Covid-19 & Vaccine

  • From 0-24 o’clock on June 15th, there were no new local confirmed cases and local asymptomatic infections in Guangdong Province.
  • Korea COVID-19 Vaccination Promotion Team: As of 2:30 pm on June 15, the number of people receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea has exceeded 13 million, accounting for about 25.3% of the total population.
  • Britain will postpone the time for complete unblocking by one month.

Industry

  • Shipping Net: Hapag-Lloyd, MSC, COSCO Shipping, Matson, Kambara Steamship and other shipping companies announced a new round of fee increase notices starting after mid-June. Hapag-Lloyd has announced a substantial increase in shipping rates from Asia to North America from June 15th, with small cabinets rising by $2,400 and large cabinets by $3,000.
  • Strategy Analytics: Among Chinese buyers who plan to buy a new mobile phone in the next 6 months, 70% are willing to buy a brand new smart phone with a good evaluation and a reasonable price. Only half of Chinese smartphone users believe that their current smartphones can meet almost all their needs.
  • Canalys: In the first quarter, the US PC market shipments surged 73% year-on-year, and the total shipments of desktops, notebooks, tablets and workstations exceeded 34 million units. Due to the backlog of orders and continued demand from remote work and education, notebook shipments soared by 131% year-on-year.
  • Malaysian Palm Oil Association: The return of the new crown epidemic in Malaysia has exacerbated labor shortages. This has caused Malaysia to lose about 20% to 30% of its potential palm oil production. This year’s production loss is expected to be even greater. Malaysia’s palm oil production this year is expected to remain below 19 million tons, down from 19.14 million tons in 2020. (As the world’s two major palm oil producers, Indonesia and Malaysia together account for 85% of the world’s palm oil production and supply. Palm oil is not only the main edible oil, but also an important industrial raw material, from chocolate to cosmetics. The production of a variety of commercial products is inseparable from it. Therefore, changes in palm oil prices may also bring certain price pressures on the downstream industrial chain.)
  • The Japanese government: By 2030, the supply of domestic wood in Japan will be increased to 42 million cubic meters, an increase of 35% over 2019.
  • Tourism: As of June 7, 37 countries and regions have announced that they have or will be conditionally open to international tourists, and completion of the covid-19 vaccination is the first condition for opening up.
    • The Thai cabinet agreed in principle to the “sandbox plan” that Phuket will reopen to foreign tourists on July 1. Phuket will become the first tourist destination in Thailand to officially resume receiving international tourists. In order to attract international tourists, the Thai government has launched a “$1 per night” hotel discount program.
    • Israel plans to allow individual tourists from certain countries and regions who have completed the vaccination to enter from July 1.
    • The “Covid-19 Pass” system promoted by the European Union will also take effect in full on July 1, facilitating the free movement of citizens of EU member states within the European Union. Holders of the permit can travel within the European Union without entry testing and quarantine. At present, 9 countries have “launched” the mechanism, including Germany, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Czech Republic and Spain.
    • For non-EU countries and regions, the EU has also established a “white list”, which will gradually remove entry restrictions for citizens from countries and regions on the list. According to the list update on June 3, the “whitelisted” countries and regions include Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, China, Israel, and Japan.

Trade

  • Britain and Australia reached a free trade agreement. The two countries plan to “strengthen cooperation in security, climate change, and science and technology.” The tariff-free agreement makes British cars, Scotch whisky, biscuits and other goods cheaper. At the same time, the agreement also provides opportunities for British businesses, consumers and young people who want to live on the other side of the world.
  • In 2020, the United Kingdom is Australia’s fifth largest trading partner, with a trade volume of 13.9 billion pounds (approximately RMB 125.25 billion).

