Trade alert

  • Melamine: Eurasian Economic Union imposes anti-dumping duties. Anti-dumping duties of 15.22% to 19.08% are imposed on melamine originating in China, valid for 5 years.
  • United States: Significantly increased tariffs on Japanese beef. According to a report by Kyodo News on April 12, the United States has significantly increased import tariffs on Japanese beef, because Japan, Brazil and other countries have exceeded their low-tariff import quotas this year. It is reported that the United States imposed a high tariff of 26.4% on the excess.
  • Kazakhstan: Proposed extension of petrol and diesel export ban. Kazakhstan intends to extend the ban on exports of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products for six months, according to a report by the Kazakhstan News Agency on April 12.
  • Ghana: Proposed ban on exports of corn and soybeans. Ghana plans to ban the export of corn and soybeans to eight countries including Nigeria, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and will no longer issue export quarantine certificates for corn and soybeans.

Trade

  • General Administration of Customs of China: In March, the total value of imports and exports was 3.21 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. Among them, exports were 1.75 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.9%; imports were 1.45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.7%. From January to March, the total value of imports and exports was 9.42 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%. Among them, exports were 5.23 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%; imports were 4.19 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%. In the first quarter, ASEAN, the European Union, the United States and South Korea were China’s top four trading partners, importing and exporting 1.35 trillion yuan, 1.31 trillion yuan, 1.18 trillion yuan and 574.18 billion yuan respectively; an increase of 8.4%, 10.2% and 9.9% respectively. and 12.3%.
  • Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association: South Korean cars will account for 7.9% of the global market in 2021, a slight increase from 2020. European cars had the highest market share last year at 28.6%, followed by Japanese cars with 25.6% and Chinese cars with 18.2%. In the Chinese market, the sales of Korean cars decreased by 25% year-on-year, and the market share also dropped from 3.5% to 2.4%, declining for four consecutive years.
  • According to Eurostat, China’s exports to the EU reached 472 billion euros in 2021, and the EU’s trade deficit with China increased by 37.6% year-on-year to 249 billion euros.
  • Australia and India sign free trade agreement. The agreement will slash tariffs on Australian products exported to India, mainly for mutton, wool, coal, lobster and other products.
  • The two ports of the United States and the West have announced that the detention fee has been postponed to April 15. Recently, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB) announced that they will once again postpone the implementation of the fee policy for import containers stranded at marine terminals, which is expected to take effect on April 15.

Industry

  • Canalys: Global shipments of wearable wristband devices will reach 193 million units in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. Among them, Apple ranked first in the world with a growth rate of 11.8% and shipments of over 39 million units; Xiaomi’s deployment in more sub-categories caused shipments to decrease by 23% year-on-year, but still reach 2,900 units. 10,000 units, ranking second.
  • Mafengwo: Release the “2022 Camping Quality Research Report”. 74% of camping enthusiasts come from first-tier and new first-tier cities. Among them, Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are the top four sources of camping tourists, contributing more than 30% to the total number of camping tourists. 81% of tourists choose to experience camping for 1-3 days, and 10% of tourists spend 6-8 days or more camping.
  • Hydrogen refueling: More than 250 hydrogen refueling stations have been built in China, accounting for about 40% of the world, and the number of hydrogen refueling stations ranks first in the world.
  • Electronic cigarettes: The mandatory national standard for “E-cigarettes” has been approved and will be implemented from October 1, 2022.

China

  • Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: Recently, the minimum wage standards in various regions of the country were released (as of April 1), and Shanghai topped the list with 2,590 yuan. The monthly minimum wage in 13 regions has reached 2,000 yuan and above, and the top five are Shanghai (2,590 yuan), Shenzhen (2,360 yuan), Beijing (2,320 yuan), Guangdong (2,300 yuan), and Jiangsu (2,280 yuan).
  • The General Office of the Guangdong Provincial Government: issued the “14th Five-Year Plan for Energy Development in Guangdong Province” and proposed that the main goal in 2025 is to achieve a comprehensive energy production capacity of more than 100 million tons of standard coal and a total installed power capacity of 238 million kilowatts in the province.

Company

  • LVMH Group: In the first quarter, operating income was 18 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 29%. All businesses except alcohol posted double-digit revenue growth in the first quarter. In terms of business, LVMH’s core business, fashion and fur products, earned 9.123 billion euros in the first quarter, an organic increase of 30% in the quarter and a year-on-year increase of 35%.
  • Google: It will invest about $9.5 billion in U.S. offices and data centers this year($7 billion last year). The investment, which will create at least 12,000 full-time jobs, will focus on data centers in several states including Nevada, Nebraska and Virginia.
  • Walmart announced the launch of its new seller support program “New-Seller Savings”. Sellers who join the Walmart Marketplace by May 31 and sell on Walmart.com by June 30 will receive a 90-day discount of 50% on sales commissions.
  • Etsy: The commission rate has been raised from 5% to 6.5%, cause over 10,000 sellers objected.
  • Apple confirmed to start iPhone production in India. Recently, Apple announced that it has started production of its best-selling iPhone 13 smartphone in India. Apple currently manufactures some of its most advanced iPhone models in India, including the iPhone 13, which is assembled at Foxconn’s local factories, and the iPhone SE and iPhone 12 at Wistron’s factories.
  • German supermarket giant Lidl has announced the establishment of an ocean-going fleet to transport more affordable and high-quality goods from Asia. The preliminary plan is that in June and July, 4 of its own container ships will start operations.
  • Mingde Bio: It is estimated that the net profit in the first quarter is 1.35 billion yuan to 1.45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 295.61% to 324.91%. Since January, the outbreak of Omicron in many places in China has increased the demand for new crown nucleic acid detection reagents. With high sensitivity, easy-to-operate products and high-quality customer service, new crown nucleic acid detection reagents and services related income has increased significantly.
  • LONGi Co., Ltd.: The price of monocrystalline silicon wafer P-type M10 165μm thickness was updated on April 13. The price of a single wafer was 6.82 yuan, an increase of 0.12 yuan from 6.70 yuan on March 25, an increase of about 1.79%. The quotations for other sizes have not been updated. Since the beginning of this year, the price of M10 silicon wafers has been adjusted 5 times, with a cumulative increase of about 10.89%. As the downstream of silicon material, silicon wafer prices follow the market.

World

  • Spain: Inflation reached 9.8% in March, the highest level since May 1985, data from the National Statistics Office showed.
  • UK: In March, the UK CPI rose by 7.0% year-on-year, hitting a new high since March 1992.
  • India: Consumer prices rose to a new high in March at 6.95%, the highest level in nearly 17 months. Prices of food, clothing, and energy in India all rose significantly during the month.
  • Sri Lanka: Suspend all external debt repayments temporarily.