By Xinhua| 2022-05-05 10:32:26

BEIJING -- China's large internet companies reported steady revenue growth in the first quarter of the year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.Revenue of these companies surged 1.4 percent year on year to reach 323.6 billion yuan (about $48.9 billion) during the period, MIIT data showed.Profits declined 10.3 percent from a year earlier to 15.45 billion yuan, with the decline rate expanding 2.9 percentage points from that in the first two months.In the first quarter, China's large internet enterprises invested a total of 17.75 billion yuan in research and development, an increase of 8.4 percent year on year. The growth rate was 11.2 percentage points higher than that in Jan.-Feb.Large internet companies refer to enterprises that focus on the internet and related services with an annual business revenue of at least 5 million yuan.

By Xinhua| 2022-04-29 10:55:39

BEIJING - China's transport sector notched an increase in fixed-asset investment in the first quarter of the year (Q1), the Ministry of Transport said Tuesday.In the January-March period, fixed-asset investment in the sector amounted to 636 billion yuan ($96.97 billion), up 9.8 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry.The growth rate climbed 1 percentage point from the fourth quarter in 2021, providing effective support for stabilizing the macroeconomy, said Wang Songbo, an official with the ministry, at a press conference.The majority of the funds went to road and waterway infrastructure construction, with investment in road construction rising 11.8 percent year-on-year to 481 billion yuan in the period.Investment in waterway construction came in at 31 billion yuan in Q1, up 5.4 percent.

By ZHONG NAN| 2022-04-28 09:48:51

With many Southeast Asian countries resuming factory production as well as imports of more industrial intermediates from China, both shipping costs and trade volume between the two sides have risen significantly this year, exporters and forwarders said on Wednesday."March usually is the peak season for global clients to purchase summer accessories. However, we received many additional orders from Southeast Asia in the second half of this month," said Zhang Shengxian, an exporter of jewelry accessories based at Yiwu International Trade Market in Zhejiang province."The goods orders placed by our Southeast Asian clients have a distinct characteristic－demand for a short production and delivery cycle. We are desperately trying to catch up," Zhang said.While shipping costs for a container shipped from ports in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, to ports on the west coast of the United States have dropped from the peak of $15,000 in the second half of 2021 to around $8,000 this month, it still costs a high $1,800 to ship such a box from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in Zhejiang province to Port of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.The corresponding figure for shipping to Haiphong Port in Vietnam is even higher, said Ye Jian, vice-president of Ningbo Port Southeast Logistics Group Co Ltd in Zhejiang province.The forwarder said that starting from the second half of March, shipment volume boomed on the routes connecting Ningbo-Zhoushan Port to ports in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam. This caused freight rates to rebound gradually.Before COVID-19, the average freight rate from China to Southeast Asia was between $300 and $400 per twenty-foot equivalent unit or TEU container. It had, however, risen tenfold to nearly $4,000 per box in mid-2021. Owing to sufficient shipping capacity, the price dropped to between $1,200 and $1,300 in January this year, data from the Beijing-based China Container Industry Association showed.Because of the relatively short distance, it normally takes three or four days for a container ship to complete a voyage. Many shipping lines prefer to deploy small and medium-sized container vessels on the routes connecting China with member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.Thanks to the complementary trade structure, ASEAN members' resumption of production has notably stimulated exports of China's industrial intermediates and commodities, including processing equipment and their components, textile yarn, motorcycles, clothing, refined oil, wires and cables, as well as other manufacturing parts.Yu Genlai, head of the statistics unit of Haishu Customs, a branch of Ningbo Customs, said the city exported 5.8 billion yuan ($885 million) worth of goods to Southeast Asian countries in March, up 11.5 percent year-on-year.During the same month, Ningbo's exports of high-tech products to the region increased by 80.1 percent year-on-year. Shipments of mechanical and electrical products, textiles, clothing and plastic products have all achieved double-digit growth, Customs data showed.High complementarity in the industrial and supply chains, free trade deals at the regional level, and a new international land-sea trade corridor will continue to boost the close trade relations between China and ASEAN members in the coming years, said Zhang Jianping, director-general of the China Center for Regional Economic Cooperation in Beijing.Trade between China and ASEAN grew by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 1.35 trillion yuan in the first quarter of this year. The region has reemerged as China's largest trading partner in March after the European Union surpassed it in the first two months of this year, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed. Ocean shipping activities between the two sides have been busy.Cargo value generated by the China-Vietnam cross-border freight train services has more than tripled since the beginning of the year. This highlights wider trade between China and Vietnam and a stable supply chain for Southeast Asia as well, further enriched by the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement since Jan 1.The Pingxiang Railway Port－the only cross-border railway port in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region－saw trade value reach 6.32 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, up 240.7 percent year-on-year, data from Nanning Customs showed.

