Yurun Food, the mainland's largest meat processor, yesterday posted a 48.5 per cent year-on-year increase in its net profit from January to June, to reach 254 million yuan. Its gross profit margin rose 3.1 percentage points to 17 per cent thanks to a reduction in the prices of its raw materials. The Jiangsu-based company, which slaughters pigs and processes meat, also said yesterday it would invest 170 million yuan to set up a plant in Northeast China's Harbin to boost its capacity. (China Daily HK edition)

Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd, the world's leading electronic payment system provider, has received an order for 20,000 point-of-sale (POS) units from China UnionPay, a leading financial network operator in China. The order, which will facilitate UnionPay's migration to EMV-compliant payment systems, is for Lipman's NURIT 8320 POS terminal and the NURIT 222 PIN Pad, and is expected to be supplied throughout 2006. Lipman, headquartered in Israel, is currently the only international vendor chosen by UnionPay during its rollout of electronic payment systems. (China Daily)

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