http://mynews.mychinab2b.com Your Source for Latest B2B iNews Thu, 03 May 2012 14:28:56 MDT en http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/vip-card-sial-china-2012/
Special and Discounted offers & Special Services only for our VIP Clients. ]]> Thu, 03 May 2012 14:28:56 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/vip-card-sial-china-2012/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/food-safety-website-crashes-on-overload-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/
The website has a record of the latest 2,300 food problems in the country, with detailed reports and victim numbers. It maps different areas with different colors to show the degree of food problems.

The website went down at about 10am yesterday when tens of thousand of netizens visited it at the same time. The website was back online late last night, after it rented a new server to meet the huge demand.

The website founder, Wu Heng, is a 26-year-old postgraduate student majoring in history at the city's Fudan University.

After reading all the gory headlines about toxic milk, tainted pork and reused "gutter oil", Wu chose to do something to shed light on the food problems and press for change.

Last June, he launched the website Zhi Chu Chuang Wai (Throw It Out of the Window, http://zccw.info, referring to bad food) documenting and geographically mapping out food scandals nationwide since 2004.

He even postponed his graduation for a year to create the website, which has attracted 350,000 visitors so far.

"I am frustrated to find there has not been much improvement in the situation over the past year," Wu told Shanghai Daily, alluding to the solid yogurt and medical capsules tainted by industrial gelatin scandals unmasked recently.

"I liked yogurt a lot," he said. "But now I seldom eat it."

With rising awareness about food safety, Wu's website has gained increasing popularity, which hit a peak after famous Chinese angel investor Xue Manzi recommended the site to his followers on his microblog at the end of last month.

With the help of 30-plus online volunteers, Wu has created the map and database of China's reported food safety problems since 2004. The website is accessible to the public who can add events and other information, update and enrich the database.

Based on the database, Wu released a report on food safety in China last year, claiming it was the first to be compiled by ordinary folks.

Shanghai ranked as the fourth worst city with Beijing the worst, according to the report.
]]> Thu, 03 May 2012 12:33:59 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/food-safety-website-crashes-on-overload-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Finance/china-denies-yuan-is-undervalued-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5/
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged China to let the currency strengthen and open its markets wider.

However, Trade Minister Chen Deming denied the yuan was undervalued and pointed to China's shrinking global trade surplus. China reported a US$5.3 billion surplus in March, down from a monthly level of at least US$15 billion for most of 2011.

"Given that China's global trade is basically balanced while running a surplus with the US shows that the exchange rate plays a minimal role in trade," Chen told reporters.

Geithner urged further appreciation of the yuan while acknowledging China's plan to overhaul its financial system to increase support for private enterprise and reduce special treatment for state-owned companies.

"The United States has a strong interest in the success of these reforms," he said.

"A stronger, more market-determined currency would reinforce China's reform objectives of moving to higher value-added production, reforming the financial system and encouraging domestic demand," he said.

The yuan has gained more than 13 percent over the past two years since China announced an acceleration of exchange rate reform. With the yuan standing at around 6.3 against the dollar, Chinese authorities said earlier that the yuan had approached a relatively fair value.

Chen renewed demands for Washington to ease export controls on more than 2,400 high-tech products. The US restricts sales of such "dual-use" goods with possible military applications.

He said the current trade imbalance between the two countries had mainly been caused by US restrictions on these products being exported to China.

He said it would be difficult for the two countries to achieve balanced trade if the US continued to maintain control over such a large variety of exported goods.

Chen urged the US to stick to its pledges and take timely action in relaxing its export controls.

"Currently, the fact is that the US has not only failed to relax export restrictions, but has instead tightened them in some areas," Chen said. "For instance, the US is now mulling loosening controls on exports of commercial satellites, but it has also stressed that the controls will not be eased for China."

He added that a failure to remove export controls for China would be harmful to US companies and employment, as well as the US plan to speed up exports.

"I hope I will have enough patience and that this day of easing export controls will not be far off," Chen said.

Chen also attributed US business fears of a hard landing in China to "politicians and media hype" while urging the US not to erect barriers to Chinese investment on the grounds of safety.

Chen told a news conference he had noticed that some US businesspeople still had concerns about investing in China.

"On one hand, they worry about a possible economic hard landing in China. On the other hand, their fears are also a result of politicians and media hype," Chen said, pledging to continue to improve the country's investment environment.

The minister said some US companies had misunderstandings about China's investment climate. "China has promised not to use technology transfers as a requirement when approving foreign investment.

"We hope US companies will not view technology transfer demands during business negotiations as forced transfers required by the government," Chen said.

"The two countries do have a considerable diversity of opinions on some issues," said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.

