On June 19, 2014, China’s Ministry of Land and Resources held a press conference to explain the new regulation issued on May 22 which will tighten control of the use of land in China.
Economy/Resources - 153. page
Corporate Defaults on the Rise
On June 19, citing statistics published by UBS Securities, Security Times reported that defaults in China are likely to increase and occur on a large-scale.
Over 300 Cities Suffered Sharp Declines in Land Sales
People’s Daily: China Construction Bank to be the First RMB Settlement Bank in Britain
Farming Industry under Pressure with Climbing Labor Rates of Peasant Workers
Xinhua recently published an article on the pressure the farming industry in China faces. According to the article, the cost of labor for peasant workers on the outskirts of Beijing grew 89.7 percent over the last five years. The farming industry in the area is under pressure to save labor costs and to improve the efficiency of its farm equipment. The article said that even though more and more farmers are using agriculture machinery, there are still tasks that require a large number of peasant workers, especially skilled laborers. Farming experts also suggested that the government should provide the farmers and the peasant workers with more farm subsidies to help ease the pressure.
Source: Xinhua, June 15, 2014
http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2014-06/15/c_1111149829.htm
It Will Take Five Years to Deplete China’s Housing Inventory
On June 13, 2014, China Business News (also called First Financial Daily or Yicai) reported that, as of the end of 2013, 4.863 billion square meters of residential housing were under construction. Based on the annual average sales between 2009 and 2012, it will take five years to deplete the 4.863 billion square meters, assuming there are no other new developments after 2014. Thirty five major cities have hit a record high in their housing inventories. Twenty nine of them have shown an increase over last month. Three of those hit the hardest are Nanchang with an increase of 77.4 percent; Ningbo with 60.9 percent, and Jiujiang with 56.9 percent. According to analysts, using five to ten months as the normal time to deplete the inventory, starting from March 2014 it will take 100 months in Tangshan, 57 in Wuxi, 39 in Tianjin, 36 in Ningbo, 33 in Shanghai, 33 in Hangzhou and 30 in Xian.