By Han Mo, Liu Xiang

    BERLIN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — As climate change poses a great challgenge to China’s agricultural sector, the government and farmers should tackle it in a scientific and systematic way, Chinese Vice Minister of Agriculture Niu Dun said in an interview with Xinhua.

    Climate change has posed great threats to the traditional farming sector, and extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, hailstorm, tropical storms, have ruined harvests far more often than before, Niu said.

    He was in Berlin to attend the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture, held during the 75th International Green Week in Berlin, the world’s largest agricultural and food fair.

    ”The destructive power of climate change has reminded us of theneed to view the issue with a multi-dimensional perspective,” he said. “We should tackle the challenges by renewing the agricultural system and continuously developing the country’s economy.”

    The Chinese government would help farmers, herdsmen and fishermen create a sustainable mode of production by applying new technologies with lower costs and lower emissions, Niu said.

    ”The government will intensify investment of agricultural infrastructure and projects and impart more scientific knowledge and climate-friendly concepts to farmers,” the vice-minister said.

    ”We want to build a comprehensive service system in the rural areas to offer multi-facet assistance to agriculture, such as providing peasants with quality seeds, machinery and advanced technologies,” he said.

    All these could help cut down losses caused by climate change and improve rural living standards, Niu said.

    Despite unfavorable weather conditions and the international financial crisis, China’s total grain yield was expected to hit a record high of 530.8 billion kg in 2009, the sixth consecutive year of growth. The per capita annual net income of Chinese farmers has exceeded 5,000 yuan (735 U.S. dollars), up more than 6percent from 2008, according to the latest data.

    At the forum, Niu rejected accusations that China blocked a deal last month at the Copenhagen climate change conference. “China has set the new target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of the GDP by 40-45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level,”he told 50-plus foreign agriculture ministers.

    ”Above all, it was not conditional or linked with commitments by any other countries,” he said.

    Under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in addressing climate change, “China has demonstrated its highly responsible attitude towards the international community and future generations,” the Chinese official said.

    Some 1,600 exhibitors from 56 countries were taking part in the10-day annual fair, showcasing their best farm produce, livestock,farm machines, garden tools and newly-developed technologies.

    Niu told Xinhua that attending the forum offered a chance to “broaden our vision about new trends of modern agriculture.”

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Property trading in Beijing in the first two weeks of this year slumped, following a string of government moves to curb soaring real estate prices.

    Beijing property transaction management authority said on its website Friday that sales of future delivery residential apartments during Jan. 1 to Jan. 13 were down 63.9 percent month on month to 3,031 units, compared with 8,397 units in the first half of December.

    Those for second-hand homes also plunged 73.3 percent to 4,800 units, according to data from the website.

    The relatively small transaction volume was largely due to a strong wait-and-see mood from the buyers, in response to the government’s efforts to deflate property bubbles, said Gao Shan, vice general manager of the Beijing-based Comprehensive Real Estate Service Corporation.

    The central government has taken a series of measures, including trimming loans, intensifying land supply and market monitoring, and ending tax rebates on property transaction, to prevent home prices from further soaring since the previous month.

    Chinese home prices began to pick up from February last year, and hit a 18-month high in December.

    Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed housing prices in the country’s 70 large and medium-sized cities rose 7.8 percent in December 2009 from a year earlier.

    BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — China’s adverse drug reaction (ADR) monitoring center received more than 630,000 reports of such cases in 2009, according to the State Food and Drug Administration(SFDA).

    Of the total, some 94,000 are reports of new or severe adverse reactions, the SFDA said, without giving the number of ADR cases in the previous years for comparison.

    ADR is an unwanted or negative consequence sometimes associated with the use of medications. China set up its ADR reporting system in 2001 to warn pharmaceutical factories, medical institutions and the society in a timely manner.

    According to the SFDA, it revised the manuals for more than 10 kinds of drugs in 2009 to ensure reasonable and safe use

    Since October 2008, China has recalled a series of herbal injections which might cause adverse reactions.

    In March last year, China banned a pain-killing injection product following a report from the Guangdong Provincial Health Department saying that 13 patients reported symptoms of shivering and fever after taking the product with a brand name of Xiangdan.

    SHANGHAI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — Net profit in Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., China’s biggest steel marker, declined 11 percent year-on-year to 5.75 billion yuan (842 million U.S. dollars) in 2009.

    Its total revenue stood at 148.3 billion yuan last year, down 25.95 percent from a year earlier, said the Shanghai-based company in an annual business report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange Saturday, without giving reasons for the losses.

    China’s steel product prices underwent frequent fluctuations last year, against the backdrop that the world economic recession reduced steel demand both at home and abroad.

    The composite price index, a major gauge of the country’s steel price, declined to 107.2 points at the end of December, 72.7 percentage points lower compared with its 179.9 points peak on Aug. 5.

    SHANGHAI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — China’s economic hub Shanghai in December posted the first year-on-year growth in both imports and exports in 14 months, indicating further recovery from the economic downturn, local customs said Sunday.

    Last month, Shanghai’s foreign trade stood at 30.7 billion U.S. dollars, a growth of 35.3 percent over the same month of 2008. This was the second year-on-year growth of foreign trade in two consecutive months in the city, the sources said.

    Exports in particular, which stood at 15.21 billion U.S. dollars, reported the first year-on-year growth of 23.5 percent since November 2008, while imports surged 49.5 percent, up from the 26.7 percent growth rate in the previous month.

    Last month saw the city’s trade with the European Union, the United States and Japan up 15.4 percent, 36.8 percent and 19.8 percent, respectively.

    However, Shanghai’s foreign trade in total last year went down 13.8 percent from 2008 to 277.73 billion U.S. dollars due to the economic crisis effect. The total included 141.91 billion dollars in exports, down 16.2 percent, and 135.82 billion dollars in imports, down 11.1 percent. 

Special Report:  Expo 2010 Shanghai China  

    HAIKOU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) — China’s southern island province of Hainan will suspend land leasing and development approval in a move to curb property speculation, the province’s Party chief has said.

    Following a tourism promotion policy document issued by the central government earlier this month, real estate developers have flocked into the island, causing new property bubble concerns, WeiLiucheng, secretary of the Communist Party of China Hainan provincial committee, said at a meeting in Haikou Friday.

    The provincial government would not approve any program for land leasing and development before a specific plan gets nod from the the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in an effort to clamp down on potential speculation in the housing market, he said.

    The central government announced on Jan. 4 a plan to build the island into a top international tourist destination by 2020. The specific tourism promotion plan is currently under study and scheduled to be submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission between March and April.

    Housing prices in Hainan has surged after the release of the tourism-boosting plan, with some programs hitting 70,000 yuan (10,249 U.S. dollars) per square meter, arising high alertness from the local government.

    The government will step up efforts for affordable housing construction, intensify governmental regulations in market planning and land supply, so as to guide the real estate market todevelop in a healthy and steady way, according to Wei.