NEW BUSINESS HUB: The Qinzhou Bonded Port Area passes state inspection and officially opens for international auto trade in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on November 1, 2011 (ZHANG AILIN)

Tax Adjustments

China raised thresholds for levying value-added and business taxes on November 1.

The value-added tax threshold will be increased to between 5,000 yuan ($790) and 20,000 yuan ($3,150), in terms of monthly sales revenues, from the previous threshold of 2,000 to 5,000 yuan ($315-790), said the Ministry of Finance.

Meanwhile, the threshold for levying the business tax will be raised to 5,000-20,000 yuan from the previous 1,000-5,000 yuan ($158-790).

The adjustments came after a decision made by the State Council to enhance financial support for the country's cash-strapped small and micro enterprises.

Reduced Ship Orders

The Chinese shipbuilding industry suffered drastic declines in new orders in September, as the growth of the global ocean shipping market almost stalled amid economic slowdown.

New shipbuilding orders in September fell to 940,000 deadweight tons, the lowest monthly figure since June 2009, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

About 30 percent of China's 1,526 shipbuilding enterprises received no new orders in September, forcing some of the small and medium-sized ones to shut or stop production.

As a result of shrinking orders and rising costs, 249 enterprises suffered losses in the first eight months of 2011, 37.9 percent more than a year ago. Their total loses stood at 2.66 billion yuan ($420 million) at the end of August, said the NDRC.

Train Payment

CSR Corp. Ltd., China's major train manufacturer, said it received payment of trade receivables of nearly 6 billion yuan ($923 million) from the Ministry of Railways (MOR) on November 1.

The company is expected to receive most of the total account of receivables in November and December.

Zhao Xiaogang, Chairman of CSR, attributed the MOR's weak payment capacity to the sluggish global economic environment.

Chinese authorities have agreed to take steps to secure financial support for major cash-strapped railway projects in the country's latest move to help the crippled sector.

The MOR will get more than 200 billion yuan ($31.5 billion) of financial support to ensure payment and improve liquidity, according to sources with the ministry.

Banking in Shanghai

Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's largest state-owned bank, plans to open a branch office in Shanghai on November 17, in a bid to facilitate transactions, local media in Jakarta reported on November 1.

Mandiri President Director Zulkifli Zaini was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying that transactions using yuan would start in 2014.

With the establishment of the Mandiri Shanghai branch, which has been planned since 2006, Zulkifli said that as of 2014 Indonesians could directly transfer an amount of money from yuan to rupiah with no need of converting first into U.S. dollars.