CRP vote against unit integration

China Resources Power Holdings Co, the electricity generator that is facing claims it deliberately overpaid for coal assets in 2010, scrapped a plan to combine with a sister company after shareholders rejected the proposal. Sixty-four percent of the company's minority shareholders voted against integration with China Resources Gas Group Ltd, China Resources Power said in a statement on Monday. The deal had been expected to fail, with the gas unit trading 14 percent higher than the value of the offer shortly after the shareholder vote ended in Hong Kong on Monday, indicating investors considered the bid too low.

7 out of 17 steel mills see profit rise

Only seven out of the 17 listed steel mills that have released interim earnings statements have said they expect increased first-half profits, indicating a challenging outlook for the sector. Six said losses had worsened, the Securities News Journal reported on Monday.

Angang Steel Co, the listed arm of Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corp, estimated a 702 million yuan ($114 million) profit from January to June, against a year-earlier loss of 1.98 billion yuan.

Bank products hit $1.6t at mid-year

The value of financial products at Chinese banks reached 9.85 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion) by the end of June, according to a leading specialist. The scale of the financial products indicated growing innovation at Chinese banks, said Wang Yanxiu, chief of the banking supervision department at the China Banking Regulatory Commission.Wang made the comments last week during a forum held by the financial branch of Sina, a major portal website in China. In 2007, financial products at banks totaled about 500 billion yuan.

Wang said that pressure from competitors, such as insurance firms, securities houses and trust funds, had prompted banks to intensify their innovation.

Investment may miss target

China may miss its fixed-asset investment growth target this year, based on first-half figures, said Bao Yujun, president of the China Private Enterprises Association. To reach the 18 percent annual growth target set earlier this year, fixed-asset investment should be 44 trillion yuan ($7.11 trillion) for the year, he said. However, fixed-asset investment in the first half only grew by 18.13 trillion yuan, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, though the growth rate was 20.1 percent. Of the first-half total, 11 trillion yuan came from private investors. But these investors are reluctant to put in more funds in the second half of the year, he said.

Copper imports reach 9-month high

China's refined copper imports climbed to a nine-month high in June, as rising prices in Shanghai prompted traders to buy the metal in London for shipment to China. Inbound shipments gained 11 percent year-on-year to 277,696 metric tons last month, according to the General Administration of Customs. The June figure was the highest since September and 20 percent higher than May, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Refined exports gained for the first time in three months, rising to 19,094 tons from 14,445 tons in May. More arrivals and higher domestic output imply underlying demand may not be as bad as macro data suggest, as exchange inventories continued to drop.

Gasoline exports double in H1

China's net exports of gasoline doubled in the first half amid a fuel surplus in the country, the world's second-biggest oil consumer. Overseas sales of gasoline exceeded imports by 2.5 million metric tons, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data e-mailed by the General Administration of Customs. China is experiencing an oversupply as refiners produce fuels at a faster rate than demand is growing, amid a slowdown in Asia's largest economy.

Zoomlion product return rate rises

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co, China's second-largest construction equipment maker, accepted more product returns at the end of 2012 as some clients had difficulties making payments in a slowing economy. The product return rate rose to 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Bloomberg on Monday. That compares to a return rate of 0.27 percent in the first quarter of last year. Zoomlion accepted 461 million yuan of returns in the fourth quarter, compared with sales of 9.42 billion yuan.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily USA 07/23/2013 page14)