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Consumer

Exploding watermelons spark more food safety concerns

More than 47 hectares of watermelons in Jiangsu province exploded in the fields, most likely because of the use of a growth-accelerating chemical and sudden rainfall after a drought, Bloomberg reported, citing state media. Wang Liangju, a professor at Nanjing Agricultural University, said an accelerant called forchlorfenuron may have cause some of the melons in […]

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Consumer

Yum makes formal bid to buy Chinese hot pot chain

Yum Brands (YUM.NYSE) has made a formal offer to buy Little Sheep Group (968.HK) in a deal that values the Chinese hot pot chain at more than US$860 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Yum and Little Sheep said in a joint statement on Friday that the offer to Little Sheep shareholders would be HK$6.50 […]

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Consumer Economics & Trade

China CPI growth slows to 5.3%, but beats expectations

China’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 5.3% year-on-year in April, down slightly on March’s 5.4% rise but higher than the 5.2% expected by economists, the Wall Street Journal reported. Industrial production fell more quickly than expected during the month. In combination, the figures increased concerns about price inflation and an economic slowdown. Value-added industrial output […]

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Consumer Economics & Trade

China fines Unilever for announcing planned price rises

Unilever (UL.NYSE), the world’s second-largest maker of consumer goods, has been fined US$308,000 by the Chinese government for telling the media about its plans to raise prices, Bloomberg reported. Unilever made the announcement in March, and today the National Reform and Development Commission said in a statement that the media reports “disrupted market prices” and […]

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Consumer

128%: The rise in home appliance sales in rural China in the first 4 months of 2011

Source: China Daily