News in review

Monday October 30

Infant formula maker to feed rural areas

Infant formula maker Mead Johnson Nutrition, a transnational company, plans to explore expected opportunities to expand into China's third-and fourth-tier cities and villages next year.

New rules from Jan 1 will likely push out players selling regular products, leaving the market wide open for reputable brands that are mostly present only in big cities.

Infant formula makers operating in China need to register their formulas by Dec 31. Without registration, they can no longer sell from Jan 1.

Enda Ryan, CEO of Mead Johnson Nutrition Greater strive to introduce its products in less-developed cities where new regulations will likely eject substandard products from the market. (Photo 1)

Newest iPhone gets rush of preorders

Consumers in China are rushing to preorder Apple Inc's iPhone X, the company's most expensive and advanced smartphone.

The positive user reaction came as a new report showed that the US tech giant's smartphone shipments to China grew by 40 percent in the third quarter, bringing an end to six consecutive quarters of decline in the country.

Apple's flagship store on Tmall, an e-commerce website of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said sales of iPhone X on the afternoon of Oct 27 exceeded the first-day sales of iPhone 7 series within 50 minutes of it becoming available for pre-ordering.

The popularity of the iPhone X, which will hit store shelves on Friday, is also evidenced in the prices being quoted by scalpers. Due to strong demand, some traders on Taobao, another online shopping website of Alibaba, are charging about $2,962 for the iPhone X, which ought to retail for $1,462 in China. (Photo 2)

Tuesday October 31

Infection blamed in death of Russian model

A Shanghai agency representing a 14-year-old Russian model said that she died from multiple organ failure caused by pyemia, a type of blood poisoning, rather than overwork during her two-month stay in China.

Vlada Dzuba's death at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital on Oct 27 had nothing to do with exhaustion or overwork, as suggested by some reports, according to Shanghai Esee Model Management, one of China's largest modeling agencies.

A medical report provided by the hospital said Dzuba had contracted pyemia, which had damaged multiple organs and resulted in liver dysfunction and kidney problems.

Zhai Xiaowen, director of hematology at Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, said the disease has nothing to do with overwork. ''It is caused by severe bacterial infection,'' she said.

Elderly population increasing by 10m yearly

China's elderly population has been increasing rapidly and is estimated to hit around 400 million by the end of 2035, according to experts.

Since China became an ''aging society'' in 2000, the elderly population has increased yearly by about 10 million, Zheng Gongcheng, head of the China Association of Social Security, said.

By the end of 2035, the elderly population could reach about 400 million, making China a ''super aging society.''

By international standards, a country or region is considered to be an ''aging society'' when those aged 65 or over account for 7 to 14 percent of the total population. Once that amount goes over 14 percent, the country is considered a ''super aging society.'' (Photo 3)

Wednesday November 1

Nikon plant falls victim to smartphones

The use of smartphones to take pictures is causing the decline in sales of digital camera and leading Japanese digital camera maker Nikon to close its plant in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province.

Nikon Imaging (China) Co Ltd (NIC) was established in Wuxi in 2002 and was responsible for the manufacturing digital cameras and lens units. The Japanese camera maker has two other digital camera production bases in Japan and Thailand.

''The compact camera market has been shrinking rapidly, leading to a significant decrease in the operating rate at NIC and creating a difficult business environment,'' according to a company announcement.

A total of 2,268 employees working at NIC will be laid off.

China's wealthy looking for unique travel experiences

What do wealthy Chinese travelers want?

Small-and medium-sized cruise ships, high-end hotels and exclusive Chinese language tour services and drivers, says a report by HHtravel, a luxury brand under China's biggest online travel agency Ctrip, and Palm You, a tourism consultant based in Shanghai.

More than 90 percent of the wealthy surveyed expressed desire to travel to polar regions and the United States, the report says. Northern Europe, Canada, Australia, Southeast Asia, Africa, Russia, Japan's Hokkaido and the Maldives are also on their lists.

Chinese travelers have overtaken Australia to become the second-biggest group to visit the Antarctic, and their numbers have grown nearly 40 times over the past decade. The figure is expected to cross 5,000 this year.(Photo 4)

Thursday November 2

Beijing will honor green goals

China will look to cooperate further with the United States on climate change negotiations and press ahead with its own green goals despite the US decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement earlier this year, a top official said.

Speaking ahead of the key United Nations climate conference in Bonn, Germany, in November, Xie Zhenhua, the country's chief negotiator on the Paris climate accord, said China will always remain committed to fulfilling its climate pledges and is keen to push the Paris pact with other parties, including the US.

''China hopes to strengthen cooperation with the US on developing clean energy, carbon capture technologies and other issues. Our cooperation with the US at the state level has progressed quite well and never stopped,'' he said. ''We hope the US will come back to the big family of the Paris agreement and tackle climate challenges with other parties.'

Big banks report higher growth in Q3 lending income

China's big four banks posted higher growth in lending income and improvements in profitability and asset quality, with average daily income of $377.3 million in the third quarter.

The Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, the Bank of China Ltd and the China Construction Bank Corp, which had released their earnings reports earlier this week, all saw double digit growth in net interest income, thanks to improving interest margins amid stable and healthy economic growth.

In terms of net income growth, the Agricultural Bank of China posted 4.89 percent year-on-year growth, the highest among the big four. In terms of asset quality, the four lenders reported declining non-performing loan (NPL) rates in the third quarter. The Agricultural Bank of China's NPL rate dropped, thanks to more efforts in risk management and the better macroeconomic environment, according to the bank.

Friday November 3

TCM drugs to be tested for plant acids

China's Food and Drug Administration will conduct risk assessments of drugs that contain potentially dangerous plant acids and may limit or ban their use.

The agency made the announcement following a study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine on Oct 18 that suggested the substances may be linked to liver cancer in Asia.

The report said stronger measures are needed to prevent people from consuming the substances - called aristolochic acids - which are found in many types of plants. The plants have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a variety of symptoms and diseases, such as arthritis and inflammation.

The study stirred widespread concern among members of the public in China, which reports about half the world's new cases of liver cancer every year, according to the World Health Organization.

Controls on solid waste tightened

By the end of this year, China plans to ban 24 types of solid waste, including plastics, textiles and unsorted paper.

Along with the foreign garbage, other types of solid waste are targets in a national campaign to control pollution because of their large volume and the hazards posed to the environment and public health. They include materials generated from industrial production, breeding farms and hospitals.

China generates considerable amounts of domestic solid waste annually - 4 billion tons of waste from livestock and poultry, 3.3 billion tons from plants and 1.35 million tons from hospitals. Moreover, the country has accumulated around 60 to 70 billion tons of solid waste, a figure that continues to grow and exacerbate environmental problems.

(China Daily USA 11/03/2017 page12)