Yunnan sells much produce to Dubai
2 Aug 2018 – Agricultural companies in Yunnan are selling much green produce to the Middle East. Yunnan State Farms Group, Yunnan Wuzhou Flower and 12 other companies have sealed sales contracts at the China (Yunnan) – Dubai Green Food Fair held in Dubai. Yunnan companies are selling their tobacco, coffee, tea, vegetable and cut flower to Dubai. Dual-way trades between Yunnan and Dubai also bring more Chinese to the property markets in Dubai where they also start their own businesses.

State companies earn 10% more in 1H '18
2 Aug 2018 – State-owned companies in China earned 10% more profits in the first half of 2018 on improved profitability and debt repaying ability. In terms of sales turnover, state firms earned a total of RMB27.76 trillion in the first half of the year, an increase of 10.2% over a year ago. Central government-controlled firms earned RMB16.13 trillion, climbing 9.9% over a year earlier, while local government-run firms earned RMB11.63 trillion, jumping also 10.6%. Those in the iron and steel, petroleum and non-ferrous metal businesses were seeing more profits.

Qingdao and Piraeus strengthen port cooperation
2 Aug 2018 – Shandong’s Qingdao Port and Piraeus Port of Greece have signed strategic alliance agreements to jointly develop port trade and services. At a Qingdao-Greece bilateral trade and investment promotion forum held in Athens, Greece, the two shared a common view in developing port logistics, trade, port information and technology applications. They will share more port operation and management experience.  

Sichuan Provincial Investment completes bond issuance
2 Aug 2018 – Sichuan Provincial Investment Group Co. Ltd. has issued a batch of RMB2 billion bonds at Shanghai Stock Exchange, pricing at an interest rate of 4.37% for a term of 3+2 years. The bond issuance is able to save Sichuan Provincial Investment about RMB38.05 million of interest expenses. Its quota to issue a total of RMB4 billion bonds nodded by China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is achieved, issuing at an average coupon rate of 4.38%.

Lanzhou Petrochemical meets National VI standard
31 Jul 2018 – Lanzhou Petrochemical Co. has successfully produced 3,600 tons of National VI No. 98 standard diesel for automobiles, getting closer to China’s mandate of using VI diesel starting from 1 January 2019. The VI diesel has lower or 35% aromatic hydrocarbons, making emission less polluting. Lanzhou Petrochemical is getting ready for mass production.

Indonesia's Cisumdawu highway near completion
31 Jul 2018 – The tunnel engineering work of China and Indonesia’s joint highway project connecting Cisumdawu has just been completed, signaling an early completion of the highway linking Kota Bandung. The 6-lane dual-way highway has a total distance of 3,950 meter. It is sponsored and built by MCC Overseas Ltd and MCC 17 Ltd of China.

World Cup spikes Hisense TV sales
27 Jul 2018 – Sales of TVs touched a record high at Hisense thank for the World Cup and its fans. In June, Hisense sales of TVs shared 20.16% of the market, six percentage points higher than the second best. Both the sales unit and sales value of 55-inch TVs broke a market share of 19%. Sales of 75-inch TVs also hit 28%.  

Guangxi Radio and TV and AliCloud tap ASEAN markets
26 Jul 2018 - Guangxi Radio and Television Information Network Corporation Limited and Alibaba Cloud Computing Co. Ltd. have teamed up to launch seven kinds of applications. Since their alliance was sealed in 2016, they have taken seven kinds of cloud-based applications to a successful stage. Cloud-based medical and education, internet security, cultural and entertainment services, financials, smart city, and even public government administration in Guangxi have been upgraded to media-compatible platforms. These services may also be facing the ASEAN markets one day.   

SDIC buys Arab Potash for US$502mn
26 Jul 2018 – State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC) has signed to acquire a 28% equity stake of Arab Potash Company (APC) for about US$502 million, becoming APC’s single biggest shareholder.  APC is the eighth largest potash company in the world, producing 2.32 million tons of potash in 2017. It has a franchise license of a hundred years given by the Jordanian government for mining minerals from the Dead Sea. It sells heavily to China, India, Malaysia and other Middle East markets.

Liaoning and Baden-Württemberg tighten trade ties
21 Jul 2018 – Companies in Shenyang, Liaoning province and those from Baden-Württemberg of Germany gathered in Shenyang to make closer ties in trade and investment. At the 24th round of China Liaoning-Baden-Württemberg Economic Technology Cooperation meeting, Liaoning companies and German companies have basically agreed to deepen cooperation in manufacturing of equipment, environmental protection, medical services, education and protection of intellectual properties. Their alliance started in 1984 when the provincial government of Liaoning and that of Baden-Württemberg first formed consolidated work groups to foster trade.

The offshore wind turbine of Xinghuawan Wind Farm, Fujian Province. Photo courtesy of China Three Gorges Corporation

Automatic water-saving irrigation systems working on China fields. Photo courtesy of www.gov.cn