About China ...2006

Chinese Economy - 2006 Grows to 3rd Largest in the World after US, Japan, Chiina, Germany, uk, france, italy
China said Thursday that its economy grew 10.7 percent in 2006, the fastest pace in more than a decade, amid growing signs of inflation.
The stronger-than-expected growth was largely propelled by soaring exports, stronger retail sales, a manufacturing boom and huge investments in new buildings, roads and cities.
But the economy continues to charge ahead, climbing from 9.1 percent in 2002 to 10.4 percent in 2005 and 10.7 percent last year, the fourth consecutive year of double-digit economic growth.
Beijing is also under pressure to allow the Chinese currency, known as the yuan or renminbi, to appreciate more quickly against the dollar in the hopes of easing the country's mammoth trade surplus with the United States.
The yuan has appreciated against the dollar, strengthening to 7.77 yuan to the dollar Thursday from 8.26 in 2005.
I'd say 2006 was about the best year in a decade — fast growth and low inflation," said Shen Minggao, an economist at Citigroup in Beijing. "This is impressive."

Stock prices are another concern. After falling to their lowest level in six years in mid-2005, stock prices in Shanghai have nearly tripled in a record run.
The Chinese central bank said that for the first time in five years, bank savings of mainland residents slid in October from the month before as more money went into the stock market.
“China’s gross domestic product (GDP) totalled nearly 20.95 trillion yuan (US$2.7 trillion) in 2006, 10.7 percent more than in 2005, according to figures provided by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on January 25, 2007. This was the largest growth spurt since 1995,

China’s fixed-asset investments totalled 10.99 trillion yuan (US$1.41 trillion) in 2006, up 24 percent for the year

Consumer spending grew more slowly, suggesting China still faces challenges in its effort to reduce reliance on exports and to narrow its trade gap by boosting domestic consumption. China’s consumer price index (CPI) grew by 1.5 percent in 2006 over the previous year, the NBS reported. The growth rate was three-tenths of a percentage point lower than the previous year.

The value-added output of all industrial enterprises in China grew 12.5 percent year-on-year in 2006,

China’s retail sales increased by 13.7 percent to 7.64 trillion yuan (US$979.62 billion) in 2006,

Chinese urban and rural residents both experienced double-digit growth in their incomes in 2006, the NBS reported. Urban residents in China earned 11,759 yuan (US$1,500) in per-capita disposable income in 2006, up 12.1 percent from the year earlier, according to the NBS. In 2006, rural residents in China saw their incomes increase by 10.2 percent to 3,587 yuan (US$460).

“Auto Industry
There were 117 passenger vehicle types on the Chinese market in 2006. More than 30 of them used domestically developed design ideas, including the Chang’an’ Benben, Chery’s QQ6, the Hongqi HQ3, FAW Car’s Besturn and Brilliance China Auto’s Zhonghua Junjie. Since China entered the WTO in 2001, auto sales have increased by an annual average of 36 percent.
China has become the fourth-largest auto manufacturing country in the world. There are more than 5,800 auto and auto part manufacturers with combined assets of over 1 trillion yuan (US$126 billion) today

Biotech
China is becoming more influential in the global biotech industry. US and European scientists may increasingly notice that many of the test tubes and tips and certain reagents used in their laboratories have been manufactured in China. But many executives may not recognize the name BioAsia Company––a Shanghai-based bio-services provider that the US biotech product and service giant Invitrogen Corporation recently acquired. They may also be unaware that SiBiono GeneTech Company Limited, the first company in the world to receive regulatory approval by any agency for a gene therapy, is based in Shenzhen.

“Solar-Powered Energy
The solar-powered energy industry is growing in China as the country seeks clean, cheap and renewable sources of energy. A solar energy system jointly constructed by BP and its Chinese partners was successfully put into operation in 2005 at the Shenzhen International Garden and Flower Exposition,
In 2004, Suntech, based in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, became the first “solar energy concept” stock to be traded on Wall Street;

Semiconductors
Vimicro became the first Chinese semiconductor firm to trade shares on the NASDAQ when it went public on November 15, 2005. Vimcro’s NASDAQ listing was followed by an initial public offering (IPO) by Actions Semiconductor Company, another Chinese chip-design firm. Both IPOs fell short of expectations. This indicated that it will likely take time for investors to understand the profitability of Chinese chip design enterprises. Chip design is the highest value-added business in the semiconductor industry, accounting for 40 percent of the value chain.
By 2004, there were 421 chip design firms throughout the country, with total annual revenues of 8.15 billion yuan (US$1 billion