May inflation is seen on the rise

China's inflation rate will continue to rise in May despite lower food prices, according to a research note by the Bank of Communications. The consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, will increase 1.4-1.6 percent year-on-year in May, the report said. The projected growth was expected to be faster than the 1.2-percent expansion registered in April and 0.9 percent in March. The bank projected the higher inflation rate, while predicting food price growth would slow markedly. In the second half of the year, weaker demand and tighter currency liquidity would continue to weigh on consumer prices, but climbing labor costs and a shifting economic structure were seen lifting the prices of services to offset the downward pressure, the research note said.

Lockup shares reach low level

Lockup shares worth about 114.63 billion yuan ($16.73 billion)will become eligible for trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges in June, the lowest trading month in 2017, according to a report. About 9.249 billion shares will be open for trade in June, according to the China Securities Journal.Under China's market rules,major shareholders must wait one to two years before they can sell their shares. In the current week, lockup shares for 15 listed companies worth 26 billion yuan become tradable on the market, 41.82 percent lower than the previous week. The amount of unlocked shares has been dropping in the past few weeks, providing a respite for a market under pressure amid tightening liquidity and strengthened regulation.

Haier's Russian unit churns out fridges

Chinese home appliance maker Haier announced its refrigerator factory in Russia rolled out its 100,000th product, one year after the plant was launched. Haier opened the 24,000 square meter plant in Tatarstan in April 2016 with an investment of $50 million. The factory mainly produces air-cooled frost-free refrigerators, and has 500 staff members. The group adapted the design of its fridges to meet local demand, including energy-efficient and high-capacity units about 2 meters high. The plant has also lowered the shipping time and costs to central Asian countries. Previously, it would take a month to transport products from China to Uzbekistan. Currently, it takes around a week to send the products from the Russian plant.

Changyu buys three vineyards in Chile

Chinese wine company Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine announced it had signed an agreement with Chile's Bethia investment group to buy three vineyards in the South American country for over$50 million. According to the El Mercurio newspaper, the deal will be finalized at the end of June, after being approved by China's financial authorities. "Through these acquisitions Changyu,which has operations in China, France, Italy and New Zealand,wants to increase its presence in the Latin American market through Chile," the report said.

Air route to link Xi'an, Aswan

A new direct flight linking Xi'an, capital of northwestern China's Shaanxi province,with Aswan in Egypt will be launched on July 13. The direct flight will depart from Xi'an every Thursday with a travel time of 10 hours. Xu Mingzheng, a Shaanxi tourism official, said the flight is operated by Egypt's Air Leisure airline and will use an Airbus A330-200. The new air route connects Xi'an, the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, with Aswan, a famous tourist city in Egypt. The tourist official said it would help strengthen exchanges between the two cities and boost their economic development.

Cold weather hits Ukraine harvest

Ukraine's fruit farmers may lose at least 29 percent of this year's harvest following damage cause by the recent cold snap, the country's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on Monday. The ministry estimated that Ukrainians will reap a fruit and berry crop of 1.76 million metric tons in 2017, compared with about 2.47 million tons predicted previously. It said apricots, peaches and sweet cherries were affected the most by the freezing temperatures,with projected crop losses of 52.9 percent, 47.4 percent and 38.6 percent respectively.

Vietnam's farm exports increase

Vietnam has so far this year exported$13.7 billion worth of farm produce, forest products and seafood, up 9.5 percent against the same period last year. Vietnam exported seafood worth$2.8 billion, and vegetable and fruit export sales totaled nearly$1.4 billion, for year-on-year rises of 10.4 percent and 38 percent, respectively.The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that 53.5 percent of total export sales went to US, Japanese,Chinese and South Korean markets.

China Daily - Agencies