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Consumer Tech, Media & Telecom

Chinese robot convenience store gets $4.4mn investment

A Chinese operator of unmanned convenience stores has secured 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) in its latest fundraising round. The stores, which serve customers without shop assistants, have become an emerging business model that many insiders see as the future of retail, according to Caixin. F5 Future Store, which has one store in the southern […]

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Consumer Economics & Trade Tech, Media & Telecom

Amazon attempts to bolster cross-border China business

Amazon is hoping to draw on its global strength, including its popular Prime loyalty program, to bolster its cross-border e-commerce business in a Chinese market where total online sales were worth $378 billion last year alone, Caixin reports. That market is sizable, boasting 41 million buyers last year and expected to nearly double to 78 […]

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Consumer Economics & Trade Health Care

Chinese pork demand falling

China’s frozen dumpling makers are finding there’s a quick route to winning new sales – increase the vegetable content, and cut down on the meat. For pig farmers in China and abroad, it is a difficult trend to stomach. The producers and other market experts had expected the growth to continue until at least 2026, […]

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Commodities Consumer Energy & Environment

China's oil giants in gas pump price war

Chinese state oil giants Sinopec and PetroChina are waging war at the nation’s gas pumps, slashing prices at unprecedented rates in an effort to reclaim sales lost to private local and foreign rivals in the $440 billion retail fuel market. The rare price war kicked off in late March as Sinopec reported first quarter retail […]

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Banking & Finance Consumer Law & Regulation

China bans online creditors from targeting students

Beijing has banned online lenders from extending credit to university students following public outrage over young people falling victim to loan sharks charging exorbitant rates. Only a limited number of authorized banks are permitted to make loans to students, according to a joint directive by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Education and […]