Investment

Wal-Mart to close two stores in China

Wal-Mart said on March 22 that it will close two stores in China next month.

According to the world's largest retailer by revenue, a store in Wuxi and another in Shenzhen, the site of Wal-Mart's Chinese headquarters, will be shut down.

"Factors including store location, company strategy and shop performance have led to the adjustment," Li Ling, senior director of public relations at Wal-Mart China, told China Business News.

In March, Wal-Mart denied it was slowing down its expansion in the country. The company said last year that it would open 100 stores over the next three years, which is a drop-off from its plans announced a few years ago to open around 50 stores annually.

TNT to sell China unit, cut 4,000 jobs

TNT Express NV plans to sell its operations in China and Brazil while cutting 4,000 jobs over three years as it focuses on its European operations. The move comes after a failed takeover by United Parcel Service Inc. The updated strategy is aimed at coping with "challenging trading conditions and continuing price pressure" and seeks to encourage growth in the most profitable markets, the Netherlands-based TNT said on March 25.

Trade

Gasoline exports surge to 11-month high

China's gasoline exports in February rose to a near-annual high as the nation ramped up fuel production ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when Chinese people traveled back to their hometowns. Overseas shipments climbed 62 percent from a year earlier to 333,309 metric tons, the General Administration of Customs said on March 21. That's the equivalent of 101,000 barrels a day, the most since March 2012. Diesel exports exceeded imports by 209,135 tons, or 56,000 barrels a day, the least in four months. China, the world's second-highgest oil consumer, boosted gasoline production by 14 percent in the first two months of the year, according to government data.

Cotton imports to exceed US estimates

Cotton imports by China, the biggest consumer of the fiber, will exceed a US estimate for 12 months through July. The Chinese government's stockpiling of cotton to boost farmers' incomes has exacerbated a shortage. Imports will be 3.8 million metric tons, according to the median of five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The US Department of Agriculture forecast 3.3 million tons in a report on March 8. Cotton in New York has jumped 18 percent this year, the most among 24 commodities tracked by the Standard & Poor's GSCI Spot Index.

Copper imports the lowest in months

Imports of refined copper by China, the biggest user, declined in February to its lowest level in 19 months, while exports rose for a sixth month. Imports totaled 214,949 metric tons last month, the lowest since July 2011, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Exports expanded to 38,569 tons, the highest since May, from 26,213 tons in January, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The drop in imports, due to the Lunar New Year holiday in February, may help curb the highest inventories in at least 10 years.

Healthcare

GE to launch medical products in China

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co, said it will launch more than 30 new technologies and products in China by 2015 and develop Web-based medical solutions. The United States-based medical equipment maker said its products will help screen for diseases, such as cardiovascular illnesses, breast cancer and strokes, as well as provide training for doctors and patients-especially in rural areas-in China in the next three years.

Finance

BOC to beef up business across US

Bank of China Ltd, one of the country's biggest banks, has officially opened a branch in Chicago, which it hopes to use as a base for new business activities across 17 US states.

The Chicago branch, BOC's fourth in the US since 1981 after two in New York City and one in Los Angeles will serve Chinese companies doing business in Illinois and other Midwestern states, officials said.

BOC is accelerating expansion overseas as it becomes increasingly integrated globally to help Chinese companies in their international programs.

Energy

Nexen deal to give driller new momentum

Offshore driller CNOOC Ltd said its Nexen Inc purchase has received "extremely positive" feedback from both companies.

The state-owned oil and gas company completed its $15.1 billion (11.7 billion euros) takeover of the Canadian oil and gas company late last month, in the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese company.

CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin said on March 22 that the deal was "full of hardships and twists and turns", but the fact that both US and Canadian regulators approved the purchase shows that the deal is a "purely commercial operation", and that CNOOC is an independent commercial entity.

Investment

Decathlon to team up with Vanke

Decathlon, the French sporting goods chain, signed a strategic alliance with real estate giant China Vanke Co Ltd on March 21 in a bid to further penetrate the country's lower-tier markets.

Under the contract, Decathlon will rent or buy properties in Vanke's commercial projects in second and third-tier Chinese cities, such as Foshan and Dongguan, to open its new stores.

Decathlon said that it plans to triple its number of Chinese stores and make the country its third-largest global market.

Bertrand Tison, vice-president of Decathlon China, said the firm is targeting 150 stores in around 100 Chinese cities by 2015, with most being planned in second- and third-tier cities.

AkzoNobel to invest $84 million in China

Paints and coatings giant AkzoNobel will invest 65 million euros to expand its surface chemical business in the Chinese market.

More than half of the investment will be used to increase its output of amine products and build a worker-friendly environment at China Resource (Boxing) Olecchemicals Co Ltd in East China's Shandong province, a spokesman for the Amsterdam-headquartered firm said on March 21. AkzoNobel acquired the company in 2012.

AkzoNobel also plans to build alkoxy facilities in Ningbo, where it owns a manufacturing base, bringing its total investment in the eastern Chinese city to 400 million euros.

Bosch to invest $171m in Nanjing factory

Bosch Group, the German automotive technology and service provider, is investing 1.1 billion yuan ($171 million; 132.8 million euros) in an operation in China aimed at providing car parts and servicing to the country's increasing and aging vehicle population.

The investment, to create its largest manufacturing facility overseas, will see the building of a production base and research and development hub for the Bosch Automotive Aftermarket in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, which will also serve the Asia-Pacific region.

The plant will develop and produce spark plugs, brake components and diagnostic equipment for both independent aftermarket players and original equipment suppliers, said Robert Hanser, president of Bosch Automotive Aftermarket.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 03/29/2013 page14)