IN BRIEF (Page 13)

New guidelines for desalination

The State Council released guidelines on Monday intended to boost the nation's sea water desalination capacity. The country aims to protect water resources and ensure sustainable fresh water supply.

Desalination capacity is set to rise to 2.6 million cubic meters a day as of the end of 2015 from 660,000 cu m last year, a statement on the website of the National Development and Reform said.

China's per capita fresh water resources are about 28 percent of the world average, and about two-thirds of Chinese cities face water shortages.

Bidders for Kingway assets

Domestic brewers, including China Resources Enterprise Ltd and Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd, might bid for the brewery operations of Hong Kong-listed Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

"Many mainland brewers are interested in the assets, including CR Snow, Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd, Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co Ltd and Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Co Ltd," said a source close to the company, declining to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

"Many have asked for additional information, but nothing has been finalized," the source said.

Aluminum output to rise

Aluminum output in China is expected to rise 10.5 percent this year to 21.5 million metric tons, surpassing demand by 200,000 tons, according to Aluminum Corp of China's internal newsletter. A "huge amount" of new capacity additions will hit the domestic aluminum market, while consumption growth is likely to slow to 6.6 percent in 2012 from 11.5 percent last year, Li Dongguang, general manager of the company's international trading unit, wrote in the Feb 11 online edition of Chinalco News.

Futures trade for Sinograin

China Grain Reserves Corp, known as Sinograin, the manager of State grain inventories, is seeking government approval to trade in overseas futures markets, the China Business Journal said on Monday.

Sinograin plans to trade in overseas commodity markets to hedge against its physical market positions and lower risks, the report said, citing unidentified officials close to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Chinalco, Erdos sign agreement

Aluminum Corp of China signed a framework agreement with the local government of Erdos in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to build an integrated 500,000-metric-ton aluminum project, the Erdos Daily reported on Saturday.

The company, known as Chinalco, will invest 30 billion yuan ($4.76 billion) to build a coal mine with an annual capacity of 10 million tons, three 350-megawatt power units and a primary aluminum plant, according to the newspaper.

The report didn't provide a timeframe for completion.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 02/14/2012 page13)