By FAN FEIFEI and ZHENG XIN| 2022-04-27 10:27:47

The digital energy industry, which combines digital technology with power electronics technology, is poised to witness rapid growth in the next decade, industry experts said.With the acceleration of digital transformation, digital technologies represented by 5G, big data and artificial intelligence are speeding up their integration with traditional industries. They are playing an increasingly important role in saving energy, reducing carbon emissions and helping achieve the nation's carbon peak and neutrality goals, they added.That brings into play the field of power electronics, which uses the principles of electronics－usually employed to transmit signals in low-power devices－at a much higher power level.Technology companies such as ZTE Corp, Huawei Technologies Co and Foxconn Industrial Internet are making forays into the digital energy field by setting up independent departments or subsidiaries. The emphasis is on leveraging innovative technologies to accelerate the digital transformation of energy.Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp has accelerated its business expansion into the lucrative segment, establishing a digital energy department in December.The dependence on traditional fossil energy has become a main bottleneck hindering the development of the energy industry, said Yu Yifang, senior vice-president of ZTE and general manager of its digital energy product operation department."The essence of carbon neutrality is to promote the transformation of the energy structure towards low-carbon, electrification and digitalization," Yu said. The proportion of new energy power generation is expected to increase significantly, and energy digitalization will progressively lower the dependence on fossil fuels by driving technological innovation, Yu added.ZTE will integrate its products and capacities in power, energy storage, data centers and energy management to promote digitalization of the energy industry, the company said.Its zero-carbon energy network enables seamless energy management and scheduling, from power generation to the power consumption of the entire energy power supply chain. Lithium-ion batteries, solar energy, power distribution and transformation, and thermal control technologies have been applied in the energy network to improve energy efficiency and enhance power supply reliability.

By huaxia| 2022-04-26 09:57:00

BERLIN, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The Federation of German Industries (BDI) on Friday called for tax policy measures to cushion the economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine conflict for the German economy.Companies in Germany were in "existential difficulties due to the energy price crisis," said BDI chief executive Joachim Lang in a statement. "They need relief to secure their liquidity."To address the "acute fiscal challenges," the German government would need to reduce the electricity tax in Germany to the minimum tax rate of the European Union (EU) "as quickly as possible," Lang stressed.Germany has among the highest energy taxes in Europe. The share of the tax and levy burden on the industrial electricity price was around 50 percent in the first half of 2021, significantly higher than the EU average of around 33 percent, according to a BDI paper."A lower electricity tax relieves the burden on consumers and sends an important signal to the economy and society in terms of climate policy," Lang said.There should also be a reduction in the tax rates for natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The tax rate for natural gas should be reduced from 5.50 euros/MWh (5.94 U.S. dollars) to 0.54 euros/MWh, and the tax rate for LNG from 60.60 euros/ton to zero in line with the European requirement, according to the BDI. (1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollars)

By FAN FEIFEI| 2022-04-25 09:51:59

MIIT to facilitate 5G use, IPOs for players in the manufacturing automation sectorChina's intensified efforts to boost the development of the industrial internet will inject new vitality into the industrial economy, enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing on the global stage and empower high-quality development, industry experts said.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the country's top industry regulator, said in a work plan on Wednesday that it will promote the application of superfast 5G wireless technology in the industrial internet and support initial public offerings of eligible industrial internet companies.The industrial internet, a new type of manufacturing automation that combines advanced machines, internet-connected sensors and big data analysis, will boost productivity and reduce costs in industrial production.More efforts should be made to build 10 factories that are fully covered by 5G, cultivate about 10 industrial internet public service platforms in specific regions, and accomplish the construction of regional sub-centers of national industrial internet big data centers in Chongqing, and Shandong, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces, according to the plan.The country will further propel the application of 5G plus industrial internet in the consumption sector, as well as accelerate innovation of key technologies to advance enterprises' digital transformation, the plan said.Data from the MIIT showed that the country has nurtured over 100 industrial internet platforms that have strong regional and industry influence, with 76 million units of industrial equipment connected to the platforms, which have served 1.6 million industrial enterprises covering over 40 key industries."The application of digital technologies has been expanded from the consumption to the production field. In particular, new industrial forms such as the industrial internet are taking shape, which has become a new engine driving the growth of the digital economy and has showcased remarkable development potential," said Liu Xiangdong, a researcher with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.Liu said the booming industrial internet will see surging demand for accuracy in data acquisition, transmission speed, storage space, computing capacities and intelligent application, thus driving development of big data and cloud computing infrastructure and fostering a batch of industrial internet companies with global competitiveness.The measures such as supporting the listing of eligible industrial internet enterprises will help expand the financing channels for these enterprises and expedite development of the industrial internet, Liu said.Zhou Yunjie, chairman and CEO of home appliance giant Haier Group, said the industrial internet will play a bigger role in bolstering high-quality development of the digital economy in cities and deepening digital transformation in manufacturing, operational management and marketing services.The company has invested heavily in the industrial internet sector and developed COSMOPlat, its industrial internet platform, which is designed to allow companies to customize products quickly and at scale by collecting and analyzing data from consumers, suppliers and factories, while boosting productivity and cutting costs.The revenue of China's industrial internet market is projected to reach 914.7 billion yuan ($143.6 billion) in 2022, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.4 percent in the next three years, according to a research report released by market research firm CCID Consulting.Noting the industrial internet is established based on traditional industries and information and communication technology, Ni Guangnan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said more efforts should be made to promote the integration of technological innovation and industrial applications.

