PetroChina – the country’s largest oil and gas producer – said it’s refining unit would import 40% of the 120 million tons of crude oil it needs for refining this year, signaling China’s rising dependence on imported crude oil, the Economic Daily reported. It imported 30% of its crude last year, while China as a whole imported 47% of its oil needs. According to Jiang Xinmin, a researcher with the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, imported crude is expected to climb one percentage point as a percentage of total consumption each year until 2020. Jiang added that PetroChina’s refining business would remain profitable as long as the crude oil price stayed under US$65 a barrel. Separately, Sinopec – China’s largest oil refiner – has signed a petrochemical joint venture deal with its South Korean counterpart SK Corp to build a nearly US$2 billion refinery in Wuhan, in central China’s Hubei province, whichj is expected to produce 800,000 tons of ethylene a year by 2010.

Industrial output continues to expand

BoC to target wealthier customers

Green policy may benefit relevant companies

China’s online social networking market is expected to grow from just RMB175 million last year to RMB1.2 billion by 2010.  With 11% of the market, Marry5.com is hoping to grow in step, and encroach on the market share of competitors. Ken Wu, the CEO of Marry5.com’s parent company Shenzhen Haotian Group, tells Amy Cheung of The China Perspective about the company’s expansion plans.

Chinese consumers are turning to high-definition digital TVs ahead of next year’s Beijing Olympics, but plasma screen manufacturers are losing market share to their LCD counterparts. In an extensive review of the sector, China Business News looks at the prospects for plasma screen technology.

Hotels with few stars to their name are being squeezed out of Shanghai by their budget and luxury counterparts. As Liberation Daily reports, they need to change their operating model if they hope to survive.

At a forum last month to discuss China’s energy strategy, investors were told US$2.32 billion would need to be invested to 2020. According to Beijing News, new energy will be the focus of investment, and a new energy use tax will encourage the sector to keep one eye on the environment.

China’s advertising industry grew 11% last year to more than US$20.3 billion. As Xinhua reports, the industry is changing as fast as it is growing, and opportunities await those agencies that best position themselves to take advantage.

Shanghai’s growing shopping queues have been attributed by commercial specialists to new retail models or new items. The fashion craze in China’s most westernized city is being led by “fast fashion” brands targeting middle class consumers. H&M, ZARA and C&A will soon be followed by NEXT and TOP SHOP. China Business News asks whether this trend will marginalize Chinese brands?