TOPPING UP: On August 19, Nestle SA launched a new production line for Nescafe coffee in Shanghai with an investment of 60 million yuan ($8.8 million). Patrice Bula, Chairman and CEO of Nestle (China) Ltd. (right) pours up some Nescafe brew (LIU YING)

More Support for SMEs

China will offer more policy assistance and financial support to encourage the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao decided on August 19.

The Central Government will increase funding to support the SMEs, especially in sectors such as technology innovation, industrial structure adjustment and employment.

In a bid to help small companies raise funds, China will establish the Growth Enterprise Market, the country's first NASDAQ-style bourse.

Some SMEs will be picked to participate in the country's selling "home appliance in the countryside" program, a government program to subsidize the purchase of white goods in rural areas.

Closer Trade Ties

China remained Japan's largest trade partner in the first half of 2009. Japan's imports from and exports to China were both the biggest among all of its trade partners, according to the Japan External Trade Organization.

In the first six months, Japan's trade with China accounted for 20 percent of its total trade volume, followed by the United States, which took up 13 percent, and South Korea which accounted for 6 percent of its trade volume.

Exports to China dropped 25 percent in the first half from a year earlier to $46 billion, and imports from China fell 17 percent to $56 billion. Japan's trade with other countries and regions declined even faster.

Sinopec's Ambitions

China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec) bought Geneva-based Addax Petroleum Corp. for about $7.5 billion, making the deal the largest overseas takeover so far by a Chinese company. Sinopec spent $46 for each share of Addax.

Sinopec said in a statement it would maintain Addax's management team and all employees, and only send a few managers and technicians from Sinopec.

"The goal is to make Addax a real international oil and gas exploration and development company in the Sinopec group," said the company.

Addax owns 25 oil and gas blocks, mainly in Nigeria, Gabon and Iraq. Its remaining recoverable proven and probable reserves are 537 million barrels and its average crude oil output is 143,000 barrels per day. Its annual oil output is expected to increase from 7 million to 10 million tons.

Blue Star Tapping Blue Ocean

China National BlueStar (Group) Co. and its France-based subsidiary Adisseo Group, a feed additive producer, reached an agreement on August 19 to build China's first methionine plant in Nanjing, the capital city of the eastern Jiangsu Province.

Methionine, an amino acid in sesame seeds, Brazil nuts, fish and meat, is a supplement in animal feed.

With an annual production capacity of 70,000 tons, the plant will aim to tap the Chinese methionine market.

China has an estimated annual demand for 120,000 tons of the amino acid, said Xi Yuxin, a China National BlueStar spokesperson.