Express supervision
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08/17/2001
Shanghai Customs has set up China's largest supervision centre for international air express parcels at Pudong International Airport. The supervision centre will facilitate customs clearance of inbound and outbound express parcels and meet international standards in the logistics service sector. The centre has the ability to process 7,500 express parcels per hour. Statistics show that China's air express market reports an annual turnover of over 10 billion yuan (about US$1.2 billion), and is still expanding at 30 per cent year-on-year. Bayer's base The German chemical company Bayer will invest some 7 billion German marks ($US3.1 billion) to set up a chemical base in Shanghai. According to Bayer, the base will be used to make chemical products for the Asian market. Some 1 billion marks will be used to build a plant for the manufacture of synthetic materials in Shanghai. It has already formed a joint venture with the Shanghai company Chlor Alkali Chemicals Co to co-produce synthetic materials, said Bayer. China became Bayer's second largest market in Asia in 1998. The Leverkusen-based company has 11 plants in China and employs 1,600 workers. Export slowdown For three consecutive months, Shanghai has reported a slowdown in export growth. Statistics show that the growth rate in exports dropped sharply from 20 per cent in April to 3 per cent in May, and the figures for June and July stood at 2.9 per cent and 4.4 per cent. The total export value in the first seven months of the year was US$15.89 billion, up 15.01 per cent. Spending spree Shanghai's retail sales are expected to reach 94.7 billion yuan (US$11.5 billion) in the second half this year, up 5.6 per cent on the same period last year, according to a survey carried out by the Shanghai Commerce Information Centre. Growth in mortgage lending also has played a role and is expected to stimulate future consumption, sources at the centre said. This growth already outstrips that of other cities. The growth in house purchases leads to increased consumption of furniture and interior decoration products and household electrical appliances. The study found that car sales are booming: some 10,000 cars have been purchased by individuals in the past six months. Overseas funds Shanghai authorized 111 projects of at least $10 million of investment each in the first seven months of this year, an official with the municipal foreign investment work committee said. Shanghai's contracted value of overseas investment during the period reached US$3.24 billion. So far, the municipality has authorized 2,008 projects, involving overseas investment of US$36.41 billion. Computers for schools Shanghai is expecting to increase co-operation with world computer giant Dell to meet the growing demand for personal computers, said Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi last week. In a meeting with Kevin B. Rollins, president and chief operating officer of Dell Computer Corp, Xu said Shanghai is willing to co-operate with Dell in developing cheap computers for schools, especially in underdeveloped western China. PCs are expected to be priced at around 2,500 yuan (US$300) there. Games insurance The Shanghai-based China Pacific Insurance Co Ltd will provide 15.4 billion yuan (US$1.86 billion) in insurance for the forthcoming 21st World Universiade Games to be held in Beijing on August 22, sources from the company said last week. The insurance, ranging from accident and medical to property and third-party liability policies, will cover some 180,000 athletes, coaches, referees, officials, journalists, medical workers, volunteers and spectators. Next level More than 500 businessmen and customs officials from 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group attended the 7th APEC Customs-Business Dialogue, which began on Monday. The theme of the current ACBD, one of a series of APEC meetings in China this year, is "The New Economy - Moving Customs-Business Partnership and Trade Facilitation to the Next Level." Electronics venture China Great Wall Computer Shenzhen Co Ltd (CGCsz), one of China's largest manufacturers and distributors of computer products, and Kingston Technology Corp, the world's largest independent memory module manufacturer, announced a joint venture in Shanghai recently. In the new Kingston Technology Electronics (Shanghai) Co Ltd, Kingston Technology Corp owns 80 per cent of the new business endeavor, while CGCsz will own 20 per cent.
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