S Korean company seeks investment in mineral exploration in Myanmar

YANGON, Feb. 1 (Chinese media) -- A South Korean leading private company is

seeking investment in mineral exploration in a major mine in Myanmar's northern

Shan state, the local weekly Yangon Times reported in this week's issue.

Confirmed by the South Korean Embassy here, the Korean HC Company has

coordinated with the Myanmar mining authorities to make investment in the

Yadanar Theinki mining block on a mutually-beneficial basis and a field survey

running for a period of up to one year will be conducted by Korean experts soon.

The South Korean company's intentional investment in the mining sector will

be the first in Myanmar, the report said.

According to the journal's report, South Korea stands the fifth largest

foreign investor in Myanmar injecting 50 million U.S. dollars in the oil and gas

sector. Total Korean investment amounted to about 350 million dollars in the

fiscal year 2007-08.

According to earlier official report, three S Korean companies-- Korea

Resources Corporation (KRC), Daewoo International Corporation and Taihan

Electric Wire joined the Canadian company of Ivanhoe in producing copper in

three blocks of Sabetaung, Letpadaung and Kyisintaung near Monywa in Sagaing

division under an agreement reached among them in January 2006.

The copper mining activities have been undertaken by the Canadian company

since 1996 with 39,000 tons of copper producing annually.

Other firms engaged in mineral exploration in Myanmar include those from

Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

Official statistics show that foreign contracted investment in Myanmar's

mining sector has amounted to about 534.19 million U.S. dollars as of the end of

2007 since the country opened to such investment in late 1988, accounting for

3.6 percent of 14.736 billion dollars' total foreign investment and standing as

the sixth largest sector.

China Customs: Imports, exports in bonded zones up 17%

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- China Customs has said the total

value of imports and exports in its specially-supervised areas, mainly bonded

zones, were up 17 percent year-on-year to almost 300 billion U.S. dollars

in 2008.

Exports grew 21.7 percent to 152.6 billion U.S.

dollars and imports rose 12.2 percent to 146.9 billion U.S. dollars.

The total value of imports and exports in these

special areas accounted for 28 percent of the country's processing trade volume

last year, according to the Customs figure.

The government established Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free

Trade Zone, the first zone under special supervision of the Customs, in 1990. To

date, China has 94 zones of this kind, including bonded processing and logistics

zones, and bonded ports.

Such specially supervised areas offer protective

tariffs for imported goods and simplified customs procedures.

The government is working to turn these specially

supervised areas more attractive to investors by enhancing functions such as

bonded processing and bonded logistics zones, while at the same time adding

functions like research and development, testing, maintenance, and commodity and

service trade to these areas.

China's festival tourism heats up despite global economic cooldown

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009



Special

Report:Global Financial

Crisis

BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Chinese media) -- The global financial crisis failed to dampen tourism in China during the weeklong lunar New Year holiday as lower travel costs persuaded people to spend.

According to statistics released by the National Tourism Administration on Sunday, the country recorded 109 million visits during the holiday, up 24.7 percent from the previous New Year period.

Tourism revenue hit 50.93 billion yuan (7.45 billion U.S. dollars), up 23.1 percent. Air transport made 3.8 billion yuan and railway transport made 2.26 billion yuan. 39 major tourism cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, earned 21.88 billion yuan and other cities and tourist sites earned 22.99 billion yuan.

During the holiday, 177 retail firms in the 39 cities reported a total sales income of 5.84 billion yuan, up 6.5 percent year on year. Another 172 restaurants posted a combined business revenue of 580 million yuan, up 11.9 percent.

The administration statistics released on Saturday showed 19 major tourism cities including Beijing recorded a more than 15 percent increase in both the number of tourists and revenue during the holiday from Jan. 25 to 31.

Analysts noted local governments and tourism bureaus sought to attract tourists in attempt to stimulate consumption during the golden week. Measures included cutting prices of tickets to tourist attractions and lowering prices of travel packages.

"The economic turmoil compelled airlines to cut fuel surcharges, while restaurants and tourist sites provided discounts. These contributed to the booming domestic tourism market," said Qi Xinyuan, head of marketing section of China International Travel Service.

Beijing received 3.24 million travelers during the holiday, up 20 percent from the same holiday last year. Revenue hit 2.16 billion yuan, up 32.6 percent year on year.

The festival brought 7.13 million people to the eastern Shandong Province, up 16.3 percent. Tourism revenue totaled 4.58 billion yuan, up 19.6 percent.

The quake-hit Sichuan Province also posted impressive results, with the number of tourists climbing 21.9 percent to about 16.57 million and total revenue up 32.8 percent to 4.725 billion yuan.

Statistics also showed the number of tourists visiting Japan, ROK, south Asian countries, and Australia increased. However, no specific figures were available for these regions.

With warmer relations between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, tours to Taiwan turned out to be popular, with more than 13,000 mainland travelers visiting the island during the seven-day holiday.

The administration said the tourism boom at the beginning of the year set a good start for the whole year.

