China, ASEAN Sign Investment Agreement; Import Products to Become Cheaper
Beginning January 1st 2010, duties and other taxes will be exempted on 7000 categories of products after a free trade agreement was signed between Chinese mainland and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Guangdong is ASEAN's 6th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade estimated to rise to $104 billion by 2010. From 2003 to 2008, Guangdong's fruit imports from ASEAN have continuously been increasing by an average rate of about 27%. The Guangdong Foreign Trade and Economic Bureau said the deal will reduce the price of imported agricultural products such as fruit and cooking oil.

Import Price of  Fine Ores Set at 0.94 U.S.D
The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reached an agreement for the July-December import price for fine ores at 0.94 U.S.D per dry metric tonne. A report on the CISA website today announced this deal with the Anglo-Australian Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.

Air Traffic in HK Stabilizes in July
Air traffic at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) continued to stabilize in July, with year-on-year drops in the number of passengers, cargo and air traffic movements narrowing from the previous month. Cargo saw an improvement from the double-digit drops that were being recorded since Nov. 2008. During July, the airport handled 291,000 tons of cargo, 4 million passengers and 23,315 flights, representing a year-on-year decrease of respectively 8.3%, 9.5%, and 9.9%.

8-day Holiday For National Day
With the up-coming national day holidays and Mid-Autum festival, people in Chinese mainland will have an 8-day holiday this October. The longest public holiday in Chinese mainland is expected to give a needed boost the country's tourism industry. According to some travel agencies in Guangzhou, there will be no discounts on tickets for planes on the first and last day of the holidays. To attract more tourists, most trips to America and Canada can now be purchased for less than 20000 yuan.