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Thermal coal imports could slow amid stockpiles

China's imports of power-station coal may slow amid higher-than-average stockpiles at energy suppliers, increased hydro-electric production and stagnating electricity demand, according to a market report from Standard Chartered Plc.

Serene Lim, an analyst at Standard Chartered in Singapore, said China's demand for thermal coal is weaker than last year, and inventories at major utilities were equivalent to 26 days of consumption as by July 10, compared with a typical level of 18 days during the summer peak-consumption period.

The bank has forecast an average third-quarter price of $95 a metric ton for coal at the Australian port of Newcastle, and $88 at South Africa's Richards Bay terminal.

China's coal imports, including power-generation and steelmaking grades, climbed 65 percent in June from a year earlier, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Standard Chartered sees 11% jump in H1 profits

Standard Chartered Plc, the UK bank that gets most of its revenue from Asia, posted an 11 percent gain in its first-half profit and said it plans to add branches in China and India as rivals falter amid the global economic slowdown.

Its net income rose to $2.86 billion from $2.57 billion a year earlier, according to figures released to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a result in line with market expectations.

The London-based bank, which concentrates on Asia, Africa and the Middle East, is set to meet its full-year targets for "double-digit" growth in revenue and earnings per share, said Peter Sands, chief executive, who added that it plans to hire more than 1,000 people this year in emerging markets.

Chinese banks make record $206b in bond sales

Chinese banks are selling the most bonds on record this year as policymakers urge them to lend more freely in support of projects needed to steer the country out of an economy slowdown.

Lenders issued 1.32 trillion yuan ($206 billion) in bonds in the first half, of which the policy banks issued 1.11 trillion yuan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The total is 36 percent higher than in the preceding six months and 16 percent more than a year earlier. China Development Bank Corp is the largest bank that lends to promote official policies and its 10-year debt yields 4.06 percent. Globally, financial companies pay 4.19 percent, according to a Bank of America index.

China cut interest rates in June and July, the first reductions since 2008, and is encouraging local governments to boost investment as economists forecast 2012 growth will be the slowest in 13 years.

Wealth levels continue to climb in China, says report

One in every 1,300 people in China has 1 million yuan ($157,000) or more, according to a report from GroupM Knowledge, the knowledge management arm of GroupM, the media investment management operation.

And the number of Chinese people who have 10 million yuan or more reached a record of 1.02 million, an increase of 6.3 percent from 2011.

China is home to 63,500 super-rich people, defined as people with 100 million yuan or more, an increase of 5.8 percent from last year, according to the report.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of the report, said: "As China is set to become the world's biggest market for luxury, it is critical to understand the Chinese luxury consumer."

$71.4b deficit booked in international payment

Capital flowed out from the Chinese market in the first half of the year, but it was not "a massive and concentrated evacuation", according to an official from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

The country's balance of international payments in the second quarter showed a deficit of $71.4 billion in the capital and financial account after a surplus in the first three months, indicating that capital might have flowed out at a faster pace, the administration said.

"The recent changes were mainly because foreign exchange assets are shifting from the central bank to domestic institutions and individuals," the official said, denying that large amounts of foreign capital are evacuating.

"Even if the data showed a net outflow of capital, it is still affordable."

In the first quarter, the capital and financial account surplus was $51.1 billion, compared with a deficit of $48 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the data.

Regulator publishes new credit system rules

The country's top securities regulator has published the first package of regulations for the credit system of the stocks and futures markets.

According to an official from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a national profile database and information search system will be built to disclose the credit quality of market participants.

Reward and punishment measures will also be applied to encourage trustworthy behavior, according to the official.

"It's necessary to strengthen the construction of the credit system to reform and develop Chinese capital markets," he said, adding the regulations are expected to take effect in September.

Shipbuilding orders fall 50.3% in first half

New orders for China's shipbuilders fell sharply in the first half of the year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

New orders fell 50.3 percent over a year ago to 10.74 million deadweight tonnage.

China's shipbuilders completed 32.2 million deadweight tonnage in the first half, up 4.2 percent.

At the end of June, the country's collective order book was 125.87 deadweight tonnage, down 30.7 percent year on year. The orders made up about 1.8 years of the shipbuilders' work.

Top management reshuffle at China Mengniu Dairy

There has been a reshuffle at the top of China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd.

Chief Executive Yang Wenjun has resigned and been replaced by Sun Yiping, while two new non-executive directors have been named: Tim Orting Jorgensen and Finn S. Hansen, who both held positions in the top management of the Denmark-based Arla Foods.

The Hong Kong-listed Mengniu said in a statement that Yang completed two terms as chief executive of Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy (Group) Co Ltd, the company's main operating subsidiary.

Sun was deputy general manager of the Shenzhen-listed COFCO Property (Group) Co, a unit of COFCO Corp, which is a large shareholder of China Mengniu Dairy.

Industry experts said that Yang was the last of the Mengniu founders still in the company. His departure is the beginning of a new era, in which the company will likely be controlled by COFCO.

China Unicom builds largest WCDMA 3G network

China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd, the parent company of China's second-biggest telecom operator, China Unicom, said the company had completed the world's largest wideband code division multiple access, or WCDMA, 3G network by the end of 2011.

China Unicom said it owned 237,000 WCDMA base stations in 2011 after obtaining a 3G network operation license from Chinese authorities in 2009, according to a statement posted by China Unicom on Wednesday on the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's website.

Between 2009 and 2011, China Unicom invested 129.3 billion yuan ($20.45 billion) in its 3G network. More than 85 percent of the investment was used to buy equipment from domestic companies.

Bayer's sales up in second quarter of 2012

Bayer Group's pharmaceuticals segment saw its sales increase by 4.3 percent to 2.7 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in the second quarter of 2012, which came mainly from North America and emerging markets, especially China.

Bayer Group also saw its underlying earnings increase in the period.

"In view of its strong business performance, we are raising our guidance for the full year of 2012," said Marijn Dekkers, Bayer AG management board chairman, at a presentation of an interim report on Tuesday. He reported that Bayer had roughly 10.2 billion euros in sales - a new record. That was in part the result of currency effects.

The company's healthcare subgroup saw the value of its sales increase by 10 percent to 4.7 billion euros. Its pharmaceuticals and consumer health segments both contributed to the increase.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 08/02/2012 page14)