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 [...]
China’s move to place limits on the extraction and export of rare earth materials is based on concerns about environmental protection and national security, according to commerce minister Chen Deming. “Rare earths exist in land where environment is very fragile, so a large amount of extraction hurts China’s natural environment. Thus we had to impose [...]
The USÂ Commerce Department is expected to find that $550 million in imported Chinese aluminum was illegally subsidized by the Chinese government. The decision could lead to higher import duties as early as next week. The White House is concerned about the effect of Chinese exports on the tentative condition of the US economy. US imports [...]
PetroChina reported a 29% year-on-year increase in net profit to $9.61 billion in the first half of 2010. Income growth was driven largely by high oil prices and increasing demand, which compensated for lower refining margins. Zhou Jiping, vice chairman of PetroChina, said he expected earnings to be even higher in coming months due to [...]
China’s Sinochem Group is “evaluating” a possible offer for Canada’s fertilizer manufacturer Potash Corporation. Potash had been the focus of a hostile $40 billion takeover bid earlier this month by Australian mining firm BHP Billiton. Potash rejected BHP’s advances earlier this week, but said it would explore other offers. Many analysts argue that the state-owned [...]
China’s Jidong Development Group and the China Africa Development Fund signed a deal to acquire a majority stake in a $221 million cement plant in South Africa. Under the deal, which is China’s largest investment in South Africa for over two years, two local partner firms will acquire a minority stake in the plant. Jidong [...]
Anshan Iron & Steel Group’s participation in a US steel project has been thrown into doubt after an executive said the deal had been canceled as “the likelihood the project will be approved is very low.” Chen Ming, vice president of the company’s listed unit Angang Steel, added that efforts would continue to secure other [...]
China Ocean Shipping Group (Cosco) expects the Baltic Dry Index to extend a 46% rally over the past month due to Chinese demand for iron ore and grains. “The rebound may be bumpy, but in the final quarter the index should be much higher,” said Kong Fanhua, a senior researcher with Cosco. The company is [...]
The world’s largest copper producer Codelco said it expected China’s copper demand to slow in the second half as Beijing’s efforts to control inflation and curb lending take effect. Diego Hernandez, the chief executive of the Chilean miner said that copper prices would fluctuate around current levels. Demand for copper has been affected particularly by [...]
China has further relaxed gold market restrictions, increasing the number of banks permitted to trade the yellow metal as the country’s investors pour record amounts of money into gold. Chinese investors bought 73 tonnes of bullion last year, up from 18 tonnes in 2007. The trend is becoming a significant factor on global prices. China, [...]
