BUSINESS CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, March 2, 2021 RIGHT TRACK Sinopec Recovery still to invest $232m in robust, PMI rural areas By ZHENG XIN [email protected] is just a dip China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, is planning to invest more than 1.5 billion yuan Experts: Modest contraction in Caixin ($232 million) during the next five factory data for Feb cyclical, not a worry years in previously poverty stricken regions to further improve living standards of locals. By SHI JING in Shanghai seen in February is a temporary The company will also use its [email protected] phenomenon, said Xin. As more existing network of some 30,000 people stayed at their places of retail stations nationwide, as well as The modest contraction seen in work during the holidays instead its online sales network, to help sell factory activity in February is pure­ of returning to their hometowns agricultural products from such ly a cyclical phenomenon and eco­ for family reunions, work resump­ regions. It plans to sell products nomic recovery momentum is still tion has been much smoother this from such regions with an output robust in China, experts said on year. Therefore, the supply side will value of less than 4 billion yuan dur­ Monday. continue to see “strong growth on An employee works on the production line of an automaker in Xi’an, capital of Northwest China’s ing the 2021­25 period. In addition, The Caixin headline Purchasing the back of the still resilient Shaanxi province. YUAN JINGZHI / FOR CHINA DAILY the company will further strengthen Manager’s Index came in at 50.9 domestic demand and a gradual the product branding and quality to last month, slightly down from the recovery”, she said. boost market competitiveness. 51.5 seen in January, but still in pos­ Purchasing activities by compa­ Despite the headwinds, manu­ Bank of Communications’ financial China’s economic recovery, Tang Zhang Yuzhuo, chairman of Sino­ itive territory. nies rose slightly in February, facturers remained more optimis­ research center, said in a note that said. pec, Asia’s biggest refiner, said the Manufacturing output slowed according to the Caixin report. tic about the business outlook for high frequency data such as major Confidence in China’s econom­ company will increase its relief last month to a 10­month low due Inventories of purchased items the next 12 months. The degree of steel prices have been rising since ic outlook can also be felt in the investments in the regions during to weak overseas demand and coro­ dropped for the second consecutive positivity was the second­highest in mid­February, indicating a rapid stock market. Glass and ceramic the 14th Five­Year Plan period navirus flare­ups in some coun­ month while stocks of finished six­and­a­half years. resumption of production after the manufacturers listed on the (2021­25) and deploy more company tries. Exports contracted for a goods rose marginally. Wang Zhe, a senior economist at Spring Festival. A­share market rose by 4.2 per­ employees to these regions. It sent second month in a row. Rising prices of raw materials Caixin Insight Group, said the con­ As cyclical impacts wrap up, the cent on Monday, while the bench­ more than 2,000 employees every Erin Xin, an economist with and higher transportation costs fidence was mainly due to the accu­ subindexes of the PMI, including mark Shanghai Composite Index year during the 13th Five­Year Plan HSBC, said the lull was largely due in February resulted in higher mulated experiences in fighting the manufacturing, services and con­ climbed 1.21 percent to close at period (2016­20) and invested more to the Chinese Lunar New Year hol­ costs for manufacturers in gener­ pandemic over the past year, as well struction industry activity, are all 3551.4 points. Fertilizer providers than 1.1 billion yuan in the poverty­ iday and tighter restrictions due to al. Prices charged by manufactur­ as expectations that the wider COV­ expected to pick up in March, fur­ saw their share prices rise by 4.04 stricken regions, it said. some domestic COVID­19 clusters ers rose as companies looked to ID­19 flare­ups were coming to an ther buoying the headline index. percent on average while polyes­ Last year was particularly notewor­ this year. pass on part of the costs to cus­ end. Therefore, the temporary slide ter firms went up by 3.67 percent thy for China in its anti­poverty battle. The slower pace of expansion tomers. Tang Jianwei, chief researcher at will not change the trajectory of on Monday. The country’s central State­owned enterprises, including Sinopec, played an indispensable role in poverty alle­ Briefly viation by offering assistance to 246 counties that constituted 42 percent 22 steps unveiled to boost high­level opening­up of all the previous poverty­alleviation PBOC injects $1.5b targets at the national level. By ZHONG NAN and CAO YIN support the innovation and indus­ markets through fair competition. the country completed the Compre­ Wang