China Huadian Corp, parent of the fourth largest Hong Kong-listed Chinese electricity producer by market value, increased electricity output by 29 percent in the first 11 months as economic growth boosted energy demand.

The parent of Huadian Power International Corp produced 231.7 million megawatt-hours of electricity between January and November, the Beijing-based company said in a statement on its website yesterday.

Shares up

Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Corp and Sinopec Yizheng Chemical Fiber Corp, units of Asia's biggest oil refiner, rose in Shanghai after they announced plans to make the State-owned stock tradable.

The two units surged by 5 percent, the daily limit allowed for companies that haven't completed the conversion of State-owned stock into tradable shares.

Parent China Petroleum Chemical Corp (Sinopec) will offer holders of yuan-denominated stock in the units 3.2 A shares for every 10 owned, the two companies said in separate statements to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Sinopec will be barred from selling shares in the units for 72 months after the proposal is implemented.

Production halted

Hunan Valin Steel Tube Wire Co, a Chinese steelmaker partly owned by Arcelor Mittal, halted production at a copper processing unit because of lower fees.

Hunan Valin Guangyuan Copper Tube Co, in which the Chinese steelmaker holds an 83 percent stake, is unlikely to resume output in the near future, Valin Steel said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday. It didn't say how much processing capacity was shut.

A global shortage of copper ore has enabled miners including BHP Billiton Ltd to cut fees for processing the raw material into metal in Asia by 37 percent this year. Fees will decline further next year after Tongling Non-ferrous Metal Co, China's biggest copper smelter, agreed to more cuts with BHP this month.

Biz Unusual

The right flavor

If you have ever added the wrong flavoring while cooking in haste, help could be at hand. The magic mix: a creamed flavoring with salt, MSG and chicken essence.

The inventors are Luo Enzhen and his wife Chen Baohua, who is the general manager of Hangzhou Mei Xian Ke Food Technology Cooperation.

Luo majored in food chemicals and was inspired by his mother's use of a wrong flavoring in a meal. The couple thus decided to find an all-purpose flavoring. After more than 200 tests, the special flavoring was born, which got a national patent.

The convenient and delicious flavoring has caught on with chefs and home cooks and is now sold in over 80 supermarkets countrywide.

Herbal chicken

Do you think it's wasteful to feed chicken with herbal medicine? Zhou Baoxian, a restaurant owner in Zhejiang Province, doesn't think so.

After a trial-and-error process, Zhou has found the proper herbal medicine to feed chickens, which can make them more nutritious and delicious.

"We usually have to use ginger, shallots and yellow wine to make chicken smell good, but we were surprised to find out that you can do away with all these while cooking herbal chicken. Your only flavoring may be salt," said a local chef.

Herbal chicken, a characteristic dish in Zhou's restaurant, is priced at about 300 yuan, much higher than the going price for regular chicken.

Ball of a time

Imagine dining with your favorite football stars while watching the game. Shao Jianghai, a restaurant owner in Zhejiang Province, has created a football-themed restaurant where diehards can have a ball of a time.

The rooms are named after famous football stars, whose pictures are pinned up on the walls. The tables are named after major football-playing nations such as Brazil and Germany. Breads, cakes and fruits are sculpted as footballs, football grounds and shirts.

Shao got orders from more than 20 local bars during the World Cup last year, with monthly profits going up to 300,000 yuan.

Online shopping

OKBIG, a modern online shopping website, was opened recently. It provides a new B2C (business-to-consumer) platform for fashionable products.

One of its unique features is the online 3D fitting system, by which customers can check out the color and style of the products from different angles.

OKBIG has also established a quality supervision center to ensure the quality of every single product. A nationwide distribution network and 100 regional logistics centers have also been set up to provide a comprehensive distribution channel.

Biz Moves

Great Wall transfer

Great Wall Computer Software System Inc will transfer Luo Fuming, general manager of its purchase center, to take charge of the company's PC business. Luo's designation will be assistant president of the company and general manager of the computer department, sina.com reported.

Luo graduated from Tsinghua University in 1988 with a master's degree in wireless and microelectronics. He joined Great Wall after graduation and has worked as project manager, general manager of a subsidiary company, department manager of imports and exports, deputy general manager of the display department and general manager of the purchase center.

TmaxSoft China president

TmaxSoft, a leading South Korean software company in developing sophisticated solutions, appointed Zhou Junjun as president of TmaxSoft in China. Zhou will take full control of sales, operating management and strategy cooperation to boost the company's development in the country.

TmaxSoft established branches in China in 2003 and the domains of its current clients include the government, finance, telecom and manufacturing industries.

Zhou has previously worked as senior manager and vice-president in Vanda Software Group and BEA Systems (China) Inc, and has five years of implementation experience in R D of core bank business and 10 years of sales management experience in Internet applications, database and other system software.

Local

Vegetable base

Chongqing municipal government will invest 2 billion yuan to develop a vegetable production base in Tongnan City in the coming eight years, according to a development plan for the Tongnan vegetable industry.

The current vegetable planting area in Tongnan is 13,333 hectares and the annual output is 330,000 tons. Most vegetables are sold in Chongqing Municipality and Sichuan Province, while some are sold to Qinghai Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

There will be six big production areas, one vegetable deep-processing base and one vegetable trading center in Tongnan by 2015 and the annual output will be up to 1.78 million tons, said an official from the Chongqing Agriculture Bureau.

Pig breeding

China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs (COFCO) and Hubei Provincial government will jointly work on a pig breeding project, according to a framework agreement signed on Monday.

According to the project, named "5113 project", COFCO will finance 9.7 billion yuan to build up a breeding base that can feed 500,000 boars. And the annual capacity for breeding and processing pigs at the base will reach 10 million.

(China Daily 12/28/2007 page15)