Trade alert

  • Tables, chairs and accessories: Vietnam made the final anti-dumping ruling. Recently, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade issued a resolution to make an affirmative final ruling on the anti-dumping of tables, chairs and accessories originating in China, and decided to impose 21.4% anti-dumping duties on Chinese chairs and their accessories, and 35.2% on Chinese tables and their accessories. Anti-dumping duties. The Vietnamese tax codes of the products involved are 9401.31.00, 9401.39.00, etc.

Trade

  • Bangladesh: The crisis of letter of credit issuance is seriously threatening Bangladeshi enterprises. According to data from the Central Bank of Bangladesh, from July to December 2022, the issuance of letters of credit decreased by 14% year-on-year, and the settlement volume decreased by 9%. Some enterprises said that if the import of industrial raw materials and mechanical equipment cannot be guaranteed, production will be greatly affected, and the next step will be forced to lay off workers.
  • Vietnam: Exports of fruit and vegetable products entered the US$1 billion list. In Vietnam’s vegetable and fruit export structure in 2022, the export of fruit and vegetable products account for 29.47%, an increase of 3.8 percentage points from 2021. Among the fruit and vegetable products, the export value of passion fruit products is in the leading position.

Industry

  • Trend Force: In 2022, the global sales of new energy vehicles was about 10.65 million, an annual increase of 63.6%, of which 7.89 million pure electric vehicles, an annual increase of 68.7%; plug-in hybrid electric vehicles was 2.74 million, an increase of 50.8%. China and Western Europe are still the two major markets, but the difference in market share widens further. China accounts for 63% of the market, while Western Europe accounts for 29%.
  • Descartes Datamyne: In January, the volume of maritime container transport from Asia to the United States was 1.4278 million, a year-on-year decrease of 17%, and the decline rate has narrowed compared to December last year.
  • KeyBanc Capital Markets: Artificial intelligence, and ChatGPT in particular, has taken the investment world by storm, and while some of the technology’s benefits may reach the world’s largest technology companies, advanced semiconductor companies such as Nvidia may also benefit from the trend. Nvidia is “one of the clear biggest beneficiaries” of semiconductor companies generating artificial intelligence due to the technology’s massive computational demands, the industry said.
  • Goldman Sachs: The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points each at its March, May and June meetings in response to a stronger economic expansion.
  • El País: The transition to a low-carbon economy has boosted the demand for copper as a cable material, but the copper industry has not kept pace with this transition, so there is currently a global copper shortage. Analysts expect the shortage to persist for years.

Industry-China

  • According to data recently released by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, China has become the world’s largest oil refining country, and the high-quality development of the petrochemical industry has achieved a new leap forward. At present, China has increased to 32 refineries of 10 million tons and above, and the total refining capacity has reached 920 million tons per year, ranking first in the world for the first time.
  • Post Office: In January, the delivery business volume of the postal industry completed 9.43 billion pieces, a year-on-year decrease of 16.8%. Among them, the express business volume completed 7.23 billion pieces, a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%; the postal group’s delivery business volume completed 2.20 billion pieces, a year-on-year decrease of 14.1%. The business income of the postal industry was 112.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.4%.
  • GGII: In January, the domestic sales of new energy vehicles were about 298,000, a year-on-year decrease of 8%; the installed capacity of power batteries was about 13.59GWh, a year-on-year decrease of 6%. Among them, the installed capacity of new energy passenger car power batteries is about 12.7GWh, a year-on-year decrease of 3%; the installed capacity of new energy passenger car power batteries is about 0.24GWh, a year-on-year decrease of 49%.
  • China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation: China has become the world’s largest oil refining country, and the high-quality development of the petrochemical industry has achieved a new leap forward. At present, China has increased to 32 refineries with a capacity of 10 million tons or more, and its total refining capacity has reached 920 million tons per year, ranking first in the world for the first time.

China

  • Shanghai Municipal Health and Health Commission: Release “Shanghai Population Monitoring Statistics for 2022”. Among the permanent residents in Shanghai, the first child rate is 66.01%, the second child rate is 29.46%, and the multiple child rate is 4.53%. The first child rate of the registered population is 73.80%, the second child rate is 24.34%, and the multiple child rate is 1.86%. The city’s total fertility rate is 0.7. The average age at first childbirth is 30.36 years old, and the average childbearing age is 31.18 years old.
  • Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: Carry out the assessment of pig production capacity regulation to ensure that the number of breeding sows remains within a reasonable range of around 41 million.
  • State Administration for Market Regulation: In the “Key Points of National Metrology Work in 2023”, it is pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the construction of the measurement data management system. Carry out research on the management system of standard reference data, and start the construction of standard reference databases in some key areas. Solicit suggestions on the direction of national measurement data construction and application fields.
  • CIA: In 2022, there were a total of 606,000 foreclosures in China, a year-on-year increase of 35.7%. The national foreclosure market has grown to 1.4 trillion yuan. From the perspective of the number of foreclosure auctions in various provinces, in 2022, Sichuan Province had 66,000 sets of foreclosure auctions, which is the province with the largest number of foreclosure auctions in the country, followed by Guangdong, Henan, and Jiangsu, all over 40,000 sets.

