LOCKED AND LOADED: Cargo ships pass through the five-step lock of the Three Gorges Dam. In the first 10 months of 2011, the lock has witnessed 90.92 million tons of cargo transport, exceeding the amount of the entire year of 2010 (ZHENG JIAYU)

October Figures

CPI and PPI

The consumer price index (CPI), a barometer of inflation, grew 5.5 percent in October from a year ago, 0.6 percentage points down from September, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This was the third straight month of decline.

The biggest driver of the CPI was still food prices, which jumped 11.9 percent in October over the same month last year. Pork prices in particular increased 38.9 percent. Residential costs climbed 4.4 percent, down 0.7 percentage points from September.

The producer price index (PPI), an effective gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 5 percent year on year in October, compared with 6.5 percent in the previous month, said the NBS.

As the tightening policies gain traction, China's inflation is bound to taper off significantly in coming months, said Lian Ping, chief economist with the Communications Bank of China.

Lu Zhengwei, chief economist with the Industrial Bank Ltd. agreed. He expected the CPI to average between 5.4-5.6 percent for the entire year, slightly higher than the government-set target of 4 percent.

"Moderating inflation will give policymakers bigger room to replenish liquidity targeting smaller businesses," said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at the HSBC. "But substantial monetary easing is less likely unless the euro zone economy experiences a huge slump."

It remains too early to end monetary tightening, and a better way lies in the fiscal response, such as cutting corporate tax rates and introducing more anti-monopoly measures to bolster growth momentum, said Fan Jianping, chief economist with the State Information Center.

Investments

Investments in fixed assets climbed 24.9 percent to 24.14 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) for the January-to-October period, said the NBS.

The investments in property development were 4.99 trillion yuan ($786.19 billion) representing growth of 31.1 percent from the previous year.

Retail sales

Retail sales of consumer goods totaled 1.65 trillion yuan ($260.57 billion) in October, an increase of 17.2 percent from a year earlier, said the NBS. The October figure brought the amount in the first 10 months to 14.74 trillion yuan ($2.32 trillion), up 17 percent.

Industrial output

The added value of industrial enterprises with annual sales revenue of more than 20 million yuan ($3 million) grew 13.2 percent in October, 0.6 percentage points slower than that of September, said the NBS. The growth rate for the first 10 months was 14.1 percent.

Industrial added value measures the final output value of industrial production, or the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate input, such as raw materials and labor costs.

All 39 sectors reported growth in industrial added value in October. The best performers were non-metal minerals, telecommunication equipment and electronics manufacturing, which increased 17 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively.

Fiscal revenue

China's fiscal revenue stood at 918.83 billion yuan ($144.7 billion) in October, up 16.9 percent year on year, 0.4 percentage points slower than September, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

The ministry said this was attributable to slowing economic growth, personal income tax reform, as well as faltering property transactions.

The October figure brought the amount for the first 10 months to 9.09 trillion yuan ($1.43 trillion), surging 28.1 percent from one year ago.

Corporate Conscience

Chinese companies still have a long way to go to better honor their social responsibilities, as reflected by a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Only 8 percent of polled enterprises scored over 60 points, the minimum requirement to qualify as a responsible company. Average scores of state-owned, privately owned and foreign-funded enterprises were 32.8 points, 13.3 points and 12.5 points, respectively. None were even close to the passing standard of 60 points.

The evaluation was based on the performances of 300 enterprises, including 100 state-owned, 100 privately owned and 100 foreign-funded enterprises. The index consisted of four items: corporate responsibility management, market responsibility, social responsibility and environmental responsibility.

A total of 26 polled firms scored zero or even negative points, including 19 foreign companies. The world-leading sportswear brand Adidas (China) topped the list, with minus 4 points. In July, a textile supplier of Adidas in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province was found to be discharging a range of hazardous chemicals into nearby waterways.

Zhong Hongwu, Director of the Research Center of Corporate Social Responsibility under the CASS and one of the compliers of the report, said companies are less motivated to be more responsible for society.

"In addition, we lack an effective system to strengthen their motivation," he said.

Baidu Booms

China's largest search engine Baidu.com is faring well, benefiting from vibrant growth in user traffic and advertising revenue.

The company generated 1.88 billion yuan ($295 million) in net profits for the third quarter of this year, skyrocketing 79.8 percent from a year ago. Its sales revenues stood at 4.18 billion yuan ($654.7 million), up 85.1 percent year on year.

Baidu currently controls 78 percent of China's search engine market, followed by Google's 17.2 percent, according to data from the Beijing-based research firm Analysys International.

Baidu is solidifying its market dominance thanks to increasing Internet advertising income. "Spending by large customers significantly outperformed our expectations," said Robin Li, Chairman and CEO of Baidu.

Its revenue from online marketing rose 85.1 percent to 4.17 billion yuan ($654.4 million).

"China's search industry is still in its early stages, and as the clear industry leader we see enormous room for continuing growth as users and online marketing customers become increasingly sophisticated," said Li.

"We enjoyed another strong quarter of top and bottom line growth, while maintaining a robust level of investment in development and research, infrastructure development and new strategic opportunities to support our future growth," said Jennifer Li, Baidu's CFO.

In the third quarter, Baidu completed the acquisition of Qunar, a leading travel search engine, and also made a $23 million cash injection into its online video site Qiyi.com.

Lashou Eyes IPO

Lashou.com, a leading Chinese group-buying website, is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq as the loss-making site struggles with financial strains.

The company, which filed for an IPO of up to $100 million with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in October, said it will offer 5.4 million American Depositary Shares, and will use as part of the proceeds to expand its sales network and build a call center.

In the first half of this year, Lashou reported around 390 million yuan ($60.51 million) in net losses, 7 times that of the total losses in 2010, due to skyrocketing expenses on marketing and intensifying competition. Group-buying websites are mushrooming in the country, making a dent to profitability of the fledgling industry.

The IPO will be a test of investor appetite for the Chinese Internet sector struggling with an accounting scandal early in the year.

"If the deal goes through it will be a very positive sign for investor sentiment in the Chinese Internet sector," said Muzhi Li, an analyst at Mizuho Securities. "However if this deal doesn't go through it might hurt other Internet companies trying to go public in the United States."