"That is why such dialogues are necessary to strengthen trust and dismiss doubts. ]]> Thu, 03 May 2012 11:51:13 MDT admin Finance 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Finance/china-denies-yuan-is-undervalued-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Industry/battery-maker-registers-lower-profit-in-q1-1/
The Chinese battery and car maker BYD Co Ltd, partly owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said its profit for the first quarter of the year fell as much as 90 percent as its two biggest businesses were harmed by China's slowing economy and Europe's debt crisis.

BYD, a Shenzhen-based company, said in a financial report filed with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Wednesday that it had 11.73 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in revenue in the first quarter, up only 0.2 percent from the same period last year. Its net profit of 27 million yuan for the same period was down 89.86 percent year-on-year.

The company blamed the lackluster profit on a decline in vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2012. That period saw 108,755 vehicles sold, down 8.01 percent year-on-year.

Moreover, its sales of cellphone batteries have slowed as makers of conventional mobile phones lose market share and revenue to smartphone providers. And its solar battery business was harmed by the European debt crisis.

The listed company's shares dropped by 3.69 percent to 26.39 yuan apiece in Shenzhen on Thursday.

Also in the first quarter, sales in China's automobile industry decreased by 3.4 percent year-on-year as a result of an increase in fuel prices and the Central government's decision to end stimulus measures it had previously adopted.

The same period saw domestic vehicle brands' market share falling by 3.2 percent year-on-year.

In 2011, BYD made fewer than 1,000 of its F3DM dual-mode electric vehicles and E6 electric sedans. The demand for electric vehicles has been stymied by the products' high cost and the inconveniences entailed in charging them.

Shenzhen now has only about 3,000 new-energy vehicles on its roads, far short of the official plan for 34,000 by the end of this year.

Earlier this month, the central government set an ambitious target of having 500,000 electric and plug-in vehicles on the roads by 2015, and more than 5 million by 2020.

Analysts said the use of electric vehicles is being hampered by their high cost and a lack of charging stations. ]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 13:41:29 MDT admin Industry 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Industry/battery-maker-registers-lower-profit-in-q1-1/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/pesticide-standards-reasonable-expert-says-/
The remarks by Wang Jianhua, an expert on pesticide residue for the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of Shandong province, came after the government conceded the long-term use of chemicals on other crops has resulted in widespread contamination of soil and water supplies.

Greenpeace released a report in April saying Chinese products available for the domestic market fall far short of the standard required in the European Union.

However, Wang dismissed public concern resulting from the report and insisted the products tested are safe.

"China's standards on pesticide residue are reasonable, as the standards fully take into consideration the potential risks to public health," he said on Tuesday.

"What authorities should be paying serious attention to is the usage of highly toxic pesticides in agricultural production, which is ongoing. Some areas of production have no standards on pesticide residues at all."

Wang declined to name specific pesticides.

The Greenpeace report, released on April 23, said scientists had discovered residue from 17 pesticides, including methomyl, a pesticide banned in China, in some Lipton teas.

Seven of the pesticides are also prohibited in the EU, including endosulfan and bifenthrin, which according to EU health officials might jeopardize fetal health and men's fertility, the NGO report said.

The test result was based on samples of Lipton's black, green, jasmine and tieguanyin teas purchased randomly in Beijing in March.

Testing was conducted at a nationally qualified laboratory, although Greenpeace declined to disclose its name to "ensure its independence".

Another report from the environmental NGO in early April showed that at least three pesticides banned by the Ministry of Agriculture were detected in products from nine major tea companies, including Zhang Yiyuan and Wu Yutai.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health said at a news conference on Saturday that residues of illegal pesticides found on the tea may be caused by wind blowing over from other crops.

Long-term use of the pesticide on other crops may leave residue in the water and soil, said Dong Hongyan, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture.

"For instance, methomyl, which is banned on tea plants, can still be used on other agricultural products in China. It is inevitable that pesticides will travel through wind or the flow of air when the tea is planted next to some other crops," he said.

Also, he said, not all pesticides used in tea production in China have been registered in EU countries as they are not major tea producing regions.

"Many countries with vast amounts of imported agricultural products always adopt stricter standards on pesticide residues," Wang said. "But sometimes setting such standards has nothing to do with the products' safety. It is a measure to guarantee their economic interests in world trade."

Last year, China banned 10 of its 22 highly toxic pesticides in response to growing concern about the safety of agricultural products because of the misuse of such chemicals.

Fifty-thousand tons of the 22 highly toxic types of pesticides are produced each year, accounting for 2.5 percent of the country's annual total pesticide production, official figures showed.

"Government authorities should set up residue standards for all the highly toxic pesticides and conduct further research on substitutes for the other 12 types and ban them as soon as possible," Wang said. ]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 13:39:02 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/pesticide-standards-reasonable-expert-says-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/fears-over-additive-that-makes-pork-addictive-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-english-window-to-china-new/
The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration yesterday warned local restaurants after it was found that the additive is also available in local markets. The administration will check to see how prevalent the use of the additive is in local eateries.

