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China’s largest steelmaker Baosteel Group, which has signed a 10-year iron ore contract with Fortescue last year, may buy a stake in Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd to ensure stable raw materials supply.

“Baosteel will seek a stake in Fortescue when both sides reach an accord on a number of things, including common goals, development strategy and market positioning,” said Xu Lejiang, chairman of Baosteel Group, yesterday at Baosteel’s Majishan Port in Zhejiang province, where he received the first shipment of 170,000 tons of iron ore from Fortescue.

Having already signed contracts with 33 large and medium-sized Chinese steel manufactures for at least 10 years, the third largest iron ore supplier in Australia said it welcome direct investment by major Chinese companies. Furthermore, with most of its iron ore to be sold in China, Fortescue expects to increase annual production capacity to 100 million tons in 2010.

“The Chinese industrial champion takes Fortescue very seriously, and we will encourage its participation in the future of Fortescue,” Andrew Forrest, founder of Fortescue, was quoted by Reuters as saying yesterday.

Liu Yanqi, an analyst at Haitong Securities, said, “The possible alliance is expected to strengthen Baosteel’s power in iron ore price negotiations with Australian miners, such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.”

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Trade Import Export, Investment China Australia, Baosteel, China, Fortescue, investment, iron ore

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Thursday that due to technological innovation, China’s software exports surged in the first four months of this year.

In the January-April period, exports totaled $3.27 billion, up 54.9% year-on-year. And the software sector’s revenue was 193.55 billion yuan, registering an increase of 31.2%.

In 2001, China’s software exports were worth $720 million and the figure rose to $10.24 billion in the year 2007. And the sector’s income was 583.4 billion yuan in 2007, up 630% from 2001, according to the Ministry.

Last year, Chinese software accounted for 8.7% of the global industry, up from 1.5% in 2001.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Trade Import Export, Internet and Hi-Tech China, export, innovation, Outsourcing, software

LG Electronics and China’s Haier Group Corp are among the potential buyers of the century-old appliances division of General Electronics.

According to Stephen Tusa, an analyst at JP Morgan Chase& Co, GE’s appliances business had 27% of the US market in 2006. And Credit Suisse Group estimates that the unit had revenue of $7.2 billion in 2007. But amid calls for the company to speed up divestiture of slower-growing operations, GE announced this month its plan to sell the unit.

Buying GE’s unit will help LG Electronics challenge Whirlpool Corp’s lead in appliances around the globe while a purchase by Haier will make it a household name to promote its expansion in the US.

“Both LG and Haier need GE to break into the US market, because it has a very strong brand,” said Castor Pang, an analyst at Sun Hung Kai Securities in Hong Kong. “Buying GE would be a big advertisement for them. After all, the US market is still a very big one.”

“The players have become very obvious. Its Haier in China, LG in South Korea and so on”, said Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of the US company. Other potential bidders mentioned included Mexico’s Controladora Mabe and Turkey’s Arcelik.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News appliances, China, electronics, GE, Haier, LG

China Construction Bank (CCB) announced on May 27th that the Bank of America is to exercise part of its call option to buy 6 billion Hong Kong-listed CBC shares from Huijin at about 2.42 Hong Kong dollars (about 31 U.S. cents) per share.

This will reduce Huijin’s CCB stake to 65.4% while boost Bank of America’s share to 10.75%, or 25.1 billion H-shares, according to the announcement.

Without CCB’s written agreement, the shares purchased under the option may not be sold until Aug. 29, 2011.

The Bank of America planned to finish the transaction on June 5, under an agreement it signed in 2005 with Central Huijin Investment, an investment arm of the government.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Finance and Banking, Investment China Bank of America, CCB, China, investment, stake

As Macao’s economy is witnessing a rapid development, many Australians saw “significant opportunities” in the Special Administrative Region (SAR), said Les Luck, Australian Consul-General Hong Kong and Macao, when delivering a speech at an Australian reception in the island city on May 22nd.

The Consul-General said he was impressed by the level of Australians’ engagement in Macao’s economy, working in fields ranging from the hospitality, gaming, construction, infrastructure, transportation and food and beverage sectors.

James Packer, Australia’s richest man, has set up a joint venture, Melco PBL Entertainment, with Lawrence Ho, son of Macao gaming magnate Stanley Ho, and has built the Crown Macao, a six-star casino resort. And a larger integrated casino resort project initiated by Melco PBL is under construction in the city at present.

In addition, statistics released by the Consulate-General show that between 2006 and 2007, Australia’s merchandise trade with the SAR was worth 632.2 million patacas ($79 million), and Australian’s direct exports to the SAR amounted to 565.1 million patacas ($70.6 million) while imports from Macao’s to 67.1 million patacas ($8.4 million).

“We estimate more than 2,000 Australians live in Macao and expect that number will continue to increase,” said Luck.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Economy, China Trade Import Export, Investment China, Joint Venture China Australia, China, Macao, trade

The first US-bound Chinese leisure tour group is set to depart on June 17, heralding a new era in Sino-US relations. Shao Qiwei, head of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), will escort the inaugural tour group to Washington DC, the city to host the fourth China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue on the group’s arrival. Shao told a press conference that CNTA is pleased the bilateral tourism relationship is moving in a new, positive direction.