Sangui, director of the via reverse repos trial upgrading of national eco­ Last year, the top legislature also hensive Agreement on Investment National Poverty Alleviation Research The People’s Bank of China, the China has come out with 22 nomic development zones and revised and made a few more laws, with the European Union in princi­ Institute at Renmin University of Chi­ central bank, on Monday inject­ measures to further expand the improve the growth level of cross­ such as on patents, copyright and ple in late 2020, and China plans to na, said continuous efforts are ed 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) high­level opening­up and attract border economic cooperation Hainan Free Trade Port, providing join the Comprehensive and Pro­ required to empower rural people, as funds via reverse repos to main­ more resources, including technol­ zones to actively promote opening­ a better legal environment for for­ gressive Agreement for Trans­Pacific rural regions in China have a weak tain reasonably ample liquidity ogies and talents from the global up policies at the regional level. eign investors and enterprises, he Partnership, these free trade deals industry profile and cannot generate in the banking system. The inter­ market, to reinforce its strength in The ministry is currently compil­ said. will attract more foreign capital to enough income for local residents. est rate for the seven­day reverse attracting foreign direct invest­ ing the development plan for utiliz­ Rajat Agarwal, president of Chi­ China in the long run, said Wei Xiao­ In addition to selling local prod­ repos was set at 2.2 percent, ment, said a circular unveiled by ing foreign investment during na operations at Henkel, the Ger­ quan, a researcher specializing in ucts through its network, Sinopec is according to a statement on the the Ministry of Commerce on Mon­ China’s 14th Five­Year Plan period man industrial and consumer regional economic development at also helping local regions to build a PBOC website. A reverse repo is day. (2021­25). goods manufacturer, said that dur­ the University of International Busi­ large­scale, high­quality agricultur­ a process in which the central The government will implement China continued to remain an ing the last three decades of its exis­ ness and Economics in Beijing. al industry line to help local people bank purchases securities from the pre­establishment national attractive destination for overseas tence in China, the company has With the Agreement on Geo­ come up with a batch of market­ commercial banks through bid­ treatment plus negative list man­ investment in January, with the seen how the deep market reforms graphical Indications between Chi­ competitive products. ding, with an agreement to sell agement system regarding market actual use FDI in the Chinese have strengthened economic devel­ na and the EU coming into effect on Sinopec plans to invest 50 million them back in the future. access and the 2020 version of the mainland expanding 4.6 percent opment and how the latest policies, Monday, the Ministry of Commerce yuan in Nagqu prefecture of the Catalog of Industries for Encourag­ on a yearly basis to 91.61 billion including the recently announced said the deal is China’s first compre­ Tibet autonomous region, to build a Good cereals, oil ing Foreign Investment to promote yuan ($14.17 billion), according to high­standard market system, are hensive and high­level bilateral trea­ highland barley processing plant the integration of attracting for­ latest data released by the Ministry injecting new growth momentum. ty on geographical indications. and yak husbandry plant, as well as foods list released eign capital, talents and technolo­ of Commerce. “We are looking forward to the Through the deal, China and the an animal products trading center China’s grain reserve authority gies, said the document. Zang Tiewei, a spokesman for deepening of the dual­circulation EU mutually recognized geographi­ and a comprehensive market for has released a list of 236 good The 22 measures have been put the Legislative Affairs Commission development pattern, in which cal indications on a large scale for the agricultural and livestock product cereals and oil foods, including forward in five areas, including of the National People’s Congress domestic and overseas markets first time, covering more than 500 circulation. rice, flour, oil and beans, based on improving government services (NPC) Standing Committee, said reinforce each other with the products. The two parties also agreed According to a World Bank report, standards like planting, quality, and building a better legal environ­ the Foreign Investment Law has domestic market being the main­ that protected geographical indica­ China accounted for more than 70 branding, marketing, manage­ ment for overseas investors to created a more market­oriented, stay, thereby reinforcing the strong tions can use the other party’s official percent of global poverty reduction ment and economic benefits.