960415

China to

invest y140 B

in auto sector

by 2000

BEIJING: China will invest more than 140 billion yuan in its automobile industry before the end of the century, building it into a key sector by 2010, the Financial News said on Monday.

Under the Ninth Five Year Plan (1996-2000) vehicle output would grow by an annual average of 15 percent, and eventually satisfy 90 percent of domestic demand, the newspaper quoted a senior official as saying.

The industry's output value by 2000 would be 350 billion yuan a year, Minister of Machine-building Industry Bao Xuding said.

China would be producing three million vehicles a year by 2000, Bao said, with 200,000 vehicles targeted for export and a total of 21 million vehicles on China's roads.

By the end of the century, China's automobile industry will be earning $3 billion a year from exports, he said.

Auto firms would be streamlined, making more vehicles at fewer plants. Preferential policies would encourage domestic manufacturers to work with foreign firms to develop new technology, Bao said.-Reuter