Thread: China's general economy info

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/200.../65@296070.htm

China has decided to abolish agricultural tax as of 2006, three years ahead of its five-year schedule, the State Administration of Taxation said.

China's top legislature late last year adopted a motion to rescinded the country's 2,600-year-old agricultural tax starting from Jan. 1, 2006.

The administration said China began to phase out agricultural tax to reduce farmers' financial burden as early as 2000.

The tax reform helped reduce farmers' tax burden by 22 billion yuan (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005, and 23.4 billion yuan (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) during the period from 2001 to 2004, the administration said.

Only three of the 31 provincial level areas on the Chinese mainland collected agricultural tax in 2005, while 28 others had abolished the tax.

The tax overhaul was designed to narrow the widening income gap between the rural and urban residents, including about 800 million rural people.

During the more than 2,000 years, agricultural tax was always the main source of the country's coffers. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, agriculture has made great contribution to the country's economic development.

(Source: Xinhua)

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/te...?news_id=11818

Embroidery machine export by China has shown a remarkable growth in terms of higher value and wider reach to Southeast Asia and South America since 2005, informed the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles.

China has exported 20,568 embroidery machine tools in the three quarters of 2005, registering a growth of 83 percent compared to last year.

During the first three quarters of 2005 embroidery machines were exported to 88 countries and regions by China.

About 57 percent of China's total embroidery machine exports were made to India and Indonesia.

Embroidery machine export to India jumped to 290 percent, Saudi Arabia 280 percent, Colombia 210 percent, Yemen 150 percent, Peru 270 percent, Mexico 110 percent, Germany 370 percent and Argentina by 200 percent.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_4111613.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-28 14:33:51

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China has successfully reversed the situation of declining acreage under grain crops over the past five years since 2000, said the Ministry of Agriculture.

China's acreage under grain crops was cut by 14.4 million hectares during the five years after 1998, when the country's acreage under grain crops reached 113 million hectares, the ministry said.

The figure hit a record low in 2003 when the acreage dropped to 99 million hectares.

The acreage under grain crops grew slightly in 2004 and it grew to about 10.4 million hectares last year, up 4.86 million hectares over 2003, thanks to the government's policy to support grain production.

The country's per-unit grain yield has hit a record high of 4.44 tons per hectare during the period from 2000 to 2005, up 25.5kg over the pervious five years, said the ministry.

The ministry said the country's total grain output exceeded 480 billion kg in 2005, compared with 469.4 billion kg in 2004.

The total grain output in 2005 was 20 billion kg over the end of the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1995-2000), although the acreage under grain crops in 2005 was 4 million hectares less thanthe late 1990s. Enditem

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_4110946.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-28 10:47:54

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China's average tariff level has dropped to 9.9 percent in 2005 as the country is earnestly fulfilling its commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to figures released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

The average tariff on industrial products dropped to 9.3 percent as against 14.8 percent in 2000, and that for agricultural products was 15.3 percent as against 23.2 percent in 2000, the MOC said.

China's imports have witnessed a rapid growth in recent years as tariffs have kept dropping from an average of 15.6 percent in 2000, and almost all pledged tariff cuts had been made by year end 2005, according to the MOC.

Meanwhile, China also lifted most licensing requirements and import quotas on schedule, said the ministry, adding that China will only maintain import licensing restrictions on controlled chemical products, such as chemicals which can be easily turned into narcotics and ozonosphere-consuming materials. Enditem

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_4121962.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-31 11:16:42

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- China's hydroelectric power capacity reached 115 million kilowatts at the end of 2005, reports the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Between 2000 and 2005, China increased its hydroelectric power capacity by 36 million kw with construction underway on a batch of major hydroelectric power stations and many other facilities starting operations.

The construction of the Three Gorges Project progressed well during the period and is expected to be completed in the new Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), according to the NDRC.

The development of substantial hydroelectric power projects capable of producing 70 million kw of power began during the five-year period, including some in west China as well as the major project linking the power-rich West to the energy-thirsty East.

To encourage the development of hydroelectric power, the Chinese government carried out a census of the country's water resources. It strengthened the preliminary work on hydroelectric power development and worked on designs for strategic projects.

To meet the rising energy demand of the country's booming economy, China is paying more and more attention to the development of renewable energies.

China promulgated a new law on renewable energy in February 2005. The law, which took effect from Jan. 1, 2006, is considered to be of great significance to the development of China's renewable energy industry.

The medium and long-term development projects for renewable energies designed by the NDRC and other related departments are expected to fulfill China's energy objectives up to 2020 and meet the government's emphasis on renewable energy.

Furthermore, the Chinese government has announced incentives infinancing and taxation to encourage the development of renewable energies such as wind power, methane and bio-energy.

