Steel exports

    CHINA’S steel exports will remain high in 2017 due to flat consumption domestically and slow capacity rationalization, a recent report said, forecasting exports at 100 million tons next year.

    International rating agency Fitch expects Chinese apparent steel consumption to remain between 700 and 705 million tons next year, reflecting decelerating property growth, stable infrastructure investment growth, and a favorable outlook for Chinese automobile and appliance consumption.

    Car safety alert

    THE country’s quality supervisor Friday issued an alert for defects in air bags and other safety devices of some BMW and Rolls-Royce cars.

    Airbags, safety belts and active head restraints of some cars of the two brands will not work during collisions, said an online statement of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ). The defective vehicles involve 17,327 BMW 7 series, 5,216 BMW 5 series and 336 Rolls-Royce Ghost built in 2011 and 2012. The GAQSIQ advised car owners to stop driving those models and asked BMW to launch a recall as soon as possible, adding that it will closely watch the progress. It also asked Rolls-Royce dealers to repair these defects free of charge.

    Smart communities

    THE China Association for Science and Technology has established an institute for the study of smart communities, the first think tank in the country devoted to the subject.

    The think tank will focus on areas including artificial intelligence, smart transportation and smart medical services, according to Xu Xiaolan, head of the institute, which was established Saturday.

    Anti-dumping appeal

    CHINA has filed an appeal against a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a dispute over methodologies used by the United States to calculate anti-dumping tariffs targeting Chinese imports, a WTO statement said.

    In the dispute panel ruling released last month, China won the bulk of its WTO complaint brought in 2013 against certain U.S. methods of determining anti-dumping duties on Chinese products.

    But some points of China’s argument were rejected by the WTO panel, including a claim that the U.S. Commerce Department systematically punishes Chinese State enterprises by assigning them high anti-dumping rates.