Trade,Import &Export

  • RCEP takes effect for South Korea.
  • China-Uruguay Customs AEO mutual recognition will be officially implemented on January 26.
  • On February 4, China-Russia Customs signed an AEO mutual recognition arrangement. (ps, in 2021, the bilateral trade value between China and Russia will exceed 900 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) for the first time, reaching 948.66 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.6%. China has been Russia’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years.)

Trade alert

  • United States: Tariff quota system will be implemented on steel products imported from Japan. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on February 7 that starting April 1, the U.S. will set up a tariff quota system of 1.25 million tons to replace the 25% tariff on Japanese steel products exported to the U.S. under Section 232.
  • Bangladesh will use the unique identification code of e-commerce companies, which is intended to regulate the e-commerce industry and the business behavior of e-commerce companies, and help consumers identify unreliable e-commerce companies. The system will be launched first in e-commerce companies in February this year.
  • Hot and cold air conditioners: Turkey made the second anti-dumping sunset review final ruling. The Turkish Ministry of Trade recently issued an announcement to make the second anti-dumping sunset review affirmative final ruling on the heating and cooling air conditioners originating in China, and decided to maintain the 56.50% anti-dumping duty on the CIF price (CIF) unchanged, valid for 5 years .
  • The Eurasian Economic Union has banned some timber exports. On January 6, 2022, the Eurasian Economic Commission (including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia) promulgated a ban on the export of some unprocessed, rough-processed and new timber, and decided to impose restrictions on the export of unprocessed, rough-processed and new timber. Timber implements unified non-tariff adjustment measures, and the timber export quota is zero. The decision will take effect 30 days after the announcement.
  • Brazil enacts bill to ease foreign exchange controls. The bill stipulates that individuals and companies will be allowed to open foreign currency accounts in Brazil, and the authority to open foreign currency accounts is currently limited to some specific companies.
  • Vietnam will reduce VAT from February 1. From 10% to 8%, the lower VAT rate will not apply to telecommunications, information technology, financial activities, banking, securities, insurance, real estate, cola, metals and metal prefabricated products, mining (excluding coal), coke, Refined petroleum, chemicals and chemical products, and services subject to excise taxes.
  • Argentina has anti-dumping on a number of Chinese products.
    —The Argentine government has completed the anti-dumping investigation on storage-type electric water heaters imported from China, with a capacity greater than or equal to 20 liters but less than or equal to 150 liters (the MERCOSUR tariff number is 10.00), and decided to impose 131% anti-dumping ad valorem taxi,
    —From February 4th, the anti-dumping investigation will continue on products imported from China with metal protective grilles for electric fans, with a diameter of more than 400mm, for electric fans with built-in motors (the Tariff No. 8414.90.20 of the Southern Common Market). A provisional anti-dumping duty (ad valorem duty) will be imposed for a period of 6 months at a rate of 73%. When importing the products involved, the importer must pay a security deposit equal to the temporary ad valorem tax.
  • Containers at Chinese ports increased by 7%, with Shanghai port the busiest. According to Chinese government data, in 2021, the container throughput of Chinese ports will be 282.7 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 7%, and the cargo volume will be 15.553 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. The Port of Shanghai is the busiest container port in the world, with an annual throughput of more than 47 million TEU.

Industry Data

  • European Commission: Announced the “Chip Act”, which plans to significantly increase the EU’s share of global chip production. The EU will invest more than 43 billion euros in public and private funding to support chip production, pilot projects and start-ups. The EU plans to increase its share of global chip production from the current 10% to 20% by 2030.
  • Asian manufacturing PMI fell slightly, China slowed.
  • Brazil’s industrial output will grow by 3.9% in 2021. According to data released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) recently, Brazil’s industrial output will increase by 3.9% in 2021, the first increase after two consecutive years of contraction. Among them, the automobile manufacturing industry performed well, with an increase of 20.3%. Brazil’s industrial output fell by 1.1% and 4.5% in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
  • The Philippine economy will grow by 5.6% year-on-year in 2021. Among them, the industrial and service industries increased by 8.2% and 5.3% year-on-year respectively, which were the main driving forces for economic growth. Import and export trade increased by 12.9% and 7.8% year-on-year respectively.
  • Ghana: The transportation industry plans to increase freight rates by 30%.
  • Indonesia: The economy grew by 3.69% last year. According to data released by Indonesia’s Central Bureau of Statistics on February 7, Indonesia’s GDP in 2021 will increase by 3.69% year-on-year. It is reported that global commodity prices rose in the fourth quarter of last year to boost Indonesian exports.
  • US Department of Commerce: In 2021, the trade deficit in goods and services will increase by 26.9% to $859.1 billion, a record high; imports will increase by 20.5% year-on-year to $3.39 trillion, and exports will increase by 18.5% year-on-year to $2.53 trillion. In addition, the annual merchandise trade deficit with China rose by $45 billion to $355.3 billion.
  • Colombia: A tender for copper and gold exploration rights will be held.
  • Vietnam: Increase the promotion of technology transfer for foreign-funded projects. It is planned that by 2025, foreign direct investment projects for technology transfer to domestic enterprises will increase by an average of 10% annually.
    In 2021, Japan’s current account surplus will drop by 2.8% from the previous year to 15.44 trillion yen; the trade deficit in goods and services will widen to 2.53 trillion yen.