Company

  • Wuling Motors: It is expected that the group achieved a net profit of about 85 million yuan for the year ending December 31, 2022, which will be improved compared with the net loss of 45.86 million yuan for the year ending December 31, 2021; by 2022 For the year ending December 31, 2021, the estimated profit attributable to owners was approximately RMB 42 million, which will also improve compared to the loss attributable to owners of RMB 24.148 million for the year ending December 31, 2021.
  • Iflytek科大讯飞: The launch of ChatGPT is another milestone technological revolution after the introduction of deep learning. The large-scale application of cognitive intelligence technology is in the “historical opportunity period”. In December 2022, IFLYTEKwill further launch the task of generative pre-training large model, and it is expected to release the product level on May 6.
  • Sohu: Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022 was US$160 million, a year-on-year decrease of 17%, of which brand advertising revenue was US$29 million and online game revenue was US$121 million. In 2022, the total revenue was US$734 million, of which brand advertising revenue wasUS$103 million and online game revenue was US$585 million; non-GAAP net profit attributable to Sohu was US$2 million.
  • Meta: will begin to update its terms of service for UK users, and Irish subsidiary customers will be transferred to the user agreement of its US entity, which is a sign of the company’s development and adjustment after Brexit. The terms of service for UK Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users will be updated on Tuesday local time, and affected customers will be notified in the coming weeks.
  • Tesco, Britain’s largest retailer, plans to increase hourly wages for store staff by 7% from April, which could draw the attention of the Bank of England, which is concerned about inflationary pressures on the economy. Store staff will be paid £11.02 an hour from April 2, up from £10.30 currently.
  • McDonald’s: Announced its 2022 results. In 2022, it achieved revenue of US$23.18 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6%, and a net profit of US$6.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 13%. In the fourth quarter of 2022, revenue was US$5.93 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1%; net profit was US$1.903 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%.
  • AliExpress announced the rhythm of the anniversary promotion in March. Recently, AliExpress officially launched the March Anniversary Promotion to attract investment. As the first big promotion in the beginning of 2023, AliExpress will make a series of heavy investments in key markets from March 1, including Spain, South Korea, and the United States. The investment invitation for the anniversary celebration started in mid-February and lasted until March 12. On the consumer side, the warm-up will start on March 18, and the official sales period will be from March 20 to 26.
  • Zim Shipping announced the suspension of E-Commerce Express (ZEX). The restart time is to be determined. The last sailing time of this route is February 23, 2023, and the expected arrival time is March 10-15, 2023. The sea express line from China to Los Angeles, USA, only takes 12 days.
  • According to news from Korean media on February 21, LG Life and Health will bring a portable tattoo machine called “IMPRINTU” at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2023). The tattoo machine combines the features of “impromptu” and “printing”. Users can use their mobile devices to connect with the tattoo machine and choose their favorite tattoo design.

World

  • Eurostat: During the period from August 2022 to January 2023 in the European Union, natural gas consumption decreased by 19.3% compared with the average during the same period from 2017 to 2022.
  • Eurostat: In the fourth quarter of 2022, the number of EU companies declaring insolvency soared to the highest level since records began in 2015. According to the report, compared with the third quarter, the number of bankrupt companies surged by 26.8%, and the number of companies that registered for business decreased by 0.2% from the same period of the previous year.
  • South Africa: The consumer price index in January 2023 increased by 6.9% year-on-year, and lower fuel prices were one of the main factors leading to the decline in CPI.
  • South Korea: On the 21st, the Korean Customs Administration released data. From February 1st to 20th, South Korea’s overall exports fell by 2.3%, and the average daily exports fell by 14.9% year-on-year. The latest data point to further weakening in global demand after average daily exports fell 8.8% year-on-year in the same period in January. Among them, chip exports plummeted 43.9%.
  • The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA 博鳌亚洲论坛) Annual Conference 2023 will be held in Hainan from March 28 to 31,2023.
  • Saudi inflation rose slightly to 3.4 percent in January, with rising prices mainly driven by housing costs. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels accounted for the largest share in the consumption basket, accounting for 25.5%, an increase of 6.6% over the same period of the previous year.