China is to end a monopoly over the production and sale of table salt, dismantling a system that has been in place for more than 2,000 years and was run by a state monopoly since 1950. The move reflects China’s drive to deregulate state-run sectors to encourage greater competition among firms and tackle market inefficiency. China is the world’s biggest consumer of salt, including that used in the chemical industry, according to mineral consultancy Roskill Information Services. It accounts for nearly a quarter of global demand in 2012. The disbanding of the salt monopoly will start in 2016 and should be complete by 2017. It is not yet known whether foreign firms would be able to operate independently after the monopoly was lifted. However, the reform liberates salt prices, and opens up the wholesale trade of edible salt and the distribution market. China’s salt monopoly is currently overseen by the China National Salt Industry Corp, which says it ensures the country has stable supplies and that salt is iodized.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed for the first time the amount of China’s strategic petroleum reserves. Held at four locations, the reserves totaled 12.43 million tons of crude oil, or about 91 million barrels. The four reserve bases are in Zhoushan (3.98 million tons), Zhenhai (3.78 million tons), Huangdao (2.5 million tons) and Dalian (2.17 million tons). The stockpile amounts to roughly nine days’ consumption, far below the international standard of reserves covering three months of imports. But the figure only accounts for the first phase of a plan to build petroleum reserves, and China is expected to build up more in the coming years. Moreover, the figure does not include commercial reserves, stockpiled at China’s state-owned petroleum companies. In July, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Wu Xinxiong of the National Energy Administration (NEA) signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on strategic petroleum reserves, the South China Morning Post reports. China intends to finish construction of the second phase of its oil-reserves infrastructure, holding nearly 200 million barrels, by 2020. China imports about 60% of its oil. This year, it produced about 4.5 million barrels of liquified oil a day, 93% of which was crude oil.

Hebei Iron and Steel Group Co (HBIS) has taken a 51% controlling stake in Switzerland-based Duferco International Trading Holding (DITH), a move that will help China’s largest steel producer expand its presence in the global market. Yu Yong, President of HBIS, said that the “going global” strategy is an inevitable and important step for the company’s future development. In March 2013, HBIS’s subsidiary Tangshan Iron and Steel Group Co (Tangsteel) acquired a 10% stake in Duferco. The center of gravity in the global steel industry has shifted to Asia and the partnership will provide Duferco with unparalleled access to an essential region and the industry as a whole, said Matthew De Morgan, CEO of Duferco. DITH will help Tangsteel sell 3 million metric tons of steel products this year in overseas markets, he said. According to Tangsteel officials, about 30% of the steel products produced by the company during the first six months of the year have found their way to overseas markets. China exported 65.34 million tons of steel products during the first nine months of this year, up 39% year-on-year, according to customs data.

Home prices in China continued to fall in October. The number of Chinese cities where prices fell month-on-month was unchanged at 69 last month while prices were flat in Zhengzhou, Henan province. New home prices in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, fell 1.6% from September to lead the drop nationwide. Of the four first-tier cities, new housing prices in Beijing dropped 1.3% from September, followed by a 1.2% retreat in Guangzhou and a 0.7% loss in Shanghai. On an annual basis, new home prices in 67 of the 70 cities declined, nine more than in September. The value of new houses sold across the country fell 9.9% in the January-October period from a year ago to CNY4.63 trillion.

The Inter Ikea Center Group (IICG) plans to open its first shopping center in North China in Beijing on December 19. Located near the South Fifth Ring Road, in the Xihongmen area, the center will cover 210,000 square meters of space and offer more than 400 retail brands. The group has invested more than CNY10 billion on three projects in Beijing, Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, and Wuxi, a second-tier city in Jiangsu province. About CNY5.5 billion was invested in the Beijing site, which the company claims is the largest in the country in terms of shopping area given purely to commercial and retail purposes. The country’s first Inter Ikea center opened in June in Wuxi, and received 250,000 people in the first three days. The shopping center in Wuhan is expected to start operation next April. Established in 2001, IICG has built 59 facilities in 19 countries and has 41 centers in the pipeline. The shopping centers are not designed to sell luxury products to small groups of people, but rather to have wider, mass appeal for average consumers and families. Large shopping centers, where people can shop, dine and entertain, have emerged across the country in recent years, gradually replacing traditional department stores, the China Daily reports. There were 3,450 shopping centers by the end of 2013 in China, opening at a rate of about 400 each year, according to the Mall China Information Center, a non-profit retail property organization based in Beijing.