Updated: 2008-02-20 07:26
MARKET

Production losses

China's Valin Steel says it lost 410,000 tons of steel production during power outages in Hunan province.

Severe snow and ice storms early this month led to power outages across Central and South China including Hunan, a major center for Chinese metal production.

The storms forced the temporary closure of several production facilities, including those of the country's largest zinc producer, Zhuzhou Smelter Group.

Compressor venture

China's Midea Electric Appliances said it will form a refrigeration compressor manufacturing venture with a unit of Toshiba Corp, with planned total investment of 492 million yuan by October.

The joint venture, based in Anhui province, will be 95 percent owned by Midea and have an annual production capacity of 5 million compressors, Midea said in a statement. Toshiba Carrier Corp will hold the remaining 5 percent.

Midea also said it planned to issue additional A shares to raise 3.56 billion yuan to fund 10 investments, including the joint venture with Toshiba Carrier.

Bad loans fall

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd said its bad-loan ratio fell again in 2007 after credit monitoring was tightened.

The bank has lowered both the proportion of non-performing loans and their outstanding amount for five straight years, ICBC said in a statement yesterday. Also, the ratio for new loans, defined as those made since 1999, was kept below 2 percent, the company said.

GRAPEVINE

Bank plans

Bank of China Ltd plans to be more aggressive abroad this year by arranging syndicated loans to help Chinese enterprises fund expansion and offer cash flow to overseas companies squeezed by the global credit crunch, the South China Morning Post said, citing Chairman Xiao Gang.

The bank will work mainly with domestic and Asian financial institutions to provide financing, the report said, without elaborating.

Decisions will be made collectively by three centers the bank set up last up last year in Hong Kong, Paris and New York to coordinate investment at its 660 overseas branches, the report said.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Marmoset pair

The Underground Aquarium in Chengdu, Sichuan province, has bought two South American marmosets from Brazil priced at 150,000 yuan to promote the tropical rain forest district as a new tourist attraction.

One male and the other female, the two marmosets are aged around five and are shorter than 15 cm with very small faces - about the size of a 1-yuan coin.

South American marmosets are rare tropical animals, about the size of a thumb at birth.

Make your cake

Dessert shops are a dime a dozen but it's not easy to find shops offering DIY cakes. A small shop in Wuhan, Hubei province, provides this unique service and has become quite famous in the area.

The owner, Gu Wen, said it costs around 50 to 100 yuan to make a do-it-yourself cake, and the customers can design the cake as they like.

She also said the shop brings her a net profit of 7,000 yuan per month.

LOCAL

Labor shortage

Enterprises in the Pearl River Delta will continue suffering from labor shortages, according to the China Economic Net.

These enterprises raised salaries to 1,160 yuan this year to attract labor, up 13 percent from last year. The situation still didn't improve. At a recent labor fair offering 7,000 positions in Guangzhou, only 4,000 migrant workers showed up.

Land refused

Obsolete industrial projects in Zhejiang province have been refused land this year, according to the Zhejiang government's recent promulgation.

Hi-tech projects will be given priority for land supply by the government to optimize the industry structure and enhance land output.

Industrial land accounts for 50 percent of the total land supply of Zhejiang province, which plays an important role in raising the utilization rate of land.

BIZ MOVES

GM appointed

Wang Dazong, former vice-president of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, has been appointed general manager of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Company.

Wang was born in Jiangxi province and went to Cornell University in the US. He joined General Motors in 1985 and has worked in various capacities as senior engineer, directing engineer, chief engineer and in decision-making and design.

JV head

Ren Zhengfei (left), founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies, has been appointed CEO of the joint venture formed by Huawei and Symantec.

The new joint venture, headquartered in Chengdu, combines Symantec's storage and security software with Huawei's hardware for products to be marketed first in Asia and then in the US.