CHINA NEWS ON FASTMOVING

hina's consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, climbed to 3.1 percent year-on-year in September, the government has said.  read more

Johannesburg - South African liquor company Distell Group Limited [JSE:DST] has acquired a 60% share in fast-growing liquor distribution company CJ Wines & Spirits‚ expanding its presence in the East. read more

Johannesburg - China's decision to place a 6% VAT charge on freight and related costs is going to have an impact on the importing price from China, warned Asgar Mahomed, managing director of ICT distributor, Esquire Technologies. read more

Milan - Prada is seeing green shoots in Europe and feels confident about China, its biggest market, even though sales slowed in the first half, the luxury Italian fashion house said on Tuesday. read more

Beijing - Foreign companies in China are getting increasingly jumpy about a spate of antitrust and corruption investigations by Chinese authorities and are hiring lawyers to make sure their operations comply with the law. read more

Clichy / Shanghai / Hong Kong, August 15,2013 – L’Oréal and Magic Holdings International Limited have issued today a “joint announcement” regarding L’Oréal’s proposal to acquire all of the shares of Magic Holdings International Limited, a company listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: 1633.HK). The proposed price is 6,30 HK dollars per share. read more

Shanghai -The maiden voyage to Europe by a Chinese merchant ship through the "Northeast Passage" will help the world's biggest exporter speed goods to market and is a symbol of Beijing's strategic ambitions in the Arctic. read more

A total of 25 Chinese enterprises worth US$1.2 million have been set up in the Chambishi Multi Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ) in the past year, the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has said.  read more

Buenos Aires - China has approved its first major shipment of genetically modified Argentine maize, Buenos Aires officials said last week, signalling an increase in competition for a market long dominated by US exporters. read more

Cape Town - The global wine industry is worth $230bn a year and the potential yields for the South African industry have never been as great, nor the pitfalls as plenty, according to Linda Buckley, director of executive education at UCT’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). read more

Brussels - China and the European Union have agreed there is a "window for discussions" to try to resolve accusations that Europe is dumping wine in China, the EU's trade chief said on Monday. read more

On Carrefour’s second-quarter results, Gildas Aitamer, Retail Analyst at Planet Retail, commented:  read more

Cape Town - The Western Cape department of agriculture, together with Wines of South Africa, recently hosted the second Beijing Wine Tasting in China.  read more

Beijing - China's exports fell 3.1% year-on-year (y/y) in June with imports also declining, the government said on Wednesday, in the latest signs of slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.  read more

Cape Town - China should use the Western Cape as an investment gateway into Africa, the provincial agriculture and rural development department said on Wednesday. read more

Cape Town - A total of 54 000 new jobs were created in the agriculture sector in the first three months of the year, Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said on Wednesday. read more

The world's leading yogurt maker Danone announced that it has agreed to acquire a 8.3% stake in the Chinese dairy company Mengniu, and it will establish a joint venture with Mengniu in China. read more

Harare - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday on a business visit praising Beijing's ties with the southern African country. read more

Beijing - Manufacturing activity slowed in China in April as exports were hit by sluggish overseas demand, HSBC said on Tuesday, fuelling concerns about the strength of the world's second-largest economy. read more

(Reuters) - China's largest makers of popular, fiery "baijiu" liquor are bracing for a slowdown this year after nearly a decade of heady growth as a crackdown on lavish official spending starts to hit home. read more

Paris - French food group Danone said Tuesday the explosion in demand for baby formula in China helped lift sales by 4.3% in the first quarter of the year to €5.3bn ($6.9bn). read more

Nokia’s push to expand sales of its Lumia smartphones in new markets such as China should help shrink an overall revenue decline and reduce its first-quarter loss, easing some of the pressure on CEO Stephen Elop.  read more

New York -- Costco Wholesale appears to be eyeing China's online commerce market, according to published reports. read more

Dube TradePort is set to be the main KwaZulu-Natal beneficiary of new multibillion-rand Chinese and Indian deals to come out of the Brics summit hosted in Durban last week.  read more

