Anti-dumping Duties

China began levying anti-dumping duties on printing paper imports from Europe, the United States and Japan on August 10, said the Ministry of Commerce.

The measure came after a preliminary investigation launched by the ministry last December showed that companies in the three regions were dumping printing paper in China, which harmed the country's domestic printing paper industry.

The anti-dumping duty rates were set in a range from 17.6 percent to 28.8 percent, depending on the level of dumping, said the ministry.

Rare Earth Regulation

China will continue its efforts to regulate the rare earth mining industry during the second half of this year, said Jia Yinsong, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on August 8.

The country will issue a series of industry regulations as soon as possible, targeting items ranging from rare earth metal production caps and industry entry thresholds to qualifications for mergers and acquisitions in the sector, said Jia.

Regulations regarding rare earth production quotas have been drawn out and will be made public soon, he said.

CIC's New Move

China Investment Corp. (CIC) and GDF Suez, a French energy group and environmental service supplier, signed a memorandum of understanding in Paris for cooperation across multiple businesses and regions, in particular in Asia Pacific, according to a joint statement issued on August 10.

The cooperation agreement with CIC would help GDF Suez "access substantial incremental financing resources and strong networks in China and throughout Asia," said Gerard Mestrallet, Chairman and CEO of GDF Suez, describing CIC's investment as "a highly attractive first milestone" for the group.

As the first step, CIC is in advanced exclusive talks with GDF Suez regarding a 2.3-billion-euro ($3.26 billion) minority investment in the exploration and production division of GDF Suez (GDF E&P), or 30 percent of the shares of GDF Suez E&P following a capital increase and financial restructuring.

In addition, part of the transaction requires CIC to acquire from GDF Suez a 10-percent stake of the Atlantic LNG liquefaction plant located in Trinidad and Tobago for an amount of 600 million euros ($851 million), according to the statement.

Property Profits Up

China Vanke Co., the country's largest property developer by market value, said on August 8 that its net profit totaled 2.98 billion yuan ($463 million) in the first half of this year, up 5.88 percent year on year.

Revenue climbed 19.22 percent to 20 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) in the first half.

The company sold 5.65 million square meters of housing in the first half, up 76.7 percent from a year earlier.

The property developer attributed its good performance to its strategy of focusing on small and medium-sized apartments and selling quickly for turnovers.