In a bid to expand its storage capacity, PetroChina (PTR) has started building an oil storage project in Kunming, the capital city of southwestern Yunnan province. The project is expected to handle 1 million tons of freight annually. It will have a storage capacity of 85,000 cubic meters in the first phase and 150,000 cubic meters after the second phase.  Apart from the storage expansion project, PetroChina has also been actively investing in the refining space. In the last month, the company started operations at the $4 billion Dushanzi refining and chemical complex in the Xinjiang province. The complex consists of a refinery and an ethylene plant with capacities of 10 million tons and 1 million tons a year, respectively. The company estimates that the project may generate approximately $8.8 billion in annual revenue.  Despite the tentative global outlook, China’s fuel demand is expected to remain ...

L&L International Holdings Inc. is headquartered in the United States, but is in the coal business in China. The company is currently operating two profitable coal mines, two clean coal washing facilities, and a wholesale network in the coal-rich Yunnan province in China.

The company is attempting to take advantage of a strong coal market in China. Coal prices have risen sharply in China this year as the government has cracked down on illegal and polluting mines, closing many of them. The closure of these mines has led to decreased supplies of coal and increasing prices for the remaining producers.

The company announced today that it has submitted a new subsidiary application to the GuangZhou City (located about 75 miles north of Hong Kong) government, to expand their operations into this capital of the wealthy Guandong province. The new subsidiary was provisionally named Shining Star Co. Ltd.

L&L

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China Unicom (CHU) yesterday announced that it will initiate commercial trials of its 3G wireless network in 168 more Chinese cities from August 1. This will expand the total nationwide coverage to 268 cities as the second largest Chinese wireless carrier has already launched 3G trials in 100 cities. The additional cities will be spread across 18 provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan and Hunan.   Following the overhaul of the Chinese telecom industry, the Chinese government issued three 3G licenses in early 2009 and awarded China Unicom the license for WCDMA, a widely adopted 3G technology.   China Unicom has launched commercial trials of its 3G services in 56 cities (including Beijing and Shanghai) in May 2009 and recently extended that to 44 more cities. The company plans to spend RMB110 billion (US$15.9 billion) in 2009, with the significant increase (approximately 56% year over year) primarily attributable

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China Goes Green, Dumps Hummer

by The Investment U Research Team

In what may be one of the sickest cases of irony we’ve seen this year, China has decided to block Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co from buying General Motor’s (OTC: GMGMQ) Hummer brand for – wait for it – environmental concerns.

We’ll give you time to stop laughing.

We know. It’s pretty much what we thought. China has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most polluted nations in the world. It’s cities round out the worst of the worst lists.

But apparently there is a strong push inside the great wall to at least appear like they’re doing something. They’ve cut back the construction on a number of projects like the Xiaonanhai dam and the Yunnan

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Harbin Electric, Inc., a company focused on developing and manufacturing a wide array of electric motors in the People’s Republic of China, announced that it has inked an agreement with a domestic Maglev technology company to co-develop a linear motor-driven freight train system for coal transportation. First, the two companies plan to build a 850 meter long testing line in a coal mine in inner-Mongolia.

Once the testing line is completed, the project is anticipated to expand to a 32 km long coal transportation line in inner-Mongolia. As terms of the agreement, Harbin Electric will provide linear motor driving systems including the motors’ primary and secondary components for the entire transportation line. For the initial testing line, Harbin Electric will deliver 5 linear motors to be integrated with the train as well as a total of 850 meter long secondary components to be installed on the train track before the end

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Founded in 1995, L&L International Holdings, Inc. is in the coal business. The company leverages the strong coal demand in China for success. L&L’s operation currently consists of about 1,000 employees with marketing offices at Seattle, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, operating staff in Liuzhou, a wholesale coal company in Kunming and operating mines in Yunnan province.

The company continues to acquire controlling interest in profitable coal related entities in China using its US public trading prestige and China in-country network. L&L has focused on improving mining standards and adding green elements to make the company even more competitive. Working with its global partners and arbitraging on China’s coal pricing advantage, L&L believes it is positioned to grow.

China is the world’s largest consumer of coal resources, with annual consumption accounting for almost one third of the planet’s coal use. Reserves in the country are plentiful, but China needs improving management

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The base metals were all mired in the red on Monday. Copper was in the green until the late pre-dawn hours, but fell off the rest of the day, only coming slightly off its intraday lows to finish at $1.6186/lb., down 2¼ cents from Friday.

Nickel sagged from the pre-dawn hours all the way through, closing at its intraday low of $4.3681/lb., down 8 cents. Zinc was in the green until the noon hour, but then it too sold off, ending at its intraday low of $0.525/lb., down nearly a penny. Aluminum had another weak day, shedding a penny and a half to $0.7575/lb., while lead gave up just over a penny, to $0.4837/lb.

Copper was off, albeit perhaps not as much as might have been expected considering the selloffs in other markets, as well as the gloomy news that keeps piling up.

In addition to the grim purchasing managers’ indexes from the

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Chinese traditional medicine ancient brand Beijing Tongrentang has formally set up its first retail store in Kunming, Yunnan. According to a spokesperson for Tongrentang, the Kunming outlet is the company's pilot store in this market. Facing competition from local medical chains, Tongrentang will rely on its three advantages - brand, culture, and variety. The store is [...]