SAFE AND SOUND: Workers test high-power train wheels on an assembly line at the Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. (Masteel), Anhui Province. The wheels are jointly developed by Masteel and several research institutes (WANG LEI)

Yuan's New High

On February 21, the value of China's currency, the yuan, hit a record high with the central parity rate at 6.5705 yuan per U.S. dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading system.

China's central bank announced on June 19, 2010 that it would reform the yuan exchange rate formation mechanism to improve its flexibility. On China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market each business day.

Counter-Drought Loans

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said on February 23 it will provide 10 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) of new loans to financial institutions in eight provinces severely hit by drought.

The eight provinces include Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Gansu, where a severe drought has persisted since last October.

The central bank said that it would guide financial institutions in drought-hit regions to provide loans to farmers to buy agricultural materials like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, and to improve infrastructure in rural areas.

Price Cheating Fine

Nineteen Carrefour and Wal-Mart stores in China were fined 9.5 million yuan ($1.45 million) for cheating consumers over prices, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on February 22.

The NDRC disclosed the cases of price deception on January 26 involving the two retailers' stores. It ordered a maximum fine of 500,000 yuan ($76,100) for each store.

Auto Deal

China's largest manufacturer of sport utility vehicles, Great Wall Motor Co. Ltd., is engaged in discussion with Tata Motor's Jaguar and Land Rover to cooperate on business ventures in the future, said China Business News, citing an executive at Great Wall Motor.

"Senior executives of Jaguar and Land Rover came and visited the Great Wall Motor plant on February 14, but the final decision of a potential tie-up has not been reached yet," said the Great Wall Motor senior executive.

Jaguar and Land Rover are among a very few top-line global brands that do not have manufacturing arrangements in China.

U.S. IPO

Renren.com, one of China's largest social-networking services, is seeking a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of about $500 million.

The banks handling the IPO are Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG, according to an unnamed source.

"It's good timing to go for a listing," said Jim Tang, a telecommunications analyst at Shenyin and Wanguo Securities Co. in Shanghai. "It definitely will be able to lure many international investors. It should be using the IPO proceeds to develop and promote its technology and products."

Renren.com has more than 160 million registered users, according to the Beijing-based Analysys International. The site could use the IPO proceeds to woo more visitors as it competes with local rivals Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Baidu Inc.