BEIJING

Pipeline firm revenue up

The China Oil and Gas Pipeline Bureau, the country's major oil and gas pipeline design and installation firm, on Tuesday reported 4.7 billion yuan (US$568 million) in total revenues in 2003, up 47 per cent year-on-year.

The bureau reported 100 million yuan (US$12 million) in profits for the past year, while overseas business revenue exceeded 2 billion yuan (US$242 million) for the first time in its 30 year history.

IT product trade grows

Beijing registered US$5 billion in the trade of IT (information technology) products last year, a year-on-year increase of 24.6 per cent. The total foreign trade volume included US$5.24 billion in imports and US$3.11 billion in exports. The two figures grew by 21.6 per cent and 30.3 per cent respectively on a yearly basis.

Japan, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States and the Republic of Korea were the four leading import source regions of Beijing, contributing 47.5 per cent of the capital's total imports of IT products for last year.

HONG KONG

More building deals

Sale and purchase agreements for all types of building units in January rose to 9,468. That's a 7.9 per cent increase over December and 29.8 per cent over January 2003 in Hong Kong, according to statistics released by the Land Registry of the Special Administrative Region on Tuesday. The total value of the agreements was HK$22.6 billion (US$2.9 billion), up 16.2 per cent over December and 54.6 per cent over January 2003.

(China Daily 02/05/2004 page10)