Company

  • Home Depot, one of the top three importers in North America, leased its own container ship for the first time in its history.
  • Blue Origin auctions seats for suborbital vehicles. Nearly 7,600 people from 159 countries registered to participate in the seat bidding for the “New Shepard” suborbital vehicle, and the first seat was finally auctioned at a price of 28 million U.S. dollars. The space tour will last for 10 minutes. The winning bidder can take the “New Shepard” to fly to space, or appoint another person to complete the space tour.
  • Opening of the Bosch Group’s Dresden fab. Recently, the German electronic engineering giant Bosch opened its Dresden fab built at a cost of one billion euros. As one of the most advanced fabs in the world, with highly automated, digitally interconnected equipment, integrated processes and artificial intelligence algorithms, the Dresden fab has become a model of smart factories and a pioneer in Industry 4.0.
  • LatePost: In 2021, Kuaishou has prepared a $1 billion budget for overseas expansion. From January to March, Kuaishou spent at least US$250 million overseas (approximately one-sixth of Kuaishou’s total marketing expenses in the first quarter), and spent nearly US$100 million in a single month in April.
  • Today’s headlines: Today’s headlines, Douyin, and Watermelon Video have all become new media partners for the 2021 America’s Cup. In addition to obtaining all the live broadcast rights of the competition, the three platforms also obtained the rights of secondary creation of the competition in this cooperation. Users can comment and edit the content of the competition and share them on the platform.
  • Xtep: Announced the establishment of a strategic partnership with Hillhouse. Hillhouse will invest US$65 million in the global business of the Geschweer and Paladin brands under the Xtep Global Joint Development Group.

China & City

  • Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission: issued a procurement announcement on the first batch of topics to be selected for the promotion of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in 2021. These include “Study on Several Major Issues in the Construction of the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Bay Area Economic Innovation Zone”, which has been included in the main work points of the National Development and Reform Commission in 2021. Carrying out the research on this subject will win the support of the National Development and Reform Commission in the next step to establish an economic innovation zone in Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Bay Area.
  • The Ministry of Transport and other three departments: issued the “Comprehensive Promotion of Expressway Differentiated Toll Implementation Plan” to comprehensively promote expressway differentiated tolls, reduce highway travel costs, and promote the logistics industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Key tasks include differentiated charges by sections; differentiated charges by models (types); differentiated charges by time periods; differentiated charges by entrances and exits; differentiated charges by directions; differentiated charges by payment methods, etc.
  • Health Commission: In 2020, the health literacy level of Chinese residents will reach 23.15%, that is, 23 out of 100 people have mastered basic health knowledge and skills. This is an increase of 3.98 percentage points from 2019, and the rate of increase is also the largest in the past years.
  • CCTV News: During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday (June 12-14), China Post’s express delivery industry collected 874 million parcels, a year-on-year increase of 44.29%, and an increase of 109.52% from the 2019 Dragon Boat Festival; delivery of 870 million parcels, a year-on-year increase of 33.9 %, an increase of 97.32% compared to the 2019 Dragon Boat Festival.
  • Ministry of Culture and Tourism: During the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday in 2021 (June 12-14), 89.136 million domestic tourist trips nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 94.1% on a comparable basis, and a return to 98.7% of the same period before the epidemic on a comparable basis. Realized domestic tourism revenue of 29.43 billion yuan, an increase of 139.7% year-on-year, returning to 74.8% of the same period before the epidemic.
  • Energy Administration: In May, China’s economy continued to recover steadily, and the electricity consumption of the whole society continued to grow rapidly, reaching 672.4 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 12.5% ​​and an increase of 18.7% from the same period in 2019. From January to May, the total electricity consumption of the whole society was 3,230.5 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 17.7%.

World

  • German Federal Statistics Office: In May, the German inflation rate was 2.5%, a positive increase for the fifth consecutive month, the highest value since September 2011. Rising energy prices were the main reason for the increase in inflation in May.
  • US inflation expectations have risen to an 8-year high.
  • Cuba will suspend accepting cash deposits in U.S. dollars from June 21.
  • Indonesia has raised its investment target for 2022. Indonesian President Joko has requested that the target investment funds for 2022 be increased to 120 trillion rupees, which is 30% higher than the 2021 target of 900,000 rupees.
  • CNN: 72% of the western United States is experiencing severe drought, 26% of which are in a state of extreme drought. This is the most severe drought crisis experienced by the western United States since 1200. Approximately 2 million residents living in California, Nevada and Arizona will be affected by the drought.