Fiscal revenue up 8.6% in first quarter CHINA’S fiscal revenue logged a year-on-year increase of 8.6% in the first quarter of this year, official data showed Wednesday. The country’s fiscal revenue amounted to 6.2 trillion yuan (US$968.81 billion) during the period, according to data from the Ministry of Finance. Tax revenue came in at 5.25 trillion yuan in the January-March period, up 7.7% year on year. Revenue from value-added tax, the largest source of fiscal revenue in the country, increased 3.6% from a year earlier to 1.92 trillion yuan. CNOOC shares jump in first mainland trading CNOOC Ltd. shares soared in its first day of trading in Shanghai as mainland investors jumped at the chance for exposure to soaring oil and gas prices. The company’s A shares opened at 12.96 yuan after pricing at 10.80 yuan and closed 27.69% higher at 13.79 yuan. China’s biggest offshore driller is raising 28 billion yuan with the issuance. The A-share debut was the largest in China and the fourth largest globally this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. CATL unit wins Jiangxi lithium mining rights CONTEMPORARY Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) said Thursday a subsidiary had won the rights to a lithium mine in the country’s southern Jiangxi Province for 865 million yuan. The mine will supply a new lithium battery production and manufacturing base in Yichun, which CATL agreed to build with the local government last year, the company said in a Wechat post. “CATL will speed up the exploration and development of lithium mineral resources and increase the supply of lithium in a bid to bring the prices of lithium related raw materials back to a reasonable level,” the company said in the statement. Guangdong’s foreign trade reaches ￥1.84 trillion FOREIGN trade of Guangdong Province, a manufacturing heartland and leading foreign trade player in China, totaled 1.84 trillion yuan, up 0.6% year on year, the provincial customs authority said Thursday. Its exports grew 2.2% year on year to 1.14 trillion yuan, while imports decreased 2% to 691.9 billion yuan. In the first quarter, Guangdong’s imports and export to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations amounted to nearly 283.6 billion yuan, up 0.9%, accounting for 15.4% of the province’s total foreign trade. Guangdong’s trade with the United States grew by 10% year on year to 225.2 billion yuan. | 