Anhui’s Huaibei to Create New Industry Highland

Huaibei, a coal city in northern Anhui province, will create a highland of industry innovation so as to promote its opening-up and industrial transformation, according to Agreement on Building a Highland of Industry Innovation at the border of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui signed by Anhui Entry-Exit Inspection & Quarantine Bureau and Huaibei Municipal Government.Huaibei has recently adhered to strategy of industrial transformation. Coal chemistry, electronic information, clothing and other industries have been developed rapidly. In 2016, Nearly 3,038 batches of goods were quarantined, an increase of 17.1% year-on-year. The total value of goods amounted to RMB 106 million, up 6.9% year-on-year.In accordance with Agreement, Huaibei will boost the construction of demonstration areas and enterprises related to food safety and automobile security. A new batch of export industrial bases will be build. It will also support the construction of “dry port” at Qinglongshan Railway, so that provide a rapid commodity transport passage. Furthermore, Huaibei will implement supply-side reform.

China’s May exports up 15.5%, imports up 22.1%

BEIJING — Both China’s exports and imports surged in May, beating expectations, customs data showed on June 8.Exports in yuan-denominated terms hit 1.32 trillion yuan (about $194 billion) last month, up 15.5 percent year on year, higher than market expectations and the 14.3 percent growth in April, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).Imports grew 22.1 percent in May, much faster than market forecasts and the 18.6 percent growth in April.This led to a monthly trade surplus of 281.6 billion yuan, in contrast with a 262.3 billion yuan surplus in April. However, the May surplus declined 3.4 percent year on year.Total foreign trade volume reached 2.35 trillion yuan last month, up 18.3 percent year on year.May’s data continued the growth in China’s foreign trade since the beginning of the year.In the first five months combined, exports increased 14.8 percent from a year ago to 5.88 trillion yuan, and imports jumped 26.5 percent to 4.88 trillion yuan, resulting in a 21.1 percent decline in the trade surplus.During the first five months, trade with the EU jumped 16.1 percent from the same period last year to hit 1.6 trillion yuan. The EU is China’s biggest trade partner, accounting for 14.8 percent of the country’s foreign trade.Meanwhile, trade with the United States, ASEAN and Japan went up by 21.1 percent, 23.2 percent and 17.5 percent, respectively.Machinery, electronics and clothing exports rose in the first five months, while labor-intensive products such as fertilizer, steel and automobiles saw shrinking orders.A leading indicator for China’s exports increased from 40.7 to 41.1 month on month in May, signaling positive export potential.

Shanghai FTZ to open financial sectors wider to foreign capital

Shanghai is likely to ease limits this year on foreign investment in the banking, securities brokerage, securities fund management, futures trading and insurance sectors.The move is in line with the launch of updated guidance on foreign investment in the free trade zone, in accordance with the plan to make the free trade zone a hub for pilot market opening programs, said a statement from the Shanghai FTZ authorities.In 2017, limits on foreign investment in accounting and auditing, construction design, and rating agencies will be eased in the free trade zone, with details to be launched soon, the statement said.Detailed policies to ease limits on foreign investment in banking, securities, fund management, futures trading and insurance were being studied, said the statement.“We have been working closely with policymakers on easing limits on these financial sectors which will enable more foreign investors to invest in a further opened market in the free trade zone. Once the policies are made, we will make every effort to implement them,” according to the statement.Shanghai FTZ was established on Sept 29, 2013, with an initial area of 28.78 square kilometers. It was expanded to 120.72 square kilometers on Dec 28 2014, to enable it to benefit more sectors and market players, and further the pace of reform and opening up.According to research conducted by Yin Hua and Gao Weihe, researchers at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai FTZ has pushed up growth of the city’s GDP, trade and investment.“Shanghai FTZ increased Shanghai’s GDP growth by 1.89 percent since it was launched three years ago,” according to the researchers.High-tech, finance, information services, research and development are among the sectors with the fastest growth in terms of foreign investment in the city, according to Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.

