MACAO, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — Macao’s total export value during the first 11 months of 2007 dropped by 1.4 percent year-on-year, as its textile and garment export value, accounting for 65.4 percent of the total, decreased by 11 percent, according to official statistics released on Monday.

    Information from the government’s Statistics and Census Service(SCS) indicated that the total export value amounted to 18.6 billion patacas (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-to- November period, while the value of imports grew by 18.5 percent to 39.29 billion patacas (4.9 billion U.S. dollars), bringing about a trade deficit of 20.68 billion patacas (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).

    Although the textile and garment exports dropped between January and November, the value of non-textile exports rose by 23.7 percent, according to the statistics.

    As Macao’s operation costs are running high, Macao is no longer suited for developing labor-intensive industries, therefore, it is obvious that the textile and garment sector will further shrink in productions and exports in the coming years, said a local manufacturer.

    Meanwhile, the United States and the European Union remained the major destinations of Macao’s exports, together making up 58.5 percent of the total value of exports in the first 11 months of 2007, but both decreased by 10.9 percent and 8.1 percent respectively year-on-year, according to the statistics.

    HONG KONG, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — Blue chips and property stocks rose Monday on expectations they will continue to benefit from China’s economic boom and interest rate cuts in the United States, leading Hong Kong’s benchmark share index to close the year with a 39 percent gain.

    The blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 442.05 points, or 1.62 percent, to 27,812.65 after trading between 27,437.94 and 27,820. 14 during the session. Turnover totaled 43.36 billion HK dollars for the half-day session, compared with 78.22 billion HK dollars in Friday’s regular session.

    The benchmark index rose 39 percent this year from its close at 19,964 points in 2006. On Oct. 30, it rose to a record 31,958 points intraday.

    All the four major categories gained ground. The Properties advanced 3.86 percent, followed by the Utilities at 1.91 percent, the Commerce and Industry at 1.87 percent, and the Finance at 0.72 percent.

    China Mobile rose 2.1 percent to 137.90 HK dollars. The stock’s price more than doubled this year from 67.20 HK dollars at the end of 2006 on strong growth of mobile users in China.

    HSBC, which has the biggest weighting of 15 percent in the Hang Seng Index, rose 0.5 percent to 131.70 HK dollars. But it closed the year down 8 percent from 2006, under performing the market because of investor concerns about the impact of the subprime mortgage problem in the United States.

    PetroChina, the third biggest stock in the index in terms of weighting, rose 1.9 percent to 13.90 HK dollars. The stock gained 26 percent in 2007 on China’s strong demand for oil and gas and the company’s aggressive expansion of upstream assets at home and abroad.

    Developers outperformed the market Monday. Cheung Kong rose 4.8percent to 144.20 HK dollars, Sun Hung Kai Properties climbed 4.2 percent to 165.60 HK dollars, and Hang Lung Properties jumped 5.7 percent to 35.30 HK dollars.

    BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — Central Huijin Investment Co. (Huijin), an investment arm of the Chinese government, signed a contract with the China Development Bank (CDB) here Monday to inject 20 billion U.S. dollars into the state-owned policy bank.

    The investment, ratified by the State Council, would sharply raise the CDB’s capital adequacy and improve its risk-prevention capability, said a press release by the People’s Bank of China, the nation’s central bank.

    The release indicated CDB was undergoing a fundamental reform to become a fully commercial financial institution.

    Huijin had formerly invested in major Chinese commercial banks, including ICBC, CCB and the Ever Bright Bank, to help them shake off the heavy burden of bad loans before being restructured into a joint-stock company.

    On Dec. 25, Lou Jiwei, chairman of the China Investment Corp. (CIC), the country’s state forex investment company, indicated at a public occasion that it controlled Huijin and was confident in the CDB’s reform and restructuring.

    CIC had formerly promised to invest a third of its 200 billion U.S. dollars capital, or about 60 billion U.S. dollars, in the CDB and the Agricultural Bank of China.

