Business briefs

Trade

Export growth expected to plummet

Chinese exporters are confronting a decline in growth because they are being pinched by external and internal pressures, a government report said.

Export growth could plunge to 20 percent in 2011, from 31 percent in 2010, while total imports could surge by 25 percent, the Development Research Center, a think-tank under the State Council, said in a recent report.

The country had a trade deficit of $1.02 billion in the first quarter, the first quarterly deficit in seven years. The trade surplus will continue to narrow in 2011 and is likely to plunge to $140 billion in 2011 from 183.1 billion last year.

PBOC to expand yuan settlement plan

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) plans to expand its pilot plan for using the yuan in cross-border trade to more regions this year, an official with the bank said.

"The PBOC aims to expand its pilot plan nationwide this year and introduce a trial project for cross-border renminbi settlement," said Li Bo, director of the Monetary Policy Bureau of the PBOC.

The government first allowed cross-border renminbi settlement trials in July 2009 to encourage the internationalization of the yuan. In June of last year, the government expanded the project to 20 provincial regions.

According to official figures, total cross-border renminbi transactions hit 506.3 billion yuan (52.4 billion euros) in 2010, and such transactions reached 360.3 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year.

Market

Shanghai int'l board prepares for trade

Regulators may allow 10 foreign and overseas-listed Chinese companies to sell shares in Shanghai under a trial program after two years of preparation, local media reported, citing a draft plan.

Companies seeking to list on Shanghai's so-called international board should achieve a market capitalization of more than 30 billion yuan (3.1 billion euros) and have a combined three-year net income of more than 3 billion yuan, according to media reports.

Last month, Shanghai's Mayor Han Zheng said the foreign stocks board will be introduced soon.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and Bank of East Asia Co plan to accelerate preparations for listing in Shanghai, the Shanghai branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in a recent statement.

Telecom

Nokia Siemens ringing up the right numbers

Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG, will complete its acquisition of Motorola Inc's network equipment assets on April 29.

The completion comes after the company finally got the green light from all nine antitrust regulators worldwide, according to Nokia Siemens' China president Zhang Zhiqiang. The deal was approved by China's Ministry of Commerce on April 20.

The $975 million (664.3 million euros) acquisition will give Nokia Siemens access to Motorola's technology in second-generation (2G) mobile telecommunications and the latest fourth-generation (4G) TD-LTE (Time Division-Long Term Evolution) equipment.

About 7,000 employees of Motorola Solutions Inc are set to transfer to Nokia Siemens by April 29, and 2,800 of them are based in China.

China Unicom net profit drops 86%

China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, the nation's second-largest mobile phone company, said first-quarter net income fell 86 percent to 166 million yuan (17.36 million euros), from 1.21 billion yuan a year earlier.

Subsidies to attract 3G users cost Unicom 1.9 billion yuan in the first quarter, said the company, the only carrier in China that offers Apple Inc's iPhone with a service contract.

Even with the exclusive deal, subscriber numbers to its high-speed, 3G-network service at the end of March were about 31 percent lower than the market-leader China Mobile Ltd.

Technology

Software industry Q1 revenue up by 27%

The country's software industry revenue in the first three months surged 27 percent year on year to 345.4 billion yuan (36.1 billion euros), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.

In the first three months, the growth rate of the industry's revenue was 1.3 percent higher than that in the same period of 2010.

In the first quarter, China's software industry exports grew 24.3 percent year on year to 6.75 billion yuan. The growth rate was 2.6 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year driven by increased international demand, the ministry said.

Retail

Metro plans to open more stores

German retailer Metro Cash & Carry International is aiming to double the number of its Chinese outlets to 100 by 2015, a top executive said.

"We want to expand first in the 35 cities in which we already have a presence to increase our current network. However, as China is not very homogeneous in terms of economic development, we are focusing on three very prosperous areas: the Bohai Bay area, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta," Tino Zeiske, president of Metro Jinjiang Cash & Carry Co Ltd, said.

"We've also noticed that the western part of China is growing faster than before, with the government pushing ahead to fuel domestic consumption," he added.

The company is also looking into investing in third- or fourth-tier cities, such as Jiangyin and Yangzhou in East China's Jiangsu province.

Chemical

BASF constructs new plant in Tianjin

BASF SE recently kicked off the construction of a new chemical plant in Tianjin.

With an investment of 85 million yuan (8.8 million euros), the Tianjin project is part of BASF's development strategy for China, said Dr Melanie Maas-Brunner, group vice-president of BASF Polyurethanes Asia-Pacific.

The Tianjin project will include a center for sales and technology services in addition to a space for manufacturing an organic compound used in the production of polyurethane foams.

China Daily-Agencies