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Sugar consumption to reach 2.2 million tons by 2020

China's sugar consumption is expected to reach 2.21 million tons by 2020 and the country may overtake the European Union to become the second-largest sugar user.

Peter Baron, executive director of the International Sugar Organization, made the prediction in Singapore on Wednesday.

India will remain the largest consumer of sugar, using 3.27 million tons annually, he said.

The Ministry of Commerce announced on Wednesday that the sugar import tariff quota in 2013 will remain unchanged from this year at 1,945,000 tons, 70 percent of which is State-owned enterprises' trade quotas.

The National Bureau of Statistics show that China's sugar imports reached 2,425,800 tons from January to August, a 102 percent year-on-year increase, and sugar exports reached 33,518 tons in the same period, a 23.87 percent year-on-year decrease.

Harbin Electric agrees to Turkish factory JV

Turkey's Hattat Holding and China's Harbin Electric will invest $250 million to build a factory in northwest Turkey to manufacture power plant equipment, Hattat's chairman said.

Planned for completion within two years, the plant will produce equipment such as boilers, generators and turbines at Cerkezkoy in Turkey's Tekirdag province, said Mehmet Hattat.

"This plant will produce equipment for coal, hydroelectric, wind, natural gas and nuclear power plants," he said at a signing ceremony with Harbin executives.

The plant, which will employ about 2,000 people, is designed to lessen dependence on foreign produced equipment in Turkey.

Hattat said his company, an Istanbul-based group active in energy, automotive and tourism industries, also plans to enter coal-fired power plant privatization tenders with Harbin.

Beijing-Macao trade event signed deals of $400m

Thirty-two companies from Beijing and Macao have signed 16 business agreements worth 2.57 billion yuan ($405.30 million) during the first Beijing-Macao Economic and Trade Exchange Symposium.

Event organizers said 13 of the agreements are for cultural innovation projects and accounted for 81.3 percent of the total amount.

The four-day symposium, organized by the Beijing Municipal Government and the Macao Special Administrative Region, will run until Sunday.

"The event will concentrate on promoting cooperation between the two cities, in services trade, tourism, the cultural innovation industry and city management, " said Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region.

Zhongrun takes 42% stake in gold miner Noble

Zhongrun Resources Investment Corp has agreed to buy a 42 percent stake in Noble Mineral Resources Ltd for A$85 million ($88 million), sending shares in the Australian gold miner up 25 percent, to A$0.15, though still well short of a record A$0.805 the company's shares touched last year.

The deal is the latest in a string of investments in gold miners by Chinese companies, keen to meet soaring domestic demand for gold at home, particularly to be spent on jewelry, which is often seen as a good hedge against inflation.

Zhongrun agreed to pay A$0.16 and A$0.18 a share for two sets of shares to be issued to two different arms of Zhongrun.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 09/28/2012 page14)