Green car subsidy approvals slow after scandal

    CHINA on Wednesday issued its second list for 2017 of green energy vehicles eligible for subsidies, with the number of approvals slowing amid stricter oversight in the wake of a cheating scandal.

    The latest list from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology takes the total number of battery electric and hybrid vehicles eligible for subsidies this year to 386, well down on the 713 models given the green light by the same date last year.

    China hopes EU drops anti-dumping measures

    CHINA’S commerce ministry hopes the European Union will completely halt anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on Chinese solar panels, the ministry said in a statement on its website Thursday.

    Late in February, the EU won backing from Europe’s second-highest court to slap hefty anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panel imports, an issue that nearly triggered a trade war with China four years ago.

    Lenovo sells property venture to Sunac

    LENOVO Group Ltd. said Thursday it would sell all its 49 percent stake in a China property joint venture to Sunac China Holdings Ltd. for 1.62 billion yuan (US$235.5 million), raising capital to fund operations and investments.

    A pre-tax gain of about HK$1.7 billion (US$218.5 million) is estimated from sale of the stake in Chengdu Lian Chuang Rong Jin Investment Ltd., which is involved in residential, commercial, and office property development in China’s Hefei and Wuhan, Lenovo said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse.

    Aluminum, steel cuts ordered in war on smog

    THE government has ordered steel and aluminum producers in 28 cities to slash output during winter, outlined plans to curb coal use in the capital and required coal transport by rail in the north, as the government intensifies its war on smog, a policy document shows.

    The government has called on steel producers to halve output in four northern provinces as well as Beijing and Tianjin, during the peak winter heating months around late November to late February. The 26-page document dated Feb. 17 asked producers to cut aluminum capacity by more than 30 percent and production of alumina, an ingredient used to make the metal, by more than 30 percent across the 28 cities.