According to the NDRC, China's wind power has entered a large-scale development phase. By the end of 2005, China's wind power capacity had reached nearly two million kw.

Over the last five years, the Chinese government has set out a program for wind power development, which has laid firm foundations for China's wind power ambitions.

China has also seen progress in the development and use of bio-energy, solar power and geothermal heat in the past five years.

At the end of 2005, nearly 17 million Chinese rural families were using methane and the number of major methane projects exceeded 2,000.

According to latest statistics, China's annual methane consumption has reached eight billion cubic meters.

Experimental bio-power projects involving burning stalks have been started in north China's Hebei, northeast China's Heilongjiang, and east China's Shandong and Jiangsu provinces.

By the end of 2005, the absorbable capacity of China's solar water heaters had reached 80 million square meters. The energy it produced is equivalent to burning 10 million tons of standard coal.

China's consumption of renewable energies in the year 2005 was equal to 160 million tons of standard coal, accounting for seven percent of the total energy consumption volume of the country, said the NDRC. Enditem

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...na-roads_x.htm

China's highways go the distance
By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
BEIJING — Need to get someplace in China? Try today, the down day in a travel stampede unmatched anywhere.

New elevated highways link the city of Fuzhou, China, to the surrounding towns and villages of Fujian province.
AFP/Getty Images

The Year of the Dog, the lunar new year celebrated in much of Asia, began Sunday. In China, it triggered the world's largest annual mass migration, sending hundreds of millions of Chinese homeward for the festival. At week's end, they will reboard trains, planes and buses so crammed with humanity that sales of adult diapers have soared because getting to washrooms on crowded passenger trains can be impossible.

The record number of travelers — more than 2 billion journeys in the 40 days from Jan. 14 to Feb. 22, by government estimates — underscores the new mobility of Chinese society. This year, it also has drawn attention to highway construction underway in China, which is in the midst of the greatest road-building boom since the United States began linking the Lower 48 with interstate highways in the 1950s.

Today, China is stitching itself together with concrete and asphalt. Its goal: highways that reach all 31 provinces — from the Himalayas of Tibet in the southwest to the Gobi Desert in the north.

ON THE ROAD

1913: China builds first modern highway.
1949: Total road length open to traffic is 50,000 miles.
1988: First expressway — 11.5 miles long — built near Shanghai.
1998: Major construction of expressways begins.
2000: Number of private cars on the road is 6.25 million.
2005: Number of private cars on the road increases to 17 million.
2006: Expressways total 25,480 miles.
2020: Expressway mileage likely to reach 53,000 miles; China likely to be world's leading carmaker.

Source: Chinese government




Already, China's expressway network is second only to America's. "No other country can compete with China when it comes to the expansion speed of road building," says Wang Yuanqing, a professor at the Highway College of Chang'an University in Xian.

The vast majority of New Year trips — 1.86 billion by the Ministry of Communication's estimate — will be made on the roads. Roughly 700,000 buses will handle the strain.

Thousands of travelers crowded central Beijing's Bawangfen bus station Wednesday. "I couldn't get a train ticket this year," said Fan Xiuzhu, 50, as she kept watch over bags of New Year gifts she was taking home to northeast Liaoyang. "But the expressway has cut my journey from 15 hours to eight, the same time as the train.

"The buses are quite luxurious now, with air conditioning, toilet and video. Not like before, when they were filthy and smoky, with hard seats and people packed in the aisle."

Over the past five years, China has spent more on transportation infrastructure than in the previous five decades of Communist Party rule.

From 2001 to 2005, expressways grew by 15,350 miles, more than doubling the total length to 25,480 miles. The United States has 46,000 miles of interstate. By 2020, China is likely to overtake the United States. India has more road miles, but a third are unpaved.

China's high-speed expressways, with speed limits of 75 miles per hour, grew by 4,163 miles in 2005 alone and will stretch 3,107 miles farther this year. The United States built 41,000 miles of new highway from 1957 to 1969; China plans 30,262 miles this decade.

America's interstates brought prosperity and change. China's are doing the same. Many of those using the new roads are migrant workers who have left villages and farms for jobs in booming urban China. The government estimates at least 140 million rural Chinese have left the countryside for the bright lights of the city. The New Year festival is one of the few extended public holidays that give them a chance to return to their roots.

Away from the smooth surfaces of major highways, the inequality of modern China becomes clear. Many rural roads, especially in areas populated by ethnic minorities and near borders, are little more than mud tracks. That has prompted the government to promise 112,000 miles of new rural highways this year alone.

The environmental impact of the road boom is worsened by air pollution — passenger car sales jumped 26% last year. But "even developed countries adopt the 'develop first and refine later' strategy," says highway expert Wang. "We are now trying to build environmentally friendly roads."

