Industry

  • Gartner: In 2021, the total global semiconductor market sales will increase by 26.3% year-on-year to $595 billion. Samsung Electronics once again beat Intel to regain the market share champion after three years with sales of US$73.2 billion. The semiconductor market share of the two companies is 12.3% and 12.2%, respectively.
  • The fertilizer price index in North America surged 42% in two months. Many farmers have begun to look for alternatives, and animal manure is selling well and prices have been rising. In Nebraska, high-quality dry animal manure sells for $11 to $14 a ton, nearly double last year’s price. In addition, equipment for handling animal waste has been in short supply recently.
  • According to Cross-Border Commerce European recently, the total turnover of the European cross-border e-commerce market in 2021 will be 171.2 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 17%. Among them, the cross-border sales of online stores have successfully exceeded 100 billion euros. At the same time, the European Cross-Border Trade Organization announced the top 500 European cross-border retailers in 2021. B2C online cross-border sales through European (including UK) sellers reached an all-time high of €100 billion in 2021. In 2020 it was 87.2 billion euros, an increase of 14.6%. The top ten brands and retailers for 2021 are IKEA, H&M, LEGO, Zalando, Lidl, About You, Jysk, Zara, Bauhaus and Euronics.

Industry-China

  • Since March, the iron ore market has maintained a high level of operation. Driven by the upward trend of iron ore prices, the cost pressure of downstream steel enterprises has also increased significantly. Experts estimate that the current raw material cost of steel companies has increased by 489 yuan / ton compared with the end of February, an increase of 13.5%. The production profit level of steel enterprises is relatively low, some steel varieties are already on the verge of loss, and the production enthusiasm of enterprises has been suppressed to a certain extent.
  • Lithium carbonate fluctuated at a high level of 500,000 yuan/ton for nearly a month and then fell continuously. As of April 14, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was 492,500 yuan/ton.
  • National Development and Reform Commission: Since the beginning of this year, 25 new projects have been started in 10 national data center clusters across the country, driving investment of more than 190 billion yuan in various fields. Among them, the investment in the western region increased by 6 times year-on-year, and the overall investment showed a good trend of shifting from east to west. It is estimated that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the investment in big data centers will increase at a rate of more than 20% per year, and the cumulative investment in various aspects will exceed 3 trillion yuan.
  • China Cement Network: Some cement companies in southeastern Chongqing have raised their cement prices by 80 yuan/ton. The reason is that the current coal price remains high, the cement production cost has increased significantly, and the cement price has continued to fall in the early stage, and most cement factories are under great pressure.
  • A new round of refined oil price adjustment window opened at 24:00 on April 15. No. 92 gasoline is reduced by 0.43 yuan per liter; No. 95 gasoline is reduced by 0.45 yuan per liter; No. 0 diesel is reduced by 0.45 yuan per liter. According to the estimated capacity of the 50L fuel tank of a general household car, filling a tank of No. 92 gasoline will cost 21.5 yuan less.
  • National cultural self-confidence and the strength of Chinese brands are the two driving forces for the rise of the national tide, and they are also the platform-level commodity content trends of Douyin(抖音, China tik-tok) e-commerce. According to data released by Douyin, the popularity of short videos of Guochao will continue to rise in 2021, driving the sales of domestic brands to achieve a year-on-year growth of 667%. In the second half of last year, Douyin e-commerce Guochao-related short video submissions increased by 121% year-on-year, playback volume increased by 106% year-on-year, and keyword searches increased by 255% year-on-year.
  • According to 36kr’s survey data of more than 3,200 young people, 40% of the post-90s have achieved their goal of buying a house, and the proportion of post-95s buying a house has also reached 20%. Among them, nearly half of them still focus on first-tier cities. Young people working in Beijing and Shenzhen are relatively targeting the new first-tier cities, and only 10% plan to go back to their hometowns to buy a house.
  • According to the report of the School Fruit Research Institute, nearly 60% of college students have appearance anxiety problems. The average monthly expenditure of college students on beauty care is 334 yuan, accounting for about 16% of their living expenses; college students in first-tier and new first-tier cities spend on beauty care every month. The expenses are slightly higher, and the college students in the south are more willing to pay the cost than those in the north. In addition, the proportion of boys in beauty has increased, and their attitudes have tended to be positive. More than 90% of college girls wear makeup, and more than half of boys wear makeup. The “male” beauty economy is on the rise.

