El objetivo es acelerar la reestructuración industrial y la transformación del modelo de desarrollo económico. Además pretende urbanizar las áreas menos desarrolladas de China.

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BEIJING,  sep (Xinhua) -- Aunque la tasa de crecimiento de la producción industrial de valor agregado de China podría bajar al 10 por ciento en la segunda mitad del año, la cifra para todo el 2010 llegará previsiblemente al 13 por ciento, informaron hoy martes fuentes oficiales.

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BEIJING, May 14 -- Nobel laureate Robert Mundell on Thursday called for the Chinese currency to be included in the basket of the special drawing rights (SDR) regime of International Monetary Fund (IMF) this year.

He also said yuan should not appreciate and a steady yuan is important for continued economic growth in Asia, as the soaring US dollar continues to have an impact on the region's exports.

"The SDR basket should be reformed this year and I propose the Chinese yuan to be included in the basket," Mundell, Nobel Prize winner in economics and professor at Columbia University, said in a speech at the Chinese Academy of Governance.

The SDR is an international reserve asset created by the IMF. Four currencies, the dollar, euro, yen and sterling respectively account for 44, 34, 11 and 11 percent of the value of the current SDR.

The basket's composition is reviewed every five years to ensure it reflects the relative importance of currencies in the world's trading and financial systems. The next review will take place late this year, according to the IMF website.

The SDR system would become useful only if the currencies in it were fixed, he added.

Possibly the yuan could be added to the new basket in 2011, he said without estimating its possible weighting.

Details need to be studied as the yuan has yet to become a fully convertible currency, he said.

The yuan's exchange rate against the dollar has been around 6.83 since the third quarter of 2008. But since the dollar has remained very strong recently as euro tumbles, economists said the real rate of yuan has also risen.

"The dollar is strong now, and there has already been some problem with Chinese exports, it might be more risky if the situation continues," said Mundell.

"Nobody wants China to devalue the yuan, and China should not appreciate it, just keep where it is," he said. "That's a responsible policy for the Asia area."

Referring to the sovereign debts crisis in Europe, Mundell, also "the father of the euro", said the currency as the "counterpart of the dollar" would go forward and the huge swings in the exchange rate of the dollar had greatly aggravated global economic instability.

(Source: China Daily)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-05/12/c_13288752.htm

SHANGHAI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese officials and experts Tuesday suggested the nation's steel producers set up plants abroad to avoid a rising number of international trade barriers.

Opening steel mills in regions with abundant raw materials and strong market demand abroad would be easier than exporting steel products, as it would bring tax revenues and employment to the areas, Jia Yinsong, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at an international trade fair for the steel tube industry in Shanghai.

China's steel pipe exporters had been frequent victims of protectionism, said Wang Zhenfu, vice director with the Fair Trade Bureau of Import and Export of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

Data from the WTO showed China's steel producers were named in 29 trade disputes since 2007, involving products valued at 6 billion U.S. dollars.

The most serious, in which the United States imposed in April anti-dumping duties ranging from 30 to 99 percent on Chinese steel pipes imports used in oil and gas wells, had curbed steel tube exports to the U.S. by more than 80 percent, said Wang.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 37 Chinese firms received a final dumping rate of 29.94 percent, and all other Chinese exporters were subject to a final dumping rate of 99.14 percent.

Wang warned of a risk of losing the U.S. market as the U.S. government was mulling further anti-dumping investigations against Chinese steel pipe exports.

Jia said Chinese enterprises should be aware of the significance of transforming from production exports to capacity exports.

At present, domestic steel enterprises were mainly focused on acquiring mineral resources abroad, but that would become more difficult given global commodity price hikes fueled by a booming market, said Jia.

The costs of energy, raw materials, shipping and rising trade protectionism and pressure for China to appreciate its currency would pose challenges for Chinese exporters, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Commerce last month.

Jia said a few of Chinese steel firms, such as Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, had invested in capacity exports. Wuhan Iron and Steel, China's third-biggest steelmaker, announced on April 19 it would team up with Brazil's LLX Logistica S.A. to build a steel plant with an annual capacity of 5 million tonnes in Brazil's Acu Super Port Industrial District.

Besides focusing on the U.S. market, Chinese steel firms should step up efforts to tap into emerging markets such as South America and the Middle East, said Wang.

