ChinaWatch: Sales, Surges, Sayings

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.


What Confucius Says

The newly-appointed 199 Chinese presidents of Confucious Institutes around the world took office this month, according to China's Hanban, the Confucious Institute Headquarters.

The Chinese presidents will work with their foreign counterparts to co-chair the institutes and operate on relevant principles.

Hanban provides them with an employment period of two to four years and requires they have the ability to teach Chinese to foreigners.

The latest statistics from Hanban show there are about 330 Confucius Institutes and 400 Confucius Classrooms in nearly 100 countries worldwide, bridging an important cultural exchange gap between China and other countries.

In 2004, China began establishing Confucious Institutes, nonprofit, public institutions aimed at promoting Chinese language and culture in foreign countries.

Drill, Baby, Drill

High oil prices and a slow-moving global economic recovery are doing little to curb China's appetite for crude oil, a survey finds.

China's oil demand for March was estimated by the Platts news service at 9.2 million barrels per day, a 10.5 percent increase from same time last year.

Calvin Lee, a senior energy writer for Platts, says high energy prices weren't doing much to curb energy consumption in a surging Chinese economy.

“Oil demand in the first quarter was buoyed by diesel consumption due to rising industrial production and increased agricultural demand with the onset of the spring planting season,” he says.

The International Energy Agency notes in a July 2010 report that growth in China has redefined the global energy sector as that nation passed the United States as the world's largest energy consumer.

The IEA says China outpaced U.S. energy consumption by 4 percent in 2009. Exports of Saudi crude to China make up about 50 percent of the kingdom's total exports.

Green With Envy

While Apple's iPhone is selling well across the globe, China has emerged as its fastest growing market for the device.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook says that for the first three months of 2011, iPhone sales in “Greater China” grew by almost 250 percent from the same period last year.

This brought Apple's revenues in the first fiscal half to just under $5 billion (U.S.) for the Greater China market, an increase of almost four times from 2010.

The $5 billion generated represents about 10 percent of Apple's revenues, Cook adds. “So we're extremely happy with how we're doing in China,” he says. In the United States, iPhone sales grew by 155 percent.

It's unclear, however, where in China the device is selling the most. Cook's reference to Greater China includes the mainland, Hong Kong and the island of Taiwan, says Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu.

But analysts say that in mainland China, Apple is seeing a major shift with how consumers are viewing the iconic smartphone.

When Apple's iPhone 4 launched there in late September, it was a hit with Chinese consumers, quickly selling out and leading to shortages.

Earlier versions of the iPhone had not met with the same reception, says Mark Natkin, managing director for Beijing-based research firm Marbridge Consulting.

Apple didn't officially begin selling the iPhone in mainland China until late 2009, more than two years after it was launched in America.

Even then, the iPhone sold in the country was designed without Wi-Fi capability, in order to comply with Chinese technology regulations at the time.

“Eventually Apple was allowed to offer the iPhone with Wi-Fi functionality,’’ Natkin says. “But by the time they were allowed to do so, the global launch of the iPhone 4 was just some months away. So again many users just waited for the right time.”

ChinaWatch

If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing for FREE (link in right sidebar) to WMB and sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, or your favorite social network. Thank you!