Chinese stocks touched a four-and-a-half-year low on Tuesday amid persistent concerns over the government's credit-tightening policy. The Shanghai Composite SSE index fell as much as 5.8% at one point, before a late rally meant it ended down 0.3%.
Russian state oil company Rosneft has agreed to double its oil supplies to China, in a deal worth 270bn dollars over 25 years. Under the terms of the deal, Rosneft will supply 300.000 barrels of oil a day to China starting in 2015.
Australian red meat exports (beef, lamb, mutton and goat meat) to China continue to go from strength to strength, with total shipments for May surpassing the previous all-time high registered in February.
The Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal.
China is determined to strongly stimulate agriculture cooperation with Latin America to improve bilateral trade in the field, develop farming technology and improve productivity. This was the main conclusion of the recent China/Latinamerica Agriculture Cooperation Forum held in Beijing which convened over twenty Agriculture ministers from the region with host minister Han Changfu.
Nicaragua is moving closer to granting a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build and operate a canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Construction of the waterway would take 10 years and cost 40 billion dollars.
Global agricultural production is expected to grow 1.5% a year on average over the coming decade, compared with annual growth of 2.1% between 2003 and 2012, according to a new report published by the OECD and FAO released this week.
China approved three genetically modified soybean types for consumption, including the RR2BT seed resistant to the imidazolinonas and the glufosinat-ammonium herbicides. The announcement was made following a meeting between Agriculture ministers from Argentina and China in Beijing.
Leaving behind an atmosphere of mistrust, China and Mexico agreed this week to upgrade bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic partnership, and thus opening broad prospects for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica called on Spain for a more decisive role in the trade and cooperation agreement discussions between Mercosur and the European Union which have been going on for over a decade.