Chi Jingdong, vice secretary general of China Iron and Steel Association, encouraged domestic steelmakers to learn from Japanese counterparts, who followed automobile manufacturers abroad, providing with matching steel products from their overseas mills.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2010-05/10/c_13284998.htm
TOKYO, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan's economy has been picking up mainly due to improvement in overseas economic conditions although there is not yet sufficient momentum to support a self-sustaining recovery in domestic private demand, according to the minutes released from April's two-day policy meeting by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) on Monday.

At the April 6-7 Policy Board meeting, the eight member board led by Masaaki Shirakawa, Governor of the BOJ, concurred that exports and production have been increasing mainly against a backdrop of high growth in emerging economies, the minutes revealed.

The BOJ Policy Board members agreed at the meeting that in addition to the increase in exports and production and the continuing pick-up in private consumption, business fixed investment was leveling out more clearly, the minutes said.

Highlighting the 2010 Tankan (Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan), improvement in business confidence continued, among not only large manufacturers but also nonmanufacturing and small firms, the members concurred.

The members added in general terms that in Japan's economy, signs of a self-sustaining recovery might have finally started to appear.

Additionally, some members in attendance expressed the opinion that the pace of recovery in advanced economies was likely to remain only moderate, as there was not yet sufficient momentum to support self-sustaining recovery in private demand and balance- sheet adjustment pressure continued to weigh on economic activity.

Regarding the U.S. economy specifically, members were of the opinion that the world's largest economy is recovering at a moderate pace, noting however that the employment and income situation remained severe.

Members agreed that the Chinese economy had continued to grow at a rapid pace, led mainly by domestic demand, and this trend was likely to continue. One member added that, although growth in bank lending and fixed asset investment had recently slowed slightly due to China's moderate policy tightening, the trend of economic growth had not changed.

As for the guideline for Japan's money market operations for the inter-meeting period ahead, members agreed that, given the above assessment of economic activity and prices, it was appropriate to maintain the current guideline that the Bank would encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0.1 percent.

The members agreed that, in the conduct of monetary policy, the Bank would continue to aim at maintaining the extremely accommodative financial environment.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/business/2010-05/05/c_13278905.htm

BEIJING, May 5 -- It looks it will take a while before government policies to cool down the real estate market have their desired effect on property speculators.

According to the Chinese newspaper Economic Observer, the high-end property market in Beijing, which has some of the priciest real estate in China, still performed strongly despite the strong government intervention in the sector since mid-April.

The newspaper reported that buyers of expensive properties consist mainly of proprietors of private energy companies, as well as senior executives of financial services and real estate companies.

"The three groups account for 70 percent of our clients," said Wei Wei, vice-president of E-House (China) Ltd in Beijing.

Starting from April 17, the government has introduced a series of strict measures designed to curb soaring housing prices, including tighter mortgage requirements and a limit on individual buyers' multiple purchases and ownership. It is rumored that a property ownership tax will soon be introduced.

For example, from April 15 to 19, at an apartment complex near Chaoyang Park with an average price of 44,000 yuan ($6,445) per square meter, 10 units were sold with unit price ranging from 5 million to 12 million yuan, according to data from Yahao realty company.

Some expensive apartments in the development required payment in full. Most of the 200 new apartments put on sale at the development in January were reportedly sold out within three months.

According to World Union, a real estate service and consultancy company, 35 to 40 percent of the new homes costing at least 25,000 yuan per sq m required payment in full. In contrast, up to 80 percent of the homes costing up to 16,000 yuan per sq m were bought with loans.

The tightening of transaction regulations seems to have had a greater impact on ordinary purchasers, said Chen Jinsong, chairman of World Union.

"For purchasers of high-end property, their priority is to retain the asset value rather than quick investment returns," said Li Liqun, sales director of Runze Villas in Beijing.

At the same time, of the passionate property speculators, many still do not think they are the ones who are to blame for the city's skyrocketing housing prices. Mine owner Wang Jinhuan disagreed that colliery bosses from Shanxi province are among main purchasers of high-end homes.

"It is easy to understand why people think this way. But we don't have such power. As far as I know, Shanxi coal mine owners only account for a small number and cannot influence the whole market," Wang said.

Wang bought his first property in Beijing in 2004, he now owns more than 40 homes in the city, Economic Observer reported.

 (Source: China Daily)