SHANGHAI, China (AP) — China's devastating earthquake will mean big write-offs for China's state-run banks. For refiners, it means export profits foregone for the sake of keeping domestic supplies steady.
In China, big business means state-owned business, and many such companies will profit from rebuilding contracts and other opportunities, while others will be absorbing huge losses from the disaster.
In a statement on its Web site reported by state-run media Thursday, the agency that oversees China's major state companies noted that major state companies will play an important role in reconstruction, especially for energy, mining, machinery, chemicals and telecommunications.
Those huge opportunities are bound to boost revenues and profits, the official Xinhua News Agency and other reports cited the SASAC, a Cabinet level agency, as saying.
The death toll from the May 12 quake is expected to rise above 80,000, and businesses of all types naturally have pitched in, sending millions of dollars in donations of cash, services and products.
The government has put business losses from the disaster at 67 billion yuan ($9.5 billion), with estimates of total damage to factories, roads and other infrastructure running as high as 600 billion yuan ($86 billion).
For some industries, answering to their biggest shareholder — the state — will entail huge additional costs.
Although many big Chinese state companies have shares traded in overseas and domestic markets, most have top executives appointed by the Communist Party and answer mainly to government directives.
"The bosses of these companies do not perceive themselves as answering to shareholders, except the biggest one," said Robert Broadfoot, managing director of the Hong Kong-based Economic and Political Risk Consultancy.
Though companies everywhere are quick to offer logistical aid in times of crisis, in China the government's role in directing support extends far beyond what is expected elsewhere, he said.
Chinese banks have been ordered to forgive debts owed by earthquake survivors who lack insurance.
The China Banking Regulatory Commission has not said how much it expects the write-offs to cost the banks, but the Agricultural Bank, the main lender to the rural sector, is expected to take the biggest hit. It says its borrowers may default on 6 billion yuan ($850 million) in loans.
The Agricultural Bank — the only one of China's four biggest state commercial banks that does not have publicly traded shares — reported nonperforming loans totaling 23.5 percent of its total lending at the end of 2007.
China Construction Bank, which has shares traded in both Hong Kong and Shanghai, also may face a surge in defaults due to its relatively heavy portfolio of mortgage loans, analysts said.
It is unclear if the government plans to provide subsidies for those write-offs, or to extra costs for refiners, who already are getting compensation for losses resulting from the gap between international oil prices and domestically controlled tariffs for gas, diesel and other oil products.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia's biggest refiner by capacity, announced Wednesday it would suspend exports of oil products beginning in the third quarter of this year to help ensure adequate domestic supplies.
The company, better known as Sinopec, had already cut back on fuel exports to Southeast Asian markets to help bridge chronic fuel shortages that have grown worse thanks to shutdowns by smaller refiners.
In some cases, the government is stepping in to salvage companies wrecked in the quake.
The SASAC is providing 500 million yuan ($71.4 million) to major power equipment maker Dongfang Electric Co., to help it rebuild its shattered factories, the state-run newspaper China Securities Journal reported Thursday.
"This is the first step of SASAC aid to the company," the newspaper quoted agency head Li Rongrong as saying.
Dongfang's shares, which had fallen nearly 25 percent since the disaster, rose 3.2 percent to 33.10 yuan on Thursday.
译文:
中国地震显示了国家在商业方面的作用
中国上海（美联社）--中国毁灭性的地震将意味着中国国有银行巨大呆账贷款核销。对于炼油厂而言，为了维持国内供应的稳定，需要放弃出口利润。
中国的大型企业指的就是国有企业。一些国有企业从改造合同及其他的机遇中盈利，而其他的却因为灾难而遭受巨额损失。
29日（星期四），中国国营媒体在网页上发表了一份声明，报道说，国资委查看了中国主要的国有企业，表示主要的国有企业将在灾后重建中起到重要作用。特别是能源，煤矿，机械设备，化学及通信行业。
新华社及其他报道引用中央国资委的言论说, 巨大的机遇一定会促进财政收入及盈利。
5.12地震的死亡人数预计会上升到80000余人，各行各业自觉进行了捐赠活动，运送了数百万的捐赠物到灾区，如现金，设施，产品。
政府估计经济损失将会达到670亿人民币（约合为95亿美元），毁坏的工厂，道路，以及其他基础设施的损失预计高达6000亿元人民币（约合860亿美元）
对于向他们的最大股东负责的一些产业，——国家——将会蒙受巨大的额外的损失。
虽然许多大型国有企业在国内外都占有市场份额，但是许多高级行政管理人员都是由中国共产党直接任命，多数向政府负责。
“除了最大的公司，其他的这些公司的老板们不把他们看成是要向股东负责。”香港的政经风险咨询公司的董事长罗伯特布罗德伏特说。
“虽然所有的公司在危机时刻迅速的提供了后勤援助，但是中国政府充分发挥其在指挥援助方面的作用，而且远远超出其他预期”
中国各银行已接到命令，对地震中没有保险赔偿的幸存者的贷款予以核销。
中国银监会没有说明核销贷款呆账将会给银行带来多大损失，但是作为农村业务的主要贷方的中国农业银行预计是此次受灾最严重的银行。据说农行的借贷人拖欠贷款60亿人民币（约合8.5亿美元）
中国农业银行——中国四大国有商业银行中唯一一个独资银行——据报道，2007年末，其不良贷款占总贷款的23.5%。
而与香港，上海合资的中国建设银行，由于其相对严重的抵押贷款的股份组合，同样面临着拖欠贷款的激增。
不确定的是，政府是否计划为那些呆账贷款的核销提供补组，抑或是为炼油厂提供额外的费用。而由于国际市场油价与国内对天然气，柴油，其他石油产品的关税调控的缺口，炼油厂之前就已经获得了赔偿金。
亚洲炼油能力最强的炼油公司——中国石油化工股份有限公司在星期三宣称将会从今年第三季度开始中止石油产品的出口，以保证足够的国内供应。
以中石化知名的中国石油化工有限公司已经削减了对东南亚市场的燃料的出口，用以帮助弥合由于规模较小的炼油厂停产造成的燃料不足。
在某些情况下，政府部门正出面挽救那些在地震中毁坏的公司企业。
星期四，据中国证券报报道，国资委拨发了2亿元（约合7140万美元）给主要的发电设备制造商中国东方电气集团公司，帮助其重建被损坏的工厂。
中国证券报引用了国资委负责人李荣融的话语，“这是国资委援助企业的第一步”
自地震发生后，中国东方电气集团公司的股票跌了将近25%，星期四，其股票上涨了3.2个百分点，每股为33.10元。