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Govt and policies

Trading service platform launched

The Council for Promoting South-South Cooperation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce launched the International Investment and Trading Network, a comprehensive global investment and trading service platform, on Tuesday. The network will provide Chinese enterprises with information on cross-border projects including infrastructure construction, overseas investment, production capacity cooperation and equipment purchases. It will also partner with Chinese embassies overseas and overseas embassies in China, world financial institutions, law firms and other companies to offer enterprises from both home and abroad professional and all-round services.

Shanghai GDP grows 6.9%

Shanghai's gross domestic product expanded at a rate of 6.9 percent year-on-year to 1.39 trillion yuan ($205 billion) in the first six months of this year, 0.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year, and the consumer price index was 1.9 percent, down

1.2 percentage points from a year ago, according to the Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau. Statistics showed that the added value of the tertiary industry grew 7.0 percent year-on-year, accounting for 69.9 percent of the total GDP.

Companies and markets

Direct flight links China, Brunei

Chinese budget airline Lucky Air on Tuesday launched a direct air route between Kunming, capital of southwestern China's Yunnan province, and Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei. The flight departs from Kunming every Tuesday and Saturday at 11:15 am and arrives in Bandar Seri Begawan at 3:20 pm local time. The return flight leaves Bandar Seri Begawan at 4:20 pm local time and arrives in Kunming at 8:55 pm. It is the first direct regular air route between Kunming and Bandar Seri Begawan, also the cultural center of Brunei.

Honda recalls more than 1m cars

Honda will voluntarily recall more than 1 million Accord vehicles in the United States after receiving several reports of the cars' battery sensors causing fires in the engine, the Japanese automaker said. Approximately 1.15 million Accord vehicles produced between 2013 and 2016 in the United States would be subject to the recall, said the company. Honda said it had received four reports of engine compartment fires in the United States related to this issue, all within the states where salt is used to clear roads in the winter. "There have been no reported injuries related to these incidents," it said.

Netflix revenue surges to new high

California-based internet entertainment company Netflix on Monday announced that its number of subscribers has increased by 5.2 million in the second quarter of 2017, beyond expectations and generating much more benefits. Netflix said it added 5.2 million additional new subscribers this quarter, a number well above the 3.2 million of Wall Street's forecast, of which 1.1 million came from the United States and 4.1 million came from overseas. All these paying customers boosted Netflix's revenue to a new height.

Around the world

Russia-US trade up 24.6 percent

Trade between Russia and the United States expanded by 24.6 percent in the first five months of 2017 over the same period of last year, Russia's Federal Customs Service said on Monday. Trade volume between the two countries reached $8.7 billion from January to May, with Russia selling $3.9 billion worth of goods to the United States and buying $4.8 billion from it. Bilateral trade began to decline in 2014 when the United States and its allies imposed economic sanctions against Russia.

Indonesia's exports reach $11.64b

Export of products from Indonesia reached $11.64 billion in June, the national statistics bureau announced on Monday. That compares with $12.92 billion in June 2016. The cumulative exports by June grew 14.04 percent to $79.96 billion from a year earlier, head of the bureau Kecuk Suhariyanto told a news conference. Experts have said that the seasonal factor of shorter working days and a trend of lower commodity prices contributed to the decline of shipments of Indonesia's products overseas in June.

Bangladesh imports surge

Bangladesh's imports surged 11.83 percent to some $41 billion in the first 11 months of the just concluded 2016-17 fiscal year (July 2016-June 2017) on increased importation of staple food, officials said on Monday. Quoting the Bangladesh Bank data, they said the settlement of letters of credit, generally known as actual imports, stood at $40.998 billion in the July-May period compared to $36.661 billion in the same period a year earlier. Overall import orders also surged by 13.97 percent in the July-May period, showed the BB data.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily USA 07/19/2017 page14)