The additive, dubbed "King of Meat Additive," can be found in many food markets in Nanjing, the Jiangsu capital, and is used by many restaurant chefs who know the secret of the taste and don't eat the pork dish themselves.

In the same way that some hotpot restaurants used to add poppy shells to the soup to lure back customers, this additive did the trick with the pork dish.

The Shanghai FDA said yesterday the three relevant ingredients in the composition of the additive were legal synthetic flavors that can be used in all kinds of food, except raw meat in which the use of flavors is banned.

The flavors can't be used to cover food that has gone bad, to make counterfeit products and the least amount should be used, according to food safety regulations.

The Shanghai FDA said local restaurants should avoid using or use a minimum amount of the additive while cooking pork with brown sauce and other dishes.

The additive is made of chemical synthetics that contain chlorine and it can irritate the human gastronomic and digestive systems, Mo Baoqing, a professor of Nanjing Medical University, told Guangzhou Daily.

The Nanjing Food and Drug Administration Bureau has launched an investigation, according to the Oriental Morning Post.

China has no clear provisions on such synthetic additives at present and their legality and harmful effects still need to be studied, Peng Dongsheng, secretary-general of the Jiangsu Cuisine Association, told the newspaper.

The additive is also being sold on e-commerce platform Taobao.com.

Online vendors boast the special additive is made of "natural spices" and is widely used across the country.

"It should be safe as long as you don't put too much of it into dishes," said a Shenzhen-based vendor. "We don't know what the additive is made of, but we haven't heard of anyone being poisoned or harmed by it."

Online stores said the additive can be used in almost all kinds of meat products to enhance their taste and get rid of any bad smell. A 500ml bottle costs about 70 yuan (US$11), and most buyers were restaurant owners, the vendor said.

A Taobao official told Shanghai Daily that they were aware of the news and would take action if government administrations decided on a sales ban. ]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 11:58:24 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/fears-over-additive-that-makes-pork-addictive-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-english-window-to-china-new/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Economy/trade-china-to-encourage-import-rise-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/
In a clear signal to encourage imports, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said in a guideline posted on its website yesterday that China will stabilize its imports of commodities and actively increase the imports of advanced technology and equipment, key components and parts, as well as resources and raw materials.

Imports of consumer goods will also be increased "appropriately," according to the 18-clause guideline.

Increased imports and the balanced development of foreign trade will ease domestic pressures for the resources and environmental sectors, accelerate scientific and technological innovation, improve people's consumption and reduce trade frictions, said the guideline.

Currently, China is the world's second-largest importer, and it has been the world's largest exporter since 2009 when it overtook Germany.

China targets 10 percent annual growth in its foreign trade this year to further improve its international balance of payments, sharply down from 22.5 percent last year when China's imports and exports hit US$3.64 trillion.

China saw a US$670 million trade surplus in the first quarter, with imports reaching US$160.31 billion, according to customs data.

In the first quarter, China's imports and exports expanded 7.3 percent from a year ago to reach US$859.37 billion, marking the slowest pace since the fourth quarter of 2009 and showing a growth rate that was 22.3 percentage points lower than that in 2011.

According to the guideline, China will encourage imports from the least-developed countries within multi-lateral trade rules with faster tariff cuts, and it will expand imports from developing countries.

China will lower import tariffs for some resources and raw materials with provisional tax rates and "appropriately" bring down import tariffs for some goods that are closely linked with people's daily life, the guideline said, without giving further details. ]]> Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:13:30 MDT admin Economy 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Economy/trade-china-to-encourage-import-rise-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Turismo /lagenzia-di-viaggi-%7C-cina-nel-2012-oltre-35-milioni-di-viaggiatori-in-europa/
Di questi turisti quasi la metà si dirigerà verso Asia, Australia e Nord America, mentre oltre 35 milioni sceglieranno destinazioni europee, per una spesa stimata intorno ai 40 milioni di dollari.

Ma l’autentico boom del turismo cinese outgoing è atteso per il biennio 2013/14 quando il movimento dalla Cina verso il resto del mondo toccherà i 150 milioni di viaggiatori con una spesa complessiva di 130 milioni di dollari. Di questi viaggiatori almeno 80 milioni arriveranno in Europa e si tratterà di un target dall’età media di 30-40 anni, con una forte capacità di spesa (3.500 dollari pro-capite) per un buon 60% dedicata allo shopping e al buon mangiare, e un utilizzo vicino al 90% di viaggi organizzati.

