Business briefs from the Chinese media — Thursday September 15

A total of 200 billion yuan for factory upgrades: The State Council has announced a special loan support policy of 200 billion yuan ($28.73 billion) for manufacturing and services companies to upgrade equipment in the fourth quarter.

China makes half the world’s ships: According to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry, in the first eight months of the year, China completed construction of ships of 23.94 million deadweight tonnage (dwt), took new orders for 28.05 million dwt, and is working on current orders of 10.20 dwt, accounting for 45.4%, 50.6% and 47.7%, respectively, of the global market share. Meanwhile, the company that buys many of those ships, state-owned cargo giant COSCO will spend “$4.9 billion to expand its fleet in a renewed quest to become the biggest marine transporter on the planet.”

A plan to bolster raw materials supply chain: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Council, and two other ministries today issued an implementation plan to ensure an abundant supply of quality raw materials by 2025, including superalloys, semiconductor materials, fibers, and composite materials.