SME LOANS

China Development Bank (CDB) issued its first loan of $200,000 to a lamp company in Egypt as part of a large loan program of China to support the development of African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). According to CDB, the total of the loans lending to the company is expected to reach $1 million, with the rest to be issued by the end of the year, with a three-year term. Wonder Lighting Egypt, a company which produces various kinds of lamps with a registered capital of 12 million Egyptian pounds ($2.08 million), accepted the first loan.

FOOD ALERT

Tang Huajun, Deputy Dean of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, warned that climate change will trigger a drop in China's grain harvest over the next few decades and threaten food security. He said a 5-10 percent crop loss is foreseeable by 2030 if climate change continues. China recorded a grain output of 530.8 million tons in 2009 and plans to increase the output to 550 million tons by 2020 to ensure its food security. However, the output of the country's three main foods, rice, wheat and corn may suffer a 37 percent decline in the latter part of this century if the government fails to take effective measures to address the climate issue, said Tang.

CHINESE ECONOMY SLOWS

Chinese economic growth may slow to about 7 percent per annum in the next three to five years from the current 10 percent level, said Liu Shijin, Deputy Director of the Development Research Center, a government think tank under China's State Council. Liu said the slowing in growth, rising costs and price hikes will be the three major challenges China faces in the future. The country has witnessed price hikes in the past few months, especially after the United States adopted its "quantitative easing" monetary policy.

RARE EARTH EXPORTS

China will maintain its exports of rare earths in 2011 though it has shut down or suspended the operation of some rare earth mines which failed to meet environmental protection regulations. Chen Deming, Chinese Commerce Minister, said the measure is aimed at preventing environmental damages due to excessive exploitation and reckless mining. However, he denied recent reports saying that China would reduce its export quotas by up to 30 percent in 2011. With about one-third of all proven rare earth reserves in the world, China's exports account for more than 90 percent of the world's total.

INFLATION UP

Surging food prices pushed up China's consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, to a 25-month high of 4.4 percent in October. The growth rate was 0.8 percentage points higher than that in September. The prices of food, which account for one third of the basket of goods, surged 10.1 percent year on year in October, compared with 8 percent in September, 7.5 percent in August, 6.8 percent in July and 5.7 percent in June.

REAL ESTATE COOLING

China's property prices in October rose at the slowest pace in 10 months, after the government raised interest rates as part of its latest moves to cool the real estate market. Housing prices in 70 of the country's large and medium-sized cities rose 0.2 percent in October from September, slower than the 0.5 percent increase in September. Experts said the market has responded to the tightening measures, however the effect of these measures may be limited as the real estate market in large cities such as Beijing showed little change.

NUCLEAR LISTING MOOTED

China's three major nuclear power companies including China National Nuclear Corp., China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. are now discussing their listing plans with the authorities as the country sees accelerated growth in the development of the clean energy. China now has 10.8 GW of nuclear power capacity in operation, which accounts for around 1 percent of the total power generating capacity, according to the National Energy Administration. Nuclear power is expected to account for 8 percent of the country's total power capacity by 2020.

DIESEL SHORTAGE

Since some local governments' blackout policies will not be repealed until January 2011 and world oil prices are increasing, China's diesel shortage is likely to last until the end of this year, market analysts warned. In order to meet the central authorities' energy-saving targets for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), some local governments are switching off electricity supplies to reduce emissions. Experts said the electricity rationing measures caused a surging diesel electric power demand, and an estimated 100,000 tons of extra diesel fuel were needed in a single month.

NUMBER

CRUNCHING

$7.2 million

Expenditure of Ghana's campaign at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

3%

Share of Africa's service trade in the world's total

$150.83 million

Estimated daily loss caused by traffic jam in 15 Chinese cities

$735

Overseas remittance received in a year by 14 percent of adults in Kenya

2 billion

Number of global Internet users expected to reach by the end of 2010