Covid-19

  • China Disease Control and Prevention Wu Zunyou: Only a country with a vaccination rate of 70% and 80% can dare to open the country.

Industry

  • In the first quarter, China newly established 10,263 foreign-invested enterprises, an increase of 47.8% year-on-year and an increase of 6.7% year-on-year; the actual use of foreign capital was 302.47 billion yuan, an increase of 39.9% year-on-year and an increase of 24.8% year-on-year. The actual use of foreign capital in the service industry increased by 51.5% year-on-year.
  • In this round of global new container ship orders, Chinese shipbuilding companies have received nearly half of the orders. According to industry insiders, my country’s shipbuilding strength has been continuously improved in recent years, and the delivery cycle of super large container ships has been shortened from more than two years to less than 18 months.
  • Demand for machine tools in Japan is recovering. Recently, data released by the Japan Work Machinery Industry Association showed that Japan’s domestic orders in March were 40.6 billion yen, an increase of 18.7% over the same month of the previous year. Since November 2018, it has achieved year-on-year growth after a lapse of 2 years and 3 months. Due to the active semiconductor market and the recovery of automobile production, the demand for production equipment has increased.
  • Canalys: In the first quarter, the global PC market maintained its growth momentum, with shipments of desktops and notebooks increasing by 55% year-on-year, with a total shipment of 82.7 million units hitting a new high since 2012. The five major manufacturers’ shipments all achieved double-digit year-on-year growth. Lenovo’s shipments reached 20.4 million units, occupying 25% of the market share, ranking first. The market shares of HP, Dell, Apple, and Acer are 23.3%, 15.7%, 8.0%, and 6.9% respectively.
  • Bluetooth Technology Alliance: In 2020, there will be an increase in the use of Bluetooth medical equipment and solutions to minimize exposure risks and improve the medical environment for patient care. Although the growth rate of the Bluetooth market has slowed in 2020, it is estimated that by 2025, the annual shipment of Bluetooth devices will increase from 4 billion units in 2020 to more than 6 billion units, of which the shipments of Bluetooth wearable devices will Reached 205 million units.
  • Chen Rui, CEO of Bilibili: Video will be a very big wave in the Internet field. According to data from the China Internet Information Center, as of the end of 2020, the number of online video users in China has reached 927 million. According to the current growth rate, China’s online video users will exceed 1.2 billion in 3-5 years, and all Internet users will become video users in 5 years.
  • Counterpoint: From March 8th to 14th, vivo’s market share in China reached 24%, ranking first for the first time. OPPO and Huawei ranked second to third with 21% and 15% market share respectively.

Company

  • The number of orders for LNG-powered ships hit a record high. In March, ship owners ordered 21 LNG-powered ships, including 13 VLCCs, 2 Capesize bulk carriers and 2 cruise ships. This is the highest number of new ship orders in a single month since DNV in the past ten years.
  • Indonesian Internet giants merge to form a new company. Indonesia’s two largest Internet companies, Gojek and Tokopedia, are about to complete a $18 billion merger, preparing to build a new giant integrating ride-hailing services, food delivery and e-commerce. The two companies plan to name the combined business Goto, and the two companies expect to complete the transaction as early as this month.
  • Volkswagen and Tesla are head-to-head. Recently, Audi has released the pure electric SUV Q4 E-Tron and the sporty Q4 Sportback E-Tron to the world.
  • This is also regarded as a head-on confrontation between Audi’s parent company Volkswagen Group and electric car manufacturer Tesla. The starting price of the Q4 E-Tron in Germany is 41,900 Euros, and the starting price of the Q4 Sportback E-Tron is 43,900 Euros.
  • Amazon launched its own food brand Aplenty.
  • TSMC: In the first quarter, it achieved a net profit of US$4.981 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.4%; gross profit margin was 52.4%, a month-on-month decrease of 1.6%. In the second quarter, sales are estimated to be between US$12.9 billion and US$13.2 billion, gross margins of 49.5% to 51.5%; capital expenditures for the whole year are US$30 billion, compared to the previous forecast of US$25 billion to US$28 billion.
  • Weilai: Signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Sinopec. Sinopec’s first power station was officially launched on the same day. In the next five years, Sinopec will build 5000 charging stations. This year, 299 second-generation power stations will be deployed nationwide, completing a total of 500 replacement stations. The deployment target of the power station. In addition to the layout of charging and swapping, the two parties will also cooperate in all aspects of new materials and smart electric vehicles, battery rental services (BaaS), vehicle procurement and leisure consumption scene construction.
  • Geely Li Shufu: The new pure electric brand new car “ZEEKR 001” will be officially released at the new Hangzhou Bay plant, announcing Geely’s entry into high-end electric vehicles. The new car has a range of 700 kilometers and the price will be set at around 300,000 yuan. Geely executives stated that Geely will seek overseas listings in the future to open up new financing channels for Geely.

Trade and Shipment

  • Truck drivers in California go on strike. Truck drivers in Los Angeles and Long Beach ports represented by the Teamsters Union of the United States began to take strike action against Universal Logistics Holdings (ULH) this week.
    Note: ULH is a multi-billion dollar logistics company and one of the largest freight companies serving Southern California. It has more than 20 subsidiaries. Including Southern Counties Express and Universal Intermodal Services.
  • Workers at the Port of Montreal go on strike. According to reports, the Canadian Federation of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents Montreal dock workers, and the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) have not reached an agreement on labor disputes. The port workers will start regular shifts and refuse to work overtime from Monday to Friday. They will also stop working on weekends.
  • Port congestion continues.
    • In Singapore, there are already more than 80 container ships waiting in line, and it is expected that congestion and delays will further intensify.
    • The latest data released by Hapag-Lloyd shows that the number of queuing ships outside Los Angeles/Long Beach has only slightly decreased, but the number of queuing ships in Oakland is now even more than that in the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach.
    • The multimodal transport method is also worrying. “Due to the surge in imports and a severe shortage of drivers, trucks in certain markets are severely restricted.” Truck bookings need to be greatly advanced. For example, the Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles needs 30+ days in advance, Atlanta needs 15+ days in advance, Baltimore needs 14 days in advance, New York needs 12 days, Norfolk needs 14 days, and Savannah needs 15 days.