Agriculture tops government agenda
The Chinese government will put on top agenda the development of agriculture and increase of farmers' incomes this year, according to the Central Conference on Rural Work in Beijing. The grain output of China plunge by 9 % last year. Lingering droughts and the decrease in the amount of arable land due to desertification and urbanization were partly to blame for the output decrease in 2000. (China Daily, 8 January)

Guangdong has ended six years of declining growth rates
Last year's gross domestic product grew 10.5% to RMB 950.6 -the first rise in six years. Three engines drove growth in Guangdong's economy last year are exports, consumption and investment. But there are worrying signs that the province's economic recovery is fragile and may prove difficult to sustain. (South China Morning Post, 8 January)

SOEs misuse state assets
An audit of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) completed last year has uncovered serious losses of state-owned assets. The Chinese auditing administration conducted an audit of 1,290 large and medium-size SOEs and state-held enterprises in 2000. After investigating the assets, liabilities, profits and losses made in 1999, auditors discovered a variety of problems such as low asset quality, false assets, as well as false liability, profit and loss status and recovered RMB 272 million in misused assets. (ChinaOnline, 8 January)

CNPC seeks bids for east-west gas transport projects
More that 60 bid invitations have been sent to overseas investors for the east-west gas transport projects, says the management office of the east-west gas transport projects under the China National Petroleum and National Gas Corp. (CNPC). The launch of the projects has been officially approved, and the invitations were issued at the end of last month. The bidding process is expected to be completed by June. (ChinaOnline, 8 January)

Siemens industrial park set up in Shanghai
Siemens Industrial Park in the Pudong New Area, which covers 55,000 square meters at a cost of USD120 million was funded by the Siemens Shanghai Mobile Communications Ltd. Last year Siemens Shanghai manufactured 10 million cellphones and had sales of RMB 7.4 billion. China is now the third largest market for Siemens, after Europe and the United States, according to Siemens President. (Xinhua, 9 January)

Township enterprises to produce 2,730 billion added value in 2000
China's township enterprises is estimated to record an added value worth RMB 2,730 billion in 2000, 1,270 billion more than in 1995 and accounting for 37% of the added portion of the country's GDP. The export delivery volume of township enterprises is estimated to value RMB 878.3 billion last year, accounting for 40% of the country's total. (Xinhua, 9 January)

Offshore oil giant asks for listing
China National Offshore Oil Company Ltd (CNOOC), the nation's sole offshore oil developer and producer, announced that it is in its final stage of a dual listing on the United States and Hong Kong stock markets. Analysts said the overseas flotation of CNOOC Ltd is part of the nation's strategy to push China's oil sector to the international market, in a bid to fend off the impact from overseas oil giants that will flood in after China's access to the World Trade Organisation. (China Daily 9, January)

IPO market to be liberalised by March
China will scrap a quota system for initial public offerings and remove ceilings on new share offer prices from March in a bid to liberalise the domestic IPO market. Analysts said the moves would help narrow the staggering gaps between an IPO price and the price at which a stock make its debut on the secondary market and warn investors that the popular notion that all shares soar on their debut might not always hold true. (Reuters, 9 January)

China's foreign trade hit record high in 2000
China's total trade volume amounted to USD 474.3 billion in 2000, the highest since 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, according to statistics from the General Administration of Customs. Exports were valued at USD 249.2 billion, up 27.8%, while imports totalled USD 225.1 billion, up 35.8%. The year 2000 saw a favourable balance of USD 24.1 billion. The export structure has changed noticeably and the import of primary goods has substantially increased. The export of electronic and machinery products grew by 36.9% to reach USD 105.3 billion, accounting for 42.3% of the total export. The export of high and new technical products grew by 50% to reach USD 37 billion. China imported USD 46.7 billion of primary goods in 2000, up 74.1%, mainly including crude oil and soybean. The import of some electronic and machinery products and high-tech goods also increased by more than 30%. (Xinhua, 10 January)

Luxury car duty reduced
China this month reduced customs duties on notoriously expensive imported cars. The duty on sedans with engine capacities of 3 litres or more dropped 20% from 100% of a car's value. For smaller sedans, the duty is now 70%, down from 80% of a car's value. Duties on buses have already been reduced 5 to 10%, depending on the number of seats. motorcycle duty has dropped from 60% to 55 % of a vehicle's value. (SCMP, 10 January)

China's 520 key SOEs almost double profits in 2000
China's 520 best-performing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) nearly doubled their profits in the first 11 months of 2000, according to the Economic Information Center of State Economic And Trade Commission. They earned profits that totalled RMB 210.64 in the first 11 months of 2000, up nearly 100% from the 1999 figure. In the first 11 months of 2000, the most profitable industries were petroleum, telecommunications, petrochemicals, electric power, electronics, automotive, metallurgy, light industries and tobacco. These industries posted combined profits of RMB 197.19 billion, amounting to 93.6% of the total earnings of the 520 SOEs. (ChinaOnline, 10 January)

MOFTEC's new agency will illuminate WTO rules
The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) will create a new agency specifically designed to elucidate rules surrounding the upcoming membership in the World Trade Organization. The agency will provide authoritative answers to all questions raised by WTO members concerning China's trade policies and provide Chinese enterprises with information on WTO rules. (ChinaOnline, 10 January)

China's insurance industry sees rise in premium income
China's insurance sector reported a 14.5% year-on-year increase in premium income in 2000, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). About 37.5% of the income, or RMB 9.8 billion came from property insurance. The rest RMB 99.8, or 62.5% were from life insurance. (Xinhua, 12 January)

Hong Kong banking system remains robust in 2000
The banking sector of Hong Kong remained robust and healthy in 2000, and pre-tax operating profits grew by 45.7% in the first nine months, compared with the 15.2% growth in the same period of 1999, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The HKMA attributed the strong growth mainly to a significant drop in bad debt charge and increases in net interest and fee income. (Xinhua, 12 January)

Beijing spend heavily on environment to gain the bidding for Olympics
China's central government and the city of Beijing are spending USD 12.05 billion to clean the capital's environment and impress the International Olympic Committee. Beijing is vying with four other cities for the 2008 summer games and is combating a bad reputation for air pollution. A state environmental director said that by 2008 Beijing's air may be cleaner than that of Paris, a competing city. (SCMP, 12 January)

Washing machine market Saturated
Experts say China's washing machine market has reached a mature stage. By the end of 1999 there were over 91 washing machines per 100 urban households Bks first with almost 100% ownership, followed by Shanghai with just over 93. Washing machine producers have an idle annual production capacity of 10 million washers, according to a report on the washing machine market. Washing machine producers have a production capacity of 25 million machines but are manufacturing less than 15 million yearly. 
(ChinaOnline, 12 January)