Dispelling Toothpaste Worries

China has forbidden domestic enterprises from using diethylene glycol as an ingredient in toothpaste after a number of countries banned the sale of toothpaste containing this chemical, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Imports and exports of toothpastes containing this substance known as DEG are banned from July 11.

Most Chinese toothpaste firms have abandoned DEG as a production raw material.

There are no definite criteria or quality limits on the use of DEG in toothpastes across the world, but the United States, Japan and Canada have all recently banned the selling of toothpaste containing this substance.

New Tax on Oil Exports

China will impose duties on oil exported by foreign partners in offshore oil production joint ventures if contracts with Chinese partners are signed after August 1. Contracts already signed will be free from export duties until August 1, 2012, according to a circular jointly released by the MOF and the General Administration of Customs on July 10.

The announcement is a new move by the Chinese Government to curb exports of crude oil after the country imposed a 5-percent export duty from last November.

Export duties reduced China's crude oil exports by 36.6 percent year-on-year to 1.6 million tons in the first five months.

CPI Flirts With Red Line

The consumer price index (CPI) this year may exceed 3 percent, the warning line set by the central bank, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

In the first five months of the year, China's CPI rose 2.9 percent. But in May, it rose 3.4 percent, the highest in more than two years.

The NDRC official said the growth was driven by the fluctuations in international grain prices.

The growth of the biofuel industry in major developed countries, which has pushed up demand for corn and soy, has led to sharp rises in grain prices in the international market.

These price rises have, in turn, spilled over into the domestic market, affecting the costs of eggs, meat, poultry, milk and edible oils, the official said.

Forex Earners' Rewards Scrapped

China has scrapped a reward scheme set up eight years ago that gave preferential treatment to domestic companies which earned the largest amounts of foreign currency. This is the latest attempt to keep tabs on the country's soaring trade surplus and foreign exchange reserves.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Ministry of Commerce told local foreign exchange and trade departments on July 9 to stop grading local companies based upon their previous year's foreign currency revenue. The regulation took effect on July 1.

Online Shopping Boom

China's fast-expanding Internet population will drive a 32-percent surge in online spending this year, according to a survey released by the Beijing-based Data Center of China Internet (DCCI) on July 9.

Total online spending by Chinese Internet users is expected to reach 364 billion yuan in 2007, up from last year's 276 billion yuan.

Netizens spent a monthly average of 186 yuan online in the first half of the year, including shopping, gaming and other online services. The figure is likely to reach 196 yuan for the whole of 2007, up 15.4 percent from the previous year.

China currently has 144 million Internet users, second only to the United States, said Fu Zhihua, head of the research department of DCCI, adding that with the number of Internet users growing by 20 million annually, online spending will continue to increase.