China to become top online advertiser
China is expected to become the biggest online advertising market in the Asia-Pacific region in the next few years, DoubleClick, the world's largest online advertising player, said in Shanghai. Stephen Moss, chief executive officer of DoubleClick's Asia Pacific operation, said world-name market researchers such as the International Data Corporation (IDC) and Forrest Researcher had projected the online advertising market in China will grow to US$35 million in 2001 from US$20 million this year. (China Daily 20 November)

China's to launch south-to-north water diversion project
The long-awaited project, aiming to channel water from Yangtze River to the drought-prone north, is expected to be officially launched next year. The canals are designed to take 38 to 48 billion cubic meters of water form Yangtze River annually. The first two phases of the grand project will invite world-wide public bidding. According to one of the project initiators, that the most lucrative market will be the sewage disposal industry, because the eastern stretch of the canal covers the most water-polluted regions in the country. (China Daily 20 November)

China issues rules on banking assets management firms
The State Council issued an ordinance Monday to regulate the activities of companies that are obliged to deal with the bad loans of local banks. The ordinance is designed to guide companies, which have been set up by the State Council specially for handling bad loans, to manage the assets from bad loans. The statute defines the structure, obligations, financial sources, ways for handling debt rights and management of these companies. (Xinhua 20 November)

China becomes world second biggest shipping country
A recent market survey conducted by the Standard Pool Company shows that China is now the world's second biggest shipping country, handling 10 million standard containers annually.
Experts said that the shipping industry has registered a dramatic increase over the past decade, of which the growth rate exceeded that of the global gross domestic product (GDP). (Xinhua 20 November)

UK, Australia, China jointly set up life insurance company in HK
Standard Life Asia, a joint venture between Standard Life Assurance Company of the United Kingdom, HIH Insurance (Asia) Ltd. of Australia and China Everbright Ltd., marked its inauguration in Hong Kong Monday. With its service pledge of "a Promise for Care," the company aims to provide a comprehensive range of high-quality investment and insurance products for the Hong Kong market. (China Daily 20 November)

Futures trading skyrockets
From January to October of this year, the total trading volume in the futures market hit 535.64 billion renminbi (US$64.7 billion), up 37 percent. Approximately 6.5 million contracts were resolved during this period, up 29 percent. (China Online 21 November)

State manufacturers seek overseas public investors
More State-owned manufacturers will open their doors to foreign investors by means of overseas public listings, Chinese leading economic advisers said Monday. Seeking overseas public listing has been a successful means of priming leading Chinese industrial groups for foreign competition, which is expected to flood into China once the country enters the World Trade Organization (WTO). (China Daily 21 November)

Microsoft to shift operations to Chengdu, donate US$150,000 to re-employment project
Microsoft Corp. announced on Nov. 17 Microsoft will set up a representative office in Chengdu. Microsoft plans to establish a representative office in Chengdu as early as June. Its business in southwest and northwest China, currently managed by the company's Shanghai branch, will be handed over to the Chengdu representative office after its establishment. They simultaneously announced the kickoff of a program funded by Microsoft to train laid-off employees. (China Online 21 November)

Minsheng Bank to make IPO
China Minsheng Banking Corp, one of the country's only non-State banks, is set to make its initial public offering (IPO), bank officials said recently. Minsheng is the first financial firm to list on the stock market since the China Securities Regulatory Commission released the Regulation on Information Disclosure of Financial IPOs on November 14. (China Daily 22 November)

China steps up power industry reform
China is taking measures to speed up the reform of power industry to end monopoly and enhance the industry's overall competitiveness. The reform will be implemented in three steps, mainly involving a separation of government administrative functions from power plants, separation of power plants from power grid runners and the introduction of a competitive pricing system. (Xinhua 22 November)

Court ruling favours US firms in domain row
The Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court Tuesday ruled in favour of two US companies in separate disputes over the use of domain names. Beijing-based Guowang Information Corporation (www.cinet.com.cn) was ordered to cancel its domain name www.dupont.com.cn, because it "violated the exclusive rights" of US firm Dupont, according to the court. The court also ordered the Beijing Tide Electronic Group (www.tide.com.cn) to stop using its domain name because of a similar problem alleged by company Procter and Gamble. The two cases are among the recent upsurge in disputes arising from the use of domain names. (China Daily 22 November)

