REGIONAL> Highlights
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REGIONAL> Highlights
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Supermarkets set plastic bag prices
By Liang Qiwen and Qian Yanfeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-27 09:20 Shoppers will be charged between 0.2 yuan to 2 yuan for the plastic bags they use, retailers have said, as the national ban on free plastic shopping bags comes into effect on Sunday.
Carrefour, one of the biggest foreign retailers in Guangzhou, said its bags can carry up to 7 kg and will cost 0.2 yuan. Tang Juan, secretary-general of the Guangzhou Chain Store Franchise Association, said: "Different supermarkets have fixed different prices according to the cost of their plastic bags. "But supermarkets usually round off the prices. For example, if the cost of a bag is 0.15 yuan, the supermarkets will charge 0.2 yuan for it." The most expensive shopping bags come from Jusco, a large-scale Japan-invested retail group in Guangzhou, which will charge 2 yuan for its largest bags. In Shanghai, Lotus Supermarkets Chain Store set their retail price at 0.3 yuan, and the bags will be printed with bar codes as goods for sale, according to an employee at the retailer's Yanggao Road store. Hu Minghua, spokesman from Walmart in Shanghai, said the supermarket has not decided on the prices for plastic bags. But the company has been trying to promote different kinds of alternative bags at its retail stores. Bags made of non-woven cloth are sold from 1.5 to 2.9 yuan, depending on different sizes, Hu said. In Beijing, the largest local retail chain Wumart also priced plastic shopping bags at 0.2 and 0.4 yuan, which hold weights of 10 and 20 kg, respectively. |
