Chinese, European firms build food park

EUROPE-BASED Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) and Chinese firms DONLINK Group and HAID Group kicked off the construction of an industrial food park in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, on Wednesday.

With an investment of 7 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion), the Fuling Industrial Food Park’s activities will include feed-protein processing, high-tech ecological aquaculture, grains trading and food innovation. The park’s construction will be divided into three phases. The first phase is expected to be completed in 2023 and will cover over 180,000 square meters.

Fresh fund allocated for growth of wheat crop

CHINA has allocated another 2 billion yuan (US$315.10 million) to facilitate the growth of its winter wheat crop, the country’s finance ministry said Thursday.

The money will be used to help the crop to grow stronger in 11 main production provinces, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its website. The move came after heavy rains last fall delayed winter wheat planting in many production regions, which could hurt yield and output of the crop. China has allocated 5 billion yuan in total from its central finance system to stabilize winter wheat output this crop year, according to the statement.

Oil giant CNOOC plans Shanghai listing

CNOOC Ltd., China’s top offshore oil and gas producer, plans to raise 35 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion) via a public share sale in Shanghai next month to fund oil and gas excavation as China prioritizes energy security amid rising geopolitical risks.

CNOOC said in a prospectus Thursday it plans to sell 2.6 billion shares April 12 and list thereafter on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Hong Kong-listed CNOOC expects first-quarter profit to jump 62%-89% from a year earlier.

Commercial banks’ profit expected to rise 10%

CHINA’S commercial banks are expected to see their net profit increase by nearly 10 percent in the first half of 2022 amid the country’s economic growth and improvement of business environment, according to a report by Bank of China (BOC).

In the relevant report on the economic and financial outlook for the second quarter, the BOC Research Institute said that the banking industry will maintain growth momentum in the first half of this year, with its assets and liabilities up around 8.5% year on year.