Sarà dunque la vera grande opportunità sia per l’industria dei viaggi cinese che per gli operatori incoming e albergatori d’Europa. Ma, come evidenziato nel Rapporto, occorre ottimizzare l’ospitalità, perché operatori e albergatori del Vecchio Continente conoscono poco e male le abitudini e le esigenze degli ospiti cinesi: tra le maggiori lacune dell’offerta turistica europea rivolta al mercato cinese, vengono menzionati la scarsità di guide turistiche con padronanza della lingua cinese, assenza di segnaletica turistica e di ristorazione dedicata, e insufficiente materiale info in mandarino. ]]> Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:35:01 MDT admin Turismo 3 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Turismo /lagenzia-di-viaggi-%7C-cina-nel-2012-oltre-35-milioni-di-viaggiatori-in-europa/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Transportation/transportation-air-rail-tie-up-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:11:36 MDT admin Transportation 3 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Transportation/transportation-air-rail-tie-up-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/coke-bottling-firm-told-to-halt-after-soda-tainted-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/
The company in northern China apologized to consumers on Saturday, and admitted that the mishap was caused by an operational error, and water used for rinsing beverage packages entered into the water used for making the beverage.

Nine batches of the soft drink produced by the Shanxi bottling plant on February 4-8 were involved, but the company didn't identify them.

The bureau said its investigation showed that a media report about the chlorine scandal was true, and officials also found that manufacturing conditions at the facility failed to meet required standards.

The company reiterated that the drinks "were safe and would cause no harm to human health" because tests confirmed the products were within national standards.

The company said in a statement that on February 3 modifications were made to the water pipelines as part of the plant's water-conservation project.

"The water used for rinsing contains trace levels of residual chlorine that are lower than the national standards for drinking water, and the final beverage was safe to consume," said the statement.

The company said it discovered the issue at the time and the problem was "addressed and taken care of." ]]> Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:08:29 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 3 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/coke-bottling-firm-told-to-halt-after-soda-tainted-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Finance/rules-to-ease-delisting-of-stocks-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/
The Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange both posted planned rules on their websites yesterday, including more delisting triggers for the main board in Shanghai and the main board and SME board in Shenzhen.

The triggers include negative net assets, revenue of less than 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million), no-approval or no-comment from accounting firms, inactive trading or poorly performing prices, or the inability to post an annual report after the suspension of listing.

For instance, companies listed in Shanghai that report two straight years of negative net assets will delist. Or companies reporting four years of annual revenue of less than 10 million yuan will delist in Shanghai.

"Improving the delisting rules will allow capital markets to work more efficiently, improve the quality of listed companies and protect the interests of small investors," the Shanghai exchange said in a statement.

The Shanghai bourse will also create an alert system for firms to warn investors of risks.

The two exchanges are soliciting public opinion on the planned moves until May 20 and a final version will follow, though no d ate was given.

On April 20, a stricter delisting rule for the ChiNext in Shenzhen - China's Nasdaq for start-ups - was put forth and served as a prelude for yesterday's delisting plans for the main boards and SME board.

Zhao Xiaoli, a Shanghai Securities investment consultant, said the new delisting rules are aimed at spurring public companies to improve their operation and pay more attention to their listing status.

The delisting rules come amid China's wider campaign to clean up its stock market. Regulators have already beefed up curbs on insider trading, pushed for more transparency by publicizing companies seeking listing, and urged firms to issue dividends to allow investors to benefit from the growth of the capital market.

On Saturday, the country's stock market watchdog published a new guideline for initial public offerings on the Chinese mainland, which aims to make the prices of new shares to be settled at "more reasonable" levels.

The rule sets out the responsi-bilities of issuers and other parties involved in IPOs and pledges to punish illegal practices. ]]> Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:58:52 MDT admin Finance 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Finance/rules-to-ease-delisting-of-stocks-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/officials-chinese-tea-products-safe-china-org-cn/
ian Qiu, a researcher from the ministry's pesticide examination office, made the comments Saturday after a recent report revealed that some products manufactured by a foreign tea company and sold in China have higher levels of several types of pesticide residue.

Some of the residues were said to be within China's standards, while European standards completely ban their use. The report triggered public concern about the double standard, as well as China's food safety threshold.

"China's standards for pesticide residue levels were made in full accordance with principles set down by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the food consumption habits of Chinese people," Jian said.

Jian said that since different countries have different consumption capacities, climates, plant diseases and insect pests, it is impossible to compare one country's pesticide residue standards with those of another country.

Dong Hongyan, a senior official from the ministry's supervision bureau for agricultural product quality, said the ministry has banned several types of pesticides from use in tea harvesting and has also promoted uniform criteria for tea plantations to reduce possible harm from the irregular use of pesticide.

According to Dong, the ministry will make more efforts to encourage planters to use more efficient and low-toxicity pesticides and further improve the country's regulations for pesticide residue in line with the Codex Alimentarius Commission. ]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:30:13 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/officials-chinese-tea-products-safe-china-org-cn/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/tesco-takes-online-orders-for-food-/
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director of Tesco, said Shanghai will be the first city where Tesco will introduce online grocery shopping in China.