Pretoria - South Africa and China have signed the terms of reference of a joint inter-ministerial working group to strengthen co-operation, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.  read more

China is becoming an increasingly important market for New Zealand wine and a group of local firms is hoping to boost sales further by making an appearance this week at one of the Asian superpower's biggest international trade shows, the Chengdu Wine Fair.  read more

London - The eurozone's economic downturn deepened this month, even before Cyprus' bailout troubles, but China's factories took a completely different path and moved up a gear, business surveys showed on Thursday. read more

A wine company bearing the name of the former president Nelson Mandela has been established in the United States, the Sunday Sun reported. read more

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is set to launch cheaper handset models in an attempt to fend off growing competition from Chinese rivals in the low-end market, company sources said on Friday. read more

SABMiller Plc’s joint venture in China agreed to pay HK$6.6 billion ($851 million) for beermaking assets from Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd. to boost its share of the world’s biggest market for the beverage.  read more

San Francisco - Personal computer maker Hewlett-Packard is pledging to crack down on its Chinese suppliers in an effort to reduce the use of low-paid student interns and other temporary workers.  read more

SABMiller’s joint venture in China agreed to buy HK$6.6 billion (R7.5bn) worth of brewery assets from Kingway Brewery Holdings to boost its share of the nation’s beer market. read more

The fate of 20 000 textile workers depends on the outcome of a wage debate sparked by non-complaint companies’ court action against the Department of Labour in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court last week. read more

Abu Dhabi - Dutch food retailer Spar International plans to enter the Middle East, aiming to have 30 stores in the region by the end of 2015, its managing director said on Sunday. read more

The UK remains Australia’s biggest wine export market, increasing by three per cent in 2012 according to a report released by Wine Australia. read more

Geneva - Swiss luxury goods group Richemont [JSE:CFR] and the world's largest jewellery chain, Chinese Chow Tai Fook, have agreed to create a joint venture, Swiss daily Le Temps reported in its online edition late on Saturday. read more

London - Drug companies are spending record amounts on acquisitions in emerging markets, with China the most attractive target nation, reflecting sharply rising sales of western medicines in the country.  read more

Singapore, Dec 10, 2012 (AFP) -Oil prices gained in Asia Monday as traders welcomed data indicating a continued economic pick-up in China, the world's largest energy consumer, analysts said.  read more

Beijing - Growth in China's factory output and retail sales jumped to eight-month highs in November as consumer inflation bounced off 33-month lows in the latest sign that its economy is snapping out of a protracted slump.  read more

Chinese manufacturing returned to growth in November for the first time in over a year and the deep downturn in euro zone factories eased slightly, according to business surveys released yesterday. read more

Dubai: The world’s largest mall to be built in Dubai could cost approximately Dh10 billion, according to some analyst estimates. read more

Beijing - China's manufacturing activity grew in November for the first time in 13 months, HSBC said on Thursday, in a further sign of strength in the world's second-largest economy after a marked slowdown. read more

In the shadow of the US fiscal cliff, it’s difficult to focus on the few promising signs of recovery. But green shoots are sprouting in the world’s two biggest economies – the US and China. read more

Singapore - Crude prices rose in Asia on Monday with a pick-up in China's services industry providing support ahead of Beijing's leadership transition and the US presidential election, analysts said. read more

A global race for grain trading power is putting more of the world's vital cereals in the hands of fewer companies, with a string of recent acquisitions raising fears that consumers will pay even more for their food, while farmers are squeezed. read more

Johannesburg - Relations between South Africa and China are of mutual economic benefit, trade and industry director general Lionel October said on Thursday.  read more

China's economic model that delivered three decades of double-digit growth is running out of steam and the country's next leaders face tough choices to keep incomes rising.  read more

Johannesburg - Shares of luxury goods retailer Richemont [JSE:CFR] fell as data showed Swiss watch exports dropped for the first time in two-and-a-half years in September, hit by slowing Chinese demand. read more

London - The world could see a gradual easing of oil prices over the next five years due to sluggish economic growth and rising energy efficiency and as production increases steeply in Iraq and North America, the West's energy watchdog said on Friday.  read more

