World

  • Forbes: Officially announced the 35th Global Billionaires List, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos topped the list for the fourth consecutive year. Elon Musk soared from No. 31 last year to No. 2. Bernard Arnault of the Louis Vuitton Group is still ranked third, followed by Bill Gates in fourth. Ranked No. 5 this year is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Buffett is ranked 6th, this is the first time that Buffett has not been among the top five richest people in more than 20 years. China’s richest man is Zhong Suansui, the founder of Nongfu Spring, ranking 13th in the overall list.
  • In March, the number of U.S. individual filings for bankruptcy surged 41%, the highest level in nearly a year.

China

  • State Council Information Office: The per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas has increased from 6,079 yuan in 2013 to 12,588 yuan in 2020, an average annual increase of 11.6%. The living standards of the poor have improved significantly. In 2020, the consolidation rate of nine-year compulsory education in poor counties will reach 94.8%, more than 99.9% of the poor will participate in basic medical insurance, and the penetration rate of tap water in poor areas will increase to 83%.
  • Ministry of Communications: China has built the world’s largest expressway network, covering about 99% of cities and prefecture-level administrative centers with an urban population of more than 200,000. Expressways account for 3.1% of the total highway mileage and bear more than half of the freight volume.
  • At present, the country’s spring plowing preparations are being carried out from south to north. As the main agricultural product, the price of chemical fertilizers has fluctuated significantly recently. The prices of urea and diammonium phosphate have increased by 13% and 28% year-on-year, while the prices of potassium chloride and compound fertilizers continued to increase in March.
  • The Tangshan City Government is about to introduce special emission requirements for the steel industry, and all steel companies must implement emission reduction measures in strict accordance with the special emission requirements. Relevant corporate governance and transformation must be completed before June 15th, and production equipment that has not completed governance within the time limit shall be shut down for rectification.
  • Ministry of Public Security: As of March, the number of motor vehicles nationwide has reached 378 million, of which 287 million are cars; there are 463 million motor vehicle drivers, of which 425 million are car drivers. In the first quarter, there were 8.39 million newly licensed drivers and 9.66 million newly registered motor vehicles nationwide, a record high in the same period. The number of new energy vehicles nationwide reached 5.51 million, of which 4.49 million were pure electric vehicles, accounting for 81.53% of the total number of new energy vehicles. In the first quarter, 466,000 new energy vehicles were newly registered, a year-on-year increase of 295.20%; a year-on-year increase of 86.76%. New registrations of new energy vehicles accounted for 6.21% of new registrations of vehicles.
  • China Automobile Dealers Association: In February, the national second-hand car market had a transaction volume of 955,300 vehicles, a decrease of 33.27% from the previous month, and the transaction amount was 59.84 billion yuan.

Company

  • Dingdong Shopping: Announced the completion of a $700 million Series D financing. By the number
  • Apple CEO Cook: Will explore Apple’s prospects in the field of driverless cars.

Industry

  • The titanium dioxide leader issued a price adjustment letter again. China Nuclear Titanium Dioxide will increase the sales price of various types of titanium dioxide again from April 6, the domestic customer sales price will be raised by 1,000 yuan/ton, and the international customer’s export price will be raised by 150 US dollars/ton. The sales price of anatase and rutile titanium dioxide of Jinpu Titanium will be increased by RMB 1,000/ton for various domestic customers and USD 150/ton for international customers on the basis of the original price.