Neville-Rolfe did not specify when the company will begin to let Chinese customers order food online, only saying the change will come as soon as possible.

In late 2011, Tesco worked with Taobao.com, the largest Chinese online shopping platform, to offer general merchandise for babies and young mothers.

Its new online plans target people who go on weekly shopping trips.

"With general merchandise, we did cooperate with Taobao as a trial," Neville-Rolfe said. "I was actually talking about home shopping for food, which is a rather different thing. What we are doing is getting food delivered to homes. We are a world-leading business on that."

As Tesco pursues its e-commerce business plans, it might not consider working with an independent online business operator.

"The normal thing would be better using your brand website because it would be linked to your retail business," Neville-Rolfe said.

Figures from the research company Analysys International suggested that online trading operations had 806 billion yuan ($127.9 billion) in sales revenue in 2011, up 55 percent from 2010.

Retailers with physical stores have been paying more attention to online shopping in recent years as they try to gain a stronger position in their industry.

The US-based retail giant Wal-Mart is looking to acquire a controlling interest in Yihaodian.com, a Chinese online store.

In addition, Carrefour SA, a France-based retail giant, and CP Lotus Super Center, a subsidiary company of the Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), have also developed online shopping systems.

"The longer-term vision over the Internet is it is an exciting opportunity for us," Neville-Rolfe said. "It is the next-stage development for retail, particular for general merchandise. We are trying to give a strategic thought for that."

Peng Jianzhen, deputy secretary-general of the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, said the development of online shopping has become essential for large retailers in recent years, largely because younger shoppers prefer it.

Tesco, to better support its development in China, opened a distribution center in Jiashan, Zhejiang province, last year.

In addition to its plans for online shopping, Tesco intends to open 16 new stores in China this year. Neville-Rolfe did not say where those stores will be located.

To protect the environment, Tesco's plans call for building the stores in a way that prevents them from using large amounts of energy, Neville-Rolfe said.

She attended the 2nd Retail Sustainable Development Forum in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on Thursday. ]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:38:04 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/tesco-takes-online-orders-for-food-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Pharmaceutical/centers-to-promote-tcm-overseas/
The State Council Information Office held a news conference on Thursday to discuss advice given by 14 administrative departments on measures to develop the TCM industry. Building trading centers was one of the eight key tasks announced at the news conference.

According to a written reply from the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine to China Daily, the government departments have not issued specific plans for the construction of the 10 trading centers, but the administration is already carrying out market research and seeking support to start a special campaign for the centers.

Other key tasks include fostering TCM talents, supporting scientific innovations and developing a statistics system for TCM trade.

Currently, China exports its TCM services, such as TCM training and medical treatments, to 160 countries and regions worldwide.

The services are provided mainly through the following channels - foreign tourists visiting China to gain TCM services, Chinese doctors providing remote service through the Internet and Chinese TCM doctors going abroad to practice medicine or to open clinics.

Statistics show that the total trading volume of TCM services is nearly 2.5 billion yuan ($397 million), said Wang Guoqiang, director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

"The whole health industry will see favorable development in the coming years, both at home and abroad, and I believe TCM will have a large part to play," Wang said.

Wang also said that TCM services are facing challenges in the international market.

"The Chinese culture is so different from Western culture, so TCM still does not have high approval in some Western countries.

"At home, our understanding about international trading is not enough, and we do not have globally recognized TCM brands," Wang said.

He said funding for the industry should be boosted, and legal affairs and talents improved.

"TCM has a long history in China, and is an industry that China owns completely independent intellectual property rights," said Qiu Hong, assistant minister of commerce.

"As a result, developing TCM trading will accelerate spreading the Chinese culture to the world, enhance the TCM industry worldwide and benefit China's own TCM industry," Qiu said.

So far, several companies and institutions have presented successful overseas business models, such as Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Tongrentang and the chemical company Tasly Group, according to the State administration of TCM.

China has 36,000 institutes involved in TCM medical services, researching and training, 803,000 certificated TCM teachers and 15,000 people involved in new technology research and development of TCM. ]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:33:46 MDT admin Pharmaceutical 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Pharmaceutical/centers-to-promote-tcm-overseas/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Industry/foreign-trade-situation-far-from-optimistic-1/
After trade growth slowed for a second consecutive quarter in the January-March period, China's trade will continue to grow at a slow pace in the second quarter and the annual rate will drop from that of 2011, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in an online statement.

In the first quarter, China's imports and exports expanded 7.3 percent from a year ago to reach $859.37 billion, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The growth rate was 22.3 percentage points lower than that of a year ago and marked the slowest pace since the fourth quarter of 2009.

THE ROSY SIDE

"Considering both the international and domestic environments, there are certain advantages and positive factors for maintaining steady trade growth, but 2012 is going to be an extremely challenging year for China's foreign trade," the statement said.

