MNI China Press Digest May 7: Tariff Cut; Land; Overseas Bond

     BEIJING (MNI) - The following lists highlights from the Chinese press for

Wednesday:

     The Ministry of Commerce and other relevant departments have been actively

researching ways to increase imports, reported Economic Information Daily. A

series of measures to increase imports will likely be released soon, the report

said. Aside from a tariff cut for the auto industry, the food, medicine and

medical instruments industries will likely also see tariff cuts, the report

said.

     Land-transferring fees in seven cities, including Hangzhou, Ningbo and

Guangzhou, came in above CNY10 billion, with official data indicating the

highest April levels in history, reported China Securities Journal. Hangzhou in

particular recorded land-transferring fees of CNY17.9 billion, 237% higher than

April last year, the report said. However, Beijing did not increase its land

supplies in April, and the government only sold one piece of land at the price

of CNY3.3 billion, the report said. Shanghai also recorded a lower

land-transferring fee of CNY5.5 billion, 31.95% lower than that in March, the

report said.

     As bond financing has become the main financing method for property

developers, more of them have turned to the overseas bond market to seek

funding, reported Economic Information Daily. The first four months in 2018 saw

the total bond financing for property developers in overseas markets amounting

to USD23.3 billion, much higher than USD11.2 billion during the same period last

year, the report said, citing data from Centaline Group, a Hong Kong-based

real-estate agent company. As domestic funding channels have been controlled and

property sales have been slowed, funding demands for property developers will

continue to increase, the report said, citing Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at

Centaline Group.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 10 85325998; email: he.wei@marketnews.com

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86-10-8532-5998; email: beijing@marketnews.com

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