COFCO's Takeover  

China's largest food processing company, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp. (COFCO), will take China Grain and Logistics Corp. as a subsidiary, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council said recently. With the approval of the State Council, China Grain and Logistics Corp. will become COFCO's wholly owned subsidiary, said the commission. Industry insiders believe that the takeover is an important step for the company's whole industrial chain strategy.

In-flight Car Sales

Spring Airlines Co. Ltd., China's only budget carrier, plans to become the first domestic airline to sell cars in the air starting in May or June. Domestically manufactured vehicles will be sold at an average price of 100,000 yuan ($16,000) per car, the airline said. Spring Airlines launched in-flight stores when it began operating in 2005, but was forced to close the business in 2011. In January this year, it reopened its in-flight stores, selling Chinese New Year gifts.

Grain Acreage

China plans to set aside more than 111.27 million hectares of land for grain farming before the end of this year, said Ministry of Agriculture recently. The country will put forth every effort to ensure that the grain-growing acreage for the spring planting season remains over 61.33 million hectares. Different regions will take advantage of their respective agricultural features to increase the acreage of high-yield crops.

Help for Small Firms

China unveiled a detailed plan in March to support the country's small and micro-sized enterprises as they still face many challenges. The plan was made to implement a guideline released in April 2012 by the State Council to support the healthy growth of these companies, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It aims to promote the quality and efficiency of the growth of these enterprises by providing better public services, further improving financing services and alleviating their operating burdens. The country will support more than 500 financing guarantor firms to help small enterprises get financing this year.

Railway Investment Up  

Fixed asset investment in China's railways rose 25.7 percent year on year to 37.63 billion yuan ($6 billion) in the first two months of the year, according to the China Railway Corp., formerly, the Ministry of Railways. During the January-February period, investment in railways infrastructure alone rose 20.9 percent to 25.14 billion yuan ($ 3.9 billion). In 2013, China has set aside 650 billion yuan ($103.2 billion) worth of fixed asset investment for the sector.

Commercial Space Launch

China plans to increase its share in the global commercial space market to 15 percent by 2020, a 12-percent increase from its current 3-percent share, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. The academy will explore new business models for in-orbit delivery and space-and-ground integration. The academy is also working to establish strategic alliances with other major launch service providers in the world, and to set up strategic cooperation relations with major satellite manufacturers.

Online Payment Safety

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, called for greater public awareness of potential risks concerning online payment methods. About 40 percent of the 221 million people who use online payments regularly do not pay enough attention to safety, while 40 percent of consumers ignore possible risks when problems occur, said Zhou Jinhuang, Deputy Director of the PBOC's Payment Department. The risks include the loss of personal information, identity theft and bank account hacking.

Innovative Drug Development

China recently announced a plan to reform the registration process for new drugs in order to encourage innovative research and development. The plan provides incentives for researching and developing innovative clinical drugs, and the approval process will be shortened for these drugs, according to the State Food and Drug Administration. The new plan allows producers of new drugs to provide a draft version of their application when applying for registration, and calls for drug specifications to be clarified during the period between registration and mass production.

Numbers

$54.35 billion

The total value of industrial output from China's agricultural machinery industry in 2012

$1.18 trillion

The value of China's mechanical and electronic exports in 2012

67.21 million

Smartphones sold in China in the fourth quarter of 2012

9.6%

Investment growth in Morocco's IT sector in 2012

7%

Tanzania's expected inflation at the end of 2013