Category: China

Foreign Companies Dominate Brand Recognition List In China

Chinese consumers are far more familiar with foreign brand names compared to their own home-grown companies, reported the China Daily on Monday, after just three local brands managed to make it among the top twenty most recognised brands in a consumer awareness survey.

The latest Campaign Asia-Pacific 2012 Asia’s Top 1,000 Brands report showed that Apple Inc. was the most recognised brand in China for 2012, after piping Nestle, Chanel, Sony and Samsung for the top spot.

Lower Demand, Prices Send China’s Steel Profits Tumbling 96%

China’s steel industry has seen its profits plummet by nearly 96 percent in the first half of the year, said a senior industry official on Tuesday, as demand for steel continues to shrink amid the global economic slowdown.

Zhang Changfu, the vice-chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), had told reporters in Beijing that profit margins for Chinese steel companies had fallen to just 0.13 percent, compared to 3.06 percent a year ago; and that the total profits for the entire steel industry was now just at 2.39 billion yuan ($376 million).

China Faces Significant Downside Risks: IMF

The International Monetary Fund has warned that the worsening eurozone crisis poses a key risk to China’s economy. However, the Fund added that China has the ability to handle economic shocks, citing fiscal spending at the first line of economic defence.

At the same time, the IMF highlighted risks stemming from the domestic market, particularly the sharper-than-anticipated decline in the property market which “could have significant implications for growth in China.”

“Only Socialism With Chinese Characteristics Can Develop China,” Says China’s VP

China’s Vice President Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to replace Hu Jintao as the nation’s paramount leader at the upcoming 18^th national congress, has called on his party members to continue building “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, reported the China Daily on Wednesday, as the nation prepares to face “unprecedented challenges” to the economy and society.

China Woos Foreign Investors by Slashing Taxes

China’s Q2 Growth Slips to Lowest Level in 3 Years

China’s economy grew at 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012, marking its sixth straight consecutive quarter of decelerating growth, its slowest pace in three years.

The decelerating growth confirms fears of a so-called hard landing in China, and heightens worries over its subsequent impact on the rest of the world.

China is the world’s second largest economy and accounts for about a fifth of the world’s total economic output.

China’s Growth to Hit Lowest Level Since 1990

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has warned that China faces serious “downward pressures” and added that China will have to adopt aggressive stimulus measures to achieve its 2012 growth target.

Wen’s remarks came days after the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates for a second time in four weeks, a surprise move which led to speculation that that the Chinese economy is slowing more sharply than expected.

Chinese Think-Tank Calls For End To One-Child Policy

China’s government must adjust its one-child policy “as soon as possible” so as to deal with an aging population and a possible labour shortage, said a group of researchers from the State Council’s Development Research Centre (DRC) on Tuesday in an essay published on the China Economic Times.

Chinese Fishermen Turn To US Courts For Compensation From ConocoPhillips

Fed up by the bureaucracy in their own country, a group of 30 fishermen from north-eastern China have now filed a lawsuit against ConocoPhillips in a U.S.-based federal court, reported the Associated Press on Monday, in the hopes of claiming compensation for two oil spills last year.