BizChina

China's annual production capacity of electric motor vehicles will reach 1 million units by 2020, a senior official forecast Saturday.

As the world's largest auto market, new energy vehicles are key to the development of China's auto industry, said Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang on Saturday.

Wan said automobile exhaust emissions accounted for 70 percent of air pollution in big cities of China.

While extolling new energy cars, Wan said promotion of public transportation would also help to ease the problems caused by expanding car ownership in China.

Public transport should also be the top priority for use of new energy automobiles in China, he said.

Global pharmaceutical sales may rise 5 to 7 percent next year to $880 billion on soaring demand in developing nations led by China as it becomes the world's third-largest drug market, according to IMS Health Inc.

The 2011 projection compares with this year's 4 to 5 percent growth in drug sales to $840 billion, the research company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, said in a report released on Oct 7. Emerging markets including China and India are expected to expand by as much as 17 percent to $180 billion while growth in the United States market slows.

The world's largest market, the US, is growing at a historically low rate of 3 to 4 percent as patents expire on top-selling medicines and cheaper generic versions become available to consumers, said Murray Aitken, senior vice-president of IMS, in a telephone interview on Oct 6.

Drugs with sales of more than $30 billion are expected to lose patent protection next year, according to IMS.

China's short-term foreign debt jumped 24 percent in the March-June quarter, possibly indicating speculative money inflows in anticipation of a stronger yuan.

The rise, to $343.8 billion, might also be a reflection of lower dollar borrowing costs, according to analysts.

Short-term foreign debt made up 66.9 percent of China's total debt, up from 62.3 percent at the end of March, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said on Saturday.

In April, the regulator cut the short-term foreign debt quota for 2010 to prevent "abnormal" capital inflows.

During the past 12 years, Chinese scientists have discovered more than 900 locations containing mineral deposits which are estimated to hold 5 billion tons of iron ore, as well as a vast array of other resources, the country's geological authorities said Saturday.

The large number of discoveries, including newly found reserves of iron and copper ores, coal, gas, and other types of raw minerals, came after a major geological mapping was launched in 1999, officials with the China Geological Survey (CGS) said at a press conference held in Beijing Saturday.

The CGS is a government-owned non-profit entity directly under the Ministry of Land and Resources.