Light industry registers robust growth THE country’s light industry recorded steady growth in the first four months of the year, data from the China National Light Industry Council shows. Investment in major sectors of the industry logged double-digit growth, with that in six sectors, including agricultural and sideline products processing, food manufacturing and leather, rising more than 20%, said the council. In the same period, the sales of daily necessities saw rapid growth. Public offering fund volume hits ￥25.52 trillion ASSETS under the management of China’s public offering funds reached 25.52 trillion yuan (US$3.79 trillion) by the end of April, the latest data from the Asset Management Association of China showed. As of the end of last month, a total of 9,761 public offering funds were operated by 138 fund management companies, according to the association, an industry body supervised by China’s securities regulator. In breakdown, the scale of closed-ended funds surpassed 3.15 trillion yuan, while that of open-ended funds stood at over 22.36 trillion yuan, the data showed. Bank steps up efforts to support foreign trade THE Export-Import Bank of China, a State-owned policy bank, has increased financial support to stabilize and upgrade foreign trade, a key underpinning for the economy. The bank’s outstanding loans to foreign trade stood at 2.55 trillion yuan by the end of April, up 152 billion yuan from the beginning of this year. The lender has taken measures this year such as increasing credit support, providing differential pricing and scrapping transaction fees, as part of efforts to lower financing costs for foreign trade enterprises. Tianma to build US$1.2B plant to meet demand TIANMA Microelectronics, the world’s largest maker of in-vehicle displays, will join hands with an eastern city government to establish a new 8 billion yuan plant to consolidate its leading global position. Tianma will construct the factory in Anhui Province’s Wuhu in collaboration with two investment firms under the city government, the Shenzhen-based display panel giant said. The manufacturer will have almost 52.1% of the new joint venture’s shares. The two investment firms will have the remainder. Tianma held the biggest global market share in the field of in-vehicle displays and instrument panels last year based on shipments, according to market research agency Omdia. | 