Forex-related fines

THE country’s foreign exchange regulator handled a 20-percent increase in violations of forex regulations in the first half of the year compared with the same period of 2017, meting out 345 million yuan (US$51 million) worth of fines across 1,354 cases, it said.

The violations cited included carrying out false transactions involving fake receipts, poor due diligence and improper clearance of cross-border payments. The fines by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange were up 60 percent from the amount in the first half of last year, it said. Branches of major banks and online third-party payment platforms were among those penalized.

Beef imports

CHINA is expected to import 1.2 million tons of beef this year, 23 percent more than in 2017, as demand for animal protein remains strong in Asia, an executive at Brazilian meatpacker Minerva SA said Tuesday at an industry event.

Fernando Galletti de Queiroz, chief executive of South America’s largest beef exporter, said the growth of meat consumption in Asia is estimated at 57 percent this year.

CNPC investment

CHINA National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) said yesterday it will spend more than 150 billion yuan by 2020 to boost oil and gas output in the western region of Xinjiang, to offset falling output from aging fields in northeastern China.

The increased spending will push output in the Xinjiang region to more than 50 million tons of oil equivalent between 2018 and 2020, CNPC said. The spending is equivalent to the annual expenditure by CNPC’s listed unit Petrochina, China’s top oil and gas producer, for oil and gas exploration and production in 2017.