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China Said to Strengthen Regulation of Securities Trade
China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said it would not only impose administrative penalties on illegal activities in securities trade, but also handover severe criminal cases to the police.
It said on November 7 that by the end of September, the investigation team of the commission had completed inquiry into 66 cases that involves illegal activities in securities trade this year.
These cases involved insider trading, market manipulation and violation of information disclosure regulations.
The CSRC has imposed 43 administrative punishments, confiscating 153.18 million Yuan (USD 22.53 million) of illegal income and fining 146.66 million Yuan (USD 21.44 million).
The commission also revoked the securities business licenses of 13 people and banned two people from engaging in securities fund business.
China to Invest More than 1 Trillion Yuan in Grid Construction
The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the country's biggest power supplier, plans to more than double its investment for the next two years to a total of 1.16 trillion Yuan (USD 169.9 billion) for grid construction nationwide.
"We decided to add about 500 billion Yuan (USD 73.11 billion) investment to the original 550 billion Yuan (USD 80.42 billion) scheduled for 2009 and 2010 in a bid to help stimulate domestic demand," said a statement on the corporation's website.
The planned investment is yet to be approved by the State Council, or China's Cabinet.
SGCC general manager assistant Lu Jian said the company had already arranged 12 billion Yuan (USD 1.75 billion)in the fourth quarter for the development of urban and rural power supply in the country’s central and western regions.
"We got 2.73 billion Yuan (USD 399.2 million) from the central government. The rest was from bank loans and company funds," he said.
The State Council announced on Thursday a 100-billion-Yuan package to accelerate national economic development in the fourth quarter. SGCC was granted 68.2 percent of the 4 billion Yuan (USD 584.9 million) that went to support grid building.
Experts said power construction could directly benefit industries such as metallurgy, building materials, electricity and machinery manufacturing, as it would promote investment, consumption and trade.
Industrial statistics show that the construction of every 100 kilometers of power lines of a 500-kilovolt grid project consumed 5,000 tons of steel, 2,000 tons of aluminum and 7,000 cubic meters of cement.
In 1998, the government invested more than 300 billion Yuan (USD 43.86 billion) in grid building projects to stimulate the domestic economy and fend off the financial crisis in the Southeast Asia, according to the SGCC announcement.
Troubled Economy Drags down China's Power Consumption
China's power consumption stood at 269.85 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) in October, down 3.7 percent compared with October last year, the first year-on-year monthly decrease since 1999.
According to the China Electricity Council (CEC), electricity consumption was 2.9 trillion kwh in the first 10 months, up 8.27 percent from the same period last year, compared with 9.67 percent in the first nine months.
Power supply also dropped last month with total electricity generated at 264.5 billion kwh, down 4 percent from October last year.
"Power generation was dragged down mainly by a 5.2 percent year-on-year decrease in coal-fired power supply, which accounts for about 80 percent of China’s total power," the CEC statement said.
Analysts with Shanghai-based Guotai Jun'an Securities said the drop in consumption and supply signaled a slowdown in the country's economy that went "beyond expectations".
"The sudden slowdown in power demand shows many companies in the manufacturing sector have cut production due to a continuous price slump of industrial commodities both at home and abroad," said a Guotai Jun'an analysis issued on November 21.
Experts further warned the decrease in power supply may sound an alarm for future economic slowdown, as successive falls in power generation often precede a similar downward trend in economic growth.
Foreign Brands Win Bid in China Rural Household Appliance Project
Samsung, Panasonic, Nokia and other leading foreign brands were on the list of Chinese subsidized household appliances for farmers.
The Chinese government promised to grant a 13 percent subsidy for household appliances for farmers on purchase of these household appliances to improve 900 million rural residents' living standards and boost domestic consumption, and a pilot program began in December 2007.
According to the bidding result announced by the China National Electronics Import and Export Corp., 155 domestic and foreign companies took part in the bidding for color TV sets, refrigerators, mobile phones, washing machines and chest freezers.
Panasonic, Midea, TCL and other 33 brands were on the washing machine list, with Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and other 14 brands getting a share of the big mobile phone market in the rural regions.
Ten domestic leading manufacturers including Hisense, Konka and Haier were on the color TV sets list, while Meiling, Haier, Siemens and a further 37 brands were on the list of refrigerators. Another 19 companies won the bid for chest freezers.
The government expanded the subsidy to nine more provinces from the initial three of eastern Shandong, central Henan and southwestern Sichuan.
The new areas included Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Hubei and Shaanxi, among others.
