SHOW ME THE TEXTILES: The 11th China Textile and Apparel Trade Show opened in New York on July 13, attracting 246 Chinese factories. It is the largest textile purchasing show in North America (SHEN HONG)

No Price Rigging

Individuals and companies distributing misleading or false information about commodity price hikes will be fined up to 2 million yuan ($295,000), said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.

The suggested punishment measures to combat commodity hoarding and forced price increases are open to public debate until August 13, after which it will be submitted to top officials for a legislative reading, the NDRC said.

Hoarding was mainly to blame for skyrocketing prices of garlic, mung beans and other farm products this year, jeopardizing the government's goal to keep the annual consumer price index growth at 3 percent in 2010.

Global IPO King

China will continue to lead the global initial public offering (IPO) market in terms of the funds raised and the number of deals, international accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP said in a report on July 13.

Mainland companies dominated the global IPO market by raising $188 billion in 495 deals on the top four bourses–New York, London and Hong Kong stock exchanges, and NASDAQ—in the past decade, the report said.

Hong Kong remains the main choice for mainland companies as a listing destination, while American bourses are the choice for small and high-growth information technology companies, said Terence Ho, strategic growth markets and China IPO leader at Ernst & Young.

Rare Earth Investment

China Minmetals Corp., the nation's largest metals trader, is considering a 1-billionyuan ($148-million) investment for rare earth processing projects in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, over the next two years.

The move is meant to gain mining rights for the valuable resources. But Minmetals' proposal still needs to be cleared by the local government.

"Minmetals does not own any rare earth mines, which has hampered its quest to boost resources in China's southern regions. Also, the company has ambitious plans to be present across the complete industry chain," Liu Minda, an analyst with Huatai Securities Co. Ltd.

Carrefour Closes Store

The French Carrefour Group, will close its only store in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on July 28, the first closure of a Carrefour store after 15 years of continuous expansion in China.

Carrefour China spokesman Chen Bo said the move was a strategic readjustment to the company's presence in China.

But the company spokesman said that Carrefour would keep expanding in China, opening 20 to 25 new stores each year.

Carrefour first came to China in 1995 and has since opened over 150 stores in more than 40 cities.

Tracking Top 500

China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association will publish the top 500 Chinese companies on September 4-6 in Hefei, capital of central China's Anhui Province.

The list will track the companies' performances, asset values and market values in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the confederation will publish separate lists of the top 500 manufacturing companies and top 500 service companies.

Wang Jiming, Executive Vice President of the China Enterprise Confederation, said an analytical report about the comparison between Chinese top 500 companies and the world top 500 companies will also be made public, which will reveal the gaps and competence of those companies.