International Business News
Economy
Qingdao is the wealthiest city in Shandong province, which has the second-highest GDP of China's provinces.  Despite its comfortable position on the Yellow Sea along the outer edge of the Shandong Peninsula, Qingdao is lumped together with its neighbors on the other side of the peninsula as part of the Bohai Sea Rim Economic Zone, North China's answer to the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions.

Import & Export:
The Chinese Import and Export Commodities Fair is currently under way and will run until April 30th.  This Guangdong fair is expected to attract more than 300 enterprises from 37 countries and various regions.  The big players include the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia.

Fueled by soaring exports and huge investments in infrastructure, factories and energy supplies, China could soon overtake Germany to become the world's third-largest economy, behind those of the United States and Japan.  While most economists called the quarterly growth figures surprisingly strong, they said they were distorted somewhat by a huge injection of government money into the economy, which encouraged lending, as well as by exporters' seeking to avoid foreign tariffs that may be imposed later in the year.

Raw Materials:
The China International Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Exhibition is a major event for the enterprises and academic institutions both home and abroad to implement trade negotiations, technical exchanges, and information communication.  The 5th International Nonferrous Industry Exhibition will be held in Beijing at the new China International Exhibition Center on August 13th - 15th, 2009.

Logistics:
United Parcel Service, the world's largest package-delivery company, will spend an initial $20 million to build a new hub in Shanghai to raise the level of its air deliveries in China.
DHL dedicated flight connecting Qingdao with Central Asia Hub in Hong Kong

Qingdao Import News Highlights:
The Chinese market currently has a strong demand for energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies, products and equipment.  Big breakthroughs in this sector may be difficult to achieve given that some of these technologies are subject to export control policies.