Shanghai’s growing shopping queues have been attributed by commercial specialists to new retail models or new items. The fashion craze in China’s most westernized city is being led by “fast fashion” brands targeting middle class consumers. H&M, ZARA and C&A will soon be followed by NEXT and TOP SHOP. China Business News asks whether this trend will marginalize Chinese brands?

While vehicle sales in China continue to increase, 25% last year to a total of 7.22 million units, competition heats up, and profits are suffering from the price wars.

Amid recent concerns over food safety, China’s farm trade appears to be reaching a balance again after several years of deficits.

Over the last several weeks, the US has recalled “about 100 brands” of pet food made with Chinese ingredients suspected of containing a chemical used in plastics and fertilizers.  While the Foreign Ministry denied a link between those exports and pet deaths in the US, President Hu Jintao “urged China's farmers and food-processing industry last week to improve food safety” amidst recent scares at home in China. 

Chinese used to be reliable bank depositors, but a recent survey by the central bank shows “a record low of 59.4 percent of the 20,000 respondents regarded bank deposits as the most important financial asset in the first quarter.”

Growth in China’s energy demand led to record purchases of crude oil in March, and this year Sinopec may surpass Exxon Mobil as the largest charterer of supertankers capable of transporting 2 million barrels.  China’s shipbuilders are scrambling to meet demand currently met by mostly foreign companies.

For the second time this month, and the seventh in less than a year, mainland banks have been ordered to increase reserves by 50 basis points, to a ratio of 11%.  Effective beginning May 15, this is just the latest move by the central bank to cool China’s red-hot economy.

In China, the most popular Internet search engine is local Baidu.com.  With market share of 55%, it has more than double the share of number two Google, with less than 22%.  But Google is investing more, and giving its local managers the freedom to make decisions they hope will pay off with market dominance.