Bumper corn crop won't meet demand

China, the world's second-biggest corn consumer, won't have enough supplies to meet the rising domestic demand even as farmers harvest a record crop, the United States Grains Council said after completing its 15th annual field tour.

Consumption could total 170.1 million tons in the year that started Oct 1, Thomas C. Dorr, the council's president and chief executive officer, said on Oct 4. That would be the most ever and outpace domestic production, he said. Farmers are expected to produce 166.6 million tons this year, up 5.6 percent from last season, said Kevin Rempp, a member of the council's Asian advisory team and a corn farmer in Iowa.

"China will still need to import corn," Rempp said.

Auto

Luxury car dealers offer discounts

China is turning into a buyer's market for luxury cars as BMW, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG's Audi dealers offer discounts to maintain sales as demand cools.

In Beijing, BMW dealerships are giving markdowns as much as 19 percent on a 3-series car, while some Mercedes dealers are selling the C-Class Elegance model at 20 percent less than the suggested retail price, according to cheshi.com, a pricing guide that tracks more than 3,000 dealers.

BMW, Daimler and Audi, the three largest luxury carmakers, are facing slowing sales growth and falling prices in China, as some cities impose driving restrictions and the central bank tightens lending. The growth in demand for high-end vehicles cooled to 29 percent in the first eight months of this year from 48 percent in 2010, according to researcher J.D. Power & Associates.

Auction

China's rich skip Lafite in auction

Sotheby's failed to sell all of the wine for the first time in 17 auctions in Hong Kong as China's wealthy collectors passed on oversized bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

The Oct 2 auction came after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index had its worst quarter since the end of 2008. Top lot in the two days of wine purchases, worth a total of HK$99.1 million (9.51 million euros, $12.7 million), was a 12-bottle case of 1988 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Burgundy for HK$907,500.

"There weren't a lot of buyers," said Liu Dan, a Beijing-based collector who picked up six cases of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1996 vintage for $HK48,400 each. "Prices were cheap."

Deals

Hanlong wins bid for Sundance Resources

Sichuan Hanlong Group agreed to sweeten its offer for the rest of Sundance Resources Ltd to A$1.36 billion (983 million euros, $1.3 billion) to gain control of the Australian company's iron ore project in West Africa.

Hanlong, based in Chengdu, won acceptance after raising its July 18 offer by 14 percent to 57 Australian cents a share, valuing the Perth-based company at A$1.65 billion, Sundance said on Oct 4 in a statement. The bid is priced at 33 percent more than Sundance's close on Sept 30.

Buying Sundance will give Hanlong control of the $4.7 billion Mbalam rail, port and mine project straddling the border of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

Firm calls Myanmar dam halt 'bewildering'

China Power Investment Corp, an investor in Myanmar's $3.6 billion (2.7 billion euros) Myitsone hydropower station, said the country's sudden decision to halt the project is "bewildering", according to the Xinhua News Agency.

All legal documents and regulatory procedures have been cleared, Xinhua reported on Oct 3, citing Lu Qizhou, president of China Power Investment. A halt to construction will lead to "a series of legal issues," Lu was cited as saying.

Myanmar President Thein Sein said on Sept 30 the project on the Irrawaddy River should be suspended because it's against the "will of the people", according to the Associated Press.

Minmetals to buy copper miner Anvil

Minmetals Resources Ltd of China has agreed to buy the Africa-focused copper miner Anvil Mining for $1.28 billion as the State company expands its global reach.

Minmetals' latest acquisition comes nearly five months after it bowed out of a bidding war to buy the Canadian copper miner Equinox Minerals and underscores China's growing appetite to secure supplies of natural resources to support the urbanization of its vast population.

Finance

Blackstone halfway to goal on China fund

The Blackstone Group has raised more than 2.5 billion yuan (294.8 million euros, $390.7 million) for its first yuan-denominated fund, a source close to the effort said.

The tally puts the New York-based firm - which has raised more than $34 billion since its founding in 1985, and manages more than $158 billion in assets - more than halfway to meeting its goal of raising 5 billion yuan for the fund.

Blackstone was the first among its peers to launch a yuan-denominated fund in 2009. The firm invests in the country through offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Retail

Yum fails to ease fears on slowdown

KFC's parent, Yum Brands Inc, has posted a quarterly profit that failed to assuage investor worries about slowing growth in China, its biggest market.

Shares in the fast-food chain, whose third-quarter profit matched Wall Street's expectations, fell 1.9 percent in extended trading. China is Yum's biggest earnings driver.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 10/07/2011 page14)