Trade alert

  • Paper clip: The United States made the final ruling of the fifth anti-dumping sunset review. On December 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it had made the final ruling on the fifth anti-dumping rapid sunset review on paper clips imported from China. Dumping rates continue or reoccur.
  • Agricultural products: China fully implements online verification of three types of certificates which include agricultural product import tariff quota certificates. The General Administration of Customs, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Commerce decided to implement the “People’s Republic of China Agricultural Products Import Tariff Quota Certificate中华人民共和国农产品进口关税配额证”, “The People’s Republic of China Fertilizer Import Tariff Quota Certificate中华人民共和国化肥进口关税配额证明” and “Tariff Quota Preferential Tariff Rates for Imported Cotton关税配额外优惠关税税率进口棉花配额证” from January 1, 2023. Quota Certificate” implements online verification of electronic data and customs declaration electronic data. There is no limit to the number of times the electronic quota card can be used. Quota certificates with no restrictions on trade methods are applicable to imports in general trade一般贸易, processing trade加工贸易, barter trade易货贸易, border small-value trade边境小额贸易, aid援助, donation 捐赠and other trade methods.
  • China will adjust the import and export tariffs of some commodities starting from January 1. Among them, the provisional import tax rate for chestnuts栗子, licorice and its products甘草及其制品, large tires, sugarcane harvesters甘蔗收获机, etc. will be cancelled, and the most-favored-nation tax rate will be restored; export tariffs on aluminum and aluminum alloys 铝和铝合金 will be increased. From July 1, 2023, China will also implement the eighth step of tax reduction on the MFN tax rate of 62 information technology products. After adjustment, China’s overall tariff level will be reduced from 7.4% to 7.3%.

Trade

  • Lithium is becoming Australia’s ‘new gold’. In the 2022/2023 fiscal year, Australia’s lithium export revenue will exceed US$16 billion, more than three times the export value of the previous year, and almost 15 times the export value in the 2020/2021 fiscal year. Projections looking at the next few years show that Australia’s lithium exports will outstrip those of gold.
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree on December 29, 2022, imposing tariffs on some import and export products.
  • Thailand: As the world’s second largest rice exporter after India, rice exports are expected to hit a four-year high in 2022. Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association(泰国大米出口商协会名誉会长), said recently that Thailand’s rice export volume may climb to 8 million tons in 2022, higher than the export target of 7.5 million tons, and Thailand’s rice export volume in 2023 may remain at a similar level.
  • Exports from Hong Kong, China, fell 24.1% in November, the seventh straight month of decline. A few days ago, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government announced that the overall export value of goods in November was 360 billion Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 24.1%, which was worse than market expectations and fell by 16.2%. The value of imports of goods was 387.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 20.3%, which was also worse than the market expectation of a decrease of 13.8%.
  • Thailand’s November exports fell 6.0% year-on-year. A few days ago, Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce said that due to the slowdown in the global economy, Thailand’s exports in November fell by 6.0% year-on-year. Exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products fell 2 percent year-on-year in November, while shipments of industrial products fell 5.1 percent, the ministry said in a statement.
  • Vietnam’s port cargo throughput will exceed 733 million tons in 2022. Recently, the deputy director of the Vietnam Maritime Safety Administration said that in 2022, the cargo throughput of Vietnamese ports is estimated to be 733.18 million tons, an increase of 4% over 2021. Among them, export goods reached 179 million tons, a decrease of 3%; imported goods reached 209.2 million tons, a decrease of 2%; domestic goods reached nearly 343 million tons, an increase of 12% over 2021.

Industry

  • KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency): In 2022, the sales of the Korean domestic game market will increase by 11.2% year-on-year to 20.9913 trillion won, a record high. The scale of the South Korean game industry once decreased by 0.3% year-on-year in 2013, but the overall scale has expanded year by year in the past 10 years.
  • Wall Street Journal: The U.S. auto industry is entering its biggest factory-building boom in years, with a shift in spending from traditional gasoline vehicles to electric vehicles and new federal subsidies aimed at boosting U.S. battery manufacturing driving a surge in spending. As of November, the U.S. had committed about $33 billion in new auto factory investment, including money to build new assembly plants and battery-making facilities.

Industry -China

  • Ministry of Culture and Tourism: During the New Year’s Day holiday in 2023, there will be 52.7134 million domestic tourist trips nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 0.44%, which will return to 42.8% of the same period during the 2019 New Year’s Day holiday on a comparable basis; domestic tourism revenue will be 26.517 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%, Recovered to 35.1% of the same period during the New Year’s Day holiday in 2019. The national cultural and tourism holiday market is generally orderly.
  • The Paper: Judging from the number of air ticket bookings, after Sanya announced on December 5, 2022 that it would no longer implement classified management of foreign (returning) personnel from the province, the number of air ticket bookings to Sanya on the Qunar platform on December 6 recorded nearly 5-year peak.
  • The Paper: Huangshan Scenic Area ushered in snowfall again, receiving 4,685 tourists throughout the day, a year-on-year increase of 164.09%. As the first small long holiday in a new stage of epidemic prevention and control, the number of tourists in Huangshan Scenic Area has increased significantly. During the New Year’s Day(元旦假期), a total of 21,900 tourists were received, a year-on-year increase of 68.36%.