Shanghai - Beverage tycoon Zong Qinghou regained his position as China's richest man this year, Forbes magazine said Friday, but the global economic slump took its toll on other billionaires. read more

Beijing - China's September exports rose 9.9% from a year earlier, the government said on Saturday, fuelled by strong demand ahead of the holiday shopping season and government stimulus measures. read more

Burberry Group Plc, (BRBY) the U.K.’s largest luxury-goods maker, rose the most in three years in London trading after reporting a partial recovery in retail sales growth since September’s profit warning.  read more

Singapore - Crude oil prices sank in Asian trade on Wednesday on concerns over the world economy after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecasts.  read more

Beijing - China's manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level in more than three years in August as the global economic slowdown continues to weigh on the world's largest exporter, HSBC said on Monday. read more

San Francisco - China will overtake the United States as the biggest market for smartphones amid a surge in low-cost handsets, a survey said on Thursday.  read more

Chinese wine producers have asked the government to investigate whether winemakers in the European Union are dumping cheap wine in China. read more

New York - Shares in Walmart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, were under pressure on Thursday as Congress pressed on with an investigation of alleged bribery in Mexico. read more

Johannesburg – The 2012-13 wool season will open this Wednesday‚ when about 13‚000 bales will be on offer at auction in Port Elizabeth.  read more

Johannesburg - South Africa has ranked 40th out of 105 countries in a global food security index which has the US in the top spot and the Democratic Republic of Congo at the bottom. read more

Shen Danyang, a spokesman at China's Commerce Ministry, said anecdotal evidence suggested Chinese export and import growth in looked as good in June as it did in May, when trade shipments were more than double market forecasts.  read more

The price of Brent crude oil fell below $91 a barrel yesterday, a price last seen in December 2010, from this year’s high of $124 in March. read more

The downturn in the euro zone’s private sector is becoming entrenched and Chinese factories are finding the going increasingly tough, business surveys showed yesterday, painting a gloomier outlook for the world economy. read more

Walmart recommends that its employees in “certain countries” make payments to police officers if they feel threatened by the officer’s behaviour.  read more

New York - Lawyers for Wal-Mart Stores have identified Brazil, India, China and South Africa along with Mexico as areas having the biggest risk for corruption, according to a letter from two congressmen who are doing their own investigation into the allegations of bribery in its Mexico operations. read more

Paris - French asset management company Uzes Gestion recently toasted the launch of its Uzes Grands Crus wine fund created to lure investors with a thirst for fine wines and profits. read more

Drinks group Diageo is to invest more than £1 billion (R13bn) in Scotch whisky production over the next five years, creating hundreds of jobs and helping it meet growing demand from the emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and Africa. read more

The third consecutive year of record rice production is poised to expand inventories to the most in more than a decade, driving down prices and helping to contain the more than $1 trillion spent on food imports annually. read more

Beijing - China's manufacturing sector weakened in May, two closely watched indices showed on Friday, providing further confirmation that the world's second largest economy is slowing more than previously thought.  read more

Milan/London - World food prices eased in April after rising in the first quarter of this year, the United Nation’s food agency said, but inflation worries are still simmering as soybean prices climb. read more

More than a third of US-based manufacturing companies with sales greater than $1bn are planning to bring back production to the United States from China  read more

After cooling down following a visit by Chinese vice president Xi Jinping to the United States, trade tensions between China and the westerns world have once again begun to boil over protectionism claims. read more

South African maize futures ended mostly lower on Monday due to some profit taking following last week's strong gains.  read more

The South African agricultural sector is recovering, as shown by the agricultural indices of the Sake24 and BoE Private Clients' provincial barometers.  read more

As “panic” hit world markets, the Standard & Poor’s latest GSCI Spot Index of 24 commodities indicates a 1.5% fall to close at 692.61 in New York, marking the biggest slump since last December. read more

Johannesburg - South Africa’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) jumped to a two-year high of 57.9 in February from 53.2 in January, sponsors Kagiso Asset Management said on Thursday. read more

Worldwide soybean reserves are being depleted at the fasted rate in almost two decades, as demand for food, fuel and animal feed ramp up. read more

