BEIJING, July 4 (Reuters) – China’s dominant utility firm
State Grid Corp has agreed with Portugal’s power grid operator
to set up a technology research and development centre in
Portugal and a joint venture consulting firm, State Grid said in
a statement.

The firm said on its official website it had signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Wednesday with Redes
Energeticas Nacionais SGPS SA (REN).

BEIJING (Reuters) – PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is targeting China’s luxury buyers as it strives to win a bigger share of the world’s largest auto market and expects sales there to reach 15 percent of its global total by 2015, its Asia head said on Thursday.

The struggling French car maker, which last year had 11 percent of its sales in China, aims to almost double its sales of lower-range cars there by 2015 as it comes from behind market leaders General Motors (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

BEIJING (Reuters) – Nissan Motor (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the biggest Japanese automaker in China, is to build a 5 billion yuan ($785 million) plant in the northeast of the country, a person with knowledge of the plan said, extending its reach in the world’s largest auto market.

The plant, in Dalian city, is part of Nissan’s 30 billion yuan investment in China by end-2015, vying with General Motors (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other global automakers also looking to the emerging Asian giant for growth as more developed markets stutter.

BEIJING, June 14 (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co, the
largest Japanese automaker in China, plans a more than 5 billion
yuan ($785 million) plant in northeastern China, a person with
knowledge of the plan told Reuters, as it ramps up in the
world’s largest auto market.

The plant, in Dalian city, is part of a scheme by Nissan to
invest 30 billion yuan in China by the end of 2015, racing
against General Motors and other global automakers which
are also looking to China for growth as more developed markets
stutter.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Lower oil prices this month have lessened the pain for struggling Chinese airlines, but a slowing domestic economy and a darkening outlook for consumers worried about Europe’s debt crisis pose risks outside their control, industry executives said this week.

Company leaders attending the International Air Transport Association (IATA) meeting in Beijing said they have renewed concerns about the outlook for the country’s biggest carriers, all of which were bringing in hefty profits only two years ago.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Car sales in China rose 22.6 percent in May from a year earlier, according to data released on Saturday, extending the double-digit gain made in the previous month, as new models premiered at April’s Beijing autoshow started to hit the showrooms.

In May a total of 1.28 million sedans, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) and minivans were sold in the country, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said. In the same month of 2011, that number was 1.04 million.

BEIJING, May 28 (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co,
Japan’s No.2 automaker, will start making Infiniti cars at a
2-billion-yuan ($315 million) plant in China from 2014 as it
moves to challenge the dominance of German rivals in the world’s
largest auto market.

Chinese-made Infiniti cars would put Nissan on a more level
playing field with Audi AG, Mercedes Benz and BMW AG
, which have been making cars in China for years,
industry observers say. Imported Infiniti cars have been
available in China since 2007.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will exclude foreign firms from bidding in its second tender for shale gas blocks, despite a need for overseas technology to help exploit massive reserves of gas trapped within shale rock formations in the world’s top energy user.

China launched its shale gas push in late 2009, inspired by a shale boom in the United States

BEIJING, May 11 (Reuters) – China, the world’s top cotton
consumer, will soon issue about 1 million tonnes of extra cotton
import quotas to help textile mills buy cheaper overseas cotton
to cut costs, traders said on Friday.

The extra quotas, which would allow imports at sliding
tariffs between 5 and 40 percent, would bring total import
quotas issued so far this year to about 2.4 million tonnes, they
said.

BEIJING, May 9 (Reuters) – Car sales in China rose 12.5
percent in April from a year earlier, more than double the
modest pace in March as consumers trickled back to the showrooms
ahead of the Labour Day holiday.

Demand will likely remain solid in May and June as new
models that premiered at the Beijing autoshow start to arrive at
the showrooms, industry observers said. After that, a more
subdued growth pattern, which began after Beijing’s policy
incentives expired, is likely to carry through the rest of the
summer, the slowest auto selling season of the year.