IN BRIEF (Page 18)

Retial

Fast-fashion brands stretch their cloth

International fast-fashion brands are shifting their business focus in China from tier-one cities to second and third-tier cities, a report says.

Over the past decade, the brands have expanded rapidly, and have become more aggressive this year, the report, by CBRE, a real estate services adviser, says.

The four biggest fast-fashion brands, C&A, H&M, Uniqlo and Zara had 523 shops by June, it says. Of these, 40 percent had opened in the previous 18 months.

Finance

Capital idea in draft bond guidelines

The China Securities Regulatory Commission and the China Banking Regulatory Commission have drafted rules that will allow domestic commercial banks to issue corporate bonds to replenish capital, the securities commission says.

The guidelines give commercial banks more scope to raise new capital and promote growth of the Chinese bond market, a spokesman for the commission said.

"Commercial banks should focus on increasing their income and reducing their spending to bolster their capital and improve the quality of their capital and then prudently explore external financing," the spokesman said.

Qualified issuers under the guidelines are Chinese commercial banks listed on the Shenzhen or Shanghai stock exchanges, as well as those listed on foreign stock exchanges, and those applying for domestic initial public offerings.

QFIIs open more new A-share accounts

Qualified foreign institutional investors, or QFIIs, opened 17 new A-share accounts last month, the 22nd consecutive month in which they have opened accounts in the A-share markets in China, the China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp Ltd says.

QFIIs opened 194 new A-share accounts in the 10 months to October. By the end of last month the number of QFII A-share accounts had risen to 54.1 percent from the beginning of the year to 547.

Auto

Car sales rose more than 20 percent last month

China's automobile sales rose 20.34 percent to 1.93 million units last month year-on-year, compared with 19.66 percent in September, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturing says. Production rose 20.74 percent to 1.92 million units last month, compared with 15.96 percent in September.

Used car sales set to accelerate

China's second-hand automobile market will hit annual sales of more than 36 million by 2023, a six-fold increase from 2013, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association on Nov 11.

Shen Rong, vice-president of the association, said that new and second-hand unit sales will even out by 2023, which is a prime indicator for a matured automobile market, Beijing Business Today reported.

"There is great potential to be tapped in the second-hand market, which may exceed the sales of brand-new units to become the driving force for the industry," Shen added.

The sales of second-hand cars increased 12-fold from 251,700 to 33.4 million between 2000 and 2009, according to the association.

Sales are expected to reach five million this year. However, it is still at the primary stage compared to the Western market.

Resources

Search for shale gas gathers pace

China's top two oil and gas companies are stepping up their hunt for shale gas.

PetroChina Co, China's largest oil and gas producer, said its first shale gas project in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, started test runs early last month.

Sinopec Co, the country's largest refiner, said it has found enough shale gas resources for commercial production. The company said its shale gas block in Chongqing has reached the maximum daily output of 547,000 cubic meters.

Insiders said the top two oil and gas companies, PetroChina Co and Sinopec Co, have accelerated their shale gas exploration since the government said shale gas activities would be treated as a strategic emerging industry.

Under China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for shale gas development, the country's total shale gas output will reach 6.5 billion cubic meters in 2015, with forecast investment of 400 billion yuan ($66 billion) in the sector.

Economy

Inflation will hit wage rises: research

Average wages in China will rise 8.85 percent next year, accelerating from this year but hit by possible higher inflation next year, research by the Hay Group says.

This year, the average salary rise will be 8.4 percent, it says.

"We would see an additional growth in wages next year, but the real rate will be lower than this year in case of an increasing CPI," said Wayne Chen, vice-president of the Philadelphia-based management consulting firm.

China's CPI grew 3.2 percent year-on-year last month, the second monthly increase in a row, and continued an upward trend over the first three quarters.

China's Oct new yuan loans at 506.1b

China's new yuan-denominated lending last month amounted to 506.1 billion yuan ($82.44 billion; 61.6 billion euros), an increase of 700 million yuan from the same period last year, the People's Bank of China said.

The bank said new yuan loans for the first 10 months came in at 7.78 trillion yuan, 557.7 billion yuan higher than a year earlier.

M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 14.3 percent year-on-year to 107.02 trillion yuan at the end of last month, the bank said.

Investment

CIC close to deal for London office park

China Investment Corporation, the country's sovereign wealth fund, is close to a deal with the US private equity group Blackstone buying an office park west of London, local media reported.

The talks could be finalized before the end of this month, The Financial Times said.

The 13-hectare Chiswick Park is valued at 800 million pounds ($1.28 billion; 952 million euros). If the deal goes through it would be the real estate deal with the highest value closed by an investment arm of the CIC.

Chinese investment in Britain rose to $4 billion last year, up 80 percent from a year earlier, with London being the destination of 60 percent of China outbound direct investment in Britain.

Food

Funds will boost milk formula for Chinese

A Beijing foundation is offering financial support to develop milk powder tailored for Chinese infants, Beijing Morning Post says.

The Beijing Natural Science Foundation will provide 1 million yuan ($164,000; 123,000 euros) for related research, the report said.

Chinese rely heavily on imported formulas, which are made according to the physical characteristics of non-Chinese and are not completely suitable for Chinese people, the report said.

However, there is no systematic study on Chinese breast milk, which is important to determine what the infants need in milk powder, said Yang Yuexin, director of the Chinese Nutrition Society.

China Daily Agencies

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/15/2013 page18)