Chinese Township enterprises' profits to rise 14% in 2007

BEIJING, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The total profit of China's township enterprises is expected to rise 14 percent year-on-year to 1.69 trillion yuan (about 230 billion U.S. dollars) in 2007, according to figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday.

Aggregate turnover would reach 28 trillion yuan, up 13.5 percent, the ministry said.

Township enterprises are involved in many businesses, such as farm produce processing, construction and catering, among others.

Farm products processing contributed one third of the total value-added of the enterprises, which is likely to reach 6.6 trillion yuan this year.

By the end of this year, the enterprises will employ about 150 million people, with up to 4.1 million newly employed this year.

According to the ministry, township enterprises still face problems such as low value-added operations.

There is also an increasingly imbalance in development among regions. Statistics show that enterprises in the eastern part of the country created 67.15 percent of the total value-added this year, up 0.55 percentage point over the previous year.

BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- China is promising to give farmers subsidies for purchasing household electric appliances in a bid to stimulate the sluggish rural consumption and reduce the rising trade surplus. Full story

BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- China kicked off an annual rural work conference here on Saturday to map out the country's strategies and policies for agricultural and rural development in 2008. Full Story