CHINA

Canadians Tap Into Chinese Beer Industry: Noble China Inc. plans to buy a 60% stake in a regional Chinese brewery, a move that would make the company one of the largest beer producers in China. The purchase is the third brewery acquired by Toronto-based Noble China, which hopes to join China’s rapidly expanding beer market. China’s beer sales have been gaining 20% a year, and the country already is the world’s second-largest beer producer, outranked only by the United States. At the same time, China’s consumption remains a fraction of that of other Asian countries.