Containers and trucks are seen on the dock at Rizhao Port in Rizhao, Shandong province, China.
China's foreign trade will face a more severe and complicated situation in 2019 and government will push the implementation of policies to ease burdens on exporters and importers, the commerce ministry said on Monday.
Currently, Sino-U.S. trade frictions have limited impact on China's foreign trade sector, the ministry said in a statement on its website, while noting that the relatively high base for trade data in the last quarter in 2017 is expected to have an adverse impact on China's export and import growth in the same period this year.
In another report on China's services import situation in 2018, the commerce ministry reiterated its pledge to further ease market access restrictions for the services sector.
China has confirmed a new outbreak of African swine fever in the eastern province of Anhui.China, home to the world's largest hog herd, has reported more than 50 cases of the highly contagious disease, including in Anhui, since the first detected outbreak in early August.The fever was found on a farm with 8,339 pigs in Qingyang county in the south of Anhui, infecting 96 of the animals and killing 47 of them, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement.Transportation of pigs in and out of the area has been banned, as has movement of pork products outside the area. Last month, the ministry said it would lift African swine fever-related restrictions in four Anhui cities hit by previous outbreaks.In a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Sunday, Tangrenshen Group, a major Chinese pork producer, said the fever was found in feed samples provided by its 51 percent-owned subsidiary, Bili Meiyingwei Nutrition Feedstuff, during inspections in the aftermath of the Qingyang outbreak.Tangrenshen said the origin of the detected fever remained unclear and the matter was still under investigation. It said the impact on its operations would be "relatively small," with Bili Meiyingwei accounting for only 2.27 percent of the group's net profit in the first nine months of 2018.
China reports new African swine fever outbreak in Anhui province
Around $57.83 billion worth of deals were agreed for the year ahead at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the official China Daily said on Saturday.The Nov. 5-10 CIIE, which brings thousands of foreign companies together with Chinese buyers in a bid to demonstrate the importing potential of the world's second-biggest economy, closed on Saturday.Deals for intelligence and high-end equipment were set to total $16.46 billion, while those for consumer electronics and home appliances were around $4.33 billion, the paper said on its official Twitter-like Weibo site.US presses China to halt militarization of South China SeaSales agreed for the automobile sector goods hit $11.99 billion, while clothing and consumer goods inked $3.37 billion, and food and agricultural products made $12.68 billion, the paper said.In addition, $5.76 billion worth of medical devices and medical care goods were sold, the paper added.The trade expo is designed to demonstrate goodwill amid mounting frictions with the United States and others. On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to lower tariffs, broaden market access and import more from overseas.China cracks down on celebrity hype and fake click
China's import expo logs $57.8 bln of deals: China Daily
Chinese broadcasters and online entertainment sites should avoid celebrity hype and crack down on fake audience and click-through rates, state media quoted the National Radio and Television Administration as saying.The edict comes after Beijing ordered A-list movie star Fan Bingbing to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in taxes and fines, spurring widespread discussion on the moral health of China's film industry.Some programmes overpaid celebrities, destroying industry order and leading teenagers into worshipping stars and money, Xinhua news agency said, citing the administration.Radio and television stations, along with online audio-visual service providers, should scrap vulgar content, promote core socialist values and keep children away from entertainment and reality shows, it said.The providers should also cut down on game shows, reality shows and singing contests that feature celebrities.In a letter posted on her official account on the Twitter-like platform Weibo last month, Fan said she would overcome "all difficulties" to pay her penalties."I'm ashamed of my behaviour and I apologise here to everyone," Fan wrote. "Every bit of my achievement is inseparable from the support of the state and the people. Without the good policies of the Communist Party and the state, without the love of the people, there is no Fan Bingbing." 
China cracks down on celebrity hype and fake click