Moore Stephens Verschelden is organizing its launch event “The development of China: opportunities for our SMEs” on Monday, June 20, 2011 at Havenpaviljoen, Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), Hanzestedenplaats 1, Antwerp. The event is organized in cooperation with the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), Waterbound Activities Platform and Antwerp China Platform.

More information at www.moorestephensverschelden.be and www.mas.be

Smilin’ Kids vzw, in cooperation with VOKA, are organizing a presentation by Vice President Joaquin Almunia of the European Commission on “The relations of the European Union with China and Brazil related to European competition policy”.  The presentation will be held on Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 19.30 h. at Jan De Nul, Tragel 60, Hofstade, Aalst. There will be a question and answer session and a networking reception following the presentation. Proceeds from the event will go to the orphan home project of Smilin’ Kids in Cambodia. Registration before June 25 2011 by transfer of €50 to the account -5940770-96, indicating name and company. Further information: Martin Hutsebaut, mhutseba@etuc.org

Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) plans to invest several hundred U.S. dollars in China this year, according to Chief Executive Carlos Brito. The company launched its first brewery in South-west China, in Ziyang, Sichuan province, last week with an investment of CNY650 million and a capacity to produce 300,000 tons of Budweiser and Harbin beer. Production is scheduled to start in August, said Miguel Patricio, President of AB InBev Asia Pacific. The brewery is expected to reach an annual production capacity of 1 million tons when its second and third phases are completed. In recent years, AB InBev has expanded its presence in the world’s largest beer market by establishing new production bases as well as acquiring Chinese local breweries. Th e company set up breweries in Henan and Fujian provinces last year, the China Daily reports.

China’s tightening monetary policy may lead to a rebound in bad loans which will erode banks’ profitability, Standard & Poor’s said. The Chinese banks may see their non-performing loan ratio climb to 5% to 10% in three years. Still, S&P maintains its “stable” outlook for the banking sector because of the lenders’ asset quality, profitability, liquidity and capital. The official NPL ratio of Chinese banks dropped to 1.2% at the end of 2010 from 24% in 2002.

79% of respondents to the Business Confidence Survey 2011 of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants are optimistic about business growth, but 43% believed they had been the victims of discriminatory policies in the past two years, up from 33% in last year’s survey. Some 46% believe discrimination will worsen in the next two years, up from 36% in last year’s survey. 83% of the 598 respondents said they hoped Beijing would make a better effort to promote fairer competition and protect fewer monopolies, while 88% were concerned about the rule of law. The survey results add to foreign companies’ lingering complaints about China’s violation of its free-trade pledges. Chamber President Davide Cucino appealed to regulators to “remove all obstacles” to the creation of a “level playing field”. Charles-Edouard Bouee, Roland Berger’s Asia President, said 70% of respondents had been operating in China for more than six years. 31% of respondents said China was “willing but failing” to implement changes in line with the spirit of its World Trade Organization (WTO) accession agreement. Another 23% see China as “actively seeking loopholes”. In general, however, optimism remains strong among European companies, especially mid-sized and smaller companies with niche products and services, Cucino said. 78% of responding European companies reported a marked revenue increase last year, compared with 50% in 2009, and 71% reported a rise in net profit in 2010, compared with 43% in the previous year. About 70% of the companies reported that profit margins in China were higher than or equal to their worldwide profit margins, and about 59% said they are planning major new investments in the country in the next two years, up 11% from last year.