Amalie Oil Company of the United States has initiated plans to set up a joint venture in Pudong. It has signed a sales agreement with GeoMaxima Holdings Company of Hong Kong to sell Amalie lubricants in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta. The US company will export part of its annual 400,000-ton high-quality lubricant to China starting this year.

Sedan imports decline

Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone imported 897 sedans between July and November, down 48.9 per cent on the first five months of this year. Of the imports, 600 automobiles came from Europe and only 58 were imported from Japan, which once dominated Waigaoqiao's automobile market.

Airlines' sale strategy

China Eastern Airlines has set up a Shanghai Sales Department to cope with heated competition. The former ticket windows have been incorporated into this newly established department, but their addresses and telephone numbers will not change. The purpose is to increase its market share in Shanghai by 50 per cent within five years.

Investment fever

Foreign financial institutions in Shanghai have triggered a new round of investment fever by expanding their business or upgrading their existing agencies. By the end of November this year, they had set up 53 business organizations in Shanghai, most of which report good performance.

Container record

Shanghai has handled its 6 millionth 20-foot container for this year, a record number for the port city. A port spokesman said containers handled this year are expected to reach 6.3 million. The port invested 4.43 billion yuan (US$540 million).

Jumbo Box delivery

DHL announced its worldwide Jumbo Box service in Shanghai Thursday. The Jumbo Box, with 10 kg and 25 kg categories, is expected to make it easier and cheaper for customers to deliver heavy materials. DHL now covers 228 countries and regions in the world. In China, it has 39 branch companies and 160 express delivery centres. DHL will deliver more and better services and products to Chinese customers to keep its competitive edge, according to Charles Chia, general manager of DHL Sinotrans.

Telecom JV

Shanghai Xintian Telecom Co, the first Sino-foreign telecom joint venture, is stepping up preparations for the official launch of its services in February. The joint venture was set up 10 months ago by Shanghai Telecom, the local arm of China Telecom, AT&T and the Shanghai Information Investment Co. Xintian is to introduce what it calls a "seamless global link" service to its clients in Pudong.

Mobile phone partners

Major telecommunications giant Shanghai Bell and Samsung Electronics set up a joint venture in Shanghai recently to develop and produce CDMA mobile telecommunications system and related products. The two firms will invest US$29 million in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of CDMA mobile phones and related products.

Pearl market

Shanghai has built a pearl market in Yuyuan Garden in its effort to turn the city into Asia's largest pearl market, replacing Hong Kong. The 3,000-square-metre Pearl Circles in Tianyu Tower, the city's first wholesale and retail pearl market, now sells less than 2 tons of pearls a month. The figure is small compared with an annual output of over 1,000 tons nationwide. The circles offers prices by 20 per cent lower than those in Hong Kong.

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