"The postponement is due to failure to coordination with Hong Kong market regulators," Caijing Magazine cited an anonymous insider.

The return of red chips could be bad news for the Hong Kong market. Market regulators have negotiated with mainland counterparts, but the coordination was not smooth, thus the return of red chips was put off.

Currently, the mainland stock market and the Hong Kong stock market are competing for IPOs. Hong Kong currently ranks second in IPO fundraising in the world. But the companies are more attracted to be listed in the bullish mainland market instead of Hong Kong.

By the end of July 31 this year, shares of a total of 143 mainland companies were traded on Hong Kong. Of these, 100 are from the main board and 43 are from the Growth Enterprise Board, but only 42 of those 143 companies issued A shares.

Pork Price Fall

After a substantial price surge in the past few months, the price of pork finally showed signs of falling.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed that wholesale pork prices have dropped in late August, shedding 1.4 percent in one week alone (August 13-19). Yet the edible agricultural products price index remained high as the general price level rose by 0.5 percent since last week.

The Ministry of Commerce said there is little possibility that pork prices will drop significantly in the near future. With the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival (September 25) and the National Day Holiday (October 1-7), the pork price will remain at a high level.

Among the 40 products monitored by the Ministry of Commerce, 31 products, or 77.5 percent of all products, were more expensive since the middle of August. In spite of the two-week drop in pork prices, some vegetables soared almost 50 percent due to increased costs in harvesting crops and transport through flooded areas. This summer, the Chinese central, southern, and southeastern areas have suffered from serious floods and major agricultural areas have failed to bring in a normal harvest.

Unicom Gets South Korean Support

The South Korean SK Telecom Co. will acquire 6.61 percent of China Unicom Ltd. by converting $1 billion of Unicom’s bonds into shares. Currently, Unicom is the second largest mobile carrier after China Mobile.

SK Telecom will hold 899.7 million of China Unicom's shares after the conversion, making it the second-largest shareholder in the Chinese mobile operator, said China Unicom. On August 20, the Unicom yuan-denominated A-share price closed at 7.14 yuan and HK$12.15.

SK Telecom will get the shares at HK$8.63 each, a 29-percent discount on China Unicom's closing price in Hong Kong on August 20.

“SK Telecom has good experience in 3G and value-added services, and the investment may boost the two companies' cooperation,” said Liu Zhe, an analyst at Analysys International, a Beijing-based IT and telecom consultancy. Unicom is believed to be a strong candidate for the ongoing 3G license campaign. SK Telecom was the world’s first company to start 3G mobile phone services in 2000.

Home, Expensive Home

In July, Beijing property prices rose 10.4 percent compared with the same month last year, the highest growth this year.

The Beijing Bureau of Statistics said that the major cause of the price rise was the growth in commercial property, which jumped 12 percent in July. Property prices in uptown areas climbed faster than that of the downtown areas.

At present, prices per square meter of apartment floor space in Beijing are over 10,000 yuan. Just one or two years ago the number was around 4,000 to 5,000 in uptown areas, 7,000 to 8,000 in downtown sections.

The government has vowed to rein in the real estate industry, but efforts so far have had little effect.

Numbers of the Week 14.83 million tons In July alone, China imported 14.83 million tons of crude oil, the highest ever total for a single month, growing almost 40 percent year on year. Currently, one half of the crude oil consumed in China is dependent on imports. 24,879 cases By the end of June this year, the central government had detected 24,879 cases of commercial bribery, involving 6.156 billion yuan. Civil servants were involved in 5,523 of those cases.