BizChina

In the first half of 2009, sales figures of China's colour TVs plummeted considerably. Himfr's data show that in the first half of 2009, sales volume in each month showed a downward trend in varying degrees compare to last year. In the first half-year of 2009, the total sales were 15 million units, down by 20% year-on-year.

Although the sales volume of China's colour TV market slipped, the LCD flat-panel TV market remained strong. Flat-panel colour TV enterprises have accelerated the pace of transformation, with main enterprises drastically reducing production of CRT TVs.

At present, LCD TV accounts for about 37% of the small and medium size colour TV market, which is a growth of 3 times compared to same period of last year; for 28 to 32-inch medium-size TVs, LCD TV accounts for more than 60%.

Huge fuel hedging gains helped Air China post the biggest first-half profit since it went public five years ago. Nevertheless, China's national flag carrier anticipated a bumpy ride ahead for its domestic flights, rocked by cut-throat competition at home.

Air China booked 2.9 billion yuan ($424.5 million) in net profit for the six-month period ended June, 155.3% higher than 1.1 billion yuan ($161.0 million) that the airline gained in the first half of last year, marking the highest half-year springtime earnings over the past 5 years since its debut on Hong Kong Stock Exchange in December 2004.

The record profit mostly came from the substantial extraordinary gain from fuel hedging. Volatile fuel prices shot up in the second quarter of this year and thus greatly increased the fair value of Air China's fuel hedging contracts. The Beijing-based air carrier realized a fair value gain from hedging contracts of 1.5 billion yuan ($219.6 million) as of the end of June, reversing from a loss of 7.2 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) at the end of last year.

3G mobile phone market in China is a booming mobile phone market, and there are three main players - China Mobile, China Union and China Telecom - in the playground. The competition among them reach a cruel level.

As a newbie to China's 3G mobile phone market, "going cheap" is the only way available for fixed-line dominator China Telecom to extend its market share in the newest sector in China. In a purchasing agreement signed this week, China Telecom is aiming to attract more grassroots consumers by selling 3G handsets at entry-level prices. China Telecom will sell 3G phones starting at $73 each by the end of this month.

The green shoots that some economists see peeking up through the recession may not be made of bamboo just yet.

China's economy continues to suffer, a raft of economic figures released for July reveal, but Beijing's enormous $585 billion stimulus program seems to be catalyzing spending at home.

"With the global recovery unlikely to be smooth, domestic demand is likely to remain the primary engine of growth in the remainder of 2009," Jing Ulrich, the chairman of China equities at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a research note.

China's explosive growth, as in much of Asia, has been a story about exports. But with the recession making it harder for Chinese companies to sell their goods to cash-strapped foreign buyers, the central government needed to pump money back into the economy to encourage both consumers and Chinese companies to spend more.