Business news

Oz stumps Chinese investment again

Australia has once again turned down an investment plan by a Chinese company in a proposed mine near an outback missile testing range, citing security concerns. Australia\'s Defense Department knocked back the proposed bid by Wugang Australia Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp (Wisco), to buy half of the Hawks Nest magnetite mine, which falls within the Woomera prohibited military range. Under the joint venture proposal, Wugang Resources was set to receive 21.1...

EU imposes anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese aluminum foil

The European Union decided Thursday to impose five-year duties on aluminum foil imported from China, Brazil and Armenia over alleged dumping charges. The EU said in its decision that the duties were up to 30 percent as a punishment to Chinese exporters for selling the product at below cost, or dumping. Reports say that Shanghai-based Alcoa Aluminum Products Co. was affected by the punishment. The tariffs on Brazilian products are 17.6 percent, Armenia\'s are 13.4 percent. The EU accepted an...

Chinas forex reserves rank 1st in world

China\'s foreign exchange reserves rose from $1,577 billion in 1978 to $1,950 billion in 2008 to rank first in the world, said Yu Wenzhe, Chinese Ambassador in Ghana, on Tuesday. To the same token, China\'s per-capital annual income of $62.5 in 1978 reached $9,863 in the urban areas, showing an increase of over 100 percent. Ambassador Yu Wenzhe announced this during a press briefing which was aimed at highlighting China\'s significant socio-economic development for the past 60 years. The...

How long will volatility in the Chinese stock market last?

By Yi Xianrong (blog.china.com.cn) The Shanghai Composite Index, China\'s stock market benchmark, began a steady climb from 1,820 points at the start of the year to reach a high of 3,478 in August, a growth of 91 percent. Major volatility closely followed, though, pulling the index down to 2,639 before sending it up again recently, to 3,068. Before long, the index tumbled once again, down to 2,900. The indexes suggested an upward trend in the national stock market during the first seven months...

Mainland debut for Apples iPhones

Apple's iPhone is scheduled to debut in China's mainland, the world's biggest mobile phone market, in three weeks in a partnership with China Unicom, the telecommunications carrier said yesterday. The iPhone's official entry has been keenly anticipated and expected to increase competition in the smart phone market with rivals such as Nokia and Dopod, said Wu Wenzhao, a telecommunications analyst at Beijing-based IT research firm Analysys International. China Unicom and Apple initially will kick...

Bankers confidence in macro economy further improves

A nationwide questionnaire of bankers released Thursday by China's central bank showed that the bankers' confidence index for macro economy and bank performance in the third quarter had continued rising, and expectations for bank performance in the fourth quarter had been improved. Bankers' confidence index for macro economy stood at 55.4 percent in the third quarter, up 15.4 percentage points than that in the second quarter. The macro economic expectation index rose 6.8 percentage points to...

Nobel laureate says not to make RMB convertible too rapidly

Nobel laureate in economics Robert Mundell said Thursday that China should not make the Renminbi convertible too rapidly. "I tend to be ... conservative. Don't do it too rapidly," the "Father of Euro" told the audience of a lecture on the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, saying that the gains from making the RMB convertible should be weighed against the losses. The peg of the RMB has brought a lot of gains to China, he said. China was once pushed on the convertibility issue some...

CBRC denies regulating bankers pay

China's banking regulator told Xinhua Thursday night it does not place limits on the pay of the country's commercial banks' top executives. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said it noted that some of the country's media reported the CBRC was drafting a document to regulate the pay of bankers from commercial banks. Every country was trying to correct the improper incentive mechanism to curb excessive risk-taking which sparked the current financial crisis, said the CBRC. "The CBRC...

Wuliangye comes under regulators glare

The regulator said it began to probe the company on July 28 after receiving complaints. [Nan Shan/China Daily] The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) yesterday said it was conducting a full investigation of liquor maker Wuliangye Yibin Co for incomplete and inaccurate information disclosure. According to the CSRC, Wuliangye made the revenue of one subsidiary 1 billion yuan higher than actual figures in 2007 and did not correct the material mistake in its financial...

China plans zero-tariff policy for least developed countries

China plans to progressively carry out next year a zero-tariff policy on 95 percent of imports from least developed countries, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday. The ministry said this move aimed to increase exports to China from these countries. But it did not elaborate which imports would enjoy the favorable policy. The ministry also presented an outline summary of the efforts China has made or is making to assist developing countries in fields such as agriculture, food donations,...