Shanghai’s new zone: lots of hype, little detail

September 26, 2013 10:58 am

Shanghai’s new zone: lots of hype, little detail

By Simon Rabinovitch in Shanghai

The anticipation for China’s new free trade zone, set to be launched this weekend, is at fever pitch. Homes next to the zone in Shanghai’s far-flung suburbs are sold out. The stocks of companies expected to benefit have surged, some rising by more than 300 per cent over the past month. Economists have hailed it as China’s most significant reform push in more than a decade. Read more of this post

Shanghai Free-Trade Zone Splits Analysts on Benefits to Economy

Shanghai Free-Trade Zone Splits Analysts on Benefits to Economy

By Bloomberg News – Sep 25, 2013

China’s plan to set up a test zone in Shanghai with reduced state control over policies from interest rates to foreign investment has split analysts over whether it will boost the economy across the nation. Eight of 17 respondents to a Bloomberg News survey said the so-called free trade zone will have no effect or a negligible impact on growth, while eight said it will boost annual expansion by 0.1 percentage point to 0.5 point over the next five years. One economist in the survey, conducted from Sept. 18 through yesterday, said growth would increase by 0.5 point to 0.9 point. Read more of this post

Shandong Shipyard’s Lesson: Don’t Rock a Bank; A shipbuilder stung by European clients has spent years fighting a major bank, so far in vain

09.26.2013 19:33

Shandong Shipyard’s Lesson: Don’t Rock a Bank

A shipbuilder stung by European clients has spent years fighting a major bank, so far in vain

By staff reporters Pang Jiaoming and Wu Jing

(Beijing) — What was initially billed as a lucrative order from a European customer has pushed a Shandong Province shipbuilding company to the brink of bankruptcy and ruined its relationship with one of China’s biggest banks. Rushan City Shipbuilding Co. is fighting for survival after filing a lawsuit recently against the Rushan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) – the latest in a series of ugly legal battles involving the bank and shipping companies that began in 2010. Read more of this post

Population Control Is Called Big Revenue Source in China; Nineteen province-level governments in China collected a total of $2.7 billion in fines last year from parents who had violated family planning laws

September 26, 2013

Population Control Is Called Big Revenue Source in China

By EDWARD WONG

BEIJING — Nineteen province-level governments in China collected a total of $2.7 billion in fines last year from parents who had violated family planning laws, which usually limit couples to one child, a lawyer who had requested the data said Thursday. The lawyer, Wu Youshui of Zhejiang Province, sent letters in July to 31 provincial governments asking officials to disclose how much they had collected in 2012 in family planning fines, referred to as “social support fees.” He said he suspected that the fines were a substantial source of revenue for governments in poor parts of China. Read more of this post

NDRC Lets Firms Pay for Shantytown Work with Bonds

09.26.2013 14:53

NDRC Lets Firms Pay for Shantytown Work with Bonds

Cabinet says companies can pay up to 70 percent of the costs for the renovations through debt financing

By staff reporter Yang Na

(Beijing) – The government’s top planning agency beefed up financing for companies involved in rebuilding shantytowns by allowing them to cover nearly three-quarters of the cost via bonds. Rebuilding shantytowns is a major part of the government’s urbanization plans. A notice published on the website of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on September 25 said that companies involved in shantytown projects can issue corporate bonds. Read more of this post

Chinese TV show “Legend of Zhen Huan” gets ready for US market

Chinese TV show gets ready for US market

(CNTV)    12:42, September 23, 2013

The “Legend of Zhen Huan”, a Chinese TV drama which depicts the power strugglebetween the concubines of an emperor, has already been a success in Asian countries. Now,it’s about to land in the US, a positive sign that Chinese TV is increasingly ready to moveinto the international arena. The desperate housewives are about to get some competition from the “desperateconcubines”. As the most popular Chinese TV series of 2012, the Legend of Zhen Huan has charmedboth domestic and foreign viewers. The “Legend of Zhen Huan”, a Chinese TV drama which depicts the power struggle between the concubines of an emperor, has already been a success in Asian countries. Read more of this post

China: Culture crash; Apollo Tyres’ $2.5bn bid for Cooper Tire is being held back by an unusual obstacle

September 26, 2013 6:35 pm

China: Culture crash

By Tom Mitchell, James Crabtree and Robert Wright

Apollo Tyres’ $2.5bn bid for Cooper Tire is being held back by an unusual obstacle

The Cooper Chengshan Tire factory in eastern China has the feel of a place that is slowly coming back to life after a long siege. Three months after the factory’s 5,000-strong workforce first downed tools to protest about the proposed acquisition of their US parent by an Indian rival, employees in dark blue uniforms go about their tasks. But evidence of their continuing industrial action is festooned across the compound. Read more of this post

