Coming to an agreement

Earlier in the week we mentioned that Beijing told Chinese auto makers to stay home – apparently that doesn’t apply to the country’s oil companies. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has just signed a deal with the government of Iraq to start US$3 billion project in Iraq’s Wasit province. Shougang Iron & Steel, China’s sixth largest steel company, is hoping to sign a deal with iron ore producers to purchase the ore at 2007 prices. The company’s chairman Zhu Jimin said high prices could cause disorder in the industry. Beijing is hoping that an agreement can be worked out with the US over Chinese cooked chicken products. The government has launched a complaint at the WTO against the US because a proposed rule would ban the importation of Chinese cooked chicken products. Beijing said it only allowed US chicken imports into China because it was told it would eventually be allowed to ship chicken to the US.