BYD Auto, the Chinese automaker backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said it's confident in selling electric cars in the US by 2011, as it began the preparation for the entry.

The Shenzhen-based company attracted international visitors at the recent North American International Auto Show, with its mass-produced electric cars that will follow General Motors' Chevrolet Volt plug-in car, scheduled to hit the market in 2010.

"By 2011 our electric car would be a proven and mature product after three years of existence in China, while the Volt would just be a year old," said Li Zhuhang, general manager of auto export trade division with BYD Auto.

Li said BYD plans to set up an office in California and make the state the first destination.

China Life premium up

China Life Insurance (Group) Company, one of the country's largest insurance groups, saw its premium income hit 321.8 billion yuan in 2008, up 46 percent year-on-year, the company's top management said.

Despite the sluggish stock market, the total assets of China Life, the life insurance arm of the group, still grew by 6 percent, or 80 billion yuan, to stand at 1.28 trillion yuan at the end of the last year. And China Life's premium income was 316.4 billion yuan, occupying 42.7 percent market share in the life insurance industry.

Health firm deal

Ciming Checkup, the country's largest health exam chain, signed a deal with the United States-based Institute for Health and Productivity Management to introduce an employee health management plan.

According to the plan, if a business pays one yuan for health management, it may save eight yuan on its staff's medical expenditure and also boost productivity. Ciming Checkup has 45 outlets throughout China and offers check-up services to more than 10 million people each year.

Fuel-hedging loss

China's third largest air carrier China Eastern Airlines last week reported a paper loss of 6.2 billion yuan on fuel-hedging contracts throughout last year.

China Eastern Airlines' actual fuel-hedging loss ballooned from $420,000 to $14.15 million from last November to December, up 3,269 percent month-on-month.

The enormous loss comes directly from the sharp fall of crude oil futures prices over the past six months. Crude oil delivery for February dropped as much as 72.45 percent ending at $40.5 a barrel traded in New York, from an all-time high of $147.27.

The 6.2 billion yuan loss is even larger than the market speculation of 4 billion yuan, and will affect China Eastern's share price and this year's performance, said Li Lei, an analyst with CITIC China Securities.

3G push at China Mobile

Chinese cell phone operator China Mobile said it plans to invest 58.8 billion yuan this year to expand its third-generation (3G) network across the country, hoping to preserve its dominant position in China's 3G arena.

The world's largest mobile phone carrier in terms of subscribers said it plans to build 60,000 new TD-SCDMA base stations in 2009.

That will boost the number of China Mobile's 3G network base stations to more than 80,000, covering 70 percent of the cities under provincial level across the country.

Haier demotes managers

Haier, one of China's largest electrical appliance producers, has demoted six vice- presidents to department heads for poor performance.

They were from the departments of television, PC, logistics, law affairs, administration and home service.

Haier's 2008 sales of white goods, such as refrigerators and washing machines, had exceeded target. But the PC and TV departments underperformed.

The elimination of the six vice-president posts is seen as part of a management restructuring move to streamline control and simplify the reporting channel.

Under Haier's reward system, the top 10 percent managers will be commended while the bottom 10 percent will either be dismissed or moved to a lower position in other departments.

New nickel project

Tianchen, a subsidiary of China National Chemical Engineering Co, has signed a $440 million design-build contract with the UK-based European Nickel PLC on a nickel project in Turkey.

The project will yield 20,000 tons of nickel products per year, according to a statement from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission under the State Council.

When completed, half of the nickel products will be imported to China, the statement said.

Nuclear power deal

China Power Investment Corp, one of the country's five leading power generating companies, will accelerate preparation for two nuclear power projects in Hunan and Guangxi, respectively.

The company has signed an agreement with the Hunan provincial government, under which both parties will increase their preparation work on the construction of the Xiaomoshan nuclear project.

Located in the Yueyang city, only 2 km next to the Yangtze River bank, the project is ideal in terms of geographic facilities, said the company. It is designed to have four 1,000-megawatt reactors, with the first phase containing two.

Govt aid for Guiguan

Guangxi Guiguan Electric Power Co, a subsidiary of China's second biggest power producer, China Datang Corp, said that it has received 30 million-yuan from the government to cover its losses in the Sichuan earthquake in May.

Two of the Guiguan's power generators located in Sichuan province were damaged by the earthquake. "The compensation is just enough to cover that loss," said a Guangxi Guiguan spokesman.

The compensation can set a precedent for further capital injection from the government to boost the financial structures of the other major power companies that have taken a beating from the sharp fall in demand in the economic slowdown.

China's five biggest power groups posted a combined loss of 26.8 billion yuan in the first ten months of 2008 in contrast to an aggregate profit of 28.3 billion in the same period a year earlier.

(China Daily 01/19/2009 page3)