News@ChinabyNumbers

Delayed delivery of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner passenger jet will not have a significant impact on Air China's operations,  a senior executive at the Beijing-based carrier commented.

"This is not the first time that Boeing has postponed the delivery date. We should have received the first batch of 787 aircraft as early as June 2008," the executive said. He said Boeing's advanced warning of a further delay in delivering the Dreamliners will give Air China time to "find alternatives."

Air China had ordered 15 Dreamliners at a total cost of $3 billion, but has since changed its order from the B787-8 to the B787-9 model, which can carry 40 more passengers.

Despite positive comments from Air China about the delay, China's flagship carrier has admitted that there is a shortage of long-haul aircraft on the mainland.

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Brian Wall, premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, said Sinochem's planned purchase of Potash Corp would not be in Saskatchewan's best interests.

"If sovereign interests from China are somehow involved as this deal evolves... we would have a real concern about that," Wall said.

According to sources close to the matter, Sinochem has already hired HSBC to advise the company ahead of a possible bid. Potash Corp has already turned down BHP Billiton's $38.6 billion offer to buy the fertilizer maker.

A source close to Sinochem said potential Chinese bidders are still waiting for a green light from Beijing before making any official bid.

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Ping An Insurance is planning to acquire an additional 32% stake in Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) for $4.27 billion in a private placement.

The deal will give Ping An a controlling stake in SDB, having earlier raised its stake in the lender to 30% from 5%.

Ping An, the country's second-largest life insurer by premiums, said it would finance the deal with cash and its 91% stake in Ping An Bank. The insurer said in a statement that SDB "will take steps at an appropriate time to consolidate the two banks through ways that are in compliance with current regulations including, but not limited to, the merger of Ping An Bank into its operations."

Ping An made its first advance on SDB last year when it bought Newbridge Capital's stake in the south China lender.

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China's banking regulator has called for more mergers between the country's rural credit cooperatives (RCC) to reduce their high credit risks.

Jiang Liming, deputy director of the China Banking Regulatory Commission's cooperative finance supervision department said the purpose of mergers and acquisitions in the sector is to "dissolve the risks in China's rural credit market without closing these high-risk RCCs and reducing the supply of financial services in the rural areas."

M&A targets include RCCs that have a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio higher than 30%; the industry average NPL ratio is 10%.

At present, mainland banks are allowed to acquire up to a 100% stake in an RCC, while foreign financial institutions and domestic enterprises can purchase a maximum 20% stake.

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According to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, China imported 282,000 metric tons of corn between January and July this year, 56 times the quantity of imports in the same period last year.

The ministry said wheat imports doubled, while imports of rice and barley grew 42.6% and 26.7% respectively.

Corn imports spiked this year due to the impact of poor weather conditions on national yields as well as an increase in demand from the processing industry.

While the government insists domestic supplies are adequate to meet demand, it has looked overseas to bolster domestic supplies to keep food price inflation under control.

Despite a 61.9% rise in China's agricultural trade deficit to $13.05 billion and concerns over future corn supplies, officials have been quick to point out that the surging corn imports will not continue indefinitely and that the situation should improve following the autumn harvest.

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According to China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATRC), China's passenger car sales rose 59.26% year-on-year in August to 977,300 units, buoyed by new model launches and better promotions.

August's growth rate was 43.83 percentage points higher than July's figure, said Tianjin-based researchers. Total auto sales, including passenger cars, commercial vehicles and tractors, increased 31.53% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2010 to 9.46 million units.

CATRC said the average time between the manufacture and purchase of a car narrowed to 57 days from 58 days in July.

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Cell phone users will now have to register by name and present formal identification when setting up an account or buying a new phone number.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said the new rules are part of the government's efforts to prevent spam, pornographic messages and rampant fraud through the network. Under the new rules, newspaper stands will also be banned from selling SIM cards.

Some concerns have been raised over privacy issues, however. The anonymity that protects fraudsters and spammers also allows mobile phone users to freely share information without fear of recrimination.

State media reports noted that ID registration for cellphones is required in neighboring India, Japan, Singapore and Australia.

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Japan's NEC and Neusoft, one of China's biggest software companies, have agreed to form a joint venture offering cloud computing services in China.

NEC said it expects the Chinese market for cloud computing, where services and storage are shared and sourced over the internet, to grow to $2.3 billion by 2012.

China's IT services industry generated aggregate revenue of $10.6 billion last year.

NEC China president Masaki Kidowaki said state-owned enterprises are a core target group for cloud computing services.

Neusoft president Wang Yongfeng said the new joint venture would also target manufacturers with global export business lines, as well as domestic small and medium-sized enterprises that would benefit from cost savings by using cloud computing.

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The US will not launch an investigation into allegations that value of China's currency acts as a form of export subsidy.

Countervailing duties had been called for on imports of Chinese-made aluminum and paper products, but the US Commerce Department said the "two allegations before it that China's currency practices constitute an unfair subsidy under US countervailing duty law failed to meet the requirements for the initiation of an investigation."

The Commerce Department stated that it will not investigate whether or not "the alleged undervaluation of China's currency" is a countervailable subsidy.

The response from some US politicians and industry groups was that of disappointment.

"It's clear that China games the system by manipulating its currency," said Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. "I'm disappointed that the Obama administration has yet to recognize this fact."

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China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to 51.7 in August from 51.2 in July - the lowest growth since February 2009 - supported largely by seasonal factors.

A figure above 50 reflects growth, but Citigroup said August's PMI reading is typically higher than July's. Domestic economic expansion has been retarded by a weak global recovery, which is dampening China's manufacturing sector.

"The PMI is trending down, in line with China's slower growth, but it's still growing," said Citi economist Ken Peng. "We will see more of the external effect through trade later."

The European Union and the US, China's largest and second-largest trading partners, respectively, are still suffering from the effects of the financial crisis with widespread spending cuts on both a fiscal and consumer level.

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