CHINA WATCH: Chinese Foreign Invest Outshines Rising Sun
Investments In Energy And Resources Recent examples of China's overseas forays include an investment by four Chinese steelmakers - Wuhan Iron & Steel (Group) Corp., Maanshan Iron & Steel Co. (600808.SH), Jiangsu Shagang Group Corp. and Tangshan Iron & Steel Co. (000709.SZ) - in a joint-venture iron-mining operation in Western Australia to guarantee them $9 billion in iron ore from BHP Billiton (BHP). In February, Brazil's top iron ore exporter, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), agreed to help China's biggest steelmaker, Shanghai Baosteel Group, to set up a Brazilian mill with a planned annual production capacity of 3.7 million tons of steel slabs. Partners in the Gorgon gas field in Australia - ChevronTexaco Corp. (CVX), Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) - agreed last year to sell a 12.5% stake in the project to China's offshore oil operator CNOOC Ltd. (CEO). But it isn't just energy and resources that have become targets for China's investors. Electronic goods maker TCL International Holdings Ltd. (1070.HK) formed a joint venture last year that basically gives it control of the television and DVD operations of France's Thomson S.A. (TMS). TCL this year followed up that deal by taking over the mobile- phone manufacturing operations of France's Alcatel S.A. (ALA). These deals are a reflection of the growth of China's enterprises since Beijing junked most of its planned economy and embraced the free market. A decade ago, China had only seven among the world's top 50 transnational companies from developing economies , and only one of them owned foreign assets of more than $2 billion, based on an Unctad report issued in December. The number of Chinese companies with foreign assets in the top 50 largest firms from developing countries has since almost doubled to 12, with six having foreign assets exceeding $2 billion, the report said. ) 'Chinese enterprises are at the threshold of becoming major foreign direct investors in Asia and beyond,' Karl Sauvant, director of Unctad's investment division in Geneva, said in the report. But unlike Japan, which invested in the U.S. and Asia when its economy was booming and the yen was strong, China is targeting less developed countries in Africa and Latin America. HSBC's Morgan pointed out that most of Japan's FDI is aimed at taking advantage of low labor costs in developing countries. With some of the lowest labor costs in the world and a huge pool of cheap surplus workers, China hardly needs to look abroad to save money. Instead China tends to focus on securing upstream access to resources. 'I don't think Japanese and Chinese companies are going to be competing directly to manufacture goods in, say, Vietnam,' Keio University's Umemoto said.
中国观察：中国海外投资风头盖过日本（下）
投资能源和矿产资源 近期最惹眼的海外投资项目当属中国4家钢铁制造商与澳大利亚BHP Billiton (BHP)在澳大利亚西部合资成立采矿企业，这4家中国公司希望以此确保它们能从BHP Billiton获得价值9亿美元的铁矿。这4家公司是武汉钢铁集团公司(Wuhan Iron & Steel (Group) Corp.)、马鞍山钢铁股份有限公司(Maanshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., 600808.SH)江苏沙钢集团(Jiangsu Shagang Group Corp.)和唐山钢铁股份有限公司(Tangshan Iron & Steel Co., 000709.SZ)。 2月份，巴西头号铁矿石出口商Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO)与上海宝钢集团公司(Shanghai Baosteel Group)签署协议，在巴西建设大型钢铁联合企业，设计年生产能力为370万吨钢板。 此外，澳大利亚Gorgon天然气井的合作方--雪佛龙德士古(ChevronTexaco Corp., CVX)、皇家壳牌石油公司(Royal Dutch/Shell Group)、埃克森美孚(Exxon Mobil Corp., XOM)去年签署协议，向中国海洋石油（中国）有限公司(CNOOC Ltd., CEO)出售该项目12.5%的股份。 但中国投资家的目标并不局限于能源和矿产资源领域。 去年，电子产品制造商TCL国际控股有限公司(TCL International Holdings Ltd., 1070.HK)与法国Thomson S.A. (TMS)组建合资公司，合资后，TCL基本上控制了后者的电视和DVD业务。今年TCL国际再接再励，又接管了法国阿尔卡特(Alcatel S.A., ALA)的手机制造业务。 （本文已于香港时间下午0447发出，部分内容有误，特此更正重发，请注意，对于部分客户而言，此次重发将覆盖原文。 这些交易充分反映出中国由计划经济向市场经济转轨以来中国企业的发展势头。 据Unctad的报告显示，10年前，中国只有7家公司位于全球发展中国家跨国公司50强之列，其中只有一家公司拥有超过20亿美元的海外资产。 然而目前中国已有12家公司进入上述50强，较10年前增加了近一倍，其中有6家公司的海外资产超过了20亿美元。 Unctad驻日内瓦的投资部门负责人卡尔．萨万特(Karl Sauvant)在报告中称，中国企业已经成为亚洲及亚洲以外的主要外国投资者。 但与日本不同的是，中国主要着眼于非洲和拉丁美洲的欠发达地区，而日本在经济高涨、日圆走强时则主要投资于美国和亚洲。 汇丰证券的摩根指出，日本的对外直接投资主要是利用发展中国家的廉价劳动力资源来节约成本。 由于中国的劳动力成本已经接近世界最低水平，并且廉价劳动力大量过剩，因此无需为节约成本而投资海外。相反，中国涉足的主要是上游的矿产资源领域。 日本庆应义塾大学的Umemoto说，我认为日本和中国的企业不会在越南等地的产品制造领域展开竞争。
