Faster rise in food costs may lift CPI
China's inflation may pick up again in January on a faster rise in food prices as the Spring Festival nears, analysts said yesterday.
The Consumer Price Index, the main gauge of inflation, is likely to climb above 5 percent again this month, said Li Maoyu, an economist at Changjiang Securities Co.
"Frequent natural disasters in recent months have led to a higher increase in food prices at this particular time when the Spring Festival is drawing close and demand gets a lift," Li said. "Even if government measures are well implemented, a higher inflation rate may be unavoidable."
His view was echoed by Matt Robinson, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics, who suggested a need to bolster supply to address structural food price inflation.
"Investment, improved techniques, upgraded distribution chains and the removal of bottlenecks will be imperative to rein in food price inflation," Robinson said.
China's Ministry of Commerce reported prices of 18 vegetables rose 12.6 percent on an annual basis last week, up 6.5 percentage points from a week earlier. --(1/27)
Traffic to Pudong faster with 2 new tunnels
Local motorists can expect less congestion and easier river crossing when two Huangpu River tunnels open to traffic in the next three days.
The long-awaited Jungong Road Tunnel will open to traffic this Friday. Traffic police said the new eight-lane tunnel is expected to relieve traffic pressure on Yangpu Bridge and Xiangyin Road Tunnel and smooth commutes between Yangpu District and Pudong New Area.
The tunnel also completes the last section of the Middle Ring Road, a highway loop around the city.
The Xizang Road S. Tunnel will also open to traffic next Tuesday, providing another road link between downtown and Pudong. It was previously used only for shuttle buses and special event vehicles during the World Expo last year. --(1/26)
Shanghai GDP rises 9.9% in 2010
Shanghai's gross domestic product increased 9.9 percent year on year in 2010 to 1.6872 trillion yuan (US$252 billion), the city government said at a press briefing today.
The city's consumer price index grew 3.1 percent year on year in 2010, the local government said. --(1/25)
Metro Line 22 to bring Jinshan closer
A new Metro service, Line 22, is due to be operational in November, connecting downtown Xuhui District with southern Jinshan District with fast trains traveling as 160 kph, its builder told Shanghai Daily today.
Shanghai Mechanized Construction Co, one of the project contractors, said a main underpass across Metro Line 22 has been completed. Dozens of such underpasses will be constructed along the route to ensure surface traffic go uninterrupted.
The 56.4-kilometer Metro Line 22 will run on ground level from the South Railway Station, a transit hub also for Metro Line 1, Line 3 and many buses, across Minhang and Songjiang districts, to its terminal in Jinshan New Town in Jinshan District bordering Zhejiang Province.
Metro Line 22 will make use of the existing single-track Jinshan railway, an underused cargo rail. Constructors will revamp the cargo rail and lay a paralleled new track. --(1/24)
Botanical garden in Songjiang
Chenshan Botanical Garden, which features Asia¡¯s biggest greenhouse, officially opens today in Songjiang District.
The botanical garden has already been open on a trial basis and has received good reviews from tourists from both home and abroad.
The greenhouse houses more than 3,000 breeds of plants from all over the world, some of which are rare, the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Administrative Bureau said yesterday.
The greenhouse is divided into three parts, one for rare plants, another for sand plants and the third for tropical plants.
The entire botanical garden features more than 9,000 breeds of plants.
The Shanghai government invested more than 2.1 billion yuan (US$319 million) in the project. --(1/23)
Animal performances will continue
Although the country's urban-rural development authorities have ordered all zoos to stop animal performances from February, officials at Shanghai Wildlife Park said yesterday the ban doesn't apply to them because it is administered by the State Forestry Administration.
Thus, animal performances will continue, the officials said.
The wildlife park has designed new performances for the approaching Spring Festival. As the Chinese Year of the Rabbit is coming, rabbits will be the main characters in the performances. There will also be soccer games with elephants and magic shows with tigers, the park said.
Pan Weihua, manager of corporate planning for the wildlife park, said yesterday that animals need proper exercise to boost their health. --(1/22)
Snow gone, sun peeps today and tomorrow
The snowy weather that began on Wednesday is expected to stop this afternoon and the sky will stay cloudy for the next two days with a slight increase in temperature, Shanghai weather bureau said today.
Today's maximum temperature will climb to 4 degrees Celsius in downtown districts, about 2 degrees higher than yesterday. The yellow road icing alert was cancelled in the morning.
Shanghai Meteorological Bureau said the cumulated snow on roads has started melting due to rising temperatures and people should be careful walking on slippery roads.
The city is expected to enjoy some sunshine tomorrow, but rain or sleet will come back on Sunday. Good news is that there will be no snowfall next week, said the bureau.
This weekend, local temperatures will be between minus 1 degree to 6 degrees Celsius.
Yesterday Shanghai recorded its biggest snowfall in 30 years with a depth of up to 54 millimeters in some urban area. --(1/21)
US$45b deals agreed
China and the United States reached agreements on export deals worth US$45 billion, a US official said at the start of President Hu Jintao's state visit.
