Railway project

THE country’s top economic planner said late Tuesday it has approved a high-speed railway project in the northwestern province of Shaanxi with a total investment of 55.16 billion yuan (US$8.01 billion).

China has increased infrastructure spending in recent quarters to spur slowing growth in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Soybean imports

CHINA’S soybean imports from the United States plunged to zero in November, marking the first time since the trade war started that China, the world’s largest soybean buyer, has imported no U.S. supplies.

China brought 5.07 million tons of soybeans from Brazil in November, up more than 80 percent from 2.76 million tons a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Meanwhile, U.S. imports plunged from 4.7 million tons in November 2017 and were down from 67,000 tons in October. The United States was the second-largest supplier of soybeans to China and the trade was worth US$12 billion in 2017.

HK-invested firms

THE number of Hong Kong-invested enterprises in East China’s Shandong Province has reached 3,978, according to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Shanghai).

The Hong Kong investors have put money into sectors ranging from manufacturing, real estate, wholesale and retail to new energy and materials, said Tang Chung-man, director of the office. Tang added that Shandong’s actual use of investment from Hong Kong has reached around US$40 billion. By the end of 2017, more than 800 Shandong-based enterprises had invested a total of 91.5 billion yuan in Hong Kong, Tang said.