    CDB is one of the country’s three policy banks, the other two being the Eximbank and the Agricultural Development Bank. CDB’s public financial data revealed it was in far better financial condition than most of the country’s commercial banks.

    TAIYUAN, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — More than 300 million tons of coal were transported on the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway in 2007, boosting the capacity of the 653-kilometer heavy-duty railway to anew high, the Taiyuan railway bureau said Monday.

    This is the third year in a row in which the railway has increased its cargo volume by 50 millions a year, the bureau said.

    The railway linking coal-producing Datong in north China’s Shanxi Province and Qinhuangdao port in Hebei Province is playing a pivotal role in meeting the electricity demand in China’s economically booming southern provinces.

    Running on the track is world’s most powerful electric locomotive, capable of pulling a fully-loaded train with a total mass of 20,000 tons, officials with the bureau said.

    The railway carried 150 million tons of coal in 2004, the first year of its operation. The track has a yearly designed capability of 100 million tons.

    Shanxi’s out-of-province sale and export of coal account for 70percent and 50 percent of the country’s total. Most of the coal transportation is carried by train.

    Figures from the Ministry of Communications show that one out of every 16 tons of coal mined in China is transported by the Datong-Qinhuangdao railway.

    The railway links 178 coal transmission lines, 165 coal stations, and is responsible for transporting coal for the country’s six power grids, 380 power plants and more than 6,000 factories and enterprises.

    DHAKA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) — The Chinese People’s Liberation Army handed over 1,600 tons of relief goods to Bangladesh armed forces here Monday.

    The relief goods includes 1,000 tons of rice, 500 tons of flour and 100 tons of edible oil which the PLA hopes to do some help for the cyclone affected people in Bangladesh.

    Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Zheng Qingdian, who handed over the relief goods on behalf of PLA, said as a friendly and neighboring country, Chinese always tries its best to help Bangladesh.

    ”I hope this donation will give the cyclone affected people some help,” he said.

    Principal Staff Officer of Armed Forces Division, Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury said after receiving the relief goods that he felt very grateful to the help from Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

    Masud promised they would use the relief goods properly.

    The cyclone Sidr, one of the fiercest cyclones hit Bangladesh in the last 131 years, slammed the country’s southern and southwestern areas on Nov. 15, affecting 30 out of total 64 districts and leaving over 1,000 people dead and millions homeless.

    BEIJING, Dec. 31 — Families on low incomes in Shenzhen will have a chance to take up government-subsidized apartments with the initiation of four housing projects Friday.

    Located in Futian, Nanshan and Bao¡¯an districts, the four projects will provide 16,951 apartments upon completion.

    ”So far, there are a total of 24 projects either completed or under construction,” Vice Mayor Lu Ruifeng said. The projects provide about 28,200 apartments in total, 3,000 more than the government goal of 25,000 this year, Lu said.

    This year the government had finished 6,006 apartments. However, from 2006 to 2010, the government would build 140,000 apartments for low-income families and the 6,006 apartments were just a small part, Lu said.

    Housing for low-income families was one of the 10 projects on the government agenda to improve the livelihood of residents in the year 2007.

    Applications for the 6,006 government-subsidized apartments will start from Jan. 14, 2008.

    Families who have had an annual income of less than 23,252 yuan (3,168 U.S. dollars) for two consecutive years of 2006 and 2007 will be eligible to buy or rent government-subsidized apartments.

    The total assets of an eligible family should not exceed 280,000 yuan.

    Single-parent families and couples married before Dec. 31, 2005 will be eligible to buy low-cost government apartments, while families, single-parent families and singles over 37 are eligible to apply for a low-rent apartment.

    Families who didn’t register as households with housing difficulties in the 2007 census could also apply for an apartment as long as they fall into the low-income category.

    Moreover, applicants and spouses must hold Shenzhen hukou, or a permanent residence permit, issued before Dec. 31, 2005.

    Families who have violated the one-child policy, or who had bought government-subsidized apartments in other cities, will not be eligible for these apartments.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)