ADB approves road loan to China
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved Tuesday to provide US$320 million loan to China for the country to build a new expressway in its poor southwest region. The ADB loans account for 27 percent of the estimated total project cost of US$1.18 billion. (China Daily 22 November)

China boosts funding for science and technology
China's funding for science and technology grew at a faster pace in 1999, according to a report jointly released on Nov. 20 by the National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Science & Technology and Ministry of Finance. China's total R&D expenditures reached RMB 67.89 billion (US$8.13 billion) in 1999, representing a 17.7 percent increase from 1998. This amounted to 0.83 percent of China's GDP, the highest level in history, the story stated. (China Online 22 November)

World Bank, People's Insurance to help Chinese firms invest in developing countries
The World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has signed an agreement in Beijing with the People's Insurance Company of China to assist Chinese enterprises with investing in developing. The two sides stated in the memorandum of cooperation that they will provide Chinese companies in transnational business expansion with high-quality risk insurance services. The partnership also will provide technology assistance and training programs. (China Online 22 November)

Packaging industry output value to exceed US$26.6B
The industrial output value of China's packaging industry will amount to more than 220 billion RMB (US$26.6 billion) this year, according to Qiu Chunfu, president of the Chinese Association of Packaging Technologies. (China Online 22 November)

MOFTEC acts on dumping cases
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation (MOFTEC) has decided to take temporary anti-dumping measures against acrylate produced in Japan, Germany and the United States beginning from Wednesday. The State Economic and Trade Commission also ruled that the dumping of acrylate produced by the three countries had done substantial damage to domestic industries. (China Daily 23 November)

China to report 8 percent of economic growth
China's GDP growth will approach 8 percent this year, and fall to about 7.5 percent in 2001, according to a report released in Beijing Thursday by the Macroeconomics Research Institute under the State Development Planning Commission.In 2000, China achieved rapid growth in exports. The report predicted that the export growth for the whole year will be 25 percent, while that of imports will reach some 35 percent. Strong domestic consumer demand has become the major driving force for the rapid development of the economy this year. (Xinhua 23 November)

BASF opens Shanghai unit
A major German chemical company opened a key production site in Shanghai's Pudong Wednesday. BASF Colorants and Chemicals Co Ltd will produce complex metal dyestuffs at the site, which needed an investment of 120 million yuan (US$14.5 million) and was designed to produce 750 tons of non-textile dyestuffs annually. BASF now occupies one-third of the world's market share in metal complex dyestuffs. (China Daily 23 November)

Controls boost metal market
China's steel sector succeeded in cutting back on production during the first nine months of this year according to an industrial official. The steel sector is determined to control output to reduce the domestic steel surplus, increase prices and earn more profit.The average steel price increased by 120 yuan (US$14.50) per ton during the first three quarters of the year compared with the same period last year, the sources said. The sector's profit also surged to 9.6 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) from January to September, the sources said. (China Daily 23 November)

Gold production up, demand down
Gold demand on the Chinese mainland during the first three quarters this year slightly declined but output increased significantly. According to sources from the World Gold Council, the gold demand on the mainland was 148.5 tons during the period, a modest decrease of 0.5 tons compared with the same period of last year. But the gold output increased by 3.6 per cent year-on-year to 120.8 tons during the first three quarters, said sources from the Gold Administration under the State Economic and Trade Commission. (China Daily 24 November)

China to widen environmental financing channel
China will actively expand the financing channel toward environmental protection during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), according to an environmental official in Beijing Thursday. In addition to governmental investment, the major source of environmental funds, China will encourage enterprises, the private sector and overseas capital to invest in environmental infrastructure construction, management and industrial pollution control, said Wang Yaoxian, vice director of the planning and financing department under the State Environmental Protection Administration. (China Daily 24 November)

Deal helps bank, PICC to expand business
China's largest insurance company, the People's Insurance Company of China (PICC), signed a long-term co-operation agreement with one of the country's major commercial banks, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), Thursday in Beijing. According to the PICC-ABC agreement, ABC will help PICC sell insurance products, collect premiums and pay out compensation claims. The two financial institutions will also join hands in the fields of capital settlement and contract deposits, and will keep exploring new ways of co-operation. (China Daily 24 November)