Auto

Audi zooms past rivals in China

German automaker Volkswagen AG's luxury unit Audi clocked the highest growth rate among luxury car brands in China last month after it sold more sports-utility vehicles. Audi deliveries rose 13 percent to 38,710 vehicles in the mainland and Hong Kong in April. On the mainland, Audi cornered 29.6 percent of the market, BMW had 23.6 percent, while Mercedes-Benz took 20.6 percent in 2012, according to researcher IHS Global Insight.

Volkswagen plans new plant

Volkswagen AG of Germany will invest 12 billion yuan ($1.95 billion; 1.52 billion euros) to build its first plant in Central China, as part of its efforts to raise capacity to meet rising demand from the world's largest vehicle market and to counter similar moves announced by rival General Motors last month.

The new plant will be set up by Volkswagen's joint venture with China's SAIC Motor, and will have an annual output of 300,000 units, German national daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported over the weekend.

Dealership returns may lose shine

Chinese auto dealership returns will decline as automakers add more of them, intensifying competition, Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said in a report. Foreign automakers are expanding distribution in China's central and western regions and into less-developed cities dominated by domestic brands, while local brands are seeking to attract higher-income buyers with more sophisticated products, according to the Bernstein note distributed on May 14.

Investment

Autoliv targets 5 percent sales gains

Autoliv Inc, the world's largest maker of automotive air bags and seat belts, is targeting annual revenue growth of 5 percent or more in the next five years because of gains in Chinese and US car sales. The supplier plans to at least match global market gains that it forecasts at about 5 percent annually, the Stockholm-based company said on May 14.

Biohit targets China for new product

Finnish healthcare company Biohit Oyj, whose shares have gained 71 percent this year, sees China as a promising market for its Acetium product used to prevent stomach cancer, Chief Executive Officer Semi Korpela said. Biohit is working to register Acetium in China and already has a distribution partner, Grand Pharmaceutical Co. "China is very interesting to us, much more interesting than western Europe," Korpela said. "The prevalence of gastrointestinal cancers in Asia is also because of the diet. Soy sauce with high acetaldehyde levels adds to their exposure."

Finance

China's 'shadow banking growing'

Shadow banking activities in China have risen nearly 70 percent over the past two years and now account for more than half the size of the world's second-largest economy, ratings agency Moody's said on May 13. Shadow banking includes private lending, off-balance-sheet vehicles and trusts, and it allows borrowers to circumvent banks' formal underwriting standards, as well as official regulations. Such lending has surged 67 percent since 2010, Moody's said in a report, reaching an estimated total of 29 trillion yuan at the end of last year, or 55 percent of China's GDP.

Trade

EU slaps tariffs on Chinese tableware

The European Union has imposed five-year tariffs on pipe-fittings and ceramic tableware from China. Thailand also faces five-year tariffs on pipe-fittings. The levies are as high as 57.8 percent and come as a severe blow to Chinese and Thai manufacturers of threaded malleable fittings and Chinese makers of ceramic tableware and kitchenware.

Technology

IBM opens Beijing computing center

International Business Machines Corp opened a center on May 14 for computing systems in Beijing to help customers and outside software engineers develop business applications for the open-source Linux operating system. The facility will aid the creation of programs for big data, cloud, mobile and social-business computing and represents "a sizable investment", said Colin Parris, general manager of IBM Power Systems.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is focusing on profitable businesses including data analysis and cloud computing to maintain growth.

Energy

China boosts storage of strategic reserves

China is likely to commission additional storage sites for its strategic petroleum reserves this year, boosting crude demand even as construction work on the program takes longer than expected, according to the International Energy Agency.

The world's second-biggest crude consumer will add 245 million barrels of capacity in the second phase of its emergency stockpile plan, the Paris-based IEA said in its Medium-Term Oil Market Report released on May 14, a 45 percent rise on the IEA's original estimate of 169 million barrels.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 05/17/2013 page14)