China is stressing initiatives that minimize the damage of road construction. However, efforts to get drivers to choose more environmentally friendly cars and use low-sulfur fuels are meeting resistance.

"Chinese car buyers are not rational," Li Xinmin of the State Environmental Protection Administration told a conference in July. "They buy vehicles to show others what a large and beautiful car they have."

As highways expand and car sales boom, cross-country road trips that were once unthinkable are exciting China's newly affluent urban class.

"The road network is great now. You can drive anywhere," says Hou Xin, 28, a computer technician and member of one of several auto clubs now multiplying in Beijing.

In August, Hou and his wife drove their China-made Jeep Cherokee more than 2,300 miles along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that linked China to Western civilizations. For much of the journey to the far western province of Xinjiang, they were able to travel on new expressways.

Xinjiang, inhabited by Muslim Uighurs, is a place most Chinese "wouldn't dare go before; it's too remote. But now conditions are better," Hou says. "It's like going abroad, to another culture (because people living there) don't understand Mandarin" Chinese.

Gas stations and motels are springing up along the expressways to service the growing traffic volume. Hou's two-week trip cost him $125 a day for gas, a room and tolls. "The toll operators are the only robbers left on the roads," he says.

Hou relishes each escape from polluted Beijing. "The sky is so blue in western China."

Starting in July, a new train running 2,300 miles from Beijing to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, will shorten a weeklong journey by rail and bus to just 48 hours. Even so, Hou and his wife plan to drive. "It's a great feeling speeding through beautiful scenery," he says. "I feel so free on the road."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_516518.htm

Updated: 2006-01-31 14:59

The China National Offshore Oil Corp Limited (CNOOC Ltd) has announced recently that its net production volume in 2006 will reach approximately 170 million barrels of oil equivalent(BOE).



It will represent a nearly 9 percent increase over the 2005 level, says the company. Net production from offshore China is estimated to be 148 million to 149 million BOE in 2006, while the company's overseas output is expected to reach 21 million BOE.



Ten projects offshore China are expected to start operation in 2006. The company also plans to invest US$2.59 billion in business and resource development throughout 2006, up 30 percent year on year.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/01/31/1327472.htm

(Asia In Focus Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LHASA, Jan 31 Asia in Focus - The per capita gross domestic product (GDP) topped US$1,000 in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region last year. This is at least 10 per cent higher than the 2004 figure, according to a report released by the regional legislature.


* Tibet's GDP topped 25 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) in 2005, more than double the year 2000 figure of 11.78 billion yuan, said the report on Tibet's social and economic development.

* It added Tibet's annual GDP growth has averaged 12 per cent in the past five years.

SUMMARY

Per capita gross domestic product tops US$1,000 in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region last year

ASIA IN FOCUS

31-01 1741

China's Tibet reports US$8.5 bln in fixed assets investment


http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-china...31/1327473.htm

(Asia In Focus Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)LHASA, Jan 31 Asia in Focus - Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region reported 69 billion yuan (US$8.5 billion) in fixed assets investment between 2001 and 2005, three times as much as in the previous five-year period. About 50.8 billion yuan of the investment was appropriated from the central coffer to boost infrastructure construction in the region, said a report on the regional social and economic development during the 10th Five-Year Plan Period (2001-2005).



* In the past five years, 42,700 kilometres of highway opened to traffic and track laying was completed on the world's highest railroad linking Tibet to neighbouring Qinghai Province.

* The region's installed power generating capacity was expanded to 500,000 kilowatts, an increase of 150,000 kilowatts from the year 2000.

SUMMARY

Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region reports US$8.5 billion in fixed assets investment between 2001 and 2005

ASIA IN FOCUS

31-01 1742

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2238/200...138@296599.htm

2006-2-1 11:25:05 CRIENGLISH.com

China's steel output was estimated to have reached roughly 350 million tons in 2005, making up nearly one-third of the world's total, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) reported.

China's steel output, ranking the first place in the world for ten years consecutively, made great contributions to the country's fast economic and social development, said a recent NDRC report.

Steel output in China has been growing by an annual average 22.2 percent since the year 2000. Iron and steel enterprises with annual output of more than 5 million tons increased from 4 in 2000 to 18 in 2005.

The report said China's iron and steel products were becoming competitive in the global market as exports surged to an estimated 20 million tons last year, compared with 6.21 million tons in 2000.

Large and medium-sized steel enterprises posted 88.05 billion yuan (11billion U.S. dollars) in combined profits for 2004, jumping 7.7 times from 2000.

(Source: Xinhua)

http://www.upi.com/InternationalInte...1-071201-3303r

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The National Development and Reform Commission issued a report Tuesday reviewing China's oil and gas supplies heading into its next major planning period.

