Global snack leader Mondelez International is investing more than USD100 million in the next three years in China to produce and launch its new chocolate brand. Milka will hit shelves in China in September as Mondelez’s first chocolate brand in the country, with its taste and flavor adapted to local customers. Mondelez has spent four years preparing its Chinese products to stand out from its global chocolate brands portfolio, which include Cadbury Dairy Milk, Lacta and Toblerone, said Manu Anand, President of Chocolates Asia Pacific at Mondelez. He added that market research has shown Chinese consumers prefer Milka’s characteristics of quick-melting, rich chocolate and an Alpine milk taste. “Almost all Milka chocolate sold in China will be made in China with Alpine milk imported from Europe,” said Anand. According to Euromonitor International, Mars’ Dove brand tops chocolate market shares in China in 2016 at 26.2%, followed by Ferrero Group’s at 13.4% and Nestlé at 8.7%. Du Jiaqi, Research Manager of Euromonitor, said the chocolate category has had soft growth in China in the past year, falling 3% year-on-year. “Chocolate is an impulse purchase,” said Du. “The weakened gifting behavior combined with the impact of e-commerce, where consumers don’t notice chocolate like in a store display, has lowered consumption in the category.” However, China still has huge potential to grow the demand to match the level of Europe in terms of consumption per capita. Having operated in China for more than 30 years, Mondelez has had to deal with the issue of its aging brands by introducing fresh categories in the past several years, the China Daily reports.

At a recent State Council executive meeting, Premier Li Keqiang, focused on key problems concerning trade policy. Li said the sluggish global outlook and weak overseas demand have undermined efforts to shore up China’s trade volume. Rising domestic manufacturing costs also have consequences for China’s imports and exports, he said. A number of policies have been adopted by the government since 2013 to encourage the steady growth of foreign trade. Customs figures show that in the first half of 2016, China’s foreign trade stood at CNY11.13 trillion, a drop of 3.3% year-on-year. Exports amounted to CNY6.4 trillion, down by 2.1%, while imports decreased by 4.7% to CNY4.73 trillion. The country’s trade surplus increased by 5.9% to CNY1.67 trillion. “We should support steady growth both in exports and imports to advance the country’s industrial upgrade and attract new foreign investment beyond that which is already in the Chinese market,” Premier Li said. High financing costs for companies remain a major burden in maintaining trade growth. Other problems include sluggish trade policy implementation as well as outdated management methods. The government announced measures to better facilitate foreign trade development and to streamline procedures in trade gateways. Procedures for tax reimbursement for exports will be more efficient, and unnecessary harbor and shipping costs will be reduced, the China Daily reports.

China is facing an epidemic of heart disease brought on by a shift toward a Western lifestyle, and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. Findings in the August 15 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology are based on the first large study of its kind to analyze a range of risk factors in China over multiple decades. Heart disease has been on the rise in China over the past 20 years, with more and more people experiencing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood glucose, being overweight, smoking and lack of exercise. The study analyzed data on 26,000 people in China from 1991 to 2011 and projected how these trends might play out from 2011 to 2031. “Our estimates suggest that the continued rise in high blood pressure, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, increasing obesity, and worsening dietary trends will add millions of new cases of heart attacks and stroke over the next two decades,” said lead author Yanping Li, Research Scientist in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health. The study traced most of the heart disease cases in China in 2011 to high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar, leading to some five million new cases of heart attack or stroke. High blood pressure in China has risen from 7.7% of the population in 1979 to 33.5% in 2010, on par with levels seen in the United States, the South China Morning Post reports.

China for the first time joined the world’s top 25 most-innovative economies, according to a report by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). China ranked 25th in the Global Innovation Index, up from 29th in last year’s ranking. It is also the first time that a middle-income country has joined the club of the top 25 most-innovative economies, which had been dominated by highly-developed economies. Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Finland are the top five innovation performers worldwide, said the study, which scored each country based on 82 indicators. Soumitra Dutta, Dean of Cornell College of Business and co-editor of the report, said in a statement: “Investing in improving innovation quality is essential for closing the innovation divide. Economies need to focus on reforming education and growing their research capabilities to compete successfully in a rapidly changing globalized world”. Japan, the U.S., the UK and Germany are the top four countries in order of “innovation quality”, which is the most critical indicator, that looks at the caliber of universities, the number of scientific publications and international patent filings. China this year climbed to 17th place in innovation quality, making it the leader among all middle-income economies for this indicator, the China Daily reports.

Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy said it would not oppose China’s home appliance maker Midea from acquiring German robot maker Kuka, as the deal would not endanger Germany’s security. Midea said on August 8 that it held a 94.55% stake in Kuka. To allay concerns over the take-over, Midea has pledged to maintain Kuka’s independence and has no plans to delist the company.