Technology giants Hewlett-Packard and Dell are keeping a close eye on rising wages amongst their Chinese suppliers with both unsure where these costs will be absorbed. read more

Esprit Holdings Ltd. (330), the clothing retailer pushing to recover from a three-year earnings decline, expects to save HK$1 billion ($129 million) by June 2015 as it adds sourcing offices in India and Indonesia.  read more

China's manufacturing activity continued to contract in February as export orders weakened, HSBC said Wednesday, in a further sign that the eurozone crisis and US weakness are hurting demand. read more

The Chinese consumer may not qualify for the description “big spender”. But the traditionally thrifty Chinese may spend more than was previously thought on the things that keep households ticking over every day. read more

Proview International Holdings Ltd. (334), which claims ownership of the iPad trademark in China, asked retailers to stop selling Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s tablet computer as the dispute between the two companies intensified.  read more

Manufacturing production volume grew by 4.1% quarter on quarter (q/q) on a seasonally adjusted annualised basis after contracting in the prior two quarters.  read more

The outlook for manufacturing has unexpectedly leapt into positive territory. Data out yesterday showed the seasonally adjusted Kagiso purchasing managers index (PMI) rebounded strongly to 53.2 last month from 49.4 in December. This is the highest level since June last year and above the 2011 average of 52.1. read more

Sugar prices are likely to remain volatile into 2013 according to the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) as global output matches demand.  read more

Moves by local government authorities in China to relax customs procedures will help global retail companies to streamline their supply chains, logistics experts predict.  read more

China's manufacturing activity contracted for a third straight month in January as the world's second largest economy slows, boosting the case for further monetary easing, HSBC said Friday.  read more

Beijing - China said on Tuesday its economy expanded by 9.2% last year, slowing from 2010 as global turbulence and efforts to tame high inflation put the brakes on growth. read more

Sales of consumer electronics from smartphones to digital cameras will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year, driving tin consumption higher just as stockpiles of the metal slump to a 33-month low.  read more

London - The world’s second-largest brewer SABMiller [JSE:SAB] launched its first global brand, Miller Genuine Draft (MGD), in China on Monday to drive its growth in the world’s biggest beer market. read more

Bloomberg Beijing - China would take drastic measures to stabilise its exports and imports as slowing global growth created a “grim situation” for trade, Zhang Xiaoqiang, the vice-chairman at the nation’s top economic planning agency, said on Friday.  read more

Shanghai - The number of internet users in China have crossed the half billion mark, reaching 505 million users at the end of November last year, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) has reported. read more

Hong Kong - Fresh signs of a mooted wave of Chinese money looking to buy European assets on the cheap emerged on Friday, with a major bank said to be in the running for parts of Britain's RBS and an Italian yacht maker seen in the sights of Shangdong Heavy Industry. read more

State policy encouragement, together with the growing prestige of corporate sustainability, is pushing Chinese manufacturers to scale up their operational and supply chain sustainability programmes, new research reveals. read more

Falling consumption and a record crop will see cotton prices fall significantly next year according to analysts of the cotton market as stockpiles reach their biggest since 2005. read more

Suppliers in China are boosting overseas shipments to emerging markets amid slowing orders from the EU as the region tackles its debt crisis, market experts have reported. read more

Exports to the European Union (EU) are set to become more expensive when proposals to introduce a shipping tax next year are adopted by the bloc, trade policy analyst Peter Draper said yesterday. read more

Japan’s consumer prices fell for the first time since June, casting doubt on central bank forecasts for the world’s third-biggest economy to emerge from more than a decade of deflation.  read more

In factory towns across China's export powerhouse in the Pearl River Delta, a vicious cycle of slowing orders from the West and increasing wage pressures has led to a series of major strikes that could reverberate through the economy. read more

China is aiming to recycle 70% of its “major waste products” by 2015, according to the Chinese government. read more

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's wine imports have remained strong even as global economic uncertainty cuts demand for luxury goods, underscoring the city's credentials as a preeminent wine hub buoyed by strong demand from mainland Chinese buyers.  read more