BizChina

Walt Disney Co.'s Chinese government-owned business partner, Shanghai Shendi Group Co., has agreed on a syndicated loan for an undisclosed amount with 12 Chinese banks for the construction of Shanghai Disneyland, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

Xinhua said the lead arrangers are China Development Bank Corp., Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., and Bank of Communications Co.

Co-lead lenders are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of China Ltd.

Frequent readers of my “Frank Talk” blog and the weekly Investor/Advisor Alert should be familiar with the story of China’s high speed rails. We’ve previously discussed how China is building the world’s largest network of high speed rails at an incredible speed.

Since opening the first high speed line between Beijing and Tianjin in 2008, the country has laid down more than 4,600 miles of new tracks. This is three times more than Japan, where the bullet train was invented, and this is just the start. Once completed near the end of this decade, the high speed rail system will connect more than 250 Chinese cities, span 18,641 miles and reach roughly 700 million people.

Currently, the high speed rail network connects about one-third of China’s cities. That figure is set to nearly double over the next two years. If current forecasts hold true, 100 percent of the China’s cities will be connected through high speed rails by 2019.

China's first rare earth spot exchange will be established as early as August this year and will be led by Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co, the country's top rare earth producer.

Analysts said a nationwide exchange could help build a unified rare earth pricing mechanism in the country.

Rare earths are used in the manufacture of magnets that have a wide range of applications, from electric motors to disk drives, and demand for them is soaring worldwide.

"Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth Hi-Tech Co will be one of two corporations designated by Baotou's municipal government to set up a rare-earth exchange in the city," said the company in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange Wednesday.

Gold imports by China, the world’s second-largest consumer of the precious metal after India, may increase as record jewelry demand outpaces domestic supply, the World Gold Council said.

China produced 340 metric tons of gold last year and consumption was about 700 tons, leaving a gap of 350 tons to 360 tons, Albert Cheng, Far East managing director at the council, said yesterday. “With increasing demand in China we will have to rely on imports to fill the gap between demand and supply.” China is the world’s largest gold producer.

Demand for gold jewelry gained 21 percent in the first quarter from a year ago to 142.9 tons, the highest level ever, and China became the largest investment market, the council said. Bullion jumped to a record $1,577.57 an ounce this month as investors sought a store of value amid rising inflation and concerns about the strength of the global recovery.