Biz Scene

Market

Huayi stake

Sichuan Changhong Electrical Corp, China's second-biggest television maker, bid for a 29.92 percent stake in Huayi Compressor Corp yesterday.

Changhong, based in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, bid for 97.1 million shares in Huayi at an auction to be held in Jiangxi, it said in a statement to the Shanghai exchange yesterday. The shares are valued at 1 billion yuan based on Huayi's December 13 closing price of 10.42 yuan. The stock has been suspended until the auction.

Huayi, located in Jiangxi Province, makes compressors for air conditioners and refrigerators.

Biz Move

President quits

Li Xiaozhong, president of Chinese handset manufacturer Amoi Electronics Co Ltd, has resigned due to personal reasons. Lu Zhenyu, former vice-president of China Great Wall Computer Group Corp, will take over his position, Amoi said in a statement over the weekend.

The statement said that Li would be appointed as the company's chief engineer. Insiders said Li's resignation was partly due to Amoi's poor performance. The company posted a loss of 460 million yuan in the first nine months this year.

Grapevine

Merger deal

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (Group) and Nanjing Automobile Group Corp will sign a merger agreement in Beijing on Wednesday, creating an automaker with annual sales of more than 2 million vehicles, the Oriental Morning Post said, without saying where it got the information.

SAIC Motor Corp, the listed unit of Shanghai Auto, will receive Nanjing Auto's vehicle-making businesses through the accord. Other assets, including auto parts and trading units, will be injected into Shanghai Auto. In return, Nanjing Auto will receive some shares in SAIC Motor, the Shanghai-based newspaper said yesterday, without specifying the amount.

Local

Pork move

Sun Shenlin, a real estate tycoon in Chongqing, is planning to expand into the pork industry by investing 120 million yuan in a pig breeding and processing facility in Yunyang County in Chongqing.

The local government is trying to develop the pork industry there.

"Raising pigs is profitable in Yunyang, as the current breeding capacity cannot meet demand," said Sun.

The deal will be made at the Chongqing International Agriculture Trade Fair to be held in January.

Risk compensation

Guarantee companies in Fujian Province, which serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), will be able to get risk compensation from the local government starting next year, according to an official document on supporting SME financing released recently.

The document requires the provincial government to allocate special funds for risk compensation.

The companies can get 0.8 percent of the annual guarantee amount as compensation if they provide a financing guarantee for small and medium-sized industrial companies and 0.5 percent for trading companies in the next three years.

Reef expansion

The eastern coastal province of Shandong plans to expand its artificial reefs to 3,000 hectares from the current 550 hectares over the next three years, buoyed by marked increases in fish stock yields, Xinhua reported.

The man-made reefs were first laid in 2005 in six pilot zones on the coastal seabed of the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea to rehabilitate fish stocks in the inshore area. In the pilot zone in Yantai, the average haul from every 100 square meters of seawater was only 0.48 kg before the building of the reef. The amount rose to 52 kg this year.

A local official said the government would earmark 45 million yuan to launch the 10 new artificial reefs, but they would need additional private investment of 105 million yuan.

Biz Unusual

Olympic fare

Chefs at a recent cooking contest in Nanjing drew inspiration from the coming Olympic Games.

One contestant used noodles to make a replica of the bird's nest stadium.

Another shaped glutinous rice balls and traditional Chinese cakes into Olympic rings.

The Games mascot was also represented. But the creator of the sticky rice Fuwa said they were very labor-intensive. "They took me about nine hours to make," said the chef.

Chic glasses

A poultry farmer in Chenxi County, Hunan Province has invented tinted glasses - for chickens. The red glasses are designed to reduce the chickens' vision to prevent fighting.

The farmer wanted to stop his chickens from fighting to maintain their feathers and keep them as plump as possible to get a better price for them.

He holds a patent on the chicken spectacles, which he sells for just 0.2 yuan a pair.

Bar story

Allen's Story Bar in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is winning over customers in the city with its quirky environment and events.

The popular chain has expanded to 120 outlets. Patrons can play interactive games and while they're at the bar, customers can also read romantic stories written by Allen.

Allen has applied for copyright to protect his original stories and the humorous ads decorating his bars.

Colorful jiaozi

Unemployed and at a loose end, Du Jingchun set up a jiaozi, or dumpling, business in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province.

But he accidentally used spinach flour instead of the white flour used for dumpling wrappers - and that led to an exciting business.

Du is now selling multicolored jiaozi using, for example, spinach for green and carrots for red.

Lunchtime rush

A community canteen on Shanghai's Xianxia Street is doing a roaring lunchtime trade.

Originally catering to senior citizens, the canteen recently began targeting the area's white-collar workers and has since turned its sluggish business around.

Every day at 12pm workers from the area's companies flock to the canteen for a cheap and cheerful lunch.

"The food here is relatively cheap," said a worker having lunch at the canteen.

"For 10 yuan I can have a decent meal."

Grapefruit gamble

Ten years of hard work is paying off for a grapefruit farmer in Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province.

Guan Jixin is reaping his first bumper harvest. After growing oranges for years, Guan turned to grapefruit in 1997 when oranges became unprofitable, with prices dropping as low as 0.2 yuan per kg.

The China Academy of Agricultural Sciences helped Guan to buy 1,000 grapefruit seedlings from the United States and he set up a trial plantation on his land.

Ten years later Guan's fruits are sold at 40 yuan perkg on the international market.

Every part of the grapefruit can be used: its flesh is pressed into juice and wine; seeds processed for cosmetic use; essential oil extracted from skin and leaves; and flowers dried for tea.

(China Daily 12/25/2007 page15)