Chinese State-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm Group has made substantial progress in developing vaccine candidates for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.China National Biotech Group Co Ltd, Sinopharm's vaccine and bioscience unit, announced on Monday that its second inactivated vaccine targeting the contagion won clinical trial approval from the National Medical Products Administration. The vaccine is codeveloped by a unit under CNBG－Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd－and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tesla announced via its official account on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, that the price of China-made Model 3 Standard Range Plus version would be reduced to less than 300,000 yuan, to meet the country's requirements of subsidizing new energy vehicles.However, the electric vehicle manufacture acknowledged the challenges brought by COVID-19 to the company, 'It is difficult to predict how quickly vehicle manufacturing and its global supply chain will return to prior levels,' said Tesla in the Q1 earning call.Elon Mask, the CEO of Tesla, noted the company would announce the next gigafactory possibly within one to three months, based in the United States. As of today, Tesla has established four gigafactories around the world, with two in the US, one in Shanghai and another in Berlin, which is under construction and expected to begin production by 2021.
HANGZHOU -- Jack Ma, founder of the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Group, joined in a special webinar late Tuesday night that paired medical practitioners in Africa and China to discuss ways of combating COVID-19.During his webinar presentation, Ma recognized the outstanding efforts and dedication of all medical experts and health workers, including those in Africa, in the fight against the global pandemic.The webinar series is the latest of several initiatives the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundations have implemented to provide support in the global fight against COVID-19. Five webinars between China and Africa were held prior to this one. Over 3,000 African clinicians have participated in the six webinars.
NANJING - Chinese retail giant Suning.com reported strong online sales volume in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, according to its Q1 financial report released late Wednesday.The company achieved an operating revenue of over 57.8 billion yuan ($8.2 billion) in Q1. Its sales volume rose 2.01 percent to 88.7 billion yuan, of which the share of online sales grew to nearly 69 percent, the report said.During the coronavirus outbreak, Suning.com took advantage of its full-category products and self-operated logistics services to realize strong commodity sales, the company said.
BEIJING - Huawei's Hisilicon chip unit overtook US semiconductor giant Qualcomm to be the biggest mobile phone chip supplier in China for the first time, latest report showed Wednesday.In the first quarter, the market share of Kirin, a mobile phone chip developed by Huawei's chipset subsidiary HiSilicon, stood at 43.9 percent on the Chinese mainland, according to a semiconductor report from research and consulting company CINNO.Qualcomm ranked second with a market share of 32.8 percent, dropping from 48.1 percent in the same period last year, while Media Tek and Apple followed with 13.1 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.As the COVID-19 epidemic took a massive toll on China's mobile phone sales, the country's phone processor shipments plunged 44.5 percent year-on-year in the first three months, the report said.
BEIJING - Greenland Holdings Co Ltd, a major property developer in China, posted a year-on-year growth of 30 percent in net profits in 2019.According to its annual report disclosed to the public, the major real estate developer reported 14.7 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) of net profits attributed to its shareholders last year.Total business revenue of the company stood at 427.8 billion yuan last year, up 23 percent year-on-year, the report said.The developer said its total assets rose 11 percent year-on-year to reach 1.1 trillion yuan at the end of 2019.
BEIJING - The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the listed unit of the largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas in China, reported decreased revenue for the first quarter of 2020.The CNOOC generated 41.58 billion yuan (about $5.89 billion) of revenue in the first three months, down 2.83 billion yuan year on year.As a result of the drop in the realized oil price and the rise of oil and gas sales, the unaudited revenue from oil and gas sales in the first quarter only dropped 5.5 percent to about 39.95 billion yuan, according to a statement from the company's website.The company has minimized the negative impact from the COVID-19 epidemic and the plunge of the global oil price in the first quarter, and will enact stricter cost management and pay more attention to cash flow management this year, said Xu Keqiang, CEO of the company.
Nike Inc said in its fiscal third quarter report of 2020 on March 24 that its digital sales in China had increased more than 30 percent, year-on-year. Brick-and-mortar retail sales had been impacted by temporary store closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.John Donahoe, president and CEO of Nike, said the company has started to see 'recovery' of its businesses in China. In February, roughly 75 percent of Nike stores in China were closed, with others open on reduced hours.As of March 24, nearly 80 percent of its stores in the country were open, the company said.
China Post Group Corp, the centrally administrated State-owned enterprise with nearly 1 million employees, plans to add a number of international postal routes via air, sea and rail to deliver epidemic prevention and control products and industrial goods to countries in need in fighting COVID-19, executives said on Thursday.
SHENZHEN - China Vanke Co Ltd, one of China's largest property developers, posted contracted property sales decline in April.The developer said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that it achieved a contracted property sales of 47.95 billion yuan ($6.76 billion) last month, compared with 60.17 billion yuan a year earlier.The company added that its contracted property sales for the January-April period fell to 185.83 billion yuan, from 209.61 billion yuan a year ago.
Starbucks on Monday announced a strategic partnership with the leading investment firm Sequoia Capital China to tap into China's growing technological landscape, and to further digitalize its retail experiences and optimize operations.Through the partnership, Starbucks will make strategic co-investments with Sequoia Capital China, and commercial partnerships with next-generation food and retail technology companies to propel Starbucks digital innovation in China.