Huawei revenue

HUAWEI said the impact of U.S. trade restrictions on its business will be less than what it initially feared, though the curbs could push its smartphone unit’s revenue lower by about US$10 billion this year.

In its first assessment of the impact of the restrictions, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said in June the blacklisting would hit the company’s revenue by US$30 billion, leaving it without any topline growth for 2019. “It seems it is going to be a little less than that. But you have to wait till our results in March,” said Eric Xu, Huawei’s deputy chairman.

Soy imports

THE country’s July soybean imports from the United States jumped three-fold from the previous year, customs data showed late Sunday, as cargoes booked by Chinese State firms during a trade truce arrived.

China, the world’s top buyer of soybeans, brought in 911,888 tons of the oilseed from the United States, up from last year’s 308,127 tons. The figures were also up 48.3 percent from 614,805 tons in June.

Beef consumption

THE country’s beef imports soared to a record last month as a surge in pork prices because of African swine fever spurs consumers to look for alternative meats.

Beef purchases jumped 83 percent to 152,213 tons in July from a year ago, according to Chinese customs data. Imports of pork also surged, rising 107 percent on the year to 182,227 tons.

Gold imports

THE government has partially lifted restrictions on imports of gold, industry sources said, loosening curbs that had stopped an estimated 300-500 tons of the metal from entering the country since May.

The central bank began to issue quotas again last week, sources said.