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Business Tianjin Magazine - Business English Magazine in China
China seeks to widen gold market
Wednesday, 04 August 2010 15:39
China has moved to liberalise its gold market further, increasing the number of banks allowed to trade bullion internationally and announcing measures that will encourage development of gold-linked investment products.
The move by Beijing’s central bank comes as the country’s investors pour record amounts of money into gold, in a trend that is becoming a significant factor on global prices.
China is the world’s largest gold producer and the second-largest consumer, after India, but its domestic market remains constrained by limited investment products.
“This is a positive sign for the gold market,” said James Steel, precious metals strategist at HSBC in New York.
“The Chinese statement reaffirms the vigour of the emerging markets’ demand for retail physical bullion.”
Gold prices rose in London, partly on the back of China’s announcement, but also on signs of robust buying from India’s jewellery sector.
Spot bullion traded at $1,190 a troy ounce, up from a three-month low of less than $1,160 an ounce last week.
GFMS, the London-based precious metals consultancy, said recently that Chinese investors, who are building wealth at an unprecedented rate, were diversifying their assets into gold to “protect themselves against inflation”.
China said “the need to perfect foreign exchange policies in the gold market is clear.”
It called for better financing services for bullion, opening the door for Chinese banks to hedge their gold risk overseas.
The central bank also hinted at changes in taxes on bullion. But it failed to endorse gold as an investment and to suggest it planned to increase the size of its bullion reserves, one of the world’s largest.
The new gold guidelines are part of the gradual internationalisation of the Chinese banking system. Restrictions on some renminbi-denominated investment products in Hong Kong have been lifted recently, and renminbi cross-border settlement programmes have been expanded this year.
Foreign Companies Sound off on Business Policies
Thursday, 22 July 2010 10:40
The heads of some leading U.S. and European multinationals have publicly questioned recently whether new Chinese policies and regulations are making China a more difficult place for foreign firms to do business.
Over the weekend, the leaders of two large German companies with major investments in China -- the Siemens conglomerate and the chemical firm BASF -- challenged Premier Wen Jiabao about the country's deteriorating business climate during a meeting in Beijing attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Their criticisms come after similar remarks from the chief executive of Microsoft, who complained recently about China's treatment of intellectual property, and from the head of General Electric, who voiced concern about the country's business climate. Earlier this year, the Internet giant Google threatened to shut down its Chinese search engine, saying that a server had been hacked and that it could no longer abide by Chinese censorship rules.
In a survey of 183 world economies this month, the International Finance Corp., part of the World Bank, ranked China's business climate 89th -- a drop of three places since last year.
The American Chamber of Commerce in the People's Republic of China reported in its 2010 business-climate survey in April that most U.S. firms remain optimistic about China for the medium term. But that outlook is tempered by "worry that China's regulatory environment is becoming increasingly difficult," the survey found.
What is new, analysts say, is that some top executives doing business here are voicing their discontent openly, a significant shift from the traditional pattern of keeping a low public profile to avoid angering Chinese officials -- and risking retaliation.
"For them to come out and publicly deliver a tongue-lashing to Chinese officials is extremely significant," said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of GaveKal Dragonomics, an economics research firm in Beijing.
The foreign companies' biggest concern, observers said, is a set of policies known as "indigenous innovation," which essentially requires firms operating here to transfer their latest technology to China; it also favors homegrown Chinese companies for government business and contracts.
A foreign company here "has to register its technology in China, innovate in China and, in some cases, make it in China," said Murray King, managing director for greater China at Apco Worldwide, a corporate advisory and public affairs firm.
Without what U.S. and European firms consider adequate safeguards of intellectual property, some foreign business leaders are worried that Chinese companies will copy their technology and use it to compete against the foreign firms in the global marketplace.
Business analysts said that, for the most part, concern about a deteriorating business climate has been largely confined to those companies hit hardest by being forced to transfer their technology. Foreign firms in the retail sector are finding China to be a booming market at a time when the United States and Europe are still shaking off the global recession. The Gap clothing store is planning to open its first Chinese branches this year, in Beijing and Shanghai. Apple opened a new, cylindrical, 16,000-square-foot store in Shanghai this month. China has given General Motors a badly needed boost in car sales. And fast-food chains and companies selling luxury goods and consumer gadgets here are thriving.
In contrast, the more technology-based multinational firms -- particularly those involved in telecommunications, aerospace, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and alternative energy -- are finding China increasingly assertive and more interested than ever in acquiring their know-how. "Companies operating in those sectors are finding some significant head winds," King said.
U.S. and European banking and financial services companies have also voiced complaints about strict government controls of that sector, even as they open new branches in China.
Analysts said both developments -- China's new assertiveness toward multinationals and the firms' new willingness to protest publicly -- reflect the changing power dynamics as the country becomes more prosperous and self-assured.
"For a long time, multinationals had a significant degree of market power -- cash and technology," said Dragonomics' Kroeber. "Now China is bigger and more powerful. . . . They don't need cash anymore. They can drive a harder bargain."