China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials

China state sector a honey pot for corrupt officials

Filed 10 hours ago

By Charlie Zhu

HONG KONG – In March last year, after getting government approval to go ahead with a $900 million refinery expansion in China’s southeastern Fujian province, state-run oil giant Sinopec Corp warned the team handling the project against taking bribes. “Project engineering and construction has been a main area for corruption at Sinopec,” the Fujian unit of Asia’s largest refiner said in a blunt memo, according to a Sinopec source who read it to Reuters. “All members, especially those in key posts, must treasure their positions, stay guarded and resist temptation.” Read more of this post

China Seeks to Repeat Deng’s Shenzhen Success in Shanghai Zone

China Seeks to Repeat Deng’s Shenzhen Success in Shanghai Zone

Three decades after Deng Xiaoping’s experiments with capitalism in the southern city of Shenzhen began lifting millions from poverty, his successors are applying that same strategy to the tougher task of making China rich. Playing the role of Shenzhen is 11 square miles of low-rise office buildings, white warehouses and concrete parking lots on the outskirts of Shanghai. The zone, set to open in two days, will test policies that reduce state controls on interest rates, the currency and investment. By giving markets and the private sector a bigger economic role, China may become a high-income nation by 2030, according to the World Bank. Read more of this post

China policy bank sells first asset-backed securities to strong demand; 32 billion yuan in securitised products were outstanding end June; 4.2 trillion yuan in trust loans are often packaged into wealth management products

China policy bank sells first asset-backed securities to strong demand

Wed, Sep 25 2013

SHANGHAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Agricultural Development Bank of China completed its first-ever sale of asset-backed securities (ABS) on Wednesday, as regulators push securitisation as a tool to enable banks to support the economy with new credit. ADB, one of China’s three policy banks devoted to non-commercial lending, sold 1.27 billion yuan ($207.5 million) worth of ABS, with each of the three tranches attracting strong demand from investors, official media reported on Thursday. Read more of this post

LM boss Peter Drake’s assets frozen; Latest blow for embattled Gold Coast businessman Peter Drake in the investigation into the collapse of his LM Investment Management empire

LM boss Peter Drake’s assets frozen

September 27, 2013 – 5:22PM

Georgia Wilkins

Slim pickings for LM investors

Embattled Gold Coast businessman Peter Drake has had his passport revoked and assets frozen during an ongoing investigation into the collapse of his LM Investment Management empire. The Supreme Court of Queensland ordered Mr Drake to surrender his passport on Friday, following an application by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The court orders also prevent Mr Drake from selling any assets he holds, excluding his Mermaid Beach, Queensland home, which is expected to be sold this weekend, the regulator said. Read more of this post

Blame negative gearing for property bubble, not us: SMSF lobby

Michael Bailey Deputy editor

Blame negative gearing for property bubble, not us: SMSF lobby

Published 26 September 2013 11:28, Updated 26 September 2013 12:03

Self-managed super funds hold just 3.4 per cent of their $495 billion assets in residential property, and are being unfairly blamed for stoking a new bubble, claims the chief lobby group for the sector. Gearing within SMSFs is also not the problem that critics of the sector allege, says the director of technical and professional standards at the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA), Graeme Colley. Read more of this post

Australian government faces housing bubble challenge

Australian government faces housing bubble challenge

Bubble risk, limits on home loans mulled

Banking regulator shows signs of concern over lenders’ increasing exposure to property

Xinhua | Agencies
Published on September 26, 2013 13:32

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which regulates banks, has hinted it is concerned about the industry’s rising exposure to property. APRA has opened the door to imposing limits for the first time in a decade on how much can be lent to home buyers. Australian central bank (RBA) board members are likely to have mixed feelings about property industry. They are probably glad that a housing upswing is under way, supporting growth, but may get nervous about overinflating housing prices. Read more of this post

With Tastes Growing Healthier, McDonald’s Aims to Adapt Its Menu; fast-food chain said it would increase its offerings of fruits and vegetables and promote more nutritional options to children

September 26, 2013

With Tastes Growing Healthier, McDonald’s Aims to Adapt Its Menu

By STEPHANIE STROM

The company is working with its supply chains to ensure access to enough produce. The chain said it would use its arsenal of marketing tools to help customers understand the nutritional choices available. Under pressure to provide healthier meals, McDonald’s announced on Thursday that it would no longer market some of its less nutritional options to children and said it also planned to include offerings of fruits and vegetables in many of its adult menu combinations. Read more of this post

