IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Economy

China world's largest electronics market

China became the world's largest market for consumer electronics last year, surpassing North America, said Steve Koenig, senior analyst at the Consumer Electronics Association, based in the US. "North America will have to settle for second place," he said. "The rapid pace of change, and how fast China has become a global force, is more of the surprise." This trend has been visible for years, but last year was the turning point when consumer electronics sales in Asian emerging countries exceeded those in North America, reported tech website venturebeat.com.

Finance

Rules adopted on shadow banking

The State Council has approved new rules to strengthen regulation of the shadow bank lending that has helped fuel an explosion in debt since 2008, in the latest effort to deal with growing financial risks, sources told Reuters on Jan 6. The wide-ranging rules say that shadow banking is a "beneficial" and "inevitable" consequence of financial development and provide an official definition of the term. The regulations include new restrictions on banks' cooperation with trust companies, securities brokerages and other intermediaries that banks work with to carry out off-balance-sheet business.

Currency tax being considered: agency

China's top foreign exchange regulator has vowed to consider new measures, including a transaction tax, to curb currency speculation, after hot money inflows intensified last year.

Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, made the comments in an article in the Communist Party journal Qiushi.

Yi wrote that a Tobin tax, a tax on all spot foreign currency transactions that is named after Nobel economist James Tobin, should be "studied in depth".

It is believed to be the first time that a Chinese regulator has commented publicly on the tax, which Tobin first suggested in 1972.

Key players take stake in insurance company

Samsung Life Insurance Co Ltd, Bank of China Ltd, BOC Insurance Co Ltd and China Aviation Industry Corp (AVIC) all signed agreements for shareholding stakes in Samsung Air China Life Insurance to jointly promote mainland coverage, Yonhap News Agency has reported. Samsung Air China Life Insurance was set up in 2005 with joint investments from AVIC and Samsung Life Insurance of 800 million yuan ($132 million) in registered capital, and became the first China-South Korean life insurance company. BOC also plans to invest in Samsung Air China Life Insurance through BOC Insurance, a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank. The scale of the investment and the shareholdings of each partner will be revealed when the investment has been made.

Train maker to issue 1.8b shares in HK

China CNR Corp Ltd, the country's second-largest listed train maker, has obtained approval from Chinese regulators to issue shares in Hong Kong to raise funds for overseas and strategic investments. CNR, whose bigger rival CSR Corp Ltd is listed in Hong Kong and Shanghai, plans to list up to 1.8218 billion H-shares, or about 15 percent of its total shares, the official China Securities News reported in November.

Technology

Xiaomi eyes world market as sales surge

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp says it sold 18.7 million smartphones last year, up 160 percent year-on-year, and that it officially expanded to Singapore on Jan 1, in an effort to enter the global market.

Lei Jun, founder and chief executive officer of Xiaomi, said in an internal email that the company had sales of 31.6 billion yuan ($5.18 billion) last year, a rise of 150 percent over the previous year. Previously he said he expects the company's revenue to reach 100 billion yuan by 2015.

"Xiaomi will see shipments of more than 40 million handsets in 2014," Lei wrote in the email.

The Beijing company, which started as a smartphone maker, now also makes televisions, set-top boxes and mobile phone peripherals.

Technology project in urbanization push

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing are among 68 cities and areas taking part in a pilot project set up to spur the development of e-commerce, 4G telecom networks and cloud-based services, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says. Smaller cities in 25 provinces and autonomous regions were tapped for the project as the government looks for ways to speed up urbanization. Along with developed coastal areas, less-developed inland cities, such as Xi'ning in Qinghai and Karamay in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, were included.

Shipping

COSCO buys big to upgrade fleet

China COSCO Holdings, the country's largest shipping conglomerate, signed contracts with two Chinese shipyards to buy four 64,000 deadweight-ton bulk vessels and five 308,000 dwt very large crude carriers in an effort to upgrade its vast fleet. It will be COSCO's first purchase of new vessels in five years. The bulk vessel deal was signed with CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Co, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp. The price for each ship was 654 million yuan ($108 million), the company said on its website.

Property

Home price measures fall short, say experts

Most of China's local governments probably failed to meet their targets for home price growth last year, and a better mechanism is needed, industry experts say.

At the start of last year almost all big cities set price growth targets, following the requirement from the State Council to cool down the real estate market.

Beijing and Shanghai promised to keep property prices at a "stable" level. Others, such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, said growth should be lower than that of urban residents' average real disposable income, which is usually under 10 percent.

But the results may be disappointing. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, year-on-year growth in the country's key cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, exceeded 20 percent for the past three months. And those in major provincial capitals are expected to exceed 10 percent for the year.

Company

Revlon decides to kiss China goodbye

The decision of the cosmetics and beauty products maker Revlon Inc to exit the Chinese market comes from having a failed marketing strategy, single distribution channel and weak products that do not meet local needs, experts say.

The New York company is leaving China after 37 years and will shed 1,100 jobs as part of cost-cutting measures, the company announced.

Most of the job cuts will be in China, where Revlon's operations make up only 2 percent of the company's sales, which have been falling. Revlon declined to comment.

Global sales dropped 1.3 percent to $1.02 billion in the nine months ended last September, compared with the same period in 2012.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/10/2014 page18)