China

  • As of April 14, this year, 25 provinces have disclosed plans related to investment in major local projects in 2022, with a total annual planned investment of 12.27 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 14.7%, a new high since 2019. Fund security has also been continuously followed up, with 3.65 trillion yuan of special bonds issued and used early. Institutions predict that the growth rate of infrastructure investment in the first quarter may exceed 10%.
  • Sun Chunlan, Vice Premier of the State Council: Shanghai has achieved phased results in its fight against the epidemic. The spread of the epidemic (RT) has dropped from 2.27 at the beginning to 1.23 now.
  • Bureau of Statistics: In March, the sales price of new commercial housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.3% month-on-month and 4.3% year-on-year; second-hand housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.4% month-on-month and 2.8% year-on-year; sales prices of new commercial housing in second-tier cities were flat month-on-month, up 1.6% year-on-year %; new commercial housing in third-tier cities decreased by 0.2% month-on-month and 0.6% year-on-year.
  • Bureau of Statistics: In March, the sales price of new commercial housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.3% month-on-month and 4.3% year-on-year; second-hand housing in first-tier cities increased by 0.4% month-on-month and 2.8% year-on-year; sales prices of new commercial housing in second-tier cities were flat month-on-month, up 1.6% year-on-year %; new commercial housing in third-tier cities decreased by 0.2% month-on-month and 0.6% year-on-year.
  • Yichang City: The listing and trading of newly-built commercial housing will no longer be restricted within 2 years of online signing and filing, promoting a virtuous cycle of the primary and secondary markets for commercial housing.

Company

  • CATL(宁德时代): It is planned that Prokin Times, a holding subsidiary, and partners ANTAM and IBI will jointly invest in the construction of a power battery industry chain project in Indonesia. The total investment amount that has been confirmed for the project does not exceed 5.968 billion US dollars or equivalent currency. The parties agreed to build an end-to-end EV battery industry in Indonesia, integrating mining, smelting, precursor, cathode, battery and battery recycling industries.
  • Pien Tze Huang（片子癀）: In 2021, the revenue will be 8.022 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.20%; the net profit will be 2.431 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.46%, and a cash dividend of 730 million yuan will be distributed.
  • Hikvision（海康威视）: In the first quarter, revenue was 16.522 billion yuan, an increase of 18.11% year-on-year; net profit was 2.284 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.29%.
  • QuestMobile: With the changes in the domestic epidemic situation, in March, many apps on the efficiency office track ushered in a peak in the number of active users. Among them, Dingding （钉钉）has 220 million monthly active users, exceeding the peak in 2021 and ranking first. Followed by corporate WeChat（企业微信） (98 million) and Feishu（飞书） (6.11 million).
  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no longer Twitter’s largest shareholder, surpassed by asset management firm Vanguard. Vanguard Group said it increased its stake in Twitter in the first quarter and, as of April 8, held a 10.3% stake in Twitter. However, Musk remains Twitter’s largest individual shareholder.

World

  • Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: As of October 1, 2021, Japan’s total population was 125.5 million, a year-on-year decrease of 644,000, or a decrease of 0.51%. This is the 11th year in a row that Japan’s population has declined, the largest drop since statistics began in 1950. In addition, Tokyo’s population declined for the first time in 26 years since 1995.
  • South Korea: The conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the rise in international shipping costs have led to soaring international wheat prices, and the price of related food in South Korea has soared significantly. Last month, the average price of a bowl of shaved noodles in Seoul rose to 8,000 won for the first time in history, or about 41 yuan. The average selling price of noodles was 9,962 won, up 9.7% year-on-year, and is expected to exceed 10,000 won soon.