Company

  • Amazon’s net sales and net profit both soared. Net sales in the fourth quarter were US$137.412 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%; net profit was US$14.323 billion, a year-on-year increase of 98%. Net sales for the full year of 2021 will be US$469.822 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22%; net profit will be US$33.364 billion, a year-on-year increase of 56%.
  • PayPal announced that it will be unavailable for Thai users starting next month. After March 7, consumers with PayPal accounts in Thailand will no longer be able to use the service, including shopping online, making payments or receiving money. Accounts for freelancers, small entrepreneurs and online sellers will have “limited functionality,” the company said.
  • Hapag-Lloyd’s revenue and profits rose sharply throughout the year. Recently, Hapag-Lloyd announced that its revenue in fiscal 2021 will increase to approximately US$26.4 billion, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) will exceed US$12.8 billion. The increase in revenue was mainly attributable to high average freight rates, which increased to $2,003/TEU in fiscal 2021 year-on-year.
  • Meta metaverse business operating loss exceeds 10 billion US dollars. A few days ago, Meta released the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The company’s revenue was US$33.671 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20%; net profit was US$10.285 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 8%. Meta’s fiscal 2021 operating loss for the Metaverse’s “Reality Lab” business was $10.193 billion on revenue of $2.274 billion.
  • Starbucks: Prices will continue to rise in the coming months. The price hike is mainly due to rising inflation, coronavirus-related employee wages, and the cost of hiring and training new workers in a tight labor market. This is the second time Starbucks has raised prices in 4 months.
  • Clarkson: In January, the global order volume for new ships was 3.07 million revised gross tons (CGT), an increase of 72% month-on-month, of which South Korea received orders of 1.38 million CGT, accounting for 45%, ranking second only to China . In terms of ship types, LNG carriers of more than 140,000 cubic meters and large container ships of 12,000 TEUs accounted for 67% of the total order volume.

China

  • Many parties are stepping up to draw a new round of “new infrastructure” planning maps. Many departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, have made it clear that they will deploy new infrastructure such as 5G in advance. More than 20 provinces including Shanghai and Fujian have clarified the construction plans for 5G and data centers in 2022, and proposed to further leverage the scale effect and driving role of “new infrastructure” such as 5G.
  • Ministry of Culture and Tourism: During the Spring Festival holiday this year, the number of domestic tourists and tourism revenue decreased slightly compared with 2021, and there is still a big gap compared with before the epidemic. They have recovered to 73.9% and 56.3% of 2019 respectively on a comparable basis. There were 251 million domestic tourism trips across the country, a year-on-year decrease of 2.0%; domestic tourism revenue was 289.198 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.9%.
  • State Council: Approved the establishment of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in 27 cities and regions. Specific cities: Ordos City, Yangzhou City, Zhenjiang City, Taizhou City, Jinhua City, Zhoushan City, Maanshan City, Xuancheng City, Jingdezhen City, Shangrao City, Zibo City, Rizhao City, Xiangyang City, Shaoguan City, Shanwei City, Heyuan City , Yangjiang City, Qingyuan City, Chaozhou City, Jieyang City, Yunfu City, Nanchong City, Meishan City, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Baoji City, Kashgar Region, and Alashankou City.
  • WeChat: During the Spring Festival, the total number of WeChat red envelopes received and received exceeded 380 million, and the total number of WeChat red envelopes with covers exceeded 5 billion. The transaction volume of fresh food mini-programs increased by 51.8% year-on-year; on New Year’s Eve, the activity of food delivery on WeChat increased by about 13.8% year-on-year. In addition, the number of visits to the communication itinerary card applet increased by 248.8% year-on-year; the number of visits to the medical applet increased by 62.7% year-on-year.