Real Estate Loan Wilts

Chinese bankers issued a total of 5.2 trillion yuan ($760.8 billion) in loans to real estate developers and housing buyers by the end of June, up 22.5 percent year on year, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said recently.

The growth rate was 2 percentage points lower than that during the same period last year, representing a decline for seven consecutive months since last December.

China's real estate investment picked up speed in the first half of this year. But falling housing prices in some cities have prompted prospective home buyers to wait until they drop even more, which has dragged down housing sales.

Bank Looks Abroad

China Merchants Bank, the mainland's fifth largest listed bank, will set up representative offices in London and Taipei as part of its overseas expansion drive, the bank said in a statement it issued to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 19. It will begin preparations this year.

Analysts said setting up representative offices would help the bank boost its business in these cities and catch up with domestic rivals such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China.

China Merchants Bank also agreed to acquire a 60.5-percent stake in Tibet Trust and Investment Co. Ltd.

Into the Black

Shanghai Airlines Co. Ltd. returned to profitability in the first half of this year thanks to an increased number of passengers, the carrier said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 19. It flew 4.88 million passengers in the first six months, an increase of 14.07 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The company's net profit was 23.41 million yuan ($3.43 million) in the first half of this year compared with a loss of 134.51 million yuan ($19.68 million) during the same period a year earlier, according to the statement.

But the carrier may not be able to meet its profit goal of 200 million yuan ($29.28 million) for this year because of soaring fuel costs, Fan Hongxi, the airline's president, told Shanghai Daily.

New Runway

Binhai International Airport in Tianjin plans to build a new runway for Airbus A320 test flights, according to a report in China Daily.

The second runway will be 3,200 meters long and 45 meters wide and ready for service on May 1, 2009, the report said.

Analysts say the runway will be used to test Airbus A320 passenger jets and serve as a back-up for flights diverted from Beijing Capital International Airport.

The Airbus A320 planes are still under construction at a joint venture assembly plant run by Airbus S.A.S. and Tianjin Zhongtian Aviation Industry Investment Co. Ltd. The first plane will roll off the assembly line next May, the report said.

Oil Reserves Increase

China will complete the build-up of its first four strategic oil reserves by the end of this year, Zhang Guobao, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua News Agency. Their total capacity would amount to 16.4 million cubic meters, he said.

China outlined a three-phase, 15-year program to build strategic oil reserves in order to avert the risks of oil shortages and reduce the impact of global oil price fluctuations.

Construction on the first four, located in Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo and Zhoushan, started in 2004. They are expected to maintain reserves equivalent to 30 days' worth of imports in 2010.