Maiden voyage The Chinese-made aluminum alloy yacht Tiger Shark leaves on her maiden voyage from Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center on Saturday. The 734-ton yacht is 50 meters long, 10 meters wide and 16 meters high. It can sail continuously for 6,000 nautical miles, and is capable of sailing around the world. Industry experts estimated the Chinese yacht-making industry will grow 20 percent this year. Photo by Xu Chongde / for China Daily

Indian Oil Corp buys crude cargoes from Unipec

China International United Petroleum & Chemical Co, known as Unipec, and Morgan Stanley sold crude cargoes for July to Indian Oil Corp, the country's biggest refiner, said three traders who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. Indian Oil bought about 1 million barrels each of Nigerian Akpo and Angolan Hungo crude from Unipec and 1 million barrels of the Libyan Mellitah grade from Morgan Stanley, the traders said.

Bank chief highlights urbanization cost

China needs at least 50 trillion yuan ($8.1 trillion) in new investment by 2020 to accommodate a burgeoning population of city-dwellers, according to the president of China Development Bank. China must urgently find special financing channels to support the urbanization process because local governments can't afford the spending, Zheng Zhijie, the bank's president, wrote in an article in China Finance. Zheng didn't elaborate on the estimate, which is about equal to the nation's nominal gross domestic product in 2012.

Imported car prices fall 3.4 percent in April

Prices of imported cars in China fell the most in five months, adding to signs that demand for luxury products is slowing because of a government campaign to rein in lavish spending by public servants. Average prices of imported cars in April fell 3.4 percent from a year earlier, according to Cheng Xiaodong, head of auto-price monitoring at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning agency. That compares with the 0.2 percent increase for locally made passenger vehicles.

Greece orders 142 vessels from Chinese yards

Greek shipowners have placed orders for 142 vessels in Chinese shipyards, as the two countries continue enhancing trade and commercial ties. The orders, signed in April, accounted for more than 60 percent of recent global orders by Greek shipowners, said Greek Shipping Minister Kostis Moussouroulis. The technological competence of Chinese shipyards has improved considerably, making them more appealing even as global prices hit one of their lowest points in recent years, Moussouroulis said.

Shanghai Clearing House to report abnormal trades

Shanghai Clearing House began reporting abnormal and illegal trades to the central bank on Monday. Analysts said the move will help strengthen regulation and management over short-term financing, and will help prevent trading risks for members of the clearinghouse. The move came as part of measures by the government to battle unfair trading in the interbank bond market, analysts said.

Vegetable prices continue to decline in May

China's vegetable prices continued their downward spiral. By the end of Sunday trading, they had dropped 15 percent since April 23, official data showed. Prices for 21 types of vegetables are monitored in major cities across the country. More than 90 percent of vegetables have registered a notable decline in prices. In contrast, prices for eggs and pork registered a moderate increase, while grain and dairy products remain stable.

B2C transactions register sharp increase in Q1

Transactions in China's business-to-consumer market hit 133.12 billion yuan ($21.68 billion) in the first quarter of this year, up 96.3 percent year-on-year, techweb.com.cn reported on Monday. Tmall increased its B2C market share from 37.78 percent in the first quarter of 2012 to 48.5 percent in the same period this year, according to EnfoDesk. In addition, transaction volumes for e-commerce company JD accounted for 17 percent of the B2C market, equaling last year's level, the report said.

Bird flu costs poultry industry $6.5 billion

Bird flu, which erupted in March, has so far cost the poultry industry 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion), Li Xirong, deputy director of the China Animal Agriculture Association, said at a recent industry forum. Li said this year is "the hardest ever" for the industry. Since bird flu erupted in March, prices for poultry have slumped, and sales have sharply declined. Financial losses have been widespread, leading to job losses and bankruptcies.

Property tax trial for more cities on agenda

More cities are likely to launch property tax trials within the year after Shanghai and Chongqing, sources said. Shanghai and Chongqing started to collect property taxes in January 2011. Families in Shanghai that owned more than 60 square meters per person have to pay 0.4 percent or 0.6 percent annually, depending on the apartment's price. If the price is above 27,740 yuan ($4,517) per square meter, the rate will be 0.6 percent in 2013. The Chongqing tax is focused more on high-end properties, with the annual rate between 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent of the property price.

Bank of China's chief seeks interest rate change

Bank of China Ltd President Li Lihui suggested that China cancel floating ranges for loan interests, in a bid to allow a greater market say in setting interest rates, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported on Monday. Li said interest and exchange rates both reflect the currency price, and market input in the interest and exchange rates could help form a balanced price for the currency. The central bank currently sets benchmark interest rates and floating ranges for deposits and loans of domestic financial institutions.

UnionPay says it signed up to EMVCo

UnionPay announced in Shanghai on Monday that it has become the latest member of EMVCo, an international organization that deals with standardized integrated-circuit card specifications in a bid to develop a worldwide acceptance and issuance network. The global payment industry is under the progress of IC card migration, which provides opportunities to all parties in the payment field, and UnionPay will further enhance the collaboration with global payment industries with a cooperative and open attitude, UnionPay said.

Spring corn planting back on schedule

Spring corn planting in the country's main grain growing area is now back on schedule, after being delayed for almost two weeks due to the impact of last autumn's excessive rain and snow, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement. By May 16, planting of corn seed in northeastern China's three provinces, and northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, had covered 16 million hectares, accounting for 96.7 percent of the crop's total coverage in the area, according to the ministry.

New round of sugar purchasing to start

China will start the second round of State sugar purchasing with a target of 300,000 metric tons, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning agency. Sugar produced after January will be bought for 6,100 yuan ($993) per ton, the announcement said. The official purchasing period starts on Friday. The first round of sugar purchasing occurred in December, with 1.5 million tons purchased.

New home prices increase in 68 Chinese cities

China's new-home prices rose last month in 68 out of 70 cities tracked by the government. Increases in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai were the biggest on a yearly basis since a change in data methodology in January 2011, a report from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on May 18. The number of cities showing gains from the year - earlier period was the same as March, which was the most since September 2011.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 05/21/2013 page14)