Looking into Top 500
Year:2009 ISSUE:21
COLUMN:EDITORS NOTE
Click:340    DateTime:Jul.22,2009
Looking into Top 500          

As released on July 8th, the Fortune 500 was highlighted by new firms of China. There is no new face from China's chemical or petrochemical industries, but the existing four petrochemical firms moved up their positions on the list significantly. Sinopec Group jumped to No.9 from No.16 in 2007. China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) ranked No.13 from previous No.25. Sinochem moved up to No.170 from No.257 and CNOOC occupied No.318 from No.409 in 2007. The surged crude oil price helped petrochemical companies more, just as commented by Marc Gunther, senior editor of Fortune. He also thought RMB appreciation contributed to the position moving up for the Chinese companies who mainly served the domestic market.    
   A professor out of China judged that China's state owned enterprises can manage the financial turmoil better than private enterprises just because they have got nontransparent fund support from the government not because they owned better managing skills or innovative ability. An expert worked in the financial firms of China echoed that no evidence can support such a judgment. China's state-owned banks have hardly joined the crazy game in the international financial market, so they can emerge as a winner. Petrochemical firms relied on increased oil price and serving domestic market that remained a strong demand. Sinopec Group got subsidy from the government, just because it sold oil products at a very low price set by the government.
   According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) on July 9th, the national business climate index (BCI) was 115.9 in the second quarter, boomed 10.3 points quarter-on-quarter. In Q2 the entrepreneur confidence index (ECI) rebounded to 110.2, up 9.1 points over the previous quarter.
   On July 16th, Li Xiaochao, an official of NBS released that China's GDP in the first half was RMB13 986.2 billion, up 7.1% year over year, compared with the 6.1% growth in Q1. The growth in Q2 alone was 7.9%. The industrial value added for the designated industrial enterprises increased 7% in the first half, 10.7% in June alone, 5.1% for Q1 and 9.1% for Q2. The total investment in fixed assets was RMB9 132.1 billion in the first half, growing 33.5% year on year, compared with the 26.3% growth in the year-ago period.  
   The designated industrial enterprises achieved a combined profit of RMB850.2 billion in the first five months, fell 22.9% from one year ago. The consumer price index (CPI) in the first half dropped 1.1% year over year, with a 1.7% drop in June alone. The producers prices index (PPI) declined 5.9% in the first half, with a drop of 7.8% in June. In the first half, the exports amounted to US$521.5 billion, down 21.8% and the imports accumulated to US$424.6 billion, down 25.4%. The trade surplus was US$96.9 billion, a decline of US$2.1 billion.    

Zhong Weike
July 16th, 2009