A Promising Forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on July 25 raised China's economic growth forecast for 2007 to 11.2 percent, up 1.2 percentage points from its forecast in April.

The growth in China for 2008 is expected to be 10.5 percent, 1 percentage point higher from the earlier forecast, the IMF said in a revision of its World Economic Outlook.

"For some time China has been the largest contributor to global growth measured in purchasing power parity," Charles Collyns, the IMF Deputy Director of Research, said at a news conference.

He said that China has accounted for one-quarter of the annual growth rate of the world economy, adding that China, together with India and Russia, would provide half the growth.

Import of Japan Rice

China has started importing Japanese rice, while Japan has resumed importing Chinese straw, sources at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on July 25.

The quality watchdog said two famous brands of Japanese rice will be available in the supermarkets of some big cities in China within the next few days. The brands are aimed at high-income consumers.

Meanwhile Japan, which banned feeding straws from China in 2005, will start accepting imported straws once again.

Statistics recently released by the Japanese Government showed that 99.42 percent of Chinese food products examined by Japanese quality authorities conform to standards.

Foreign Poultry Banned

China banned imports of poultry and poultry products from Germany, the Czech Republic and the State of Virginia in the United States as well as imports of swine products from the Republic of Georgia.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine jointly issued a public notice on July 25, which prohibits both direct and indirect imports of these products due to local outbreaks of animal diseases.

Standards for Safety

China has issued its clean production evaluation systems for six industries as part of its nationwide efforts to curb air and water pollution.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top industry regulator, published information about the systems on its official website. The six industries include cement, fermentation, soda ash, machinery, sulphuric acid and leather.

The six sets of standards became effective on July 20 on a trial basis in a bid to improve the efficiency of resources and minimize the emission of pollutants, said the commission.

The commission indicated that the standards will be revised to keep pace with economic and technological developments.

The standards contain up to dozens of indices on atmospheric emissions, water and solid pollutants, and energy and resource usage.

A Golden Nation

China's gold production and demand are forecast to continue rapid growth over the coming years as local incomes rise and more people purchase the precious metal for jewelry and investment.

According to the Gold Survey 2007 published by Gold Fields Mineral Services Ltd., a London-based precious metals consultancy, China's gold production increased 8 percent year on year to hit 247 tons last year and overtook Australia as the world's third largest gold producer.

The National Development and Reform Commission said that the country produced 122 tons of gold in the first six months of this year, up 15 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The commission said in February that the nation's 2007 gold production would reach 260 tons-another 8 percent annual increase.