Last December, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to open outbound tour-group travel from China to the US. The MOU would open China’s market to the US, and such businesses as tour operators, airlines, hotels and banks are expected to benefit.

And after five months of talks, CNTA and the US Department of Commerce reached agreements on the details.

The first phase will last 6 months, during which only 9 provinces and municipalities can organize US-bound tour groups. Group members must be residents with hukou in Beijing, Tianjin or Shanghai municipalities, or Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. And domestic tour operators with licenses in the 9 municipalities and provinces to run out-bound tourism operations can organize US-bound tour groups. As for tourists’ US destinations, there are no specific restrictions.

US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez believes that the increased visitation from China would be helpful in reducing the US trade deficit with China.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Consumer Market, China Trade Import Export bilateral tourism, China, CNTA, leisure tour, trade deficit, U.S.

Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the Malaysian government’s $25 billion investment fund, is making evaluations on investments in China’s infrastructure, environmental products, financial and healthcare services, with an aim to tap growth opportunities in the Chinese market.

Expanding beyond owning government-linked companies such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd and Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd, the Malaysian agency holds $100 billion worth of equity stakes in more than 50 companies in five countries. Its investments include stakes in India’s Apollo Hospital Enterprise Ltd, Hong Kong-traded Parkson Retail Group Ltd, Singapore’s Mobile One Pte and Indonesia’s PT Bank Lippo. It joins the $60 billion Qatar Investment Authority and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte to tap the Chinese market as well as other emerging markets.

“We have a longer horizon compared with the traditional private-equity investors, and we’re experienced in many emerging economies,” said Khazanah’s Managing Director Azman Mokhtar. “We want to offer our experience and our network as the bridge for Chinese companies to invest in third countries.”

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, Investment China China, investment fund, Malaysia

Otis, an elevator company which accounts for 27% of the global elevator and escalator market, plans to invest an additional $100 million to triple its Tianjin plant’s capacity by 2012.

The plant, located in the Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA), currently has an annual production capacity of 50,000 machines and 20,000 elevators. With the additional investment, the TEDA plant will have a new automatic production line manufacturing high-rise elevators. With China’s market size reaching 3,000 units per year, China and the Middle East are two major markets for high-rise elevators.

Otis is now focusing its business in China, devoting its production capacity mainly to domestic consumption. In spite of the Chinese government’s curb on speculative investment in the housing sector, the country’s urbanization is still fueling the market’s growth.

Considering China as a market of strategic importance turning into both a huge consumption market and an efficient manufacturing base, Otis is also planning to expand investment in Chongqing, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Northeast China.

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BPO, China Business, China Business News, China Consumer Market, Investment China China, elevator, escalator, investment, Otis, TEDA, Tianjin

China’s trade regime has continued liberalizing since 2006, the WTO Secretariat said in a report following its second review of the country’s trade policies in Geneva.

Since the first review of China’s trade practices that obtained a good evaluation in 2006, plenty of China’s trade and investment reforms have been carried out to facilitate the country’s economic development. In 2006, China’s total trade in goods alone accounted for about 65% of its GDP and 13% of global trade. Moreover, China is still a major foreign direct investment destination. These reforms also speeded up China’s integration into the global economy.

This year’s review predicted that China—now the world’s third-largest trader, would keep fast growth in international trade with the help of its continuous opening up and ongoing reforms, though there are various challenges ahead.

China always welcomes foreign trade and investment from all other countries, and we—Bpovia Ltd is always ready to bear a hand in your successful business career in China.

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BPO, China Business News, China Economy, China Trade Import Export, Investment China challenges, China's trade and economy, GDP, trade and investment reforms, trade liberalization, WTO

Nanjing,China,May 23,2008–Considering the increasing number of demands from our clients in Australia, we opened a direct dial hotline to facilitate the call process. By dialing +61 3 9018 7855, potential clients can call us for a free trial of the services we provide.

Our company, BPOVIA Ltd based in China, is one of the top six outsourcing companies in the world. Headquartered in Nanjing, we are a pioneering virtual assistant and BPO service provider in the country.

By selecting our virtual assistant services, clients can have their virtual assistants carry out all the non-core business activities. Therefore they are in a position to offload complicated and repetitive components of their business processes, greatly cut down expenses in office renting, staff welfare and labor cost and increase the efficiency and flexibility of their businesses.

Regarding small and medium sized enterprises as our target clients, we provide our clients with seamless one-stop solutions. Currently, more than 90% of our clients come from the US, followed by the UK, Canada and Australia. Among them, Australia in particular, stands to benefit greatly from hiring virtual assistants in China.

In addition to such benefits as cutting down expenses and improving efficiency and flexibility of their businesses, clients in Australia enjoy the advantage of having their virtual assistants in China work in lock-step with themselves. As there is only two hours difference in time between the two countries, with our virtual assistants working almost at the same time, clients in Australia are able to remarkably improve their work efficiency to gain more competitive edge for their companies.

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