Don’t Even Think About Returning That Dress: Return fraud costs America’s merchants almost $9 billion annually. Now they’re fighting back

Don’t Even Think About Returning That Dress

By Cotten Timberlake September 26, 2013

High-end retailers such as Bloomingdale’s are always happy to sell a glitzy party or bridesmaid dress that can cost hundreds of dollars. The return of a pricey frock after it’s been worn is a less jubilant event. If a garment comes back obviously used—sweat-stained, for example—a retailer can refuse to refund it, but that conversation can be “awkward,” says Richard Mellor, vice president of loss prevention at the National Retail Federation. So some retailers simply look the other way. Read more of this post

An Ugly Dilemma for Beauty Companies: China, whose cosmetics market is forecast to grow to $34.8 billion this year, requires animal testing for new products

An Ugly Dilemma for Beauty Companies

By Liza Lin September 26, 2013

Executives of Western cosmetics makers are ecstatic about the prospect of continued growth in China’s $32 billion beauty market. Animal rights activists, not so much. That’s because hundreds of thousands of animals are believed killed each year in tests mandated for all new cosmetics and personal-care products to win approval on the mainland. China is the only major market where companies must test their mascaras and lotions on animals. Rabbits, for instance, have ingredients dripped into their eyes or are killed after skin irritation tests, according to animal-rights group Cruelty Free International. That’s created a dilemma for companies like L’Oréal (OR:FP) and Procter & Gamble(PG) that want to sell in the giant market without alienating consumers in countries where public sentiment frowns on such animal treatment. U.S. regulators discourage, but don’t bar, animal tests. India in June banned animal testing for beauty products. And the European Union, which has long barred such trials within its borders, in March tightened regulations to also prohibit the sale of newly developed products tested on animals elsewhere. (Existing products that previously underwent testing in China are exempt.) Unless companies can get Chinese regulators to ease their mandate, they may need to devise separate formulations for China and Europe or produce China-only items. Read more of this post

India’s Street Vendors Come Out of the Shadows

India’s Street Vendors Come Out of the Shadows

What Indian economic phenomenon is at once marginal, even illegal, and enormously independent and entrepreneurial? That would be the street vendor, the small capitalist of the poor, and reservoir of off-the-books penalties that grease the machine of every municipal authority and police station in urban India. There are an estimated 10 million street vendors (another term is the more pejorative “hawkers”) in the cities of India, functioning mostly in breach of a host of urban laws governing licensing, selling and zoning — and challenging bourgeois ideas of what a metropolis should look like. Street vendors have long battled to be recognized as a professional guild, not a shadowy underclass. Earlier this month, after more than a decade of agitation, the National Association of Street Vendors won a significant victory when the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, recognized the rights of street vendors by passing the Street Vendors Bill, 2012. Read more of this post

India’s Emu Ranching Bubble Bursts, With a Grim Aftermath; The collapse of India’s emu business has reduced the size of the country’s flock from 2 million to 800,000

India’s Emu Ranching Bubble Bursts, With a Grim Aftermath

By Bruce Einhorn and Ganesh Nagarajan September 26, 2013

In India’s countryside, where poor farmers must cope with droughts, floods, and other disasters, there’s a new scourge: the collapse of emu ranching. Native to Australia, the emu is a large, flightless bird that somewhat resembles its African cousin, the ostrich, and tastes (fans say) like beef. Farmers in Australia, the U.S., and other countries raise emus for their meat, eggs, and oil (rendered from their fat). About five years ago, Indian farmers started seeing these Australian fowl as their ticket to riches. The fad quickly spread across the country, as farmers “just did whatever the neighbors said,” says Vinay Sharma, a former banker in New Jersey with Merrill Lynch who now raises emus in Gujarat. Overcapacity—the bird population peaked at about 2 million in 2012—has led some to abandon their emus in the wild. “People are feeling this business is not doing well,” he says. Read more of this post

India woos offshore currency players as rupee hits hard times

Updated: Thursday September 26, 2013 MYT 5:23:20 PM

India woos offshore currency players as rupee hits hard times

MUMBAI: Stung by the rupee’s recent collapse, India’s central bank is taking a carrot-and-stick approach to curb trade in the offshore forwards market that is seen as a key source of wrenching currency volatility. However, with no viable alternative to trading in non-deliverable forwards (NDF) involving the rupee, the strategy is likely to have only a limited impact. The Reserve Bank of India recently met with a handful of foreign banks and asked them to stop acting as market-makers for rupee NDFs, according to three bankers involved in the discussions. Read more of this post