Since the beginning of this year, the global economy has shown some positive signs, said the ministry, citing examples such as better-than-expected economic growth in the United States and Japan, the European debt crisis being contained to some extent and strong measures taken by emerging economies to spur economic growth.

Domestically, China's economic situation is basically sound, as its economy expanded steadily in the first quarter and market confidence remained stable, the MOC said.

China's economy expanded 8.1 percent year on year in the first quarter, marking the fifth consecutive quarterly decline and the slowest growth pace since the third quarter of 2009, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows.

"The growth of the economy still has great potential and there is a relatively large amount of leeway for macroeconomic regulatory policies," according to the statement.

NO SMOOTH SAILING

However, China should clearly understand that trade development is facing mounting challenges and complicated constraints, and "the situations are far from optimistic," the ministry said.

A major problem is seriously withering global demand due to weak world economic growth, especially in the European economy that is on the verge of a recession, it said.

The International Monetary Fund forecast that the world economy will grow by 3.5 percent this year and total trade will expand by 4 percent, 0.4 and 1.8 percentage points lower than the previous year, respectively.

China's export companies have felt the strain, as they are receiving far fewer orders than in the same period last year, according to the MOC.

Adding to the woes, domestic companies are also experiencing higher costs of labor and raw materials, which is cutting into their profitability and increasing operating pressures.

Urban workers' incomes have risen by an average annual rate of 33 percent during the past three years, and minimum wage standards in most regions rose by more than 20 percent in the past two years.

"China's small and mid-sized enterprises still face prominent difficulties in getting loans, and those that can get loans said the costs are quite high," said the ministry.

The ministry also pointed out that the country is facing a relatively harsh trade environment, as "China has encountered the most trade frictions in the world for 17 consecutive years."

"In the first quarter, other countries launched 16 trade-remedy investigations for Chinese products involving a total value of 3 billion U.S. dollars," the MOC said.

The number of such cases surged 80 percent over the same period last year, while the total value involved jumped 140 percent, it said.

SLOW BUT MORE BALANCED

The ministry predicted that China's foreign trade growth will remain at a low level in the second quarter and be slower than the growth registered last year. "The trade balance situations will further improve," it said.

China will strive to promote steady trade growth, adjust the structure and seek balanced trade this year, according to the ministry.

China should keep its trade policies stable to help companies overcome current difficulties and ensure steady export growth in the short term.

Over the long haul, it will intensify efforts in trade restructuring and upgrading, step up the transformation of the trade development pattern and reinforce the capability for sustained trade growth, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, China will further improve its import policies and set up more platforms for shoring up the country's imports in a bid to make positive contributions in promoting world trade growth and economic recovery.

The MOC on Thursday released a program for foreign trade development during the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period, saying that China will pursue balanced, progressive and mutually beneficial trade development during the five-year period.

This is the first time for the Chinese government to release a five-year program on foreign trade development.

The plan made seeking mutual benefit and a win-win situation one of its basic principles for trade growth, signaling the country's determination to make trade more balanced during the new era and bring more benefits to its trade partners. ]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:30:14 MDT admin Industry 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Industry/foreign-trade-situation-far-from-optimistic-1/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Industry/industrial-profit-decreases-at-slower-pace-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/
Net earnings of Chinese manufacturers fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.04 trillion yuan (US$165 billion) in the January-March period, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

The decrease narrowed from the 5.2 percent drop in the first two months, but still contrasted sharply with the full-year growth of 25.4 percent in 2011.

"Higher production costs, sluggish sales growth, a stronger yuan and weak external demand lead to falling profit among Chinese manufacturers," the bureau said in a statement.

In March alone, however, industrial profits rose 4.5 percent to 438.9 billion yuan from the same period of last year, the statement said. The bureau attributed the growth to a rebound in production and sales, the weakened impact of price fluctuations and an increase in non-operating revenues in the month.

"There are signs of improvement in manufacturing profit, indicating a possible end to its decline," the bureau said.

Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co, said that despite encouraging signs, China still needs to loosen policy further to support domestic demand.

"China's economic growth has moderated to the slowest pace in nearly three years, it's urgent that we should maintain economic stability by adding more stimulus," said Li, who suggested the People's Bank of China cut the reserve requirement ratio again to boost liquidity.

Private businesses still reported a profit increase of 22.4 percent in the first quarter, while earnings of foreign-invested firms and those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan slumped 12.6 percent. State-owned enterprises said profit fell 12.4 percent.

China's industrial production grew 11.6 percent year on year in the first quarter, up from 11.4 percent in January and February.

The HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers' index, a preliminary reading that measures manufacturing activities, reached a two-month high of 49.1 in March. But it was still less than 50, which means a contraction in industrial activities.