According to the NDRC report carried in state-run media, China has expanded its domestic oil and gas supplies over the last five years with crude oil output increasing from 165 million tons in 2000 to 183 million tons in 2005. Production of natural gas climbed from 27 billion cubic meters to 47.5 billion cubic meters in that time frame.

Breakthroughs in exploration and recovery techniques made over the last five years enabled China to maintain what the NDRC characterized as "steady growth."

The government body, which oversees the management of the country's economic development, said oil fields promising high yields were discovered in western China including Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Another oil field find was made in the Bay of Bohai.

Six large-scale natural gas finds were made between 2000 and 2005 in the Ordos, Sichuan, Tarim and Qaidam basins, as well as the South China Sea and East China Sea, according to the NDRC.

In 2000, petroleum accounted for 16.6 percent of China's energy consumption, rising to 22.7 percent by 2005. Natural gas use climbed from 2.1 percent in 2000 to 2.6 percent in 2005.

The report also summarized China's energy infrastructure development during the five year period. Since the completion of the West-to-East natural gas pipeline at the end of 2004, the country has established a 24,000 kilometer (14,913 mile) network. China also has a 20,000 km (12,428 mi.) oil pipeline grid.

The NDRC said by the end of 2005, China had signed more than 200 contracts worth over $9.3 billion dollars with foreign energy partners.

http://www.just-style.com/news_detail.asp?art=39918

Source: just-style.com




China's textile sales reached CNY3.3tn (US$408bn) in 2005, up a massive 115.7% from 2001, according to a report from the National Development and Reform Commission.

An article in today’s People's Daily said apparel exports reached $116bn in 2005, up 118.9% from five years ago.

More than 19 million people were employed by textile firms, and over 70% of the employees come from rural areas, the report said.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_516947.htm

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-03 10:54

China will see a U-turn from power shortage to sufficient supply beginning this year with the operation of newly installed generating units, according to the National Reform and Development Commission.

Power supply and demand in most areas will strike a balance, and a moderate surplus is even expected after 2007, said Zhang Guobao, vice minister in charge of the commission, recently.

China has long been suffering from short supply of electricity. Statistics of the commission show that the country was in short of 35 million kw of electricity in 2004 and 25 million kw in 2005.

This year will be a turning point and the short supply will be reduced to 10 million kw thanks to increased generating capacity.

China's installed generating capacity topped 500 million kw by the end of 2005, more than 200 million kw of which was added during the 2001-2005 period, Zhang said.

Power stations putting under construction last year will have a total generating units of 100 million kw.

However, in some places in north, east and south China, where rapid economic development has resulted in ballooning demand for power, tight supply will continue to be felt this year, the official said.

Those areas relying heavily on hydropower may even face a more severe situation during the dry winter-spring season, he added.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english...ent_517604.htm

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-06 15:41

In 2005, China exported medical products worth US$13.8 billion, up 28.1 percent over the previous year, and imported medical products totaling US$11.84 billion, up 18.5 percent, the Ministry of Commerce reports.
China exported US$12.97 billion worth of western medicine, which accounted for 94 percent of its total medicine export over the year, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the export volume of raw-material western medicine made up 57.3 percent of China's medicine export, reaching US$7.9 billion, and that of medical equipment made up 26.7 percent, reaching US$3.68 billion.

China's export of biochemical medicine leaped 50.8 percent to 480 million dollars over the year, the fastest growth among all kinds of western medicine export.

In 2005, the country also exported Chinese medicine worth US$830 million, including plant extracts of US$290 million, up 31.2 percent year-on-year, statistics show.

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/855/2006.../501@48050.htm

2006-02-07 16:01:34 CRIENGLISH.com

SEOUL - Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's top shipbuilder, said Tuesday it will double its annual imports of steel plates from China this year because of their improved quality and competitive prices.

Hyundai Heavy said it has reached a preliminary agreement with top Chinese steel maker Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. on the supply of 180,000 tons of steel plates annually, starting this year.

The supply will raise Hyundai Heavy's imports from China to 500,000 tons this year, 17 per cent of the company's projected annual demand of 3 million tons, the company said.

The amount will be 2.5 times more than the 200,000 tons Hyundai Heavy imported from China last year.

"Chinese products' quality has dramatically improved and they are about 30 per cent cheaper than Japanese products," company spokesman Kim Jun-ho said.

Hyundai Heavy bought about 55 per cent of its annual needs from domestic suppliers such as the world's No. 5 steelmaker POSCO last year, about 30 per cent from Japan and the remainder from various countries, including China, the company said.

Baoshan Iron & Steel has an annual production capacity of 23 million tons of crude steel and 1.4 million tons of steel plates for shipbuilding, the company said.

(Source: Asia Pulse )