Konu: Weekly News Bites 2: Exports, Defense, Cleantech

Shanghai Export Show Sales Drop 39 Per Cent
The 19th East China Fair which has just ended in Shanghai revealed "signs that China's exports would be subdued for some time to come," state media reports. Transactions at this year's fair totalled USD2.24bn, down 39 per cent from 2008. The five-day show is the largest regional commodity fair in China, covering nine provinces and cities: Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Nanjing and Ningbo.

China's Defense Budget Increases 14.9 Per Cent
The Chinese defense budget will grow 14.9 per cent, to RMB480.686 bn, in 2009, state media reports. With this additional RMB62.482 bn, China is spending 6.3 per cent of its household expenditures and 1.4 per cent of its total GDP on defense. A government official said the additional resources will be channelled for the "better treatment of servicemen" and the "reconstruction of military facilities" damaged in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Investment in Cleantech Rises
Investment in clean technologies in China during 2008 increased 120 per cent year on year, to USD1.3 bn, according to market researcher Zero2IPO. Domestic and foreign venture capital and private equity invested in 55 projects. Between 2006 and 2008, capital raised for clean energy totalled USD2.36 bn, of which 60 per cent was channelled towards solar energy.

Russia & China Plan Oil Refinery
PetroChina's parent company CNPC and Russia's Rosneft could start tobuild a new 200,000 barrel-per-day refinery in 2010, Reuters reports. Itis the first joint refinery between the two countries, and the facility will be builtin China's northeastern city of Tianjin. The RMB21 bn project was plannedseveral years ago but was postponed several times because of financing issues.

New Major Oil Field Found
A new oil field, with a reported potential of 100 million tonnes of reserves, has been detected in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, state media reports. Experts say the field has "workable reserves of 35 to 40 million tonnes. It is expected that the field will produce 150,000 tonnes of oil per year. The Chinese government plans to invest RMB200m to set up 100 oil wells in the next two years.

Air China "Not Certain" Of Profit
Air China could post a loss in 2009 due to the difficult economic circumstances, Chairman Kong Dong said in an announcement on Monday. "I can't be certain of profit this year," Kong told reporters. In 2008, China's 'big 3' carriers, Chine Eastern, China Southern and Air China, all warned of significant losses due to slowing demand for air travel.