TX Investment Consulting also tracked the dismal performance of the country's qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) funds that invest in overseas financial markets. QDIIs lost 24.7 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) because of the global stock market downturn.

Curbing Fertilizer Exports

China increased the special export tariff on certain fertilizers in a bid to urge exporters to supply the domestic market and ease a surge in domestic fertilizer prices.

The Customs Tariff Commission (CTC) of the State Council said on September 1 that it was raising the special export tariff on nitrogenous fertilizer and synthetic ammonia to 150 percent from 100 percent until the end of the year.

In April, the CTC created a special export tariff on all kinds of fertilizers and certain raw fertilizer materials in addition to a common tariff. The period from April to October is a peak time for fertilizer sales.

While a rapid increase in fertilizer exports has brought considerable profits for exporters, it has pushed domestic fertilizer prices to record highs for Chinese farmers. A National Development and Reform Commission report said carbamide exports surged 207 percent to 3.78 million tons in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, the price of domestic carbamide was 2,550 yuan ($373) per ton in June, nearly double what it was at the beginning of this year.

Freezing More Money

The country's central bank tightened its efforts to freeze money in circulation, despite complaints by property developers about shortages of capital.

The central bank absorbed 132 billion yuan ($19 billion) from the open market on September 2, the largest amount in a single day since May. It distributed 82 billion yuan ($12 billion) of central bank bills and issued a 21-day repurchase agreement worth 50 billion yuan ($7.3 billion).

Although the government adopted a stringent monetary policy at the beginning of this year to curb inflation, inflationary pressure has since eased to some extent. But companies, especially real estate developers, have been complaining about a lack of financing due to restrictions on bank loans. They have called for more money supply in the market, although the central bank has continued to stick to a stringent monetary policy.

Lu Zhengwei, an analyst at Industrial Bank Co. Ltd., told China Securities Journal that the move indicated the central bank was still concerned about excessive money in circulation and that now was not the time it should loosen its monetary policy.

China's Top 500 List Released

China's top 500 company list is still dominated by the country's state-owned enterprises (SOEs), although their income has been falling.

On August 30, the China Enterprise Confederation issued a list of the top domestic 500 enterprises ranked according to their revenue. Sinopec Corp. topped the list-it is fourth consecutive time as No. 1. The oil giant, whose revenue exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan ($176 billion) last year, was followed by the State Grid Corp. and PetroChina Co.

According to the report, the total revenue of the top 500 Chinese enterprises reached $3 trillion last year, equivalent to 12 percent of the global top 500.

The top 500 companies paid combined taxes of 1.71 trillion yuan ($250 billion) last year, accounting for 35 percent of the national tax revenue.

SOEs accounted for 66.2 percent of the top 500 companies, down from 70 percent in the 2007 list. Although SOEs had the most profit, their per-capita income was far less than that of the private companies, the report said.

The report also noted the stronger competitiveness of private companies, which earned 106 billion yuan ($15 billion) in profit last year, accounting for 7.7 percent of the total profit of the top 500.

Largest Coal-Power Base

Construction work began on the nation's biggest integrated coal-power facility in Inner Mongolia on August 30.

The complex, including six generators, will have 3.6 million kw of installed capacity. It is expected to produce around 21.6 billion kwh of electricity annually when the base is finished.

The 21st Century Business Herald reported that the Central Government would be the project's sole investor. China Huaneng Group, Beijing Deyuan Investment Co. Ltd., and Beijing Guohua Power Co. Ltd. will be responsible for the project's implementation.

The facility is supposed to meet the coal demand of the three northeastern provinces as well as the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan industrial base, which will run out of energy in the near future.