output reduction
several leading chinese steel mills are set to cut production to cope with the pressure of weak demand hanging over their iron-smelting furnaces.
shougang group and three other big domestic iron and steel manufacturers will slash 20 percent of their production this month amid slack domestic demand and dropping steel prices.
these major steel makers include hebei iron and steel group, shandong iron and steel group and anyang iron and steel group.
analysts say the sagging price was the main cause of the production reduction. china's real estate sector was currently in its nadir, which also pulled down steel product consumption.
these steel mills would endeavor to further reduce the purchasing price of raw materials, adjust product mix and enhance communication among the companies respective management.
stake transfer
china national bluestar group corp (bluestar) last week said it completed a stake transfer with blackstone group, in which the us private equity paid $600 million for a 20 percent stake.
blackstone agreed on the deal in september last year. the latest move is its first major investment in china.
bluestar is a subsidiary of china national chemical corp (chemchina), the country's leading chemicals manufacturer.
bluestar was founded 24 years ago as a major manufacturer of new material and specialty chemical products. chemchina was established in 2004. it was formed following the restructuring of several enterprises under the former ministry of chemical industry.
commenting on the deal, liang peng, an analyst with the party school of the cpc central committee, said: "the deal can help bluestar improve its technology and management level, which will make the company more multinational."
new service arm
as part of its large jet program, the commercial aircraft corporation of china (comac) set up an aircraft service company on september 30.
comac shanghai aircraft customer service co ltd provides aircraft maintenance and repair, pilot training, aviation equipment and materials leasing and consulting for aviation technologies for both large planes and regional aircraft.
jin zhuanglong, comac general manager, said the service company was among the comac's three key entities which were responsible for aircraft design, manufacturing and service.
the establishment of the company was another step forward by comac to manufacture china's homegrown large aircraft, he said.
the announcement came before comac's test flight of the arj-21 regional jet which is supposed to happen before the end of this year. arj-21 is china's first indigenously developed and manufactured passenger aircraft. in december, it became the first plane made on the production line in shanghai.
nuclear plant
china huaneng group, the country's largest power producer, last week signed deals with suppliers to equip its first nuclear power plant in shandong province.
makers of the equipment used for the plant include tsinghua university, china nuclear engineering group co, shanghai electric and harbin power equipment corp.
the huaneng nuclear plant, located at shidao bay in the city of rongcheng, is expected to use high-temperature, gas-cooled technology. it is said to be the first nuclear power plant in china using the technology.
construction of the plant, which is designed for a capacity of 200 mw in the first phase, will start in september next year. it is scheduled to start operations in 2013.
compared with conventional technology, nuclear reactors using the new technology are safer, more efficient and more simply designed, analysts say.
china, the us and south africa are considered to be leaders in the area.
contracts sealed
shimao property holdings ltd, a chinese developer whose credit rating was cut earlier this month on funding concerns, said it signed contracts to sell 1 billion yuan of property during the week-long national day holiday.
the shanghai-based firm, which didn't give a year ago comparison, said it was now confident of hitting its full year 14 billion yuan sales target, bloomberg news said.
property demand in chinese cities has dropped by as much as half since the government last year raised minimum down payment requirements and increased rates on some mortgages to cool home prices, csc securities hk ltd analyst liu bin said last month. moody's investors service cut shimao's rating for the second time in less than three months, citing "weak cash sales".
most of the properties sold in the holiday ended last monday are in second and third tier cities where "markets are relatively stable", shimao said, citing projects in suzhou and xuzhou in jiangsu province.
new oil, gas well
china national offshore oil co ltd (cnooc) announced last monday it had found a new oil and gas well in east china's bohai bay.
the well is located to the east of the yellow river mouth. the well was drilled to a total depth of 3,235 meters.
during the drill stem test, the well flowed at an average rate of 560 barrels of oil per day.
cnooc ltd has made several oil and gas discoveries in the bohai area this year.
cnooc ltd holds a 100 percent stake in the new discovery and has successfully completed the drilling process, according to the company.
listed in hong kong and new york, cnooc ltd is the subsidiary of china national offshore oil corp, the country's largest offshore oil producer.
cnooc produced 72.9 million barrels of crude oil and 112.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the first half of the year, up 7.1 percent and 12.8 percent from the same period last year, respectively.
