Economy/Resources - 176. page

According to a report from Di Xing Tong, China’s largest cell phone chain store, since the iPhone 5S and 5C were introduced in China on September 20, the ratio of iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C phones purchases in China has been 3.68:1 compared to 2:23:1, which is the ratio in the overseas markets. The report indicated that the reason Chinese consumers favored the 5S over the 5C, even though their quality is comparable, is that the 5S is considered to be more upscale. They are therefore less likely to be attracted to the cheaper version of the iPhone5C.

Source: Guangming Daily, November 15, 2013
http://it.gmw.cn/2013-11/15/content_9495124.htm

On November 13, PetroChina Company Limited (PetroChina), China’s biggest oil producer and the listed arm of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), announced a deal to acquire Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras’s Peruvian oil and gas assets. PetroChina will buy all of the 145 million stock shares of Petrobras Energia Peru S.A., which has three oil and gas fields in Peru, at a premium price of $2.6 billion, considering Energia Peru S.A.’s total asset of $1.42 billion, with a 2012 operating income of $0.6 billion and net income of $102 million.

Petrobras Energia Peru S.A.’s three oil and gas fields currently produce about 800,000 metric tons of oil equivalent per year, according to PetroChina. Experts shared the view that, when compared to Africa and the Middle East, there is less political risk buying assets in South America.

PetroChina’s 2012 domestic and overseas production totaled 278 million metric tons of oil equivalent, or 761,600 metric tons per day. In mid-March this year, PetroChina took over the Mozambique oil and gas lots under the Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni at $4.2 billion, as the company’s largest overseas acquisition. CNPC is also expected to buy U.S. oil and gas company ConocoPhillips’ Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan at an expected price of $5 billion.

Source: Xinhua, November 14, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-11/14/c_125699990.htm

A recent Qiushi article discussed the direction of China’s economy. It stated that China should continue relying on development-based high economic growth to solve its problems.

The author argued that, with a per capita GDP of US$6,090, for the next ten years China should still rely on the high economic growth model in order to reach US$12,000. By then it will be able to join the ranks of developed countries.

He rebutted the idea of laying blame for China’s current economic and social problems, such as environmental pollution, an increasing gap in income distribution, an imbalance between urban and village development, an imbalance in regional development, and insufficient public services, on the rapid economic development in the past. Instead, the author argued that the problems that have occurred during economic development can only be solved in through the process of further development.

The author listed the following as the direction for economic development: expanding consumption by taking real estate and the automobile as the driving force; developing a third industry to absorb a large number of unemployed people; getting more farmers off the land to work in cities; building a system to encourage more innovation; and developing and improving capital markets.

Source: Qiushi, November 1, 2013
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2013/201321/201310/t20131030_284130.htm

On November 6, Xinhua reprinted an article from Beijing Youth Daily on the worries that China’s central bank faces. The bank stated that real estate and local government debt have become its most worrisome macroeconomic issues. 

The Export and Import Bank of China’s branch in Paris, France officially opened for business on October 29. This is China Exim Bank’s first overseas business branch. More than 100 people, including French politicians, the financial and business community, as well as representatives from the EU mission attended the opening ceremony. The president of China Exim Bank, Li Ruogu, Chinese Embassy official Wu Xilin, and the Managing Director of the Invest in France Agency, Serge Boscher, jointly inaugurated the Paris branch.

Li Ruogu said that the Paris branch will offer China Exim Bank a financial service platform closer to the European market and customers and will provide a full range of more convenient specialized financial services for Sino-French and Sino-European companies. Wu Xilin said that, with China Exim Bank’s Paris branch, three Chinese banks now have a foothold in Paris. This indicates that China’s banks are paying increasing attention to Paris for its role of international financial center and are confident in the prospects for Sino-French economic and trade cooperation.

Boscher said that France hopes the trend of investment from China can be sustained and expanded. The establishment of China Exim Bank’s Paris branch indicates not only that one Chinese enterprise has entered the French market, but that more Chinese enterprises will be driven by its financial support to invest in France.

Source: Xinhua, October 30, 2013
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2013-10/30/c_117932206.htm

The economist Gao Liankui wrote a commentary that was published in Hexun on a book that Yang Guoying wrote on the current economic problems that China faces. The economic problems that Yang identified are internal inflation and deflation, investment issues, revenue from taxation, external financial risks, and Chinese enterprises going overseas. 

China Radio International republished an article, originally from Beijing Business Today, about China’s domestic wine market. The article reported that sales for China’s domestic wines were down 50 percent while the wine makers carried inventories that were as much as 30 percent higher than the previous year. Changyu Wine Company in Yantai, Shandong Province, one of the top wineries in China, had third quarter financial results showing that the company’s net profit had declined by 46.94 percent, the lowest in five years. The government, because of its use of public funding, maintains a hard grip on food and entertainment, which is one of the reasons that the domestic wine industry has suffered from low demand. Other factors include a pricing adjustment that imported wines made in order to stay competitive. In addition, consumers favor imported wines over domestic brands.

Source: China Radio International, October 25, 2013
http://gb.cri.cn/44571/2013/10/25/3005s4297565.htm