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To: Rarebird who wrote (35380)	8/21/1998 7:07:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Profit margin squeeze in China's retail sector.................. cei.gov.cn China's Retail Sector Suffers Drops in Sales, Profits Overshadowed by a sluggish macroeconomics climate, China's shopping malls suffered sharp decreases in sales and profits in the first half of this year. China's retail sector, suffering from a buyers' market, posted weak growth of 6.8 percent in the first half of this year, plunging 4.2 percentage points from the same period last year. Moreover, the national retail price index has also seen adverse growth for nine consecutive months, down from -0.4 percent last October to -2.1 percent in June, according to the State Statistics Bureau (SSB). As supermarkets and chain stores spring up across the country, the profit margins of large stores unavoidably shrink. An SSB report show that 57.7 percent of the leading 260 department stores suffered declining profits in the first half of this year while 25 percent of them were in deficit. However, experts held that profits may rebound in the second half of this year as the government investment available to expand domestic demand takes effect. China Economic Information(08/17/98)