Song Hong, a researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics, agreed. "The era when the foreign investor was treated as God in China passed," he said, adding that as a result, many foreign enterprises "now feel that they are not welcome."
In the weekend session with the German delegation, Wen, the premier, pushed back against that perception, calling it "untrue," according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Xinhua, in an editorial, said Wen's reply may have been undiplomatic but was "the right and no-nonsense answer" to the growing chorus of doubt about China's business climate. Despite the complaints, Xinhua said, citing Commerce Ministry figures, foreign investment in China rose 19.6 percent for the first half of 2010 compared with last year.
China Welcomes WTO Finding Against EU
Monday, 18 July 2011 11:42
China welcomed findings by the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body in a Chinese antidumping case against the European Union, China's Commerce Ministry said Saturday.
The Appellate Body supported China's position on the EU's application of antidumping tariffs to imports of certain metal fasteners from China. Both the EU and China had filed appeals after the WTO in December condemned the tariffs, handing Beijing its biggest legal victory so far at the WTO.
"China hopes Europe as quickly as possible eliminates the legislation and discriminatory antidumping policies that are inconsistent with WTO rules," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. "China's victory in this case is very meaningful and will help improve the competitive environment for Chinese companies in international markets including the EU".
A spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht declined to comment.
The WTO on Friday said the Appellate Body upheld earlier findings that part of the EU's dumping rules were inconsistent with WTO rules.
China joined the WTO in 2001. Its exports to the rich world immediately soared, leading to tensions over currency values, public contracts, access to the Chinese market by Western companies and charges of "dumping," or exporting to a foreign country below cost.
The EU and the U.S. have made extensive use of WTO rules that allow countries to impose tariffs on dumped goods, frequently targeting countries where the state plays a large role in the economy, such as China or India. But China has also begun systematically challenging EU and U.S. tariff increases against its exports.
Chinese firms show up in large-scale at Dubai's automotive trade fair
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 11:08
The smell of auto tires engulfed the Dubai World Trade Center on Tuesday, when the 9th Automechanika Middle East trade show opened its doors, with more than 100 Chinese firms participating in the three-day exhibition.
Amy Liao, sales manager at Anda Automobile Parts based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, was for the first time exhibiting in Dubai.
"We produce all kinds of engines for trucks but also for ships, " Liao said, "We have no office in Dubai as yet, although we won many clients during the last years."
Dubai is well-known as a trade hub of the Middle East, linking the Far East with Africa and Europe. The Jebel Ali Free Port in the west of Dubai is the largest container port in the Middle East.
The largest market for tires in the region is Saudi Arabia, which imports 13 million tires per year, worth 800 million U.S. dollars.
"Innovation is key in these competitive markets," said James Wang, marketing and sales director at Techking Tires Ltd., adding that his company's green sustainable approach is quite unique in the branch.
"We sell tire for trucks and off-roaders. We reduced the aroma in the tire, making the smell less aggressive for workers and end- users," he said.
Techking, based in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, is exporting to 110 countries worldwide.
"During the first half day we had a lot of trade visitors at our stand. It starts really well," Wang said.
There is no doubt that big names, such as Michelin or Goodyear, face increasingly competition from emerging markets, including China.
Some 1,100 exhibitors from 52 countries or regions attended the Automechanika fair, organized by Messe Frankfurt, Germany's largest trade fair organizer.
Limits to be relaxed soon for insurers
Friday, 28 May 2010 16:52
BEIJING - The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) will loosen the limits on investments by insurance companies in stocks and bonds, but may be cautious on permitting property investments, a CIRC official said on Wednesday.
"We are in discussions to allow major insurers to invest 20 percent of their assets into stocks and equity funds, and increase their investments in unsecured bonds to 20 percent from 15 percent," Sun Jianyong, head of the capital management department of CIRC told China Daily.
Currently, insurers are allowed to invest 20 percent of their assets into stocks, equity funds and debt funds.
"Since debt funds usually account for a small proportion of the 20 percent investment basket, the loosening is just a signal. It is hardly expected to boost the stock market and insurers' investment returns," said Wang Xiaogang, a senior analyst with Shanghai-based Orient Securities.
According to CIRC data, the premium income of insurers rose 13.8 percent to 1.1 trillion yuan last year, with total assets touching 4.1 trillion yuan.
Industry insiders said the loosening may bring around 10 billion yuan of capital into China's stock market.
The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of China's stock exchanges, gained 3.16, or 0.1 percent, to close at 2625.79 on Wednesday.
"We are more keen to see the detailed rules governing investments in property and private equities," said a manager at a leading insurance asset management company.
But according to Sun, the launch of the detailed rules, especially the one on property investment, may still take some time.
Though the CIRC opened property as a new investment channel after the revised insurance law came into effect from Oct 1 last year, the detailed rules are yet to come out and hence effectively bars insurers from making such investments.
Wu Dingfu, chairman of the CIRC, said early this year that insurers would not be allowed to invest in residential buildings or be involved during the property development stage.
At the same time, the CIRC said insurers would not be allowed to make direct investments in the nation's commercial property sector.
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