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Kuwait set the price of crude oil sold to the United States in January at a premium of $4.10 per barrel.Lan Foan, Minister of Finance, met with Nott, Chairman of the Financial Stability Board. On the afternoon of December 9, 2024, Lan Foan, Minister of Finance, met with Nott, Chairman of the Financial Stability Board, and his party by appointment. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the work of the Financial Stability Board, the financial stability situation in China and the economic and financial policies of major economies. (Ministry of Finance website)SAIC: Haitong Taicang Automobile Terminal has been put into production and operation. According to the official WeChat official account news of SAIC, today, Haitong Taicang Automobile Terminal jointly built by SAIC, Shanghai Port Group and Jiangsu Port Group has been put into production and operation, with an annual throughput of 1.3 million vehicles.

South Korea will gradually reduce the rice planting area to cope with the decline in demand. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of South Korea said on Thursday that South Korea will strive to gradually reduce the rice field area to solve the problem of declining demand and adopt environmentally-friendly planting methods. Due to the change of diet structure, the annual rice consumption of Koreans has decreased, and the per capita rice consumption has dropped significantly from 61 kg in 2018 to 56.4 kg in 2023. At present, the total area of rice fields in South Korea is about 698,000 hectares, and the government says it plans to reduce the area of rice fields by 80,000 hectares next year. In addition, by 2029, the planting area of environmentally friendly rice will be expanded from 35,000 hectares this year to 68,000 hectares. The government will also allocate 244 billion won (about 170 million US dollars) to subsidize farms that grow strategic crops other than rice, such as wheat, beans and barley, which is an increase from 186.5 billion won this year.Spring Festival travel rush's first day train tickets will be sold on 31st of this month. The student booking service was launched today. It was learned from China State Railway Group Co.,Ltd. today (12th) that Spring Festival travel rush will be launched on 14th of January next year in 2025, and Spring Festival travel rush's first day train tickets will be sold on 31st of this month. In view of students booking tickets during Spring Festival travel rush, Railway 12306 launched a new function today.An earthquake of magnitude 4.0 occurred in the waters near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. According to Japanese media reports, an earthquake of magnitude 4.0 occurred on the morning of the 12th local time in the eastern coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, with a focal depth of 50 kilometers. Fukushima Prefecture has a sense of earthquake in many places, including Urachi-CHO, Langjiang-CHO and Yuye-CHO, among which Urachi is the location of Units 1 to 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (CCTV News)

Citigroup slightly lowered South Korea's GDP growth forecast to 1.5% next year. It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates next month. Citigroup released a report saying that considering the worse economic sentiment in South Korea this month, it slightly lowered its GDP forecast for this year and next year by 0.1 percentage point to 2.1% and 1.5% respectively. The bank slightly lowered Korea's GDP growth forecast for the last quarter of this year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.3% quarterly, and raised its GDP growth forecast for the first quarter of next year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.6% quarterly. Looking forward to the first quarter of next year, the bank expects South Korea to adopt a combination of expansionary policies, including the Bank of Korea's expected interest rate cut to 2.75% in mid-January, and the government's expected additional budget of 30 trillion won (equivalent to about 1.1% of GDP next year). It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates by 25BP each in January, April, July and October next year, and the final interest rate is expected to be 2%.Li Bin: Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea, will be the chief experience officer of Weilai ET9 and will test drive together. Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of Weilai, announced that Weibo said that Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea, will be the chief experience officer of Weilai ET9 and test drive this upcoming administrative flagship together. Li Bin said that he asked Fang Hongbo three questions, and Fang Hongbo's answer about market competition was very good: "Actively participate in involution, compare cost and efficiency, and at the same time bravely jump out of involution, don't roll on the floor, and pierce the ceiling." (Sina Technology)According to the Japan News Agency, Japan's House of Representatives is expected to pass an additional budget for fiscal year 2024 on Thursday.