Business briefs

A worker displays energy-saving building materials to a visitor at an exhibition in Guiyang, Guizhou province. The Asian Development Bank has allocated $124 million to help boost the energy efficiency of buildings in China. Provided to China Daily

Data

FDI rises 26% in first 4 months

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China grew 26.03 percent year-on-year to reach $38.8 billion (27.14 billion euros) during the first four months of this year, the Ministry of Commerce said.

In April, FDI climbed 15.21 percent to $8.46 billion, down from March's growth of 32.9 percent.

Capital inflows from 10 Asian nations and regions, including Japan, Thailand and Singapore, rose 31.23 percent to reach $32.88 billion, while FDI from Europe gained 23.42 percent to $2.64 billion during the same period.

In contrast, the United States slowed its direct investment pace in the world's second-largest economy. FDI from the US fell 28 percent year-on-year to $1.03 billion during the January-April period.

Environment

Funding for nuclear, radiation safety

China's environmental regulator will spend 150 million yuan (16.13 million euros) on nuclear and radiation safety supervision and control, as well as in offering technical support this year in an effort to ensure nuclear safety.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a budgetary report for 2011 that the ministry's total budgetary expenditure is about 1.92 billion yuan this year, of which, 1.12 billion yuan will be used to carry out 61 environmental protection projects.

Among the major projects listed, the ministry will use 100 million yuan for tasks including nuclear and radiation safety monitoring, radioactive environment monitoring across the country, and electromagnetic radiation at key facilities, and offering technical support for supervising civilian nuclear facilities, the report said.

Another 50 million yuan will be used to assess technologies in ensuring safety of nuclear works.

Finance

China reduces holdings of US debt again

China trimmed its US Treasury bonds holdings for a fifth month in a row in March, lowering the amount of those assets to $1.45 trillion (1.01 trillion euros), according to data released by the US Treasury Department on May 16.

The biggest buyer of US Treasury debt cut the amount of its holdings by $9.2 billion, less than 1 percent of the total it possesses, a month after it had unloaded $600 million worth of the bonds.

Throughout the same period, China bought long-term Japanese treasury bonds worth 234.5 billion yen (2.02 billion euros), the biggest purchase of debt China has made within a single month in more than six years.

SPDB, ADB join hands to reduce emissions

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co Ltd (SPDB) on May 16 launched a program in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide 300 million yuan (32.3 million euros) in credits within a year to support financing of energy-efficient buildings in China.

Through the program, SPDB will lend to companies seeking to retrofit their old buildings to reduce energy consumption or to construct green buildings, which are designed to optimize energy and water consumption.

ADB will provide partial credit guarantees on the loans, sharing the potential bad debt expenses with SPDB.

Property

Housing prices still rising in most cities

Property prices in April rose year-on-year in 67 of 70 major cities surveyed, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Smaller cities recorded higher increases than larger metropolitan areas.

Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, posted the biggest increase in property prices of the 70 cities, up 9.3 percent in April from a year earlier. Prices in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, climbed 8.7 percent.

Industry insiders warn that more tightening measures may be introduced by the government if property prices and transactions in second- and third-tier cities continue to rebound.

However, price growth in big cities showed signs of slowdown. Prices rose in Beijing by 2.8 percent year-on-year last month, compared with 4.9 percent for March, while prices in Shanghai gained 1.3 percent in April, compared with 1.7 percent for March.

Pharmaceuticals

Sanofi-Aventis redoubles efforts

China may become the second-largest market for the French

pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis SA within five years, according to Christopher A Viehbacher, the company's chief executive officer.

He added that goal has prompted the drugmaker to redouble its efforts in its consumer health business and in vaccines for flu and other diseases during the coming years.

This year, Sanofi-Aventis expects revenue of about 100 million euros - out of a global total of 3 billion euros - from its consumer health business in China, Viehbacher said.

"The Chinese government has made health a major priority. We hope we can be more involved in China's health reforms and meet the needs of the people," he said.

Banking

HSBC to beef up network with more staff

HSBC Holdings, Europe's biggest lender, aims to add at least 500 employees in the Chinese mainland annually as it further extends its network, said Peter Wong, chief executive of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp Ltd.

The bank now employs more than 5,000 people at its mainland outlets. It has 108 outlets in 28 cities and 16 rural banking outlets, which operate as parts of HSBC Asia in the Chinese mainland.

Wong also said that the bank will set up three new branches with 15 to 20 new outlets in cities and three rural outlets this year.

Petrochemicals

EU approval for PetroChina bid

The European Union (EU)'s antitrust regulator recently approved PetroChina's bid to take joint control over certain assets currently wholly-owned by Ineos of Switzerland.

After examining the operation, the European Commission concluded "the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area or any substantial part of it".

Ineos manufactures petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products at a global level. The target assets consist of Ineos' refining business, namely two refineries in Scotland and France and associated assets.

The deal was valued at $1.015 billion (712 million euros).

Auto

New Continental plant to enhance growth

Continental AG, the world's fourth-largest tire maker by market share, opened its first tire manufacturing plant in Hefei, Anhui province on May 18, to meet rising demand from the world's largest automobile market.

The German tire giant invested more than 185 million euros in the Hefei plant, which will have an initial annual production capacity of 4 million units.

The facility will be further expanded with continuous investment in the future to achieve a long-term annual production target of 16 million tires. The company currently operates 1,400 authorized retail stores in China, including its latest in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.

China Daily-Agencies