IN BRIEF

Property

Beijing new home prices fall 20% in Q1

Prices of new homes in Beijing fell 20.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, as property developers offered more discounts to stimulate sales with tightening policies set to continue.

The average price of new homes in Beijing was 12,326 yuan ($1,956, 1,489 euros) per square meter as of end-March, compared with 13,173 yuan at the end of last year and 14,147 yuan at the beginning of 2011, according to the Beijing Real Estate Association.

Chen Zhiwu, secretary-general of the association, said 16,000 new apartments were sold during the first quarter, with 90 percent of buyers being first-home purchasers.

Auto

Chery to build Brazil supply chain

Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile Co plans to build a complete supply chain in Brazil as it prepares to make cars in the South American country in 2013.

In-country component manufacturing will help Chery avoid the high taxes levied on imported cars and assembled vehicles with little local content.

Chery said last month that it will establish an industrial park in Brazil that will be home to its own assembly plant and manufacturing facilities for the company's suppliers.

BMW hits Q1 record in China

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest luxury automaker, delivered more cars in China than in the United States for the first time ever in the first quarter of the year.

The number of cars sold in China under the BMW and Mini brands rose by 37 percent to 80,014 vehicles, Hollie Yang, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the company, said on April 10. That's 4,285 more than were sold in the US, where deliveries rose by 17 percent.

Materials

Zijin seeks stake in Australian firm

Zijin Mining Group Co, China's largest gold producer, plans to make a further move into the Australian market by acquiring a controlling stake in Norton Gold Fields.

Zijin plans to offer A$229 million ($235 million, 179 million euros), or A$0.25 per share, for a controlling stake in the Australian miner, the Chinese company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on April 5.

The deal is subject to a number of conditions, including due diligence investigations, Foreign Investment Review Board approval, Chinese regulatory approval and Zijin obtaining a shareholding of at least 50.1 percent, according to the statement.

Electronics

Samsung to build plant in NW China

Samsung Electronics, a leading global memory chip-maker, will build a memory chip plant in the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an with an investment of $7 billion.

The plant, to be located in the High-tech Industries Development Zone of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, will manufacture 100,000 memory chips per month after it goes into operation at the end of 2013, according to an agreement signed between Samsung and the development zone.

Samsung executives said they chose Xi'an as the new plant site because the city has favorable infrastructure, excellent public services and abundant labor.

Drinks

Bordeaux looks to China amid slump

French winemakers in Bordeaux, the world's top wine-producing region, are vying for more Chinese investors, said a senior official with the region's chamber of commerce.

"Their investment will create a win-win situation since many chateaus are currently experiencing sluggish business and an ever-shrinking market," said Pierre Goguet, president of the Bordeaus Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bordeaux, during a promotional event for the China Dalian International Wine & Dine Festival, which is set to open on July 12.

A total of 10,000 chateaus have been built in the region, but market doldrums has hit even those that have been around for more than a century.

Leisure

Mickey Mouse teams with 'pudgy penguin'

The Walt Disney Company's Mickey Mouse has formed a partnership with its Chinese friend "the pudgy penguin", the well-known icon of China's biggest Internet company, to tap into China's booming animation industry.

The Walt Disney Company in China, the Ministry of Culture's China Animation Group, and Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's largest Internet service provider, joined hands on April 3 to explore creative research and development in the animation industry.

China Daily