Tuesday, May 8, 2012
China's Gold Imports Advance as Country May Become Biggest User
Mainland China's gold imports from Hong Kong surged more than sixfold in the first quarter, adding to signs that the country may displace India as the world's largest consumer of the precious metal on an annual basis.
Imports from Hong Kong were 135,529 kilograms (135.53 metric tons) between January and March, from 19,729 kilograms in the year-earlier period, according to data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government. Shipments in March rose 59 percent from February, yesterday's data showed.
Demand has climbed in the world's second-largest economy as rising incomes and curbs on property speculation boosted purchases. China may become the biggest user annually this year, according to a forecast from the producer-funded World Gold Council. Last year, total Indian demand including for jewelry and investment was 933.4 tons to China's 769.8 tons.
"We're looking at another solid year for Chinese demand based on these early numbers," said Nick Trevethan, senior commodities strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. "While it's largely related to price, negative real interest rates should keep demand strong."
Gold has lost 15 percent from its record $1,921.15 an ounce in September as the European debt crisis, combined with reduced expectations for further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve, boosted the dollar. Spot gold traded at $1,637.32 an ounce at 9:41 a.m. in Singapore, 4.7 percent higher this year.Largest Consumer
The prospect of China becoming the largest bullion user reflects the country's economic ascendance. Per capita gross domestic product has more than doubled since 2000, according to World Bank data. The country is already the world's top consumer of copper and biggest producer of steel.
Gold shipments to the mainland climbed for a third month in March to 62,913 kilograms, the Hong Kong data showed. That compares with 39,668 kilograms in February and 9,166 kilograms in March 2011. China doesn't publish gold-trade data. Last year, imports from Hong Kong more than tripled to 431,226 kilograms.
The purchases through Hong Kong may signal that the mainland is accumulating reserves, London-based brokerage Sharps Pixley Ltd. said in February. The nation last made its reserves known more than two years ago, stating them at 1,054 tons.
"Summer is usually the low season for gold consumption," said Liang Ruian, director at Pinpoint Investment Consulting Ltd. in Beijing. "If we can see growth even in the low season, it represents the resilient nature of China's gold consumption."
China expanded 8.1 percent in the first three months of 2012 from a year earlier in the fifth quarterly deceleration as authorities cracked down on property speculation. Inflation was 3.6 percent in March, below a government target of about 4 percent. So-called real interest rates are negative when the amount paid to savers on deposits is less than inflation.
Yahoo
Sciences have discovered the secret to natural cloning
Scientists from the Czech Academy of Sciences have discovered the secret to natural cloning, a revelation that could have future implications for replicating human organs.
In an April breakthrough, researchers at the academy's Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics are the first to successfully replicate a natural cloning process by fish vertebrates under laboratory conditions.
"Understanding the nature of asexual reproduction at the cellular and whole organism level could allow for the production of vitally important human organs for transplantation," said Lukáš Choleva, one of the researchers involved.
Cloning has been common in nature for millennia, with some animal species able to self-clone, meaning females can create exact copies of themselves without fertilization by males. There are about 80 varieties of vertebrates able to produce identical descendents or clones of themselves in the wild. This phenomenon is hardly news to scientists, but none had previously been able to repeat the process in a controlled environment.
"We are the first ones who have actually managed to procreate the clones in laboratories in exactly the same way it happens in the wild," said Karel Janko, another member of the research team.
The team managed to reproduce the natural cloning of a small fish species called the Spiny Loach, which is native to Europe, including in Czech rivers. The fish engage in asexual reproduction even though males and females spawn among each other. The cloning process is triggered as a result of the male gametes penetrating female eggs, regardless of whether fertilization takes place.
"Identical daughters are the descendents," Choleva said. "The females virtually abuse their males for their own multiplication."
For some 12 years, Choleva and other scientists traveled Europe collecting different Spiny Loach species. They then recreated natural conditions in a laboratory setting.
The research team was able to reproduce clones through a process of interspecies breeding.
