IN BRIEF (Page 5)

Steel, iron closures

Hebei province, China's top steel production base, pledged to close inefficient, small-sized iron-making facilities with a total of 5.15 million tons of iron-making capacity and similar steel making facilities with a combined 8.13 million tons of steel-making capacity by the end of 2010.

The province also increased the cut-off threshold of blast furnaces from 300 to 400 cubic meters, and the minimum size of converters, which turn melted pig iron into crude steel, from 20 to 30 tons. All equipments below these levels needs to be scrapped in the next three years.

Hebei has made similar moves three times over the last three years in order to force the province's numerous small steel firms to consolidate into bigger operations.

Clearing bank

China needs to establish a clearing bank in Shanghai, the country's financial hub, to accelerate the city's pace in growing into a global financial center, said a political advisor

A payment and settlement system is usually a basic platform in building an international financial center, said Ji Xiaohui, chairman of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Oil discovery

An oil field with reserves of about 100 million tons has been found in Siziwang Banner in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Experts said the oil field has workable reserves of 35 million to 40 million tons.

The Siziwang Banner government will invest 20 million yuan in the first half of this year to set up five exploratory shafts. It will likely invest 200 million yuan to set up 100 oil wells by the end of 2010. The oil field is expected to produce 500 tons of oil daily and 150,000 tons a year.

Macao credit drop

Macao's domestic credit to local private sector dropped slightly by 0.2 percent month-on-month to 91.8 billion patacas ($11.6 billion) in December 2008, according to the latest figures released by the Monetary Authority of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR). 18.6 billion patacas-worth of the total was denominated in patacas and 66.2 billion patacas-worth was denominated in HK dollars, representing 20.2 percent and 72.1 percent respectively, the Authority said.

Tibetan economy

Tibetan officials are generally optimistic about regional economic development this year, even though last year's Lhasa riots and the global economic downturn have impacted the far western autonomous region.

The officials attributed their optimism to robust central government investment in the region, which should ensure relatively faster economic growth than in other parts of China.

Fruitful event

A major international industrial exhibition, featuring technology for printing, labeling, packaging, beverage processing and brewery processing ended in Guangzhou over the weekend. More than 900 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions participated in the event with their latest technology. The event was jointly organized by Hong Kong-based Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd and several national and provincial industrial associations.

(China Daily 03/09/2009 page5)