Chinese authorities have unveiled guidelines on scaling up effective investments in agriculture and rural areas as part of efforts to eradicate poverty.
China will prioritize the development of agriculture and rural areas and advance a batch of major projects to facilitate production and consumption, according to guidelines jointly issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and six other official departments.
China will speed up the development of high-standard farmland, cold-chain storage and logistics facilities for agricultural products and modern agricultural industrial parks.
Efforts will also be made to strengthen the protection of fauna and flora, improve the rural living environment and enhance the water supply and sewage treatment in rural areas, according to the document.
To prop up the investments, China will enlarge the share of local government bonds used in agriculture and rural areas, increase supportive fiscal input, strengthen financial services and encourage social capital to invest in these fields.
China will also beef up its support for agricultural firms in issuing stocks in public markets, according to the guidelines.
Raw material prices
The prices of 32 kinds of industrial and agricultural products increased, 16 kinds decreased, and two kinds remained flat on July 10 from the end of last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Among them, the price of live pigs rose 6.2% for the period, said the NBS.
China will continue to boost the production of hogs in an effort to keep the price of pork stable, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said Monday. The country will bring hog production capacity back to normal levels later this year with the help of supportive financing, as well as environmental and land-use policies, it said.
Yang Zhenhai, an official with the ministry, said the shortage of pork will be gradually eased after the third quarter of this year due to the increasing hog supply and pork imports.
Since last year, China has implemented a string of policies to encourage hog production and stabilize pork prices, which had been affected by African swine fever and other factors.
Duty-free shopping
China’s island province of Hainan has recorded spending on offshore duty-free shopping by visitors of 450 million yuan (US$64.34 million) during the week ended July 7, according to the General Administration of Customs.
During the period, the average daily tax exemption was 9.39 million yuan, up 58.2% from the average daily amount in the first half of the year, the administration said.
Cosmetics, jewelry and watches were the most popular products, with their sales accounting for 77.3% of the total.
Starting from July 1, Hainan has increased its annual tax-free shopping quota from 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan per person each year.
The range of duty-free goods has also expanded, growing from 38 categories to 45, while the previous tax-free limit of 8,000 yuan for a single product has been lifted.
Company news
Huawei technologies said its revenue rose by 13.1% year on year to 454 billion yuan in the first half of 2020, with a net profit margin of 9.2%.
Huawei’s carrier, enterprise and consumer businesses achieved 159.6 billion yuan, 36.3 billion yuan, and 255.8 billion yuan in revenue respectively, the company said.
Amid Covid-19, information and communications technologies have become not only a crucial tool for combating the virus, but also an engine for economic recovery, Huawei said.
The company reiterated its commitment to working with carriers and industry partners to maintain stable network operations, accelerate digital transformation and support efforts to contain local outbreaks and reopen local economies.
The story was written by Yang Zhijie and Liu Licong and first published at ATimesCN.com. It was translated by Nadeem Xu.