVIC and its partner Volvol's new product Silver 900 series going into production line.

The series is a new type of big and luxurious passenger vehicles, 12 meters long, which could be used for road transportation, tourist reception, and military equipment.

The Silver 900 series was developed by Xi'an Silver Bus Corporation, a joint venture established in 1994 by AVIC Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co. ltd, and the Swedish bus and truck maker Volvo company.

The Xi'an Silver Bus Corporation expects to produce annually 4,000 vehicles by 2...]]> Finance Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:25:23 +0800 /articles/09/0927/192368/MTkyMzY4lACLUg8h.html Medical tests have shown at least 121 children living near a battery plant in eastern China are suffering from lead poisoning, the latest in a recent string of such cases that have affected hundreds.

Two medical agencies tested 287 children younger than 14 years of age for lead poisoning and found 121 of them had excessive levels of lead in their blood, the government of Shanghang county in Fujian province said in a statement late Saturday. An investigation was ongoing, it said.

The discovery of clusters of lead poisoning in recent weeks has sparked unrest and growing anger in China over public safety scandals in which children have been the main victims. The ruling Communist party is worried that mass protests will threaten the country's social stability and considers them a serious challenge to its grip on power.

The government ordered the Huaqiang Battery Plant to shut about 10 days ago after local villagers approached the authorities ...]]> Finance Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:48:26 +0800 /articles/09/0925/192224/MTkyMjI0t3xj3nHf.html

The growth rate was 7.6 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year, but 1.1 percentage points higher than that in the first half year.

In August alone, China's industrial output expanded 12.3 percent year on year. The growth rate was the largest since September last year when the global economic slowdown hit China.

China's exports in August dropped 23.4 percent year on year, indicating the country faced a tough exports situation, said a report on the MIIT website.

China finished 662.4 billion yuan (96.98 billion U.S. dollars) of industrial investment in August, up 23.1 percent year on year. Total industrial investment was 4.73 trillion yuan in the first eight months, up 26.6 percent year on year.

The five-year bonds have a fixed annual interest rate of 2.9 percent, said the ministry in a statement on its website.

The sales period of the bonds will run from Sept. 24 to 28. Interest will be paid annually, with the principal paid on maturity, namely Sept. 24, 2014. The bonds will be tradable on Sept. 30.

The new company is set up with a registration capital of 30.6 billion yuan (4.5 billion U.S. dollars).  

Company:DHGate.com

Job Title:Marketing and PR Coordinator

Location:Mudanyuan, Haidian DistrictTravel Required:

Applications Accepted By:Christie@dhgate.com xulei@dhgate.com

Mail:HR Department6f Dimeng Commercial Building No. 3-2 Hua Yuan RoadHaidian District, Beijing 100083, China

Shares of the three arms -- Handan Iron & Steel Ltd., Tangshan Iron & Steel Co., and Chengde Xinxin Vanadium & Titanium Co. -- were all suspended from trading starting Sept. 17 and would resume only after the regulatory review result is publicized.

After the consolidation, the crude steel production of Tangshan Iron & Steel would touch 21.2 million tonnes, up 86.4 percent from the current 11.4 million tonnes, while Hebei Steel will have a total capacity of 330 million tonnes annually, ranking second in China and the fourth in the world.

Hebei Steel also said it would inject the assets of Xuan steel and Wuyang St...]]> Finance Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:04:17 +0800 /articles/09/0920/191611/MTkxNjExqooUCLVl.html

"The commission is about to raise hydropower electricity prices to the same level as coal-fired power plants in a pilot move," Zhang was quoted as saying by the Caijing business magazine Saturday.

But he did not say when the pilot move would be launched and in what regions.

"However, there are still difficulties to finally make such hydropower electricity prices the same as coal-fired power plants," Zhang said at a forum on the sustainable development of hydropower.

Electricity from hydropower plants is sold at 0.2 yuan (3 U.S. cents) to 0.3 yuan per kilowatt-hour to power distributors, and it is lower than 0.4 yuan to 0.5 yuan per kilowatt-hour for electricity from coal-fired power...]]> Finance Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:14:11 +0800 /articles/09/0920/191590/MTkxNTkwZm4B8pyO.html

A total of 141 SOEs under the supervision of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council reported a net profit of 696.18 billion yuan (101.96 billion U.S. dollars) last year, down 30.8 percent from a year ago, the commission said in an online statement.

Yet, total assets of the 141 SOEs rose for the fifth consecutive year since 2004. Assets of the 141 state firms were worth 5.56 trillion yuan at the end of 2008, up 8.6 percent from the previous year.

Net profit of centrally administered SOEs had been rising for four years in a row from 2004 to 2007, but it fell last year as the global financial crisis struck.

The commission said 83 out of the total 141 were able to report a year-on-year growth in net profit las...]]> Finance Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:05:30 +0800 /articles/09/0918/191493/MTkxNDkzxzhguYg4.html

Business revenue stood at 13.68 trillion yuan (2.00 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months, with profits at 813.51 billion yuan (119.11 billion U.S. dollars), down 19.6 percent year on year.

The rate of decline in profits was 3.2 percentage points lower than the January-July figure.

The firms include SOEs directly controlled by the central government and SOEs supervised by local governments, but exclude state-owned financial enterprises.

In a throwback to the days of the Cold War, Beijing says it is aiming for quality over quantity; airborne early warning and control aircraft, sophisticated radar, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite communication devices will lead a gala parade in the capital on October 1.

"Compared with the previous military parade on National Day 10 years ago, this one would have less troops and equipment but increased hi-tech weaponry and special-force units," said People's Liberation Army Lieutenant General Fang Fenghui, the director of the parade.

The parade will showcase personnel and equipment from the navy, air force and China's ballistic missile corps, General Fang told the Xinhua news agency.

Part of the recent deterioration of relations between Canberra and Beijing came after the Defence white paper ...]]> Finance Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:15:46 +0800 /articles/09/0917/191347/MTkxMzQ3KcDyJL9w.html Finance Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:41:50 +0800 /articles/09/0916/191254/MTkxMjU0uNsdk26g.html

The company plans to sell 1.64 billion new shares in a range of 3.2 Hong Kong dollars (about 40 U.S. cents) to 3.9 Hong Kong dollars each. The offer has a green shoe option to sell an additional 245.7 million shares, the newspaper said, citing a term sheet.

Trading in the shares is scheduled to start on Oct. 6.

The company said proceeds from the sale would be used to build cement production lines in several cities across the country.

The cement company is a unit of state-run China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd.

Debts overdue by six months or more accounted for 3.1 percent of the total outstanding credit card debt at the end of June, or 0.7 of a percentage point more than in the same period last year.

The bank warned of potential risks of increasing overdue credit card debt as banks expanded the business.

By June 30, China's banks had issued 162.62 million credit cards, or 0.12 per person, up 32.9 percent from a year earlier.

In the first quarter this year, credit card debt at least six months overdue rose 133.1 percent from a year earlier to 4.97 billion yuan.  

The accident occurred at the International Commerce Center, which will be 118 stories high when completed next year, making it one of the world's tallest buildings and the highest in Hong Kong.

Speaking at the scene in the Kowloon district, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang said the men fell after the platform they were working on collapsed in the elevator shaft.

Five workers died, police spokeswoman Anne Lam said. Another man was believed to be receiving treatment at the site.

Police could not confirm a report on the Web site of government-owned radio station RTHK that the workers fell from the 30th floor to the 10th floor.

The building's developer, major Hong Kong property company Sun Hung Kai, has agreed to pay eac...]]> Finance Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:54:24 +0800