China

  • The People’s Bank of China: According to preliminary statistics, by the end of the third quarter of 2022, the total assets of China’s financial institutions were 413.46 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. Among them, the total assets of banking institutions were 373.88 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%; the securities industry’s total assets were 12.87 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%; the total assets of insurance institutions were 26.71 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.8%.
  • Xuhui District, Shanghai(上海徐汇区): Recently, the core tube of the T2 tower of Xujiahui Center, a large-scale complex project located in the core area of Xujiahui business district, successfully achieved its goal of capping. The T2 tower is 370 meters high and is the tallest building under construction in Puxi, Shanghai. It is expected to refresh the Puxi skyline after completion and delivery in 2024, replacing the 320-meter-high Sinar Mas Plazaon（北外滩的上海白玉兰广场） and becoming “the tallest building in Puxi”.
  • Putuo District, Shanghai(上海徐汇区): In 2023, the first scientific and technological innovation support measure “Putuo Science and Technology Innovation Ten Measures普陀科创十条” was released. After identification, through the method of parent fund or industrial direct investment, the maximum equity financing share of no more than 100 million yuan will be given. A maximum of 4 million yuan will be granted to technology companies that conduct initial public offerings and go public on major stock exchanges at home and abroad.
  • Shenzhen, China has added a new deep-water port for foreign trade – Xiaomo International Logistics Port（外贸深水良港-小漠国际物流港码头）.

Company

  • BYD: In December, sales of new energy vehicles were 235,200, a year-on-year increase of 150%; the cumulative sales of new energy vehicles for the year were 1,863,500, a year-on-year increase of 208.64%.
  • Sensor Tower: Since its launch in 2020, the mobile version of “Genshin Impact ” has achieved more than $4 billion in revenue. Among them, the revenue of the work in the Chinese market accounted for 34.6%, or US$1.4 billion, followed by the Japanese market, which accounted for 23.2%, or US$960 million. The revenue in the US market accounts for nearly 20%, about 680 million US dollars, and less than 10% in South Korea, which is 250 million US dollars. (PS. “Genshin Impact 原神” is an open world adventure game produced and released by Shanghai Mihoyo Network Technology Co., Ltd米哈游)
  • Amazon:  is considering launching a separate application for watching sports content. It already has Thursday night football games including the NFL and English Premier League football streaming rights.
  • SHEIN plans to invest $15 million to upgrade the supply chain. A few days ago, domestic cross-border fast fashion e-commerce company SHEIN announced that it will invest 15 million US dollars to upgrade hundreds of factories in the supply chain. The investment, a three- to four-year project focused on physical upgrades to its suppliers’ factories, is expected to complete more than 30 by the end of this year, 100 by the end of 2023, and 300 within four years.
  • Goldman Sachs announced that it will lay off up to 4,000 people.
  • Disney: Shares closed down 2.6% at $84.16 on Dec. 28, closing below 2020 lows for the first time.

World

  • German Deputy Chancellor Habeck: hope that the eastern part of Germany can advance the time for phasing out coal power generation to 2030. Under Germany’s current plans, the last coal-fired power plants will be taken off the grid by 2038 at the latest.
  • According to recent news from Statistics Canada, in October 2022, Canadian manufacturing sales will be 72.6 billion Canadian dollars, a month-on-month increase of 2.8% and a year-on-year increase of 16.5%. 12 of the 21 industries within the scope of the statistics increased their sales, among which other manufacturing industries (13.3%), petroleum and coal (12.7%), chemical industry (4.9%) and food (2.9%) had higher growth rates. Wait. Sales of 9 industries declined, among which leather and related products (-10.8%), garment manufacturing (-7.4%), textile mills (-3.3%), etc. saw the largest declines.
  • IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva: A third of the world’s economy will be hit by a recession this year. In 2023, the world will face a more “difficult” year than the past 12 months.
  • According to data recently released by the Bank of Spain, the Spanish economy is expected to grow by 1.3% in 2023, which is 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous forecast. Spain’s inflation rate is expected to remain at a relatively high level in 2023, reaching 4.9%.
  • Spain Spain announced a plan worth 10 billion euros to deal with inflation, including: a one-time subsidy of 200 euros for each of about 4.2 million households with an annual income of less than 27,000 euros, a temporary reduction in value-added tax on basic foods such as bread and vegetables, and an extension of Tax benefits on electricity and gas bills, etc.
  • The Central Bank of Brazil’s economic activity index fell slightly by 0.05% month-on-month and increased by 3.68% year-on-year.
  • Indonesia: The Indonesian government plans to allocate 5 trillion rupiah (≈USD500million) from the 2023 budget to provide subsidies for those who buy electric vehicles, but the details have not yet been finalized. Indonesian Minister of Industry Gumi Wang recently announced that the government will provide a subsidy of 40 million Indonesian rupiah (≈USD4000) for each buyer of a hybrid car, and 8 million Indonesian rupiah (≈USD800) for buyers of electric motorcycles. Electric motorcycles can also receive a subsidy of 5 million rupiah (≈USD500).