They included China's final approval of a US$19 billion contract to buy 200 Boeing aircraft, which US officials estimated would support 100,000 American jobs.
Other deals involved Honeywell, Caterpillar and Westinghouse Electric.
Chinese officials told the Obama administration that Chinese companies had signed 70 contracts worth US$25 billion in US exports from 12 states.
Altogether, the deals will support an estimated 235,000 American jobs.
The US official said there was also progress on several key trade areas.
The Boeing deal would be larger than a US$15.6 billion deal for Airbus to sell 180 planes to Indian carrier IndiGo which was touted as the biggest jet order in history. --(1/20)
23m in Shanghai, census reveals
Some 23 million people were registered living in Shanghai in last November's national census, a population expert said yesterday.
That number included 9 million migrant people, according to Ding Jinhong.
Ding warned that the large population has exceeded the city's capacity for healthy development.
Since the previous census in 2005, the city's population has grown by 660,000 each year. And over the past 10 years, the population density in Shanghai ¡ª which covers 6,300 square kilometers ¡ª has risen from 2,588 people per square kilometer in 2000 to 3,600 last year.
Ding, director of East China Normal University's School of Social Development, said that Shanghai is facing a huge challenge due to the influx of migrants, and the city government must put population management at the top of its agenda in the 12th five-year plan starting this year.
Of the 9 million migrant people recorded in November's census, Ding estimated that 2 million were in the city for a stay of less than six months. This group included people visiting family, receiving medical treatment or just spending time in the city.
The remaining 7 million have lived in Shanghai for more than six months.
So, in fact, the city has around 21 million residents, including 14 million with registered residency and 7 million migrant workers, based on the census, Ding said.
The city's population authorities haven¡¯t announced their official population figure for 2010. In 2009, according to city figures, Shanghai had 19.21 million residents, 328,600 more than 2008. Shanghai government's figure is based on various city records and may differ from national census totals.
By the end of 2009, some 5.42 million migrant people had stayed in the city for more than six months, representing 28.2 percent of local residents ¡ª up 0.8 percent on 2008, according to Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission.
Population growth concerns have led to heated discussion at this week's annual session of the Shanghai's legislative body and at the gathering of local lawmakers at Shanghai People's Congress.
"Shanghai is facing a continually growing population," Ding said. "Such a big population brings big challenges to housing, transport, health, education and other public service sectors."
"The government must develop measures to create a healthy population flow through restructuring the local economy," Ding added.
He proposed shrinking low-end industry, which attracts unqualified workers, and encouraging the high-end service sector, which requires better qualified employees. --(1/19)
Students draw fire escape route as homework
Local students are given a special homework during this winter vacation-to draw a fire escape route map for their homes.
The Shanghai Education Commission issued a notice today, urging schools to assign the special homework to students for this winter holiday which starts Friday. Schools shall check the maps and give feedback to parents when the vacation ends on February 13.
Students are told to carry out a drill based on the maps they draw. They are also encouraged to find potential hazards at home such as broken electric wires.
On November 15 last year, a high-rise inferno killed 58 people in the city's downtown Jing'an District. --(1/18)
City must get bigger Disney cash share
To make Shanghai Disneyland profitable for the city, local government must ensure that Walt Disney Co gives it a bigger share of the income, a member of the city's top political advisory body proposed yesterday.
"Shanghai should try to negotiate with the Walt Disney Co to earn more sources of income from the project rather than just ticket sales," said Tu Haiming, a member of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
"It's the biggest lesson Shanghai should learn from Hong Kong, which hardly makes any profit from the Disneyland project, so far."
According to Tu, the Hong Kong government only takes home part of the proceeds from ticket sales.
Other more profitable sources of income, such as sales of Disney products, accommodation in its hotels, TV channels and English teaching projects, all belong to the Walt Disney Co.
Although the Hong Kong government paid more than 90 percent of total investment, it has gained little from the project, said Tu.
Last November, the Disney signed an agreement with the Shanghai Shendi Group Co to build a Disneyland theme park in the city, the first on the Chinese mainland. It could open in five years. --(1/17)
Cold snap continues in southwest China
It will either snow or rain over the next three days in southwestern China as a cold snap continues, the National Meteorological Center forecast yesterday.
Meanwhile, temperatures will drop up to 10 degrees Celsius in some ares along the Yellow and Huaihe rivers in the northern regions, according to the forecast. --(1/16)
Airlines code-share
China Eastern Airlines has reached a code-share agreement with Taiwan-based China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines to boost connection across the Taiwan Strait.
The code-share operation will start on February 17, connecting mainland cities, including Shanghai, Xi'an, Qingdao, Nanjing and Ningbo, with Taiwan's airports.
Separately, China Eastern yesterday said its passenger traffic jumped 59 percent from a year ago to 76.1 million in December. --(1/15)
Bogus bee products
Shanghai local bee products manufacturers are calling for a new quality standard on honey and other bee products, as many of the products now sold on the market are counterfeits.
The Shanghai Suburban Bee Industry Co said now some manufacturers made honey with syrup and propolis ¡ª a resinous mixture bees collect from buds ¡ª from vegetable glue.
