Business briefs

A woman buys vegetables at a market in Shanghai. Food prices, which account for about 30 percent of the CPI basket, went up by 11.5 percent year-on-year in April. Zao Shan / For China Daily

Inflation 'set to increase further'

Inflation may rise further after it hit 5.3 percent year-on-year in April, economists said, but policymakers should not increase interest rates, at least in the short term, if they want to avoid a "hard landing".

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, was 0.1 percentage points lower than the 32-month high of 5.4 percent in March, but it is still significantly higher than the government's 4 percent target for this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on May 11.

"The decline indicates that the government's previous measures to tame inflation have taken effect," Sheng Laiyun, spokesman for the statistics bureau, said.

However, soaring raw material prices and excessive liquidity in global markets may continue to increase inflationary pressure in the short term, Sheng said.

Industrial production growth slows in April

The industrial value-added output rose 13.4 percent year-on-year in April, down from March's 14.8-percent growth, the National Bureau of Statistics said on May 11.

The first four months of this year saw an increase of 14.2 percent in industrial value-added output, down 0.2 percentage points from the January-March period.

Industrial value-added output for the heavy industry sector expanded 14 percent last month compared to the same month last year, while light industry sector growth climbed 11.9 percent.

Industrial value-added output measures the final results of industrial production, or in other words, the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate inputs, such as raw materials and labor costs.

Auto

Downturn in China's automobile sales

China's sluggish automobile market continued its recent downturn in April. Growth in passenger vehicle sales slowed to 1.3 percent year-on-year, the lowest level for more than two years, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

The nation sold 1.08 million cars, sport utility vehicles, multipurpose vehicles and minivans during the month, a rise of just 1.3 percent from April 2010. However, sales registered a sharp decline of 13.1 percent from the March figure, the association said.

The minivan segment, which has been the market's major growth engine, stagnated in April after the central government withdrew stimulus measures that have been in place for two years. Sales decreased 11.5 percent from the same month in 2010, and by 25 percent from March.

Retail

Marks & Spencer plans new Shanghai stores

Britain's apparel and luxury food retailer Marks & Spencer Group Plc (M&S) intends to open more stores in Shanghai to increase its market presence.

Its latest outlet will cover an area of 3,700 square meters in the City Center shopping mall in the city's Changning district.

M&S says it plans to build a strong presence in the Shanghai region as one of its priority international markets.

The company opened its first store in Shanghai in 2008, and it currently operates four outlets in China - three in Shanghai and one in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

Internet

Baidu plans legal music downloads

China's biggest search engine, Baidu Inc, plans to provide free downloads of copyrighted music from May 9. The move comes as a response to increasing criticism of its involvement in copyright infringement.

The new service, Baidu Ting, will see the search giant in head-to-head competition with its rival Google Inc, which has invested in Top100.cn, a website offering legal music downloads.

"Copyrighted music will be the direction of Baidu's music business in the future, and our music-search service will also be based on legal content," said Catherine Leung, general manager of the company's digital entertainment business.

Baidu took 75.8 percent of the country's search market in the first quarter of this year, followed by Google with 19.2 percent, according to Analysys International.

Aviation

Lufthansa adds Shanghai service

The German flagship airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG said on May 8 that it is aiming to further increase its presence in China, taking advantage of the fast-growing demand for aviation.

"With the start of additional services to Shanghai this summer, we will further increase our work force here," said Christoph Franz, chairman of the executive board and CEO, adding the airline is hiring an additional 70 Chinese flight attendants.

As the largest European airline in China, Lufthansa currently provides daily flights to five destinations: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Nanjing.

Power

New guidelines for wind turbine industry

The wind turbine manufacturing industry will undergo significant changes in the wake of new industrial restructuring guidelines, which will come into effect on June 1.

The new guidelines state that new energy sources, including wind energy, shall be considered as a separate category for "encouraged development".

The 2005 edition of the guidelines stated that wind energy and other sources of clean energy would be grouped with traditional sources.

Industry officials say that once an investment project is listed in the "encouraged development" category, the company or companies behind the project can enjoy preferential treatment such as floating shares in the stock market, lighter requirements for new bank loans and tax breaks.

Shipbuilding

China rises to top in ranks of shipbuilders

China became the world's biggest shipbuilder in 2010 and aims to become the maker of the most advanced ships by 2015, said Li Dong, vice-director of equipment industry department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In 2010, China built ships with a total deadweight capacity of 65.6 million tons, accounting for 43 percent of world market share, Li said.

In the same year, China received orders for the construction of ships with a total deadweight capacity of 75.2 million tons, making up 54 percent of the new orders in the world.

Trade

Anti-dumping targets imported rubber

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on May 9 that it will continue to impose anti-dumping measures on chloroprene rubber imported from Japan, the United States and the European Union for another five years.

The extended anti-dumping measures will take effect beginning on May 9 with a term of five years, according to a statement on the ministry's web.

The decision came after a 12-month investigation by the commerce ministry to review measures it had imposed in 2005.

China's domestic chloroprene rubber producers filed an application for a re-examination of the anti-dumping measures against Japanese, US and EU rubber exporters in March of last year.

Sino-Dutch memo signed to boost trade

Inspection and quarantine authorities of China and the Netherlands signed a memorandum on May 10, enabling both countries to check quarantine information for imports and exports between them.

Starting in May, China can check sanitary certificate information on dairy products and pork imports from the Netherlands through the Internet; meanwhile, Dutch importers can verify electronic certificates on the inspection and quarantine of Chinese food and agricultural products, according to the Sino-Dutch memo.

To date, the Chinese inspection and quarantine authority has established inspection and quarantine electronic certificate exchange systems with New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands.

China Daily-Agencies