EXPRESS ROUTE: Staff sit in a train carriage on the Hangzhou-Ningbo high-speed line on May 22. The 150-km route linking the two hub cities in east China's Zhejiang Province is expected to open in July (HAN CHUANHAO)

Power Price Cut

Electricity prices for all businesses in agricultural production and logistics will be cut from June 1, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced.

Pork and vegetable producers will enjoy the same electricity prices as other agricultural businesses, which are already benefiting from preferential costs.

Agricultural wholesale and farm produce markets, as well as refrigerator storage facilities will be charged the same for electricity as industrial producers.

The move will save 500 million yuan ($80.78 million) annually in the agricultural production and logistics sector. A farm with about 30,000 pigs will save 100,000 yuan ($16,300) on electricity each year.

The move is expected to reduce soaring costs in logistics and further stabilize farm produce prices.

Outbound M&A

The total value of China's outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in 2012 reached a record high of $65.2 billion, marking a five-fold increase from 2008, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report said.

Since 2009, China has been leading the trend among emerging markets in carrying out M&As in the markets of developed countries, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the total M&A transaction value, said the report.

M&As of China's state-owned enterprises were mostly concentrated in the energy sector, while privately owned enterprises in China invested $25.5 billion in outbound M&As in 2012 in the industrial technology and consumer goods sectors, seven times the investment seen in 2008.

"Chinese enterprises have started to discover a long-term investment mode through M&A, as they aim to incorporate production capacity and upgrade industrial structures to increase their international competitiveness," said a PwC consultant on Chinese overseas investment.