The Shanghai Association for Agriculture said the present quality standard for bee products is too weak. --(1/11)
Metro track to total 500km by 2012
Shanghai's Metro is to undergo a major extension over the next two years, with two new lines built and three extensions added to existing routes.
This will increase the local subway network to 500 kilometers of track by 2012, a top official with the Shanghai transport authorities said.
Zhou Huai, deputy director of Shanghai Transport and Port Administration Bureau, said: ¡°The subway¡¯s transit abilities will be increased with the new lines built.¡±
At present, Shanghai has 11 lines of 420km of track ¡ª the longest in the world ¡ª carrying 1.9 billion passengers a year.
A new round of Metro construction is part of a government strategy to spend billions of yuan on transport links over the next five years.
The construction of Metro Lines 12, 13, one extension of Line 9 and two extensions to Line 11 will get under way soon, improving links between downtown traffic hubs and outlying districts, Zhou said.
A short section of Line 13 opened to World Expo visitors but closed after the event ended last October.
Line 9 is expected to stretch further south in Songjiang District and the Pudong New Area in the east. Line 11 will cross beneath the Huangpu River, extending to Pudong.
Traffic authorities also said that work on 22 subway stations has resumed in downtown area, following a break during the Expo when almost all downtown construction was halted.
Meanwhile, tightened security measures adopted during the Expo, such as X-ray scanning of passengers¡¯ luggage, will remain in place for the time being.
Scanning machines will be retained at stations and the number of security staff hired during the event is unlikely to be cut, Zhou said.
However, many passengers have claimed that inspections have become more lax since the conclusion of the Expo, saying that staff do not usually try to catch passengers who skip checks.
The bureau insists that staff still conduct checks on big bags and scan smaller ones randomly.
Discussions with police are ongoing about the long-term future of the scanning machines, officials said. --(1/10)
Relief efforts
Two million yuan (US$303,000) has been allocated to relief efforts in Guizhou and Hunan provinces - where snow and freezing rain have disrupted people's lives - by the All China Federation of Trade Unions. The inclement weather has led to the evacuation of at least 58,000 people from their homes in the past week. --(1/9)
Shanghai¡¯s luxury home sales rise over 20%
Sales of luxury homes at above 50,000 yuan (US$7,541) per square meter rose more than 20 percent in Shanghai last year, China Real Estate Information Corp (CRIC) said yesterday.
A total of 537,800 square meters, or 2,342 units, of new luxury homes were sold for 36.04 billion yuan over the past 12 months, versus 431,200 square meters, or 1,639 units, in 2009 for 29.71 billion yuan.
About 60 luxury residential developments across the city, all costing more than 50,000 yuan per square meter, managed to secure sales last year, compared with 33 projects in 2009, CRIC data showed.
There were seven residential projects in the city which command an average sales price of more than 100,000 yuan per square meter, versus only three in 2009.
Tomson Riviera in Lujiazui in Pudong New Area remained as the city¡¯s most costly residential development. Seventeen units at the project were sold last year for an average of 154,168 yuan per square meter. --(1/7)
Villa sales fall to 1.73m square meters
About 1.73 million square meters of villas, including stand-alone homes and townhouses, were sold in Shanghai last year, with Pudong New Area registering the largest volume, an industry report showed yesterday.
Among the 7,625 new villas sold last year, 2,016 units were in Pudong, followed by Songjiang, Qingpu, Baoshan and Jiading districts. These five districts contributed a combined 75 percent of the city¡¯s entire villa sales, according to real estate portal Soufun.com.
Month by month, December witnessed the largest volume when 1,300 units were sold, followed by September with 1,045 units and 991 units in April, according to Soufun.
Villas across the city sold for nearly 30,000 yuan (US$4,524) per square meter on average last year, with 275 units securing more than 70,000 yuan per square meter, Soufun said.
¡°The local villa market remained quite stable in terms of price during 2010 ¡ª averaging from 24,849 yuan to 34,237 yuan per square meter between January and December,¡± said Lu Yiping, a Soufun analyst. ¡°Compared with apartments, villa projects are somewhat less vulnerable to policy changes since prices are primarily determined by the quality of the development.¡±
Sales of new homes, consisting of both villas and apartments, plunged across the country last year due to two rounds of tightening policies from the central government to rein in property speculation.
In 2009, a total of 3.25 million square meters of new villas, or 13,733 units, were sold in Shanghai, according to China Real Estate Information Corp. --(1/6)
Shanghai top port
Shanghai overtook Singapore as the world¡¯s biggest container port for the first time in 2010, handling 29.05 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), city officials said yesterday.
The city handled about 500,000 TEUs more than Singapore last year.
Shanghai¡¯s container throughput totaled 25 million TEUs in 2009, the world¡¯s second-largest.
The economic recovery and the boost from the World Expo helped the city¡¯s container and cargo throughput, officials said.
Shanghai¡¯s cargo throughput hit about 650 million tons in 2010, remaining the world¡¯s biggest. The city handled 590 million tons of cargo in 2009. --(1/5)
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