BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — Indian iron ore miners are risking losing their Chinese market because of sharp price rises, said Luo Bingsheng, deputy director of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

    Iron ore imports from India in 2007 rose 6.14 percent, or 4.59 million tonnes, to 79.37 million tonnes compared with the previous year, but the increase was 11.26 percentage points lower than the total import growth of 17.4 percent, or 56.79 million tonnes, Luo said at the China-India Iron Ore Summit on Monday.

    China’s iron and steel industry has taken action to import more iron ore from countries other than India. Imports from India rose 3.4 percent this February, much lower than the 10 percent and 8.3 percent growth of iron ore import from Brazil and Australia, respectively, CISA statistics show..

    ”The unreasonable high cost insurance freight (CIF) has already dragged India behind in its competition with Brazil in China,” said Luo.

    The average CIF of Indian iron ore exported to China reached 157.96 U.S. dollars per tonne in last December, 34.72 U.S.dollars, or 22 percent higher than Brazilian price, resulting in what Luo called “twisted” price relations.

    India beats all the other foreign iron ore providers in the Chinese market with a 135.37 percent growth in its average CIF in last December, and its annual average CIF in 2007 soared 53.07 percent, or 34.25 U.S. dollars per tonne year on year, to 98.79 U.S. dollars per tonne, also ranking first in the price growth list.

    Luo attributed the surge in CIF to the price hikes in ocean freight. Shipping cost from India to China rose 25.81 U.S. dollars per tonne in the first 11 months of 2007 compared with 2006, taking up 94.7 percent of the total CIF growth.

    However, with the average free on board (FOB) in 2007 growing by merely 3.24 percent, India was not the biggest beneficiary of the soaring iron ore price.

    Meanwhile, the 10.57 U.S. dollars per ton growth in the average CIF cost Chinese steel makers a combined 839 million U.S. dollars for the Indian iron ore in 2007.

    The current iron ore trade between China and India is mainly short-term transactions arranged through traders. It has created an opportunity for dealers to make a huge profit by raising ocean freight charges, according to Luo.

    Of the 16.85 million tonnes of iron ore imported from India in the first two months of this year, 98.77 percent was in short-term transactions, CISA statistics showed.

    R.K. Sharma, secretary general with the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, also admitted that it was the dealers, rather than the Indian miners, that benefited most from CIF growth.

    ”The current trading mode has violated the interests of both the suppliers and the buyers. It has already undermined the competitive edge of the Indian iron ore in the Chinese market, and would affect its future prospects,” Luo said.

    Wu Jianchang, consultant with CISA saw the future of China and India iron ore trade lying in the establishment of a long-term supply contract based on settlement by international open price issued annually.

    ”Only in this way could Chinese steel makers arrange long-term transportation contract with the shipping companies, and thus nail the ocean freight,” Luo said.

    The call from China to tackle the price rise won understanding of the major Indian miners attending the Summit. It was expected that the setting up of a long-term iron ore supply contract between China and India would accelerate the on-going iron ore negotiation between China and Australia.

    BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — A 275-member team of Chinese soldiers returned to Beijing Wednesday after wrapping up an eight-month peacekeeping mission with the United Nations (UN) in Liberia.

    They were the second and last batch of the sixth peacekeeping detachment that China has sent to the African country. The first batch of 283 soldiers got back on April 20.

    The detachment, with a total of 558 soldiers and officers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), consisted of a 240-member transport battalion, a 275-member engineering battalion, and a 43-member medical team.

    They had successfully accomplished their tasks including facilitating transportation, building roads and bridges, and giving medical treatment to the sick and wounded since their arrival in the country last August.

    All the 558 members of the sixth detachment in Liberia were awarded the first-class UN international peacekeeping medal for their outstanding performance.

    China joined the peacekeeping mission in Liberia in December 2003 under Resolution 1509 of the UN Security Council. The government plans to send a total of 2,790 peacekeepers in rotation, with each mission lasting eight months.

    The seventh peacekeeping detachment to Liberia departed on April 18 and April 28 respectively.

People sit in front of the stock index board in Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, on April 30, 2008. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed at 3693.11 points on Wednesday, up 4.82 percent from the previous close and the Shenzhen Component Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 13504.89 points, up 4.84 percent from the previous close. (Xinhua Photo)

    BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — Chinese shares ended Wednesday, the last trading day of the month, sharply higher, with heavyweights, Sinopec in particular, leading the way.

