In Debt Chemical Company "Misplaced" 572 Million Yuan Of Inventory

Lonkey Industrial Co. Ltd., a 30-year-listed company that produces and sells raw chemical materials for industrial use and cleaning products for consumer use, said 572 million ($83.8 million) worth of inventory vanished from two third-party warehouses.

Both of the warehousing companies denied providing storage for Lonkey. Its stock price fell 10% to 5.13 yuan Monday.

Lonkey announced failure to repay overdue debt of 395 million yuan - which accounts for 20.94% of its latest audited net assets. As much as 2.6 million yuan in its 12 bank accounts has reportedly been frozen.

According to the company's first-half report, Lonkey has experienced its first loss in the past 10 years. It lost 115 million yuan in the first half - a decline of 539% year on year.

Analysts said the COVID-19 pandemic had hurt Lonkey but the company was already in fierce competition from competitors like Tide and Ariel.

Baidu Enters Life Science Business 

Last Friday a company called BioMap was established. Baidu Venture chief executive officer Liu Wei is its CEO and Baidu founder Robin Li is chairperson, according to a Baidu statement released on WeChat.

BioMap was registered Aug. 24, with 1 million yuan ($146,671) in registered capital. Liu holds 60% of the company's equity. It is reportedly in negotiations with investors to absorb up to $2 billion in investment within three years. 

With the goal of developing effective diagnostic methods through artificial intelligence, it currently has approached 10 life science doctors from universities around the world and will team up with more startups and research institutions, the company said.

In 2015, Robin Li reportedly donated 30 million yuan to support Baidu's collaboration with Beijing Xiehe Hospital in the research of esophageal carcinoma cancer genomics.

CIIE Kicks Off Press Application

The third China International Import Expo scheduled for Nov. 5 to Nov. 10 in Shanghai has opened for media registration. Owing to COVID-19 the event is only inviting China-based journalists, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. 

This is a sign of a return to in person events in China - although fewer foreigners will be able to participate because of current travel restrictions. 

Processing of applications started last week and will continue through Oct. 20 on the CIIE website, app and official WeChat account. Journalists from mainland China mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, Taiwan and elsewhere currently in mainland China can be accepted. All reporters must follow the expo's epidemic prevention and control procedures.

There were roughly 1,200 company exhibition booths at the event last year. It was created to support trade liberalization and economic globalization and to help open the China market to the world.