The statistics bureau also announced yesterday that together with other authorities, it will strengthen supervision over the data-collecting process to ensure statistics are accurate. Last month, the bureau revealed two cases in which companies were forced to distort data for a "better-looking" GDP result.
]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:25:00 MDT admin Industry 2 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Industry/industrial-profit-decreases-at-slower-pace-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/quality-of-some-preserved-fruit-questioned-%7C/
"Food inspectors must go to the production sites for preserved fruit to check the businesses and their products, and carry out quality check campaigns in places where their manufacture and processing are prevalent," reads a notice on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on Wednesday.

Reporters from China Central Television recently investigated some preserved fruit manufacturers in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces and found serious violations of regulations in production.

Food materials were scattered on the ground in some factories in Linyi city, Shandong province, and workers said they did not have a production license or health permit, according to the report. Some of the raw materials were rotten and even garbage was blended into the raw material.

The reporters sent some food samples to be tested in the Beijing Center for Physical and Chemical Analysis.

The results found that the content of sweeteners, preservatives, and coloring and bleaching agents all exceeded national standards.

"A long-term and excessive consumption of the substances may harm your liver and kidney," said Li Keji, a professor at the public health school of Peking University.

China's quality watchdog also reacted by ordering local regulators to launch targeted inspections of preserved-fruits producers.

Recurring scandals in China's food industry in recent years, including tainted milk and "gutter oil", have triggered waves of anger among the public and undermined confidence in the food industry.

To address public concerns, China's National Development and Reform Committee and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Wednesday unveiled a development plan for the food industry, vowing to push forward the construction of a food tracking system during the 2011-2015 period to enhance quality supervision.

China will promote technology to record and log individual items online, and improve the information service mechanism that tracks food producers, according to the plan. ]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:02:31 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 1 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/quality-of-some-preserved-fruit-questioned-%7C/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Internet/video-giants-join-hands-on-content/
The Chinese online video industry saw another surprising corporate collaboration on Tuesday as Sohu.com Inc, Tencent Holdings Ltd and iQiyi.com - the online video branch of Baidu Inc - launched the Video Content Cooperation alliance.

The three online video providers, previously fierce rivals for Internet video consumers, said they will bring their combined purchasing power to bear in joint acquisitions of "superior" domestic and imported video content.

They will also share their existing content libraries and provide other mutual support.

"Sohu, Tencent and Baidu are all iconic Internet giants in China. We will integrate our capabilities in online video, portals, search engines and social networks to better service online video consumers," said Deng Ye, chief executive officer of Sohu Video and vice-president of Sohu.com Inc.

The combination could make VCC the most powerful communication and marketing platform in China's online video industry, she added.

Liu Chunning, vice-president of Tencent, said he hopes the alliance will "burst the bubble" of overpriced content in China.

Video giants join hands on content

As online video providers pursue users by offering popular movies and TV shows, they're spending increasingly large sums to acquire entertainment while remaining in the red.

The price of some popular TV shows surged to more than 1 million yuan ($158,560) per episode in 2011, from about 50,000 yuan to 80,000 yuan in 2009.

"Irrational pricing and disorderly competition have made it hard for Chinese online video providers to make ends meet," said Liu. Ad revenue hasn't come close to covering the costs for the websites.

"VCC offers economies of scale. It may bring order to the industry and push prices down," he added.

Liu Hong, chief operating officer of LeTV.com, said VCC's presence will benefit the development of China's online video industry and help bring the price of licensed content to reasonable levels.

"Purchasing content is one of the biggest costs for video websites. In the long run, it will continue to increase," said the LeTV.com executive.

Analysts said the unexpected merger of Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd last month forced the smaller online video providers to act.

Youku had the biggest share (21.8 percent) of China's online video market in the fourth quarter of 2011, followed by Tudou with 13.7 percent, said the domestic research company Analysys International.

Sohu.com Inc was ranked third with a 13.3 percent share.

Tencent launched online video services in April 2011. The company has a much smaller market share than Youku or Tudou.

"Obviously, the merger of the industry's top two players posed big challenges for smaller competitors. You have to respond to survive," commented Tao Chuang, chief executive officer of PPTV, a domestic online TV service.

Ruan Jingwen, president of iResearch, a Beijing-based research firm, said VCC will reshuffle the Chinese online video industry and help elicit new orders.

"The launch of VCC indicates that Chinese video websites have finished fighting over scraps and formed a few giant to compete with each other," Ruan said.

The number of Chinese Internet users who watch videos online reached 325 million by Dec 31, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. ]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:58:33 MDT admin Internet 1 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Internet/video-giants-join-hands-on-content/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Internet/alibaba-quarterly-profit-drops-to-two-year-low-/
The slump in profit came as the company announced on Monday that shareholders are scheduled to vote in May on the $2.5 billion privatization proposal made by Alibaba Group, which owns 73 percent of Alibaba.com.

