Friday - August 2

Trade Group says US should reclaim imports

The United States must fight harder to increase its share of exports to China and aim to reclaim 10 percent of those exports by 2015, the US-China Business Council says.

The business advocacy group released two reports Thursday which showed that, although in 2012 China remained the US' third-largest export market, purchasing nearly $109 billion in US goods that year, the US must be more aggressive to increase its share of that total.

The USCBC's annual report on US Congressional district exports to China said the US could increase its sales and global competitiveness while providing China with innovative products and services by regaining the 10 percent import share it last held in 2000.

Johnson & Johnson fined for price fixing

Johnson & Johnson became the first Fortune 500 company to be cited by a Chinese court for holding a monopoly, in a landmark lawsuit that experts said signals the country's tougher stance toward price-fixing.

Shanghai High People's Court ordered the US medical giant's Chinese subsidiaries to pay 530,000 yuan ($86,456) in compensation for price fixing to a former dealer, Rainbow Medical. The court said the medical care giant adopted a monopolistic practice by setting a price floor for its Chinese dealer in 2008.

In March 2008, the Chinese dealer agreed to sell Johnson & Johnson products below the price floor to a hospital, in a deal that triggered a warning from the US multinational, which later suspended Rainbow from selling its products.

Johnson & Johnson didn't renew its contract with Rainbow in 2009.

Monday - August 5

Foreign investors can bid on Beijing's projects

Foreign investors are invited to bid on six areas of Beijing's infrastructure construction this year.

The areas are rail transport, city roads, the rail transit complex, drainage treatment, garbage disposal and heat supply in townships.

A total of 126 projects will need an investment of 338 billion yuan ($55.15 billion), of which 130 billion yuan will come from social capital, according to a plan released last week by the Beijing Commission of Reform and Development, the city's economic planner.

Private companies will have the same policies in terms of land, price, investment return and supporting facilities as their State-owned counterparts, according to a statement from the commission. The internal return rate of investment in such projects will be 8 percent.

Customers unhappy with after-sales service

Overall customer satisfaction with after-sales service by auto dealerships in China has dropped to 815 on a 1,000-point scale in 2013 from 832 in 2012, due to a significant increase in customer expectations about the service experience, according to a JD Power study.

Customer satisfaction with domestic brands declined by 31 points to 751 in 2013, and satisfaction with Japanese brands dropped from 860 in 2012 to 831 this year, according to the study. The rating of European brands decreased by 17 points to 832, while US brands achieved an average score of 851, a 1-point decrease from 2012.

Only South Korean brands collectively showed improvement in customer satisfaction, with a year-on-year increase of 13 points to 874. (Photo 3)

Tuesday - August 6

Sorghum imports up to meet alcohol consumption

Increasing alcohol consumption in China tied to the nation's economic expansion is raising the import of US sorghum, a grain used to make baijiu, a traditional Chinese spirit.

The International Grains Council said China's import of US sorghum may be even greater than US farm officials thought. Agrimoney.com reported the council as saying that for 2013-14 it has received orders for 400,000 tons of sorghum, most of which will be shipped through November to southern China. (Photo 4)

Waistlines expand as obesity rate increases

Nearly 34.4 percent of Chinese adults between the ages of 20 and 69 are overweight, while 11 percent of young adults from the ages of 20 to 39 are obese, according to a recent national survey.

The State General Administration of Sport released the results from its 2013 national physical condition survey. It surveyed 43,629 adults from 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities for two months.

The GASC also released the results of the national mass fitness activity survey, which analyzed more than 1.6 million valid data culled from 30 cities on the mainland.

According to the results, young adults (between the ages of 20-39) are the least physically active. The report said most cited a lack of time due to overloaded work schedules.

The report did have some encouraging news. Overall, public participation in fitness activities has grown, with 32.7 percent of those polled doing intense exercises more than three times a week, up 4.5 percent since the last survey in 2007.

More than 38 percent of those surveyed have been exercising at public sports venues including community and municipal sports facilities, an increase from 2007. Still, 9.6 percent of regular exercisers claimed the development of public sports facilities failed to meet people's demand.

Wednesday

- August 7

C919 large jetliner's test flight delayed

The manufacture of the C919 - China's first large commercial jetliner - has delayed the maiden test flight by one year until 2015.

Zhang Yanzhong, director of the program's advisory committee of experts and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the program encountered difficulties due to the manufacturer's present level of technological expertise and experience building commercial aircraft, but he said these are not major setbacks.

It is impossible to make the maiden test flight in 2014 as planned, said an official with the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, builder of the C919.

The first delivery of the C919, planned for 2016, may also be delayed, said the official, who is familiar with the project but declined to be identified.

China is building the 168-seat plane as it tries to break the stranglehold of Airbus SAS and Boeing in the global market for aircraft of this size. Last year, COMAC, builder of the C919, asked its project designers to work 12-hour days and six-day weeks to meet the deadline for the maiden flight.

NBA, Sina sign agreement for improved services

The US-based National Basketball Association signed an agreement with Chinese Internet giant Sina Corp that will allow Chinese basketball fans watch games on multiple mobile terminals.

Sina and the NBA also became strategic partners, three years after the two parties' first alliance in 2010. Sina said the partnership will for the first time cover all its mobile Internet products, including sina.com, the micro-blogging tool Sina Weibo and Sina Sports application.

China is the NBA's biggest market outside the United States because of its size and the country's success in sending players to the league, including Yao Ming.

An estimated 300 million people - approximately equivalent to the entire US population - play basketball in China.

Thursday - August 8

Six dairy companies fined for price-fixing

China fined six dairy companies nearly 670 million yuan ($108 million) for price fixing and anti-competitive practices.

The companies are Mead Johnson, Dumex, Abbott, Friesland, Fonterra and Biostime, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, a top economic regulator, .

It was the biggest fine for price fixing and follows a recall of milk supplies from Fonterra this week due to possible contamination.

The fines coincide with separate pricing investigations into pharmaceutical firms as well as companies involved in gold trading. Those probes have yet to conclude.

The investigations are a reflection of China's intensified efforts to fight price fixing and to regulate the business market.

Argentine corn may signal more GMO imports

China may be signaling it is ready to buy more genetically modified food products after allowing imports of GMO corn from Argentina.

The 60,000 metric tons of GMO Argentine corn will be processed as chicken and hog feed, according to Argentina's Ministry of Agriculture.

This is the first time that the country's demand for the grain has pushed the government to import such a large shipment of GMO corn from Argentina.

China's import of corn is dominated by the United States, which has 99 percent of the market.

It has been so hot in parts of China that a boy cooks an egg and shrimp on a manhole cover in Jinan, Shandong province. Temperatures in most areas of the south are forecast to pass 35 C and possibly 40 C (95 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit), and meteorologists say the situation will continue until mid-August. Zheng Tao / China Daily

(China Daily USA 08/09/2013 page8)