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. This make plans for stabilizing foreign legalized, and international invest­ business environment for foreign signs. It is conducive to the develop­ since the late 1970s. is the fourth year that the list is investment this year. ment environment for foreign enterprises in China and opening a ment of the market for related prod­ The Chinese government has also being brought out and is an In addition to promoting the investors, and guaranteed FDI new chapter of shared opportuni­ ucts, the ministry said in another set up a central SOE industrial attempt to boost grain output and integration of international and growth in China last year. ties,” he said. statement on Monday. investment fund in previously pov­ farmers’ income. “The good cereal domestic industrial chains, the As part of the law, foreign­invest­ As China and its partners signed erty­stricken areas and invested 28 and oil food of China” has applied country will establish a cluster of ed enterprises will be granted the Regional Comprehensive Eco­ Contact the writers at billion yuan in poverty relief by the for a trademark, with an eye on pilot areas for trade­in services, access to government procurement nomic Partnership agreement and [email protected] end of September. improving the industrial, value and supply chains of grains. Tencent arm sets up China Eastern Airlines inks deal with Bahrain data center Tencent Cloud, the cloud com­ puting business of internet giant COMAC for purchase of 5 C919 planes Tencent, said on Monday that it is launching a new internet data By WANG YING in Shanghai man of China Eastern Airlines. tion 737 planes, has received 815 center in Bahrain by the end of [email protected] The five jets will join China East­ orders from 28 Chinese and overseas this year, marking its debut in ern’s more than 750 aircraft in the companies, said Zhang. the Middle East and North Afri­ China Eastern Airlines, the first coming years, and they would be China Eastern will complete all ca region. The move is part of a customer for China’s home­built responsible for flights from Shang­ the necessary requirements for its broader memorandum of under­ C919 jets, on Monday purchased five hai to places like Beijing, Guangzhou commercial operations as soon as standing signed between the narrow­body aircraft from State­ and Shenzhen of Guangdong prov­ possible after the delivery said Chinese company and the Bah­ owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of ince, Chengdu of Sichuan province, Wang Yongqin, deputy general man­ rain Economic Development China. Xiamen of Fujian province, Wuhan ager of China Eastern’s planning Board, Tencent said. “This is officially the first order we of Hubei province and Qingdao of and development division. have received for C919 jets globally. Shandong province, said Liu. Last year, China Eastern created Nation’s integrated It marks another step in the com­ The first C919 is scheduled for OTT Airlines, or One Two Three Air­ Crew members of China Eastern Airlines pose for a photo with a circuit sales rise mercial operations of China­made delivery within the year, Yang Zhi­ lines, for operating China’s home­ C919 model in the background. YIN LIQIN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE aircraft,” said He Dongfeng, presi­ gang, chief technology officer for grown aircraft, the ARJ21 and the China’s integrated circuit sales are dent of COMAC. research and development at COM­ C919. In December, OTT debuted its estimated to reach 884.8 billion Since its maiden flight on May 5, AC, told ThePaper.cn earlier this first commercial flight with an the entire C919 design, research and by COMAC in accordance with yuan ($136.54 billion) in 2020, up 2017, six C919 prototypes are carry­ year. ARJ21 aircraft flying between development process. It provided international standards, and 20 percent year­on­year, said Tian ing out the necessary test flights for In addition to the confirmed five Shanghai and Beijing. the first crew for the jet model, as equipped with state­of­the­art, Yulong, chief engineer with the airworthiness certification. The six jets, the contract signed between The collaboration between China well as suggestions on operating sophisticated features. Ministry of Industry and Informa­ jets are in the final stage of their COMAC and China Eastern also Eastern and COMAC for the C919 and maintaining the aircraft. The With the participation of the tion Technology on Monday. respective tasks, said He. includes the purchase intent for 15 can be traced back to 2010, when the two parties plan to further expand C919, China Eastern also expects to There are about 265,000 chip­re­ “China Eastern will have a new more such aircraft, said Zhang Xiao­ two signed a letter of intent for C919 their cooperation for C919 commer­ further enhance its market share in lated enterprises in China, accord­ jet in its fleet in the near future. guang, director of marketing divi­ purchases. In 2016, China Eastern cial operations in the future. major domestic destinations. The ing to the database query From a pilot’s perspective, the Chi­ sion with COMAC. became the C919’s first global client Both the C919 and the ARJ 21 carrier, which boasts of having one platform Tianyancha. na­made C919 would be the air­ The twin­engine, single­aisle C919, under an operation framework (which stands for Advanced of the youngest aircraft fleet, oper­ craft that I would want to fly the which is comparable to the updated agreement. Regional Jet for the 21st Century) ates a global aviation network to XINHUA ­ CHINA DAILY most,” said Liu Shaoyong, chair­ Airbus 320 and Boeing’s new genera­ China Eastern has been a part of are developed and manufactured 1,036 destinations in 170 countries.