China's State Council (Cabinet) passed a string of policies to support the development of the country’s light industry on Wednesday. One of them is to expand the practice of offering subsidies to rural households to buy electrical appliances.
Huo Dufang, chairman of China Household Electric Appliance Association said last month the country’s home electric appliance industry faced a severe situation this year with production, sales and export slowing down, adding that the rural market provided the industry with new opportunities.
Jin Ming, an executive of domestic leading chain retailer Suning Appliance, forecast that nearly 100 million color TV sets and 145 million refrigerators were needed in the next ten years by the 210 million households in rural areas.
Dr. Ou Minggang, a domestic economist, said on November 23 that the household appliance subsidy policy revealed the government's resolution to boost domestic consumption in the long run.
However, he added that "supporting facilities including the power grid construction and tap water supply were also indispensable conditions for farmers to benefit from those household appliances."
China to Impose Stricter Checks on Listed Companies
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on November 21 that it would conduct more checks of listed companies in a bid to avoid malpractice in stock trading.
Majority shareholders of listed companies, relevant parties involved in mergers and acquisitions and securities brokers would all be subject to examinations, the CSRC said in a draft revision.
In the past, local regulators would only examine listed companies when monitoring stock trading practices, according to regulation published in 2001.
CSRC also said future examination would focus on corporate governance and information disclosure of listed companies, in order to avoid insider trading and price manipulation to protect the interests of small investors.
On the same day, the regulator announced huge fines for companies and individuals for profiteering from stock price manipulation.
Wang Jianzhong, legal representative of Beijing Shoufang Investment Consulting, was fined 125 million Yuan (USD 18.3 million), the same amount he earned through price rigging from January 2007 to May of this year, according to the commission. Illegal earnings would also be confiscated.
A Wuhan-based Xinlande investment consulting company in central China received a penalty of 7.35 million Yuan (USD 1.07 million) for price manipulation. The company earned the same amount of money from malpractice in 2007.
In both cases, the person or company bought certain shares in advance before trying to push stock prices higher by recommending these stocks to investors. They could then sell the stocks and profit from the price margin.
The commission also said a couple was fined 300,000 Yuan (USD 43,864) for not disclosing information promptly, as they were obliged to according to a securities regulation, after they bought more than five percent of a company's shares in June last year.
China Sold 300 bln Yuan of Welfare Lottery in Past Two Decades
China has sold a total of 325.4 billion Yuan (USD 47.64 billion) of welfare lottery over the past 21 years, the country's lottery watchdog said on November 27.
Of the sales, 109.6 billion Yuan (USD 15.7 billion) was earmarked for national public welfare fund, said Feng Lizhi, vice director of the China Welfare Lottery Management Center.
The fund was mainly used for the development of social welfare facilities, education and health care for orphans, the elderly and the disabled, said Wang Zhenyao, director of the Social Welfare and Charity Promotion Department under China's Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Thanks to the fund, welfare institutions had increased to 42,057 in China by the end of 2007, 33,069 more than that in 1987. Nearly two million people were accepted by the welfare institutions, 9.39 times more than the capability of welfare organizations could bear in 1987, Wang said.
"In the past, the welfare organizations only provided accommodation, however, their service has been extended to treatment, education and rehabilitation," he said.
China’s Biggest Machinery Maker to See Overseas Sales up 25% in 2009
Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), China's biggest construction machinery maker, expects its overseas sales to grow 25 percent next year to 1 billion U.S. dollars despite the global financial crisis, China Daily reports here on Thursday.
The southern Jiangsu-based group estimates at 800 million US dollars overseas sales this year, and hopes to get 30 to 40 percent of its revenue from foreign markets over the next few years.
"We are also considering establishing plants in Poland and Iran," said company chairman Wang Min.
According to Wang, the on-going global financial turbulence presents an opportunity for the company to buy assets in Europe and the United States. "We are interested in buying distribution companies but not manufacturing facilities," said Wang.
XCMG’s overseas revenues come mainly from the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, but South American markets such as Argentina and Brazil are emerging.
Company statistics showed the total revenue would top 40 billion Yuan (USD 5.86 billion) this year, up 23 percent from last year's 30.8 billion Yuan (USD 4.4 billion), and will expand to 50 billion Yuan (USD 7.14 billion) in 2009 thanks to a strong infrastructure market boosted by governmental projects planned for economic growth.
As one of the Chinese leading machinery makers to compete in the international market, XCMG has not made any major overseas acquisition so far.
 
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