Trade alert

  • Rubber chemical additives: India made a final anti-dumping ruling. Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India issued an announcement stating that it has made a final affirmative anti-dumping ruling on TDQ, PVI and CBS rubber chemical additives originating in or imported from China, and it is recommended to levy a five-year anti-dumping duty.
  • Myanmar: 1 aquatic product manufacturer suspended export to China. The General Administration of Customs of China reported on April 7 that due to the positive nucleic acid detection of the new coronavirus pneumonia virus in the product packaging samples, it will suspend the acceptance of product import declarations from an aquatic product enterprise in Myanmar for one week from now on. The enterprise registration number is YGN/099/ GS/DOF.
  • Thousands of shipping containers are stranded in the Port of Rotterdam awaiting inspection.

Trade

  • China and New Zealand: The Protocol to Upgrade the Free Trade Agreement came into effect. On April 7, the “Protocol to Upgrade the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement” came into effect. It is reported that in 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and Singapore will reach 24.72 billion US dollars, which is 5.6 times the bilateral trade volume at the beginning of the signing of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in 2008.
  • U.S. exports to China increased by 21.3%, and the trade deficit widened. According to a report released by the US-China Business Council, the total US merchandise exports to China in 2021 will reach a new high of US$149.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in February was $89.19 billion, continuing to remain close to a record level. China remained the largest source of deficit.

Industry

  • Gold investment demand in the Chinese market has grown significantly. In 2021, the total domestic demand for gold bars and gold coins will reach 285 tons, a year-on-year increase of 44% and 35% higher than 2019.
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers: In 2021, the number of mergers and acquisitions in China’s pharmaceutical and life science industries will reach 1,253, with a transaction value of US$44.5 billion, both hitting record highs.
  • As of the end of March, the national motor vehicle ownership reached 402 million, of which 307 million were automobiles. The number of new energy vehicles was 8.915 million, and 1.11 million were newly registered in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 138.20%, showing a rapid growth trend. 79 cities have more than 1 million cars, and 20 cities have more than 3 million cars.
  • Academy of Social Sciences: According to data from China Literature Group, by the end of 2021, the total number of online literature users in China will reach 502 million, an increase of 41.45 million year-on-year, accounting for 48.6% of the total number of netizens, reaching the highest level in history. In 2021, the newly added writers born in the 1995s will account for over 80%, and the new users of the Qidian Chinese website in 2021 will account for over 60% of the new users.

China

  • SAFE: At the end of March, the scale of foreign exchange reserves was US$3.1880 trillion, a decrease of US$25.837 billion from the previous month. Gold reserves were 62.64 million ounces, unchanged from the previous month.
  • Beijing: In the first quarter, Beijing’s office leasing market recovered strongly, with rents rising for the first time in three years; the city’s overall vacancy rate dropped continuously to 10.2%, the lowest level in the past 10 quarters.

Company

  • The annual operating income of CIMC Group exceeded 100 billion yuan. CIMC Group announced its results: In 2021, the group’s revenue exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 163.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 74% and a record high. Among them, the CIMC container segment achieved operating income of 65.967 billion yuan, contributing about 40% of the company’s revenue.
  • Xiangyou Pump: After receiving the notification of BYD’s new product designation, it will serve as a component supplier of Fudi Power to supply electronic oil pump products for BYD pure electric vehicles. The planned mass production time of this project is June.
  • Huichuan Technology: Starting from April 15, the price of all industrial robot products will be adjusted, and the price increase will range from 5% to 8%.
  • Geely Auto: In March, total vehicle sales were 101,166 units, an increase of about 1% over the same period last year. Among them, the sales of pure electric (BEVs, including battery swaps) were 11,900 units, a year-on-year increase of 538%; the sales of Lynk & Co brand were 13,567 units, a year-on-year decrease of 17%. In March, 7,788 units were exported, a year-on-year decrease of 23%.
  • Changan Auto: officially entered the Paraguay market. Paraguay Gorostiaga Automobile Company, as the exclusive agent, is responsible for the sales of Changan Automobile in all parts of Paraguay.
  • Amazon launched the “One-click Listing Global” tool. It can help sellers to synchronize listings to multiple Amazon global sites faster and more conveniently for sales, avoiding the tedious process of repeatedly uploading listings across multiple sites.
  • Shopee will clear inactive items starting May 27. A few days ago, Shopee issued a notice that the platform will start cleaning up inactive items on May 27, 2021. Inactive products refer to products that have been created for more than 60 days and have not been effectively placed in the past 360 days.
  • Panasonic plans to invest heavily in electric vehicles. In the next three years, it plans to invest 400 billion yen in “growth areas” including electric vehicle batteries, and 200 billion yen in “technical pillars” such as hydrogen energy. A cumulative operating profit of 1.5 trillion yen is also planned for the same period.

World

  • United States: Fed release Meeting Summary, rate hike expected to increase. In the early morning of the 7th, the Federal Reserve announced the minutes of its March policy meeting, suggesting one or more 50 basis points (BP) interest rate hikes in the future. Meanwhile, there are discussions within the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on shrinking the balance sheet, with a consensus ceiling of $95 billion.
  • UK: Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce plans to increase UK offshore wind capacity fivefold by 2030.
  • Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis in its history, which could worsen with a severe famine in the coming months, the speaker of the parliament said. This is far worse than the current gas and fuel shortages.
  • Germany: Germany’s health spending will hit a record 466 billion euros in 2021 due to the coronavirus, more than half of which will come from statutory health insurers, the Federal Statistical Office said.
  • Singapore: Allocate nearly S$500 million to help tourism recover.
  • Tanzania: Plans to produce helium in 2025.
  • France: Prices rose at their highest level in nearly 40 years. Recently, preliminary data released by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Research estimated that the French consumer price index rose 4.5% year-on-year in March, following a 3.6% year-on-year increase in February, the highest level since December 1985.
  • Iran: Support the development of the downstream oil and gas sector, allowing the change of the refining and chemical project license to the oil refining project license.
  • Myanmar: The central bank has issued a new policy to strictly control foreign exchange.

Coronavirus 

  • New research from Imperial College London has found that while the rate of infection among young British cohorts is slowing or stabilizing, the rate of infection among those over 55 is rising. From March 9 to 31, the new crown infection rate of nearly 100,000 people in the UK was 6.4%, and the new crown infection rate of people over 55 years old was 8.31%. This is nearly 20 times higher than the average infection rate from May 2020 to March 2022.