BRIDGING HAINAN: China has on January 18 officially completed construction on the Haikou Extra Large Bridge on the Hainan East Ring Railway. This marks a stride toward completion of the railway, which is scheduled to come into use by the end of 2010 (GUO CHENG)

Farm Loans

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), one of the country's top four state-owned commercial banks, lent a total of 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) to rural households in 2009, the bank said on January 20.

The lending for farmers in 2009 exceeded the combined amount for the previous five years, according to the bank.

ABC would continue to offer small-loan support for rural households in 2010 and tap into new markets in counties across the country, said Xiang Junbo, President of ABC.

Total outstanding small-loans for farmers stood at 67.3 billion yuan ($9.9 billion) by the end of 2009, up by 62.6 billion yuan ($9.2 billion) compared with the beginning of last year.

Powering Up

China recently started construction on the Ningde Nuclear Power Station, the first in southeast China's Fujian Province.

With an investment of 50 billion yuan ($6.8 billion), the power plant will be equipped with four 1-million-kw generators in the first phase construction.

When the first phase is completed, the station could generate up to 30 billion kwh of power every year to ease the power shortage in Fujian.

Gas Exploration

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) is currently in talks with the British energy giant BP over potentially collaborating on exploration and development of shale gas in China, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Sinopec said in a company newsletter that talks with BP were going smoothly and that any deal would help China to use foreign technology to accelerate the development of its shale gas reserves.

In November there were also reports that PetroChina and Royal Dutch Shell had started joint exploration of a Chinese shale gas block in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Auto Expansion

Chinese carmaker Geely Automobile plans to invest 2 billion yuan ($300 million) over the next three years to boost car manufacturing capacity at its Lanzhou plant in Gansu Province.

The Lanzhou plant's capacity will increase from 50,000 to 120,000 units, China Daily reported.

Analysts say Geely's strategy to focus on Lanzhou would be beneficial in the long run as the relatively low logistics cost will help increase its market share in the region.

Aircraft Maker Cashes In

The Aviation Industry Corp. of China (AVIC), China's top aircraft manufacturer, raked in a profit of 9.7 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in 2009, up 32.2 percent year on year, the company said on January 21.

Business revenue hit 191 billion yuan ($28 billion), up 14.4 percent year on year.

AVIC gave no details on its profit increases, but said its business had realized steady and relatively fast growth through restructuring amid the global financial crisis last year.

AVIC engaged in 10 major merger and acquisition deals in 2009. In one case, its subsidiary Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co. Ltd. acquired a 91.25-percent stake in the Austria-based company Future Advanced Composite Components in December last year.

In November 2009, AVIC agreed to transfer its auto operations to the Chang'an Automobile Group in return for a 23-percent state in the automaker.