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A photovoltaic power station built under an inter-village poverty relief program in Huojiaping village of Suide county in Shaanxi province. Located on the Loess Plateau, the county has abundant sunshine and idle land that is ideal for the construction of photovoltaic power stations. Currently, local authorities are working with a provincial branch of electricity service provider State Grid on a 33-megawatt photovoltaic power station. Liu Xiao / Xinhua |
UK and Chinese creative industry firms sign deals
Chinese and UK creative industries companies have signed eight deals worth a total of more than ￡40 million ($52.5 million; 46 million euros) at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai this week. The United Kingdom is a Country of Honour at the Expo, providing a strong platform for UK companies to showcase their expertise to Chinese investors. Major deals were signed between some of the UK’s and China’s top companies, including Clipper Media Capital and Arca Pictures, which signed a memorandum of understanding on film coproduction, set to be worth more than ￡30 million; BAFTA and Cloud Intelligence, which agreed to bring the BAFTA awards in film, TV and gaming to Chinese audiences on one of China’s leading media platforms beginning next year; and Magic Mall and Cloth Cat, which signed a deal to coproduce season 2 of Luo Baobei – an Emmy-nominated cartoon series for children in China.
Ghana launches commodity exchange
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo launched the Ghana Commodity Exchange on Nov 6. The exchange is a platform for buying and selling listed agricultural commodities. The GCX is a regulated market that links buyers and sellers of commodities to trade by rules while assuring the market of quality, timely delivery and settlement. Speaking at the event, Akufo-Addo said the GCX is going to be one of the key drivers of realizing his government’s vision of becoming the agricultural hub of West Africa. He said his administration will make sure that the platform delivers on its mandate and promotes greater productivity, price stability, increased exports and reduced imports of commodities. He added that the exchange, in light of the emerging regional and continental free trade area, can position Ghana as the premier West African global trading hub. With an estimated 1 million farmers to be integrated into the GCX in the next 18 months, Ghanaian farmers will gain access to secured storage for their harvest and good warehousing management practices, substantially reducing their post-harvest losses and improving their take-home sales, Akufo-Addo said.
Work on ultra-high voltage power line begins
Construction of an ultra-high voltage power transmission line to deliver clean energy in China broke ground on Nov 7. The 1,587-km-long transmission line starts in Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province and ends in Zhumadian, Henan province, connecting Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan provinces. According to the plan, the transmission line, with a capacity of 8 million kilowatts, will be put into operation in 2020 and deliver electricity generated from solar power, wind and water from Qinghai to Central China. With an investment of 22.6 billion yuan ($3.26 billion; 2.9 billion euros; ￡2.5 billion), the transmission line is expected to deliver 40 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, which will help replace 18 million tons of raw coal and reduce 14,000 tons of dust emission, 90,000 tons of sulfur dioxide emission and 29.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emission.
Boeing set to deliver 2,000th plane to China
Boeing will deliver its 2,000th airplane to China within the year, the US top aircraft manufacturer announced at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition that opened on Nov 6 in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Boeing has delivered 153 airplanes to Chinese airline companies in the first three quarters of 2018, said Rick Anderson, Boeing’s vice-president of Northeast Asia sales. He said the number of airplanes delivered to China has exceeded 140 for six consecutive years, reflecting the continued strong demand of the Chinese aviation market. China ordered 10 Boeing 707 jets in 1972, which began Boeing’s presence in China. The 1,000th Boeing airplane was delivered to China in March 2013, making China Boeing’s first overseas market to receive 1,000 airplanes.
Chinese company releases bendable phone
A company in South China has released a bendable smartphone made with an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode display. The product is a combination of a smartphone and tablet computer, according to Liu Zihong, CEO of smartphone developer Royole, which is based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. “This phone has a 7.8-inch screen made with AMOLED display, and it includes more than 20 million precision devices,” Liu said. “The screen can be bended and folded.” The smartphone went on limited sale on Nov 6 and will be fully released in late December. Liu moved to Shenzhen to set up Royole in 2012, and by 2014, the company had created an AMOLED display. At just 0.01 mm thick, it is the thinnest high-definition display in the world. Its unique flexibility means that it has the potential to be used in electronic devices, automobiles, domestic appliances and even clothes.
China spent $28.7b on IP imports in 2017
China spent $28.7 billion (25.1 billion euros; ￡21.9 billion) for the use of imported intellectual property last year, official data showed on Nov 6. The figure was up by nearly 14-fold from 2001, when the country joined the World Trade Organization, said the Report on China’s Services Import released by the Ministry of Commerce. The United States was the top source for such imports, followed by Japan and Germany, according to the report, which was published on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. Most of China’s charges for the use of intellectual property imports went to patents, trademarks and copyrights, according to the report. In 2017, import charges for the use of intellectual property accounted for 6.1 percent of China’s total service imports, according to the report. China has always been an important player, active builder and firm defender of international property rules, the ministry said in the report. At present, China has joined almost all major international intellectual property conventions, it said.
Strong demand forecast for commercial aircraft
There will be strong demand for commercial aircraft over the next 20 years, with more than 42,000 new aircraft worth $6 trillion (5.2 trillion euros; ￡4.5 trillion) being built, according to an annual report released on Nov 7. Commercial Aircraft Corp of China predicts there will be more than 47,000 passenger planes by 2037, twice as many as today. The report said the Asian-Pacific region, including China, will be the fastest-growing market. The proportion of airliners in this region is expected to increase from 31 percent to 41 percent by 2037. The number of passenger planes in China will reach 9,965 by 2037, with more than 9,000 new planes being delivered during the period between 2018 and 2037.
Unemployment rate surges in Italy
Italy’s jobless rate rose and the nation’s economy appeared to have ground to a halt after posting modest growth over the past three years, according to official data. Overall unemployment increased by 0.3 percent to 10.1 percent in September compared with August, while unemployment among those ages 15-25 rose by 0.2 percent to 31.6 percent in the same period, ISTAT, the national statistics agency, reported on Nov 7. Italy’s third-quarter gross domestic product growth was flat compared with the second quarter. The Italian economy was stagnant in the third quarter, marking a pause in the expansive trend that had been ongoing for over three years, ISTAT said.
Eurozone inflation increases in October
Annual inflation in the eurozone rose in October to the highest level since December 2012, due to higher energy prices and core inflation. The figure for October is expected to be 2.2 percent, up from the 2.1 percent in September, data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, showed recently.
(China Daily European Weekly 11/09/2018 page26)