As the flagship company of the Alibaba Group, the Hong Kong-listed business-to-business platform posted a 25 percent slide in first quarter earnings, falling to 339.2 million yuan ($53.8 million).

While its revenue rose marginally to 1.59 billion yuan, total paying members on its international and China marketplaces slumped to about 754,000, representing a 9.4 percent decrease year-on-year.

As the company connects Chinese businesses with overseas buyers, more than half of its sales come from the international marketplace, tying its performance to global economic fortunes.

Revenue from the international marketplace was 916.2 million yuan in the period, which remained flat year-on-year but dropped 3.1 percent quarter-on-quarter mainly due to a lower paying membership base.

The company attributed the deterioration in profit to "its refocus on enhancing information quality and membership quality instead of boosting the number of paying members".

Jonathan Lu, executive director of Alibaba.com, warned investors in the statement that its financial performance and membership growth would suffer, as it shifts to a value-added-services model from a subscription-based service.

Earnings per share came in at 8.4 HK cents (1 US cent) as opposed to 10.6 HK cents in the same quarter of last year.

But the company is awash with 11.7 billion yuan in cash, up 24.3 percent year-on-year.

The financial result "highlights the challenges under the current global economic situation, and it may take longer (for Alibaba.com) to transform its business model", said Kelvin Ho, a Yuanta Securities Co Ltd analyst.

In February, Alibaba Group offered HK$13.5 in cash per share to buy the remaining 27 percent of the stakes, the same price as the company's initial public offering price in 2007. According to group chairman Jack Ma, the rationale is to give minority shareholders an opportunity to realize returns while Alibaba.com implements a shift in its business strategy.

The Alibaba Group has said that the privatization offer is unrelated to possible deals to buy back the 40 percent stake owned by Yahoo Inc.

Jin Yoon, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc, who tracks Alibaba's stocks, believed the move to take Alibaba.com private makes sense given the low cost of debt to fund the deal and the company's positive cash flow.

"It does make a lot of sense for Alibaba.com to go private because apparently the business has been in a bit of a free fall in the past 18 months. As the debt market looks really cheap and interest rates are at an all-time low, it is a win-win situation for shareholders and the management," he told CNBC News.

Richard Ji, managing director of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd, believed the Alibaba Group will enjoy more flexibility to restructure its business after the buyout.

According to Bloomberg News, Alibaba Group signed a $3 billion loan agreement with six banks on Tuesday and is likely to seek more lenders to underwrite the loan.

Alibaba Group split its customer-to-customer and business-to-customer units last year to beef up the growth of its business-to-customer arm Tmall.

"Alibaba.com is going to struggle in the near term because there are a lot more customers leaving their website than actually joining," said Yoon.

"But the real appeal is the Alibaba Group, where the likes of Taobao and Tmall are the crown jewels of the company. So the beauty of the company lies there, not with Alibaba.com." ]]> Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:54:22 MDT admin Internet 1 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/Internet/alibaba-quarterly-profit-drops-to-two-year-low-/ http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/preserved-fruit-tested-after-additives-report-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/
Officials said the results would be announced in about a week.

Meanwhile, Shanghai-based preserved food chain store Laiyifen has stopped selling all fruit products from the three suppliers in the eastern city of Hangzhou named in the China Central Television program broadcast on Tuesday.

The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau said that more than 7,800 kilograms of preserved fruits, both from Laiyifen and supermarkets, had been removed from shelves. A total of 30 samples will be tested, of which 14 are from Laiyifen.

"From now on we will carry out a citywide inspection on preserved fruits markets, and the amount of food additives will be an emphasis of the inspection," said Guo Shuting, an official with the bureau's food department.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision also inspected Laiyifen's suppliers in Shanghai, but hadn't found many problems.

Officials said they were inspecting all the preserved food manufacturers in the city.

Laiyifen also said it will send product samples to inspection authorities for further examination. Customers who worry about the safety of preserved fruits they bought from Laiyifen can return them for a refund at any of its outlets.

The company said that yesterday it had accepted more requests for refunds than usual.

One customer expressed disappointment at the claims. "I always buy their stuff when I pass the store," said a consumer surnamed Chen. "And now I don't think I'll buy anything there for a long time."

The CCTV investigation found excessive amounts of harmful food additives being used in the production of preserved fruits in three factories.

The additives, including flavoring, coloring and bleaching agents, were potentially harmful to the liver and kidneys, according to CCTV.

They were also being used in workshops that were extremely filthy, according to the TV report.

CCTV later sent some samples purchased in stores for testing and the results showed that the amount of additives were higher than the country's standard. ]]> Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:12:31 MDT admin SIAL CHINA 2012 1 http://mynews.mychinab2b.com/SIAL_CHINA_2012/preserved-fruit-tested-after-additives-report-shanghai-daily-%7C-%E4%B8%8A%E6%B5%B7%E6%97%A5%E6%8A%A5-/