In the eventful 2008, global tourism market was dragged into a slump by the financial crisis. China was also affected, with the number of foreign tourists falling 6.8 percent to 24.3 million from the previous year.

Tourism revenue totaled 1.16 trillion yuan last year, up 5.8 percent year-on-year. It included 874.9 billion yuan earned from local travelers and 283.9 billion yuan from overseas tourists. The two figures for 2007 were 777.1 billion yuan and 312.9 billion yuan, respectively.

Data showed domestic tourism still held up while inbound tourism declined.

The tourism administration's chief, Shao Qiwei, said in the 2009 national tourism work conference on Jan. 7 that the country would seek to stimulate domestic tourism and create new outlets for tourism growth. He expected rising domestic and outbound travels and a rebound in inbound tourism this year.

According to a survey conducted by China Tourism Academy and Beijing-based Tsinghua University, 92 percent of respondents were willing to travel this year.

HK malls strive for mainland shoppers

BEIJING, Feb.1 -- Hong Kong shopping malls are

leaving no stone unturned to attract cash-rich mainlanders to their stores

during the Lunar New Year holidays.

From producing and airing fashion programs on

Beijing's TV channels to promoting their own brands on the mainland's radio

stations, Hong Kong's retail market is going all out to ensure shoppers from the

mainland fly down and dig deep into their pockets this festive season.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board said it expected a 10

percent increase in arrivals from the mainland during the Chinese New Year.

About 655,000 mainlanders visited Hong Kong during

last year's spring break.

A total of 16.6 million people from the mainland went

to Hong Kong in the whole of last year. The figure constituted about 55 percent

of the total arrivals.

According to rough estimates, mainlanders comprise of

12 to 30 percent of the total customer base in local shopping malls.

High-end shopping mall Elements recently co-produced

a fashion program with a TV station in Beijing, in which popular hosts spoke of

latest trends and encouraged mainland viewers to shop at the mall for branded

clothing.

APM, a mall managed by the Sun Hung Kai real estate

agency, adopted a similar approach. It organized interviews of its store

managers on the mainland's radio stations to talk about the positive side of

shopping at APM.

"Travelers from the mainland are confident that Hong

Kong can offer them a lot more choices (of clothing and goods) at a cheaper

price," said APM's leasing general manager Maureen Fung.

Harbour City, the biggest mall in Hong Kong, took

advantage of its size to house many flagship stores and brands, which made their

debut in the city.

"Shopping malls are just like tourist spots. People

want to pay a visit whether they intend to buy anything or not. Once they're in

the mall, it's our job to ensure they like the products enough to spend on

them," said Canis Lee, Harbour City's assistant general manager.

To make it even "more convenient" for shoppers, malls

are even going to the extent of providing transport facilities to and from the

airport.

Elements has arranged a free shuttle service from the

mall to the Shenzhen Baoan Airport for its customers.

APM, too, has arranged for airport shuttle service

and free coupons for tour groups from the mainland led by the Guangdong People's

Government during the festival.

Betty Leong, the chief development manager of the

MTRC mall, said a mainlander once "spent over HK$1 million" on a single visit to

the mall.

"We know mainlanders have money and they want to

spend," she said.

APM's Maureen Fung said: "Travelers from the mainland

are essential for the Hong Kong retail market at least for the next 10 years due

to their strong consumption power. So we will do all that we can to get them to

our mall."

(Source: China Daily)

Chinese investors embrace more holiday joy from stock market

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Chinese media) -- Apart from the reunion of families and friends,

Chinese investors had one more to be grateful for during the Chinese Lunar New

Year holiday - the stock market, China Daily reported in its weekend issue.

The leading indicator, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, saw gains of

9.3 percent through the first month of 2009.

"The out performance of A shares coming into 2009 is largely attributed to

proactive government policies to stabilize the economy and fairly relaxed

liquidity in the market," Wu Feng, an analyst with TX Investment Consulting, was

quoted as saying.

Indeed, on the domestic front, persistent policy efforts from the fiscal

stimulus package to specific measures to boost the automotive and steel sectors

have boosted market enthusiasm.

In addition, the recovery of the broad and narrow measures of money supply

through December also implied an increase in liquidity arising from a more

relaxed monetary policy.

However, worsening corporate earnings and faltering domestic economy will

continue to put pressure on the country's stock market, despite the generally

upbeat long-term prospects for A shares.

As of Jan. 20, among the more than 670 listed companies that had posted

their preliminary earnings reports, 60 percent were projecting profit declines

or losses in 2008, distinctly higher than the figure of 20.67 percent in 2007.

"We forecast that the growth rate of corporate earnings will slide to minus

10 percent in 2009, from positive growth of 3 percent in 2008," Wu said.

Yan Ji, an investment director with the HSBC Fund Management Co. Ltd., also

expressed concerns regarding company performance, saying earnings among

industrial companies will continue to slide in 2009.

"The rebound may come when companies' de-stocking process ends and the

highly effective fiscal easing passes on to the real economy in the second

half," he said.