BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) – January car sales in China
declined 23.8 percent from a year earlier, marking the biggest
monthly plunge in more than three years as automakers and
dealers reduced working hours during the lunar new year
holidays, which came earlier than last year.

Sales could regain momentum in February due in part to weak
year-ago sales when the monthly tally was well below the 1
million mark, industry observers say.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will boost imports of rapeseed and rapeseed meal from Canada, traders said on Monday, after Beijing banned Indian meal after tests showed it contained a toxic chemical.

If China buys more rapeseed, or canola, from Canada, the world’s top exporter, it could firm ICE canola prices, which have been rising for the past two weeks in anticipation of larger imports.

BEIJING, Jan 20 (Reuters) – China is rapidly becoming
a country on wheels and its crowded driving schools are racing
to churn out licensed drivers as fast as cars roll off the
assembly lines.

But judging by the daily smash-ups and blatant disregard for
even basic traffic rules on China’s roadways, quantity seems to
have trumped quality at many schools.

BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) – China Grain Reserves Corp
(Sinograin), which manages the state grain reserves, will expand
its commercial operation of soy crushing to profit from the
country’s rising demand for cooking oils and animal protein,
according to analysts and local media reports.

The expansion will enable the state-owned company to compete
for market share with Singapore-based Wilmar International
, which now has the biggest crushing capacity and
market share of consumer pack edible oils in the country, the
world’s top soy importer.

BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Car sales in China climbed
5.2 percent in 2011, the slowest pace since the
nation’s car culture took off at the turn of the century, as
consumers shunned local brands after Beijing scrapped tax
incentives for small cars.

Even so, solid demand for foreign marques helped China keep
its ranking as the world’s top market, with total car sales of
14.5 million, about 2 million more than in the United States
last year.

BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) – The expansion of China’s
rapeseed crushing capacity coupled with a lower domestic harvest
will lead China to boost imports of the oilseed next year,
particularly from Canada, the world’s top exporter, traders
said.

More rapeseed imports would replace imports of oil and meal,
which China increased last year after Beijing moved to restrict
imports of Canadian canola — similar to rapeseed, since 2009.

BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Car sales in China rose
0.29 percent in November from a year earlier, holding
onto a mild rebound from a trough hit in May, as automakers used
year-end promotions to lure customers back to showrooms.

The momentum, deflated in the data by the year-ago base
effect, is expected to pick up in December as automakers and
dealers, struggling to meet their annual sales target,
aggressively offer discounts and give-aways.

BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) – A quarter of global sales
for British luxury car maker Aston Martin could come from the
Asia Pacific region within two years, nearly double the current
share, thanks to robust demand in China, a senior executive said
on Tuesday.

China, which Aston Marton officially entered three years
ago, has already become its largest and fastest growing market
in Asia Pacific, the company’s director for the region, Matthew
Bennett, told reporters in Beijing.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Commerce Minister plans to lead an investment delegation to Europe next year, in hopes that the crisis roiling the continent will open up some plum assets for acquisition.

China has been reluctant to publically commit to buying additional European bonds, despite European pleas for help in shoring up finances there, but could be much more interested in getting hard assets for its cash.

CIXI, China (Reuters) – Chen Beiyin bubbled with joy when she picked a $141,700 Mercedes-Benz E350 coupe for her dowry and topped off the wedding with a lavish procession that included 12 S600 sedans, the priciest cars in the fleet.

“My dad drives an S-class and my husband a C-class. So when my dad asked me what I wanted for a wedding gift, I picked Mercedes-Benz too,” recalled the 29-year-old Chen, who has an MBA degree and goes by the English name of Helly.