By SHI JING| 2022-04-24 10:05:42

Negotiations between Chinese and US regulators over audit issues involving US-listed Chinese companies have proceeded smoothly so far and a cooperation agreement appears possible, said Fang Xinghai, vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, on Thursday night.Fang made the remarks to the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022. The Chinese delegation led by the CSRC has participated in video conferences with the US side on a weekly basis to finalize more details.As part of the anticipated cooperation agreement, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the organization overseeing the audits of US-listed companies, will be able to conduct inspections in China of Chinese accounting firms that audit US-listed Chinese companies. Any such inspections would be reasonable, rational and legal, said Fang.Uncertainties over the US-listed Chinese companies, which squeezed their share prices over the past few months, may end soon, he said.Meanwhile, another 17 US-listed Chinese companies were identified by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday for failing to meet the audit requirements under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. Companies including housing services provider KE Holdings Inc, electric vehicle maker Li Auto and courier company BEST Inc will have to provide evidence to the contrary before May 12. Otherwise, they will be delisted from the US exchanges in early 2024.This is the fifth batch of US-listed Chinese companies facing delisting risk since early March. So far, 40 Chinese companies have been identified under the HFCAA. And 11 companies have already entered the "conclusive list" since they could not submit proof before the SEC's deadline. It means that industry giants such as restaurant chain Yum China Holdings Inc and technology giant Baidu Inc will likely have to wave goodbye to the US exchanges in 2024.The HFCAA was passed in late 2020. Market mavens in China believe the law has been mainly used to prevent Chinese mainland companies from listing on US exchanges if they have not complied with the PCAOB's audit requirements for three consecutive years. Data from the public domain show that there are 323 US-listed Chinese companies at present.Chinese regulators' stand on US-listed Chinese companies has been firm. During a meeting held on March 16 by the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council, China's Cabinet, Vice-Premier Liu He said that China is dedicated to reaching a cooperation agreement with US regulators and positive progress can be expected. Chinese companies are still supported to go public in overseas markets, he said.In general, China will continue its high-level opening-up of the capital market, Fang said on Thursday.Continued efforts will be made to attract more foreign capital into the onshore stock, futures and bond markets. More international financial institutions should be introduced in China to provide better services to investors, he said.There will be substantial net inflows of foreign capital into the Chinese capital market this year, said Fang. China's economic resilience, development potential and humongous market size will lead to sustained economic growth, which will help attract more foreign capital and financial institutions, he said.Data from the CSRC showed that the A-share market attracted total net foreign capital inflows of 887.4 billion yuan ($136.8 billion) from 2019 to 2021. Up to 12 overseas securities, fund and futures companies have picked up holding stakes in the Chinese onshore licensed financial joint ventures.

By chinadaily.com.cn| 2022-04-24 09:59:15

Setting the GDP growth target at around 5.5 percent this year is crucial for China's policymakers to better anchor market expectations as the Chinese economy faces downward pressure, said Xu Gao, chief economist at Bank of China International.Xu spoke with China Daily ahead of the annual gathering of the country's top lawmakers and political advisors this week. Attention has been focused on how China will set this year's growth target and draft its economic policies to shore up growth.Infrastructure investment will be a key growth driver and policymakers should also take measures to substantially increase household income to boost domestic consumption, Xu said.

By chinadaily.com.cn| 2022-04-18 13:55:01

Setting the GDP growth target at around 5.5 percent this year is crucial for China's policymakers to better anchor market expectations as the Chinese economy faces downward pressure, said Xu Gao, chief economist at Bank of China International. Xu spoke with China Daily ahead of the annual gathering of the country's top lawmakers and political advisors this week. Attention has been focused on how China will set this year's growth target and draft its economic policies to shore up growth. Infrastructure investment will be a key growth driver and policymakers should also take measures to substantially increase household income to boost domestic consumption, Xu said.

By Xinhuanet| 2022-04-09 09:13:49

New energy vehicles (NEVs) registered in China soared 138.2 percent year on year in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, according to figures released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.Some 1.11 million NEVs were registered in Q1, an increase of 644,000 units from a year ago, the association said, citing data from the Ministry of Public Security.By the end of March, China's registered NEVs totalled 8.915 million units, accounting for 2.9 percent of registered cars in the country.Over 400 million motor vehicles had been registered in the country by the end of March, 307 million of which being automobiles.China has been encouraging the use of NEVs in recent years to cut carbon dioxide emissions. About 20 percent of new automobile sales are predicted to be NEVs by 2025, according to the country's modern energy system 2021-2025 plan released earlier this year.