"What is really amazing about these different fish species is their tendency to reproduce among each other despite the fact that their evolutionary links are as far from each other as humans and chimpanzees would be," Janko said.
The scientists will further examine the individual processes in asexual reproduction, which they say could eventually lead to insights into how human organs could be naturally reproduced for transplants.
The process successfully completed by the Czechs scientists, which replicates natural cloning, differs from the famed 1996 experiment by Scottish researchers who famously cloned a sheep, which they named Dolly.
Dolly was cloned in a test tube by genetic manipulation with a cell taken from an adult sheep. She died six years later of a common lung disease.
The Prague Post
Russia and China are intensifying cooperation in the military sphere
Russian-Chinese war games "Naval Interaction-2012" in the Yellow sea entered their active phase on April 24. 25 warships, 13 aircrafts, 9 helicopters and 2 units of the special forces of the two countries participate in them. Taking into account the number of participating forces and the scenario, these manoeuvres are apparently the most large-scale in the modern history of bilateral relations.
According to "Interfax", the Russian party is represented in the war games by large antisubmarine ships "Admiral Tributz", "Marshal Shaposhnikov" and "Admiral Vinogradov", as well as logistics ships. The detachment is headed by the flagship of the Fleet - Guards' guided-missile cruiser "Varyag".
China is represented by 18 military ships, including the flagship missile destroyer "Harbin", and 5 missile frigates, including "Chzhoushan" and "Suyzhow", which were performing combat tasks on distant borders escorting ships in the Gulf of Aden.
The scenario includes joint crossing of a "dangerous" area, firing various weapons at sea and air targets, and rescue operations at sea. The ships will be covered from the air by deck helicopters Ka-27; and a sea infantry sub-unit of the Pacific Navy is placed under the detachment's commandin order to conduct special operations.
According to the RF Ministry of Defence message, the goal of the manoeuvres is strengthening and development of the Russian-Chinese relations and strategic partnership, and cooperation between the two countries and their armed forces.
At the same time one of the main aspects of any war games is a demonstration. Apparently, the necessity of such a large-scale demonstration of the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership possibilities has arisen after the promulgation of a new US military doctrine concerning the Asia-Pacific region.
Last November, during his Asian tour the US President Barack Obama outlined a number of tangible changes in the American geopolitical strategy. After the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and in the near future - from Afghanistan, the United States intends to redirect its security policy from Europe and the Middle East towards the Asia-Pacific region.
Russia, which, by the way, hosts an APEC summit in Vladivostok this year, is clearly aiming at the restoration of its role in the region. There's nothing China can do in this situation, all its main industrial areas being located in the coastal zone, and its export-import transportation passing through the Asian main sea communication lines in the South China Sea.
The US claim to dominance in the region, to put it mildly, confuses China and Russia, and contributes to their closer relations.
"The current maneuvers must demonstrate to the US that Russia and China are committed to military cooperation in the region. And both our countries confirm it to each other," - believes Viktor Litovkin, the chief editor of the "Independent Military Review".
In addition, according to the expert, it is important for China to show the level of naval interactions with Russia now, when territorial disputes between China and the Philippines and a number of other countries over the islands in the South China Sea has dramatically deteriorated.
Litovkin draws attention to the fact, that naval war games with the participation of the Philippines' and the US ships are under way in this same area in a similar demonstrative manner. The American warships calling at Viet Nam, which also puts in a claim for the debatable archipelago, attracts attention as well.
Maneuvers in the Yellow sea are becoming a background for political dialogue between the main powers of the Asia-Pacific region.
Another round of the Sino-American Dialogue on strategic and economic issues with the participation of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled in the beginning of May in Beijing.
The participants in the dialogue will not be able to bypass the alignment of forces in the Asia-Pacific region. In turn the Russian-American summit with the participation of the newly elected President of Russia Vladimir Putin is planned at the end of May. The reset of the "reset" will hardly manage to avoid the discussion of the situation in Asia.
Space War
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)