Changes in e-commerce set to revamp entire retail industry

The total trade turnover of China’s e-commerce market in 2016 amounted to 26.1 trillion yuan ($3.81 trillion), an increase of 19.8 percent year-on-year, according to the 2016 China E-commerce Report released on May 29 at the 2017 China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services.Compared with the surge in e-commerce over the past five years that has averaged 34 percent annually, 2016 showed an obvious fall, indicating China’s e-commerce entering a period of steady development, said Nie Linhai, inspector at the Department of Electronic Commerce and Information of the Ministry of Commerce.According to the report, the users of online shopping applications and platforms reached 467 million, accounting for 63.8 percent of all Chinese netizens.“But the growth rate of Chinese netizens is slowing down. New impetus in e-commerce consumption won’t emerge unless the participants in e-commerce can break the bottleneck of the sluggish browsing volume,” Nie said.E-commerce in 2016 indeed indicated some new phenomena, however, according to Nie.First, it facilitates supply-side structural reform. By precise calculation through real-time monitoring and big data analysis, information about demand can guide the volume of supply, for more efficient, personalized service.As the digital economy shows rapid growth amid implementation of the Internet Plus strategy all over the country, e-commerce has become a significant part of it.Second, the traditional retail industry is transforming. From the circulation channels and supply chains, to data collection and trading, the online and offline aspects are gradually opening up for each other, pointing to a convergence of their further development. In 2016, with social network e-commerce featuring web celebrities, WeChat business reached a new level.Online retailers and social networking platforms have been integrated with pictures, video and live broadcasting.

China to further open auto sector to foreign investment

China will further open its auto and other high-end manufacturing sectors to foreign investment, including automotive electronics and new energy vehicle batteries.Sun Jiwen, spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce, made the remarks when responding to a question concerning recent comments from German Minister of Economic Affairs Brigitte Zypries that China's market was not truly free, especially in sectors such as auto manufacturing."China encourages foreign investment in high-end manufacturing including the auto sector," Sun said, noting that most sectors were completely open to foreign investors.Only a few "sensitive" sectors have restrictions on foreign investment, but that number has been on the decline, he said.Sun revealed that a revised guidance catalogue for foreign investment in China would soon come into force, relaxing restrictions on foreign ownership in automotive electronics, new energy vehicle batteries, motorcycles and other sectors."As one of the beneficiaries of China's opening up, German auto companies have witnessed China's improvement in the investment environment in past decades and made handsome returns from it," he said.Meanwhile, Chinese investment to Germany has rapidly increased in recent years, according to Sun. In 2016, Chinese investors made a total of 11 billion euros (about 12.35 billion U.S. dollars) of investment in Germany on 281 projects, creating 3,900 jobs for the local community.

Hunan’s Jan-April Fixed-asset Investment up 12.2%

Hunan’s fixed-asset investment grew 12.2 percent year on year to over 649 billion yuan in the first four months of 2017, according to the official data released by the Hunan Provincial Statistics Bureau on May 22, 2017.The fixed-asset investment has witnessed steady and sound progress this year, mainly in four aspects:1. A comprehensive growth of industry investment: from January to April, the investment in primary, secondary, and tertiary industries amounted to more than 24 billion yuan, 228 billion yuan, and 396 billion yuan respectively, up by 30%, 1.4%, and 18.4% compared with the same period of last year.2. A slight increase in private investment: during the first four months, Hunan’s private investment reached 370 billion yuan, an increase of 6.9%.3. Four investment areas heating up: investment in the following three areas saw an increase of more than 20% each for several months: infrastructure projects increased by 22.1%, livelihood 35.1%, and eco-environment 29%. Investment in the real estate was up by 10.1%, 5.4 percentage points faster than the same period last year.4. Accelerated completion in major projects investment: projects that were planned to be invested above 50 million yuan completed a total investment of 298.196 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.4% and 7.2 percentage points higher than the provincial average. They accounted for 51% of the total investment, three percentage points higher year on year. Their contribution rate was 67% to the total investment, making a growth of 8.2 percentage points to the total.