    Market sentiment was spurred as transaction volume was robust with a 55 percent increase on the previous trading day.

    Combined turnover on the two bourses soared dramatically to 225.47 billion yuan (32.2 billion U.S. dollars), up from 145.42 billion yuan one day earlier.

    In addition to heavyweights, secondary- and tertiary-tier stocks also gained, with more than 40 shares rising by the 10-percent daily limit.

    Upward movement leaders were from banking, broking, oil, steel, telecommunication, coal and real estate sectors, with Olympic-related companies performing in an impressive manner throughout the whole trading day.

    Among the top 10 heavyweights, Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner, rose by the 10-percent daily limit, China Life, the nation’s biggest life insurer, gained 8.23 percent to 36.69 yuan, China Ping An, another major insurer, rose 6.07 percent to 69 yuan, and PetroChina, the largest oil producer, went up 5.92 percent to 18.07 yuan.

    Among Olympic-related businesses, Hualian, Beijing Bashi and Beijing Urban Construction rose by the 10-percent daily limit. Dalong Property went up 8.96 percent to 10.95 yuan, and Huaneng Internatonal, up 7.33 percent to 9.66 yuan.

    In the financial sector, Huaxia Bank rose by the 10-percent daily limit, Pudong Development Bank gained 8.76 percent to 32.4 yuan, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, went up 3.26 percent to 6.66 yuan, and CITIC Securities, up 7.6 percent to 39.64 yuan.

    On Wednesday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index concluded the daily trading at 3,693.11 points, 169.70 points, or 4.82 percent, higher than the previous close.

    The Shenzhen Component Index for the smaller stock exchange in Shenzhen gained 624.01 points, or 4.84 percent, to close at 13,504.88 points.

    Gains outnumbered losses by 819 to 17 in Shanghai and by 657 to13 in Shenzhen.

Experts from places out of Anhui Province examine a sick child in Fuyang City, east China’s Anhui Province, April 29, 2008. The Health Ministry of China sent Fuyang 35 medical experts from Hunan and Hubei provinces in central China to give better treatment to sick children on April 28. An outbreak of lethal intestinal virus Enterovirus 71 has altogether sickened 1,520 children in Fuyang, claiming 20 lives by the morning of April 29. A total of 585 have recovered and 412 are in hospital. Of those, 26 are seriously ill. (Xinhua Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — An outbreak of a lethal intestinal virus that started in March in east China’s Anhui Province had befallen 1,884 children and killed 20 by Tuesday noon, the health authorities said on Wednesday, who also warned that the peak outbreat is yet to come in June and July.

    Yang Weizhong, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention deputy chief, said, “No new death cases had occurred over the past five days” in Fuyang City, the epicenter of the current outbreak.

    By Tuesday noon, 540 children remained in hospital for further medical observation, of whom, 27 were said to be in critical condition, according to health department of Anhui Province. The other 707 were less serious outpatients, while 617 had recovered, the department said.

    Hospitals in Fuyang, in northwest Anhui, started to take in children with fever, along with blisters, ulcers in the mouth, or rashes on the hands and feet, in early March. Some were diagnosed with brain, heart and lung damage.

    All of the victims were aged below six, of whom, the majority being under the age of two.

Experts from Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, look at medical figures of sick chidren in Fuyang City, east China’s Anhui Province, April 29, 2008. The Health Ministry of China sent Fuyang 35 medical experts from Hunan and Hubei provinces in central China to give better treatment to sick children on April 28. An outbreak of lethal intestinal virus Enterovirus 71 has altogether sickened 1,520 children in Fuyang, claiming 20 lives by the morning of April 29. A total of 585 have recovered and 412 are in hospital. Of those, 26 are seriously ill.(Xinhua Photo)

    The Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that it expects a peak outbreak in June and July nationwide, when very serious and even fatal cases could still occur.

    It has urged the nation to step up the prevention and control of intestinal infectious diseases. It also requested regions with EV71 outbreaks to report daily developments to the health ministry.

    It asked local bureaus to draw up prevention plans and make full preparations in terms of technology and material and human resources. Surveillance and reporting must also be stepped up.

