Manufacturing

Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel), a major Chinese steelmaker, on Thursday reported revenue of 148.53 billion yuan ($21.76 billion) and a net profit of 5.816 billion yuan in 2009, down 25.97 percent and 9.95 percent respectively year-on-year.

According to its annual report, in the first half of 2009, the State-owned company turned out a net profit of 669 million yuan, only 11.5 percent of its whole year profit. The market boom in the auto and home appliance sectors contributed significantly to the profit growth in the second half, said analysts.

Baosteel was the nation's largest rolled-steel sheeting provider to the auto and electrical-appliance sectors, holding 50.1 percent and 37.3 percent respectively of domestic market share in each, said Zhang Lei, an analyst with TX Investment Consulting Co Ltd.

Roewe 350

Roewe 350, which aims the class-A market , is the first model roll off from Roewe A Platform. According to the spyshot, Roewe 350 generally continue the N1 concept design.

As one of the most important international auto shows, Beijing Auto Show has gained the respect from global auto makers. Most of global auto makers consider Beijing Auto Show as the platform to show their technology, and release their valuable information. There are at least 10 new cars will debut on Beijing Auto Show, some of them are designed for Chinese market.

New Excelle

New Excelle is the second bomb dropped by Shanghai GM which will revealed on Beijing Auto Show

Financing and technology issues could delay Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, the parent of Geely Automobile, in its plan to acquire the Volvo brand from US automaker Ford Motor Co, said sources familiar with the matter on Tuesday.

According to the sources, the chances of a short-term deal now looks bleak, unless the two sides make major concessions.

"The two parties are yet to reach a definitive agreement due to unsolved obstacles and uncertainties," the sources said, without elaborating.

In December, the two companies had said a definitive agreement would be signed by the end of March and the whole deal would be completed by June 30 this year.

Geely was immediately unavailable for comment, but its President Li Shufu had last week told Reuters that the agreement with Ford would be signed as planned. The deal, when completed, would be the largest overseas purchase by a Chinese car company.

A major problem that is compounding the deal is the relatively weak position that Geely is in now compared to last year.

"Last year Ford had cash flow problems. But the situation has changed now and Ford is on a strong wicket," he said.

The US automaker had lost $30 billion in the three years starting from 2006 and put Volvo up for sale in late 2008 to help pay off its debts.