China ship-shape for No. 1 spot
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2007-02-06 11:16
China's ship-building industry, the world's second-biggest by
tonnage, has tripled profit margins over the past three
years.
Yards have boosted output under a plan to leapfrog South Korea for
the No. 1 spot, Bloomberg News reported.
Profitability at China's largest yards, including China State
Shipbuilding Corp, the biggest, widened to 10 percent of sales last
year from about three percent in 2003, said a person who compiles
statistics from the yards for the China Association of the National
Shipbuilding Industry.
The person asked not to be named because of the industry's close
ties to defense.
South Korean yards grabbed almost half of last year's orders for
new vessels in a global market that rose to a record US$105.5
billion, according to Clarkson Plc, the world's biggest ship
broker.
China's builders, which produced about a fifth of global tonnage
last year, overtaking Japan after nine months, plan to double
output through 2015 and develop technology to take the lead.
"They've achieved more efficiency gains over the years because of
R&D and efforts to upgrade technology, and they're now reaping
the benefits," said Stephen Zhou, an analyst at BNP Paribas
Peregrine Securities.
China's ship-building industry produced 172 billion yuan (US$22
billion) worth of ships last year and made 9.6 billion yuan in
profit, Xinhua news agency reported on January 31. Exports by
Chinese yards jumped 74 percent to US$8.1 billion.
At government-controlled China State Shipbuilding, which accounted
for 40 percent of the country's output, profit last year exceeded
five billion yuan, Xinhua reported on January 25.
The yard took 100 billion yuan worth of new orders last year, or
more than half of China's total, the company said on its Website on
December 31.
At Guangzhou Shipyard International Co, a unit of China State,
profit more than doubled from 98.2 million yuan a year earlier amid
a "consistently bullish" market, the company said on January 25.
Its profit margin in the first nine months of 2006 was 7.2 percent,
compared with 4.9 percent in 2005, 2.6 percent in 2004 and 1.1
percent in 2003.
Orders for China's ship builders climbed to a record 9.4 million
compensated gross tons in the first nine months of 2006, more than
the 8.6 million for Japan and about half the 17.3 million for South
Korea, according to the Shipbuilders' Association of Japan, which
used figures from Lloyd's World Shipbuilding Statistics.
The Beijing-based industry association represents 90 percent of
China's ship builders and is chaired by Zhang Guangqin, former
assistant head of the Commission of Science, Technology and
Industry for National Defense, which is overseen by the State
Council, China's cabinet
http://en.ce.cn/Business/Macro-economic/200702/06/t20070206_10333424.shtml
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/08/business/sxasia.php
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aDm.5.mEHJnU&refer=japan