Trade alert

  • Ceramic sanitary ware: Argentina launches anti-dumping investigation. Argentina’s Ministry of Production and Development recently issued an announcement to launch an anti-dumping investigation on ceramic sanitary ware originating in China. The MERCOSUR customs codes of the products involved are 6910.10.00 and 6910.90.00.

Trade

  • Brazil: Plans to eliminate import duties on 11 products. At the same time, the Brazilian government will also announce an overall reduction of 10% in import tariffs on various products, except for a few products such as automobiles and cane sugar.
  • Qatar: Cut crude oil export prices for June
  • India: In April, India exported 1.4 million tons of wheat, a record high and an increase of nearly five times year-on-year.
  • UK: Exports to the EU fell significantly. Total UK merchandise exports to the EU in 2021 will be £20bn lower than in 2018, before the official Brexit process began.
  • Australia: Trade surplus exceeded A$9.3 billion in March. A few days ago, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the country’s merchandise trade surplus in March was A$9.314 billion. Among them, imports were A$40.139 billion, down 5.0%, due to lower imports of processed industrial supplies; exports were down A$72 million to A$49.453 billion, due to lower exports of non-monetary gold, grains and grain products.
  • Pakistan: Complete ban on sugar exports. Recently, Pakistani Prime Minister Shabazz Sharif announced a total ban on sugar exports in order to stabilize prices and control the hoarding of goods. The country’s sugar production accounts for 2% to 4% of the world’s total sugar production. Exports in 2021 will be only 50,000 tons, accounting for only 2% of total global exports.
  • Thailand: The e-commerce market has grown by 190% in three years. The online shopping market has grown by 190% in the past three years, with 49% of online shoppers coming from metropolitan areas, 39% from provincial cities and 31% from suburban areas. In addition, the most purchased items by online shoppers are fashion items, with a growth rate of 206%, followed by fresh food, cosmetics and electrical appliances.
  • The trade volume between China and Russia in the first four months exceeded 50 billion US dollars, an increase of 27%. The General Administration of Customs released that from January to April 2022, the trade volume between China and Russia was US$51.093 billion, an increase of 27% compared with US$40.21 billion in the same period last year. Among them, the export to Russia was 20.241 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%; the import from Russia was 30.852 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 37.8%, and the trade deficit expanded to 10.611 billion US dollars.

China

  • Bureau of Statistics: In April, the CPI rose 0.4% month-on-month and 2.1% year-on-year. Among them, from a year-on-year perspective, food prices changed from a decrease of 1.5% in the previous month to an increase of 1.9%, affecting the CPI increase of about 0.35 percentage points. The PPI increased by 0.6% month-on-month and 8.0% year-on-year, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.
  • National Defense General: Decided to upgrade the flood control emergency response from level IV to level III at 9:00 on May 11.
  • China Automobile Association: In April, the production and sales data of automobiles completed 1.205 million and 1.181 million respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 46.1% and 47.6%, which was the lowest monthly in the same period in the past ten years. Among them, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 312,000 and 29.9% respectively. 10,000 units, an increase of 43.9% and 44.6% year-on-year respectively. From January to April, the production and sales of automobiles totaled 7.690 million and 7.691 million, a year-on-year decrease of 10.5% and 12.1%. Among them, the production and sales of new energy vehicles completed 1.605 million and 1.556 million respectively, an increase of 1.1 times year-on-year.
  • Ministry of Transport: As of April 30, a total of 270 car-hailing platform companies across the country have obtained business licenses for car-hailing platforms. In April, the national online car-hailing supervision information exchange platform received a total of 476 million orders, down 11.6% from the previous month.
  • Mafengwo: In the past week, the cycling data in Sichuan, Hangzhou, Yunnan, Hainan, Tianjin, Tibet and other places have soared, with an increase of more than 50%. Among them, the popularity of cycling around Fuxian Lake increased by 100%, and the popularity of cycling in Wanning increased by 68%. The post-90s generation is the main part of cycling, accounting for 55.6%.

Company

  • SAIC Volkswagen officially raised the suggested retail price of all models from 0:00 on May 11. Among them, new energy models ranged from 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan; fuel models ranged from 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan. Recently, affected by raw materials, many car companies have announced price adjustments for their models, such as Celis, Lynk & Co, Roewe, WEY, Feifan, Weilai, Chery New Energy and so on.
  • Toyota Motor: In fiscal 2021, sales were 31.38 trillion yen and operating profit was 2.99 trillion yen, both rising. It will buy back no more than 1.02% of the shares for 200 billion yen. The global sales target for fiscal 2022 is expected to be 10.7 million units.
  • eBay’s first-quarter revenue and net profit fell. eBay announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2022: total merchandise transaction volume was US$19.4 billion, down 20% year-on-year; net revenue was US$2.483 billion, down 5% year-on-year; net profit from continuing operations was US$625 million, year-on-year down 16%.

World

  • United States: In April, CPI rose 8.3% year-on-year, expected 8.1%, and the previous value was 8.5%; CPI rose 0.3% month-on-month, expected 0.2%, and the previous value was 1.2%. Inflation has been the biggest threat to the economic recovery, with rising prices at gas stations and grocery stores a problem, but inflation has spread to real estate, auto sales and many other areas, the industry said.
  • Korea Petroleum Corporation website: As of 4 pm on May 11, the average price of diesel at Korean gas stations was 1,947.6 won per liter, surpassing the average gasoline price after 14 years.
  • There are shortages of jet fuel in many African countries, and some airlines have been forced to cancel flights due to lack of fuel.
  • Indonesia: Economic growth of 5.01 in the first quarter.
  • Ethiopia: Launched 5G network pilot service.
  • New Zealand will fully open its borders at midnight on July 31.
  • The United Nations announced that it has lowered its economic growth forecast for Latin America. It is expected that the average economic growth rate of Latin America this year will be 1.8%, which is lower than the forecast of 2.1% announced in January this year.