World

  • California has become the first state in the United States to exceed 3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 pneumonia. Among them, more than 1 million cases are concentrated in LA, and about 1/10 of the local population has been diagnosed. However, local health officials speculate that the actual number of infections may be as high as 1 in 3 people.
  • South Korea’s ICT exports reach US$183.6 billion in 2020.
    According to preliminary verification data released by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Information and Communication on the 18th, Korea’s exports of information and communication technology (ICT) in 2020 increased by 3.8% year-on-year to US$183.6 billion, the third highest level in history. Imports were US$112.6 billion , and the trade balance achieved a surplus of US$ 71 billion . In terms of export destinations, exports to China were the largest, reaching US$86.88 billion, followed by Vietnam (US$29.78 billion), the United States (US$22.13 billion) and the European Union (US$11.25 billion).
  • U.S. Treasury Department: In November 2020, China’s holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds increased by US$ 9 billion , and increased its holdings again after six months to reach US$ 1.06 trillion. It is still the second largest overseas holder of U.S. Treasury bonds; Japan holds U.S. Treasury bonds, the scale was reduced by US$8.7 billion, and holdings were reduced for 4 consecutive months to US$1.26 trillion, but it is still the largest overseas holder of US debt.
  • Paraguay lowered import tariffs on 162 items. According to a recent report in the Paraguayan “Nation”, the Paraguayan government promulgated Decree No. 4694/2020, announcing the permanent reduction of import tariffs on 162 items. Among them, the import tariff on wine was reduced to 18%, and the import tariff on office supplies and household appliances was reduced to 6. %.
  • By 2023, the scale of Bangladesh’s e-commerce will reach US$3 billion. Due to the impact of the epidemic, Bangladesh’s e-commerce business has increased by 166% in 2020. Currently, in Bangladesh’s domestic logistics and transportation, the transportation of e-commerce parcels still accounts for the overwhelming majority, with about 60%, followed by food delivery and self-service delivery, which respectively account for 30% and 10%.

China

  • Ministry of Commerce: In 2020, the online retail sales of physical goods will be 9.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.8% against the trend, accounting for 24.9% of the total retail sales. The express delivery volume will reach 83.36 billion pieces, and the e-commerce live broadcast will exceed 20 million. my country has continued In 8 years, it became the world’s largest online retail market.
  • CCTV Finance: All kinds of chips are tight and difficult to order, and this year’s expansion plan has also shrunk significantly. In the shortage of goods, many terminal companies even place panic orders at several times the previous purchase volume. While terminal companies are grabbing chips, chip manufacturers are also busy rushing to buy the raw material crystals used to make chips from their upstream.
    Ministry of Commerce: In 2020, China’s actual use of foreign capital in non-financial sectors was $155.03 billion , a year-on-year increase of 6.2%, and the scale hit a record high( a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; excluding banking, securities, and insurance). In the top 15 countries and regions for investment in China, investment increased by 6.4%, accounting for 98%, of which the Netherlands and the United Kingdom increased by 47.6% and 30.7% respectively. ASEAN’s investment in China increased by 0.7%. In addition, the absorption of foreign investment in eastern my country increased by 8.9%, accounting for 88.4%, among which major provinces such as Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shanghai, Shandong, and Zhejiang increased by 5.1%, 6.5%, 6.6%, 20.3% and 18.3%.
  • China’s use of foreign investment in 2020 will increase by 6.2% year-on-year.
  • Ministry of Transport: It is estimated that 1.7 billion passengers will be sent during the Spring Festival travel season nationwide in 2021, an average of about 40 million passengers per day, a decrease of more than 40% over the same period in 2019 and an increase of over 10% over the same period in 2020.
  • Vietnam has become China’s sixth largest trading partner for the first time. According to data recently released by the General Administration of Customs of China, in 2020, the bilateral trade volume between Vietnam and China reached a record of 192.2 billion US dollars, an increase of 18.7% year-on-year. Among them, Vietnam’s exports to China increased by 22.4%.

Industry

  • China Automobile Association: In December 2020, the top ten auto sales companies are: SAIC, Dongfeng, FAW, GAC, Changan, BAIC, Geely, Great Wall, Chery and Brilliance. The above-mentioned ten companies sold 2.5299 million vehicles, accounting for 89.36% of total vehicle sales.
  • Wechat: 1.09 billion users open WeChat every day, and 330 million users make video calls; 780 million users enter Moments, 120 million users post Moments, including 670 million photos and 100 million short videos; 360 million users read Official account article, 400 million users use small programs.
  • Amazon said on Monday that it will open two new logistics centers in Italy this year, with an investment of more than 230 million euros (US$ 278 million ). With the establishment of these two new centers, Amazon will create 1,100 new jobs in the next three years.
  • Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries stated in a company statement that it has officially entered the German online retail market

Company

  • Vietnam approved Foxconn to build a US$270 million plant to produce laptops and tablets.
  • Kia: Kia Motors Corp. (KiaMotorsCorp.) will officially change its name to Kia Corp. (KiaCorp.) to emphasize its determination to enter the era of electric vehicles and new mobility. This is the first time the company changed its name after changing its name from “Kia Industries” to “Kia Motors” in 1990.
    French oil and gas giant Total will spend US$2.5 billion to acquire shares of Indian Renewable Energy Company (AGEL) and a series of solar asset portfolios, marking the company’s latest move to reduce its dependence on oil. Total has begun to implement a strategy to switch to electricity and renewable energy. Its goal is to increase the total power generation capacity of renewable energy from the current 9 GW to 35 GW by 2025.

Shipping

  • The number of orders received by Chinese shipping companies returns to the world’s largest. In 2020, China’s new ship orders surpassed South Korea, regaining the world’s largest number of orders after two years. According to data, in 2020, China and South Korea’s new ship orders accounted for 48.8% and 41.4% of the global share respectively; Japan received about 7% of the share, ranking third.
  • The global market needs to build 500,000 new containers. American freight forwarder Flexport said that in order to meet the current market demand, the current hot container shipping market needs to produce 500,000 new 20-foot containers.