* A vast, increasingly high-earning and sophisticated consumer market
* A low-cost manufacturing and product-sourcing hub
* A highly-skilled, well-educated labour pool
* A growing number of outward-looking investors

China is also a complex and rapidly evolving market.  Its business regulatory system is intricate and its tax system has been ranked among the most challenging in the world, according to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index.

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and New Zealand is a significant development for both countries that makes bilateral trade in goods and services as well as investment easier.

The FTA opens the door to many new opportunities for New Zealand companies, however it is up to individual businesses to take action and capitalise on the benefits available.

If you are already doing business in China and want to ensure you are well-placed to take advantage of the FTA, or if you are looking to China to help grow your business, visit the China Tax Desk.

CITIC oil in 2010

Hong Kong-listed CITIC Resources Holdings said yesterday that it will start producing its first domestic crude in the second quarter of 2010 in the Bohai Sea off the coast of North China.

The offshore Yuedong oil field would peak at around 36,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2014, which would account for more than half of their total by then, said Sun Xinguo, president and chief executive officer of the company.

Yuedong was estimated to have probable, possible and proven oil reserves of about 63.5 million barrels, the company said.

Whampoa down 33%

Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s flagship and also one of the top industrial conglomerates in Asia-Pacific by market capitalization, said yesterday that its first-half net profit fell 33 percent on narrower one-off gains, a steep drop in container throughput and continued losses in its European 3G mobile phone business.

Net profit for January to June was HK$5.76 billion ($738 million), it said, down from a restated HK$8.59 billion a year earlier. The profit beat a consensus forecast for a profit of HK$3.59 billion by six analysts polled by Reuters.

IPhone rumors denied

China Unicom’s branch company in Guangdong Province yesterday denied rumors that it is in talks with retail chain Carrefour in the province.

Rumors saying that China Unicom had paid 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) for 5 million iPhones from the Apple company, and will have them displayed in Carrefour hypermarkets this September, appeared on websites and in newspapers after a ceremony held Tuesday by China Unicom and Carrefour.

“But we have never made any comments on iPhone,” said China Unicom on its Web page.

Low emission meeting

A Sino-US low emission economic meeting is set to kick off at the International Finance Center of New York on September 23.

BlueNext, Beijing Environment Exchange, the Energy Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission, and the US-based Environmental Defense will take part in meeting to be held during Climate Week held during the UN Summit.

The theme of the meeting will be Sino-China low carbon economic cooperation: technology, capital and market.

Agencies

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The president said the company has no plans for acquisitions in the juice business and will develop its own business organically through its existing Minute Maid juice brand.

The company yesterday also inaugurated a new bottling plant in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, just a day after it opened its 37th bottling plant in Jiangxi Province. It has an annual capacity of 200,000 tons.

Coca-Cola is also building a plant in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

China is Coca-Cola’s third largest market after the U.S. and Mexico.

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Consolidated sales in China, which include automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods and building technology, increased 30% to RMB 22.8 billion, slower than earlier proposed RMB 25 billion, said Uwe Raschke, a member of the board of management heading the Asia Pacific region.

The company attributed the slowdown in sales to the sluggish market amid the financial crisis.

The Chinese market contributed EUR 45 billion to Bosch’s global sales in 2008, down 2.8% year on year due to the appreciation of the euro. However, the Chinese market remains a significant contributor to its global sales and the company will not change its investment plan in China even though it is cutting costs worldwide, according to Raschke.

Moreover, Bosch (China) Investment Ltd plans to introduce lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles as early as 2011 as the demand may rise on greener vehicles promotion.
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