SEWAGE TREATMENT: Two inspectors monitor treated water in Beitang Sewage Treatment Plant in north China's Tianjin Municipality on September 19. With the completion of the plant's first-phase project this month, the plant currently is able to treat industrial sewage of 150,000 cubic meters a day (XINHUA)

Decelerated Growth

The IMF said on September 20 China's economic growth was expected to grow at 9.5 percent this year and 9.0 percent in 2012, slowing down from 10.3 percent in 2010.

Investment growth had decelerated with the unwinding of the country's fiscal stimulus, but it remained the principal contributor to growth, said the IMF in its latest World Economic Outlook.

Although inflationary pressure persisted, property price inflation and credit growth had softened from recent record levels due to efforts to withdraw credit stimulus, the report said.

Iron Ore Pricing

China officially launched its iron ore price index on September 20, a move believed to better reflect the domestic market and give the country a greater say in global pricing.

The China Iron Ore Prices Index, which will be released on a weekly basis starting in October, is made up of two sub-indices: the domestically produced iron ore price index and the iron ore import price index.

The domestic iron ore price index is based on the prices of iron ore concentrates in 14 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as well as in 32 mining areas. The import price index is collected based on data from eight ports.

Debt Risk Controllable

Chinese experts said local government debt risks are controllable, seeking to ease concerns that the country's credit binge will result in a rise in bad loans and derail economic growth.

According to the country's top auditing authority, local government debt stood at 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.67 trillion) at the end of last year.

The debt ratio of local governments stood at 70.45 percent if their contingent liabilities are all included in the calculations, lower than the 100 percent warning line, said Li Weian, President of Dongbei University of Finance and Economics.

Different from the European sovereign debt crisis, China's local government debt is mainly internal debt, which means most of the creditors are Chinese residents and institutions, Li said.

Experts are upbeat about local governments' repayment ability, due to the country's fast economic growth and surging fiscal revenues.

Feed Investment

Sichuan Tequ Group on September 19 officially commenced production of animal feed in Viet Nam's northern Bac Giang Province.

Khu Hope Feed Co., the first feed company built by Tequ Group in Viet Nam, with an investment of $10 million and an annual output of 400,000 tons, is currently the largest Chinese-funded feed manufacturer in Viet Nam.

Hoang Kim Giao, Director of the Livestock Breeding Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the venture will bring advanced feed production technology and management experience to Viet Nam, and further enhance agricultural cooperation between the two countries.

Wang Degen, President of Sichuan Tequ Group, said Tequ will improve the investment in Viet Nam and achieve the group's strategy of a complete livestock and aquaculture, feed production and food processing chain in Viet Nam by 2020.