Trade

  • Polyamide film: South Korea launched an anti-dumping investigation. Recently, the Korea Trade Commission announced that it has initiated an anti-dumping investigation on biaxially oriented polyamide films originating in China, Thailand and Indonesia. Chinese companies Dezhou Donghong Membrane Technology Co., Ltd. and Hyosung Chemical Fiber (Jiaxing) Co., Ltd. were involved in the case.
  • Russia issued a trade countermeasure order to restrict the export of goods. Wheat, aluminum and palladium prices surged following the order.
  • Irish merchandise exports surged to €165bn. Irish goods exports surged to a record 165 billion euros in 2021, according to Irish government figures. The strongest overall export performance was medical and pharmaceuticals, which accounted for 38% of total exports worth 62.6 billion euros. Exports to EU countries, which accounted for 37% of total merchandise exports, amounted to 61.5 billion euros.
  • Mongolia: Dairy products are allowed to be exported to China.
  • Ecuador: 3 aquatic product manufacturers suspended exports to China. On March 9, the General Administration of Customs of China said that from now on, it will suspend the acceptance of Ecuadorian COFIMAR S.A., PROEXPO, PROCESADORA Y EXPORTADORA DE MARISCOS S.A. product import declarations for 1 week, and suspend the acceptance of Ecuadorian EXPORTADORA TOTAL SEAFOOD TOTALSEAFOOD S.A. import declarations for 6 weeks.

Industry

  • Officially signed an executive order banning U.S. energy imports from Russia. These include a ban on the import of Russian crude oil and certain petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and coal; a ban on new U.S. investment in the Russian energy sector; a ban on Americans funding or supporting investment in energy companies in Russia. The U.S. government has pledged to release more than 90 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve this fiscal year. In addition, the UK announced plans to stop imports of Russian oil and corresponding oil products by the end of 2022, which currently account for 8% of UK demand.
  • IEA: Economic activity is subdued in 2020, with CO2 emissions down 5.2% year-on-year. As the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, consumption of coal, which emits a lot of carbon dioxide, has soared, with emissions in 2021 increasing by 6% year-on-year to 36.3 billion tonnes, a record high.
  • South Korean shipping companies ranked first in the world in terms of orders received in February. According to data released by Clarksons, a British shipbuilding and maritime industry analysis agency, the global new ship orders in February this year were 1.29 million revised gross tons (CGT), of which South Korea received 860,000 CGT, accounting for 67%, the first time after three months ranked first in the world.

China

  • China Industry Association: In February, sales of various types of excavators were 24,500 units, down 13.5% year-on-year, a year-on-year decline for 10 consecutive months, but the decline narrowed by 6.9 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, the domestic sales of excavators were 17,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 30.5%, a year-on-year decline for 11 consecutive months, and the decline narrowed by about 18 percentage points from the previous month; 7,431 units were exported, a year-on-year increase of 97.7%.
  • Bureau of Statistics: In February, the CPI rose 0.6% month-on-month and 0.9% year-on-year, the same increase as the previous month. Among them, food prices fell by 3.9%, affecting the CPI drop by about 0.76 percentage points. The PPI changed from a decrease of 0.2% in the previous month to an increase of 0.5%, a year-on-year increase of 8.8%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month. The scissors gap further narrowed by 0.3 percentage points to 7.9%.
  • Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Publicly soliciting opinions on the No. 1 Amendment to the Mandatory National Standard for Restricting Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics. The production organization shall take measures to control the cost of all packaging other than those in direct contact with the contents not to exceed 20% of the selling price of the product. The packaging of moon cakes and rice dumplings should not use precious materials such as precious metals and mahogany.
  • The “Tianqin-1” satellite of Sun Yat-Sen University has recently obtained global gravity field data. This is the first time that China has used a domestic autonomous satellite to measure global gravity field data. This technology has been monopolized by the United States and Germany before, and the Tianqin-1 makes my country the third country in the world capable of autonomously detecting the global gravitational field.
  • Henan will invest 1,005.71 billion yuan in 574 major manufacturing projects with a project investment of more than 500 million yuan and in line with the direction of industrial development.
  • Hunan Province strives to implement the central government’s investment of 8 billion to 9 billion yuan, stimulate the vitality of the market, and complete the investment in water conservancy of more than 30 billion yuan.

Company

  • Amazon Air is expanding rapidly, surpassing UPS and FedEx.
  • Recently, the American restaurant chain McDonald’s announced locally that it will temporarily close 850 stores in Russia, but will continue to pay employees salaries; Starbucks and Coca-Cola also announced the suspension of their business in Russia. In addition, there is news that the Swiss watchmaker Rolex has stopped exporting to Russia.
  • Google announces acquisition of cybersecurity firm Mandiant.
  • The LEGO Group posted a massive 27% increase in full-year revenue. The LEGO Group recently announced its 2021 annual financial report. The group’s annual revenue reached DKK 55.3 billion, an increase of 27% compared to 2020, and retail sales increased by 22% year-on-year. Operating profit for the full year reached DKK 17 billion, an increase of 32% compared to 2020.
  • In February, the new car-making forces Xiaopeng, Li, Weilai, and Nezha sold 6,225, 8,414, 6,131, and 7,117 new energy vehicles, up 180.03%, 265.83%, 9.91%, and 255% year-on-year, respectively. Except for Weilai, the sales growth of other car companies has doubled year-on-year.
  • The latest data from data analytics firm Spire Aviation shows that Amazon Air has seen a 21% increase in the number of destination airports last year, a 25% increase in the number of aircraft it operates in its fleet, and a 34% increase in cargo flights. The data also shows that the expansion of UPS and FedEx in 2021 is much smaller than that of Amazon.

World

  • Indonesia’s coordinating minister for oceans and investment said 393,000 tonnes of nickel would be added to metal capacity this year to 400,000 tonnes, bringing the total to 1.4 million tonnes. With this extra capacity, it’s more than enough to offset any loss of supply in Russia or elsewhere. Market conditions will be monitored and export duties on ferronickel will be reconsidered.
  • According to RIA Novosti, the Russian Foreign Trade Bank has launched RMB deposit business since March 9, with a maximum annual interest rate of 8% and a minimum deposit of 100 yuan.
  • The average price of petrol per litre in the UK has risen to £1.58(about 13.45 yuan), a record high. The average price of petrol in the UK this week will exceed £1.60 a litre, while diesel will soon rise to £1.70 a litre, industry sources say.
  • US: Gasoline prices rose to new highs. According to the “Wall Street Journal” report on March 8, data from the American Automobile Association on the 8th showed that the average gasoline price in the United States rose to a new high that day. It is reported that the United States announced a ban on the import of energy from Russia on the same day.
  • Kazakhstan: To simplify the taxation of fish processing enterprises.
  • Qatar: The export price of crude oil has been significantly increased, and the price of a single barrel of crude oil at sea and onshore has been increased by 1.7 US dollars and 2.1 US dollars respectively.
  • Thailand approves special preferential policies for the Eastern Economic Corridor. Recently, the Thai cabinet approved special incentives for seven economic zones in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to strengthen Thailand’s investment competitiveness. The EEC office is also allowed to offer special policies to investors in seven regions on a case-by-case basis to attract investors.

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  • CPI=Consumer Price Index Consumer Price Index)
  • PPI=Producer Price Index, PPI), also known as the ex-factory price index of industrial products, is an index used to measure the average change of manufacturers’ ex-factory prices. It is one of several price indices collected and organized by the statistics department. The market sensitivity very high. If the producer price index is higher than expected, it indicates the risk of inflation.