LNG Imports from Australia

China's top oil and gas producer has struck a deal with Europe's largest oil company to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia, to meet the country's soaring demand for clean fuel, according to China Daily.

PetroChina International Co. Ltd., a branch of PetroChina, and Shell Eastern LNG signed a long-term supply agreement for LNG from the Gorgon project in Western Australia, Shell said on its website on September 4. Shell and PetroChina will draw up a detailed LNG sale and purchase agreement by the end of next year, according to Shell's statement.

Han Xiaoping, an independent analyst with energy portal China5e.com, said the deal will boost China's clean energy supply and give PetroChina scope to get involved in upstream gas exploration and production on the Gorgon project.

Tightened Trade Relations with Russia

Two-way trade between Jilin Province in northeast China and Russia has soared over the last four years and will continue to expand in the years to come, the province's deputy governor said.

Jiao Zhengzhong said at a trade fair that Jilin's trade with Russia had been growing at an average rate of 90 percent for four years, but the growth rate in the past seven months had leaped to 208 percent.

Nationwide, trade between China and Russia is expected to surpass $40 billion this year, after it reached a record high of $33.4 billion last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. China-Russia trade reached $25 billion dollars in the first seven months.

Expanding and Foreign-dominated Cell Phone Market

Foreign brands continue to dominate the Chinese mobile phone market with a market share of more than 70 percent in the first half of 2007, according to the latest report by CCID Consulting.

The report said that in the first half of this year China produced 248 million mobile phones. Foreign brands occupied the first four places, with Nokia enjoying a market share of 30.9 percent, followed by Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson with 22.5 percent, 9.6 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.

ZTE, Huawei and Bird are the top three domestic brands, with market shares of 4.8 percent, 3.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, the report said.

CCID predicted that China's output of mobile phones will exceed 500 million this year and that the development of 3G, double-module and customized mobile phones will offer great opportunities to mobile phone manufacturers.

Natural Color Cotton Gaining Popularity

China's natural color cotton industry has received a boost with news that contracts for 8,000 tons of cotton have been signed with overseas business representatives at an ongoing trade fair in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. China Colored-Cotton Group based in Xinjiang, the world's biggest production base of natural color cotton, has signed contracts worth 197 million yuan with two companies from India and Pakistan, which have seen business opportunities in colored cotton's rising popularity due to its characteristics of creating zero pollution in processing and exerting no harm on the human body.

China produces about 30,000 tons of natural color cotton each year, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the world's total. Ninety-five percent of China's color cotton is produced in Xinjiang, which has a crop area of 20,000 hectares.

FedEx's New Move

FedEx Corp., the world's largest express transportation company, announced a string of service enhancements to its newly launched domestic time-definite services in China.

Starting from September 3, Saturday will be a normal business day with full pick-up and delivery services for all FedEx domestic service offerings. Additionally, FedEx will offer proof of delivery, an increased maximum for the declared value of each shipment, and a money-back guarantee for all FedEx domestic service offerings, including 48-hour day-definite service.

FedEx began the domestic time-definite service in China on May 28 of this year. The next-business-day time-definite service covers customers in more than 30 cities, while the 48-hour day-definite service reaches more than 200 cities and counties across China.