    COVER-UP DENIED

    Responding to media claims that local officials in Fuyang had tried to cover up the epidemic and delayed reporting cases, Yang with the Chinese CDC said that the time it took to make reports reflected the time it took to make accurate diagnoses.

    He said local county hospitals were alerted when treating several children with severe pneumonia during March 27-31 and reported cases to provincial health bureaus. On April 3 and 4, provincial experts held two consultations and reported to the health ministry on April 15.

    He said in the initial stages, medical teams were trying to work out what the illness was and collecting and analyzing data took time. Also, early investigations at the local level had helped rule out some serious infectious diseases like SARS, bird flu and meningitis.

    EPIDEMIC ALSO REPORTED IN NEIGHBORING PROVINCE

    The central province of Henan, which neighbors Anhui, on Tuesday also reported 16 childhood cases of EV71. These cases were not serious and all patients have been discharged from the hospital, according to the provincial health bureau.

    Yang said it was “not scientific” to claim that the disease had spread from Anhui to Henan, as such a claim required further epidemiological investigation and proof to verify.

    He said there were sporadic cases being reported around the country at present, but it couldn’t simply be said that the disease had spread from one place to another.

    ”If we talk about transmission, there must be specific origins and transmission paths,” he said.

    EV71 LESS DEADLY THAN SARS

    However, Yang said people should have a scientific understanding of the disease. It was new, yet it had occurred in many places around the world over the past decade.

    In 1998, for example, nearly 130,000 cases were reported in Taiwan. In 2007 alone, some 80,000 cases were reported nationwide.

    Yang added there was no comparison between EV71 and SARS. The latter was a new epidemic disease that could infect anybody and was highly fatal, while EV71 had existed for more than 10 years and was less deadly.

    Enterovirus 71, or EV71, can cause a hand, foot and mouth disease that usually starts with a slight fever followed by blisters and ulcers in the mouth and on the hands and feet.

    It may cause high fever, meningitis, encephalitis, pulmonary edema and paralysis in a small number of children. Paralysis is more common in children under two years and meningitis is more common in children of 2-5 years, Yang said.

    Infections could lead to high mortalities in serious cases and neither a vaccine nor therapeutic treatment was available.

    BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — The net profit of publicly traded Chinese companies soared 49.7 percent on average in 2007, boosted by the booming economy and high stock investment returns.

    All the listed firms but two had released their financial results for 2007 by Wednesday.

    Net profit of the 1,574 companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges totaled 949.7 billion yuan (136 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

    Earnings per share rose 39.7 percent to a record high of 0.42 yuan.

    Their revenue climbed 25 percent to 9.45 trillion yuan, accounting for 38.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    Of the total, 115 firms reported losses last year, the newspaper said.

    China’s GDP expanded 11.9 percent last year, the fifth year of double digit growth. Meanwhile, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index nearly doubled.

    Analysts said domestic firms would see slower earnings growth this year, as the economy slowed with weak overseas demand for Chinese goods and tightening monetary policies.

    The country’s economic growth slowed to 10.6 percent in the first quarter from 11.7 percent in the same period last year, because of slower export growth and the worst winter in more than five decades, mainly in southern China.

    Li Feng, a Galaxy Securities analyst, estimated the first quarter corporate profits of listed firms would be no lower than 30 percent in spite of the negative factors.

    BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) — Li Weiyi, the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman, said Wednesday that he had no comment on the appointment of Lai Shin-yuan as head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) by Taiwan’s incoming leader Ma Ying-jeou.

    Li said at a routine press briefing he would not comment on the appointment, because what the mainland cares is the development of across-Straits relations in the future.

    Lai is a former lawmaker from the pro-independent Taiwan Solidarity Union.

    ”There have been some positive changes in Taiwan recently and the cross-Straits relationship is showing a good momentum,” Li said, adding that all these have not come easy.

    ”People from both sides of the Straits are looking forward to the resumption of dialogue and negotiation as soon as possible, particularly the regularization of cross-Straits chartered flights on weekends and the lifting of controls on mainland tourists to visit Taiwan.

    ”We have made efforts for this end. If this process is disrupted, that will not be a welcome development for people across the Strait.”

    Li added he believes that with efforts from both sides, the twospecific goals can be realized after due consultations.