Asia-Business

News from China

MOU to tap demand for imports in China

4th May 2017

ALIBABA Group and the Argentine government have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop new trade opportunities to meet rising demand for imported goods in China.

The two partners will support merchants’ marketing to Chinese consumers through Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms, according to a statement released yesterday.

“The ultimate beneficiaries will be the merchants, especially small and medium enterprises, which will gain access to unprecedented cross-border trade opportunities through Alibaba’s platforms,” Alibaba President Michael Evans said in the statement.

Wine and fresh food are two particular areas of focus under the MOU, and Alibaba’s platforms will be designated as official channels by the Argentinian government, which will also provide online and offline support for Argentine wine exports to China.

Source: Shanghai Daily, May 4, 2017

Earnings of 5 major banks grow

3rd May 2017

CHINA’S top-five state-owned banks — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications — posted stable profit growth of 1.68 percent year on year in the first quarter.

Profits of the five banks totaled 267.5 billion yuan (US$38.8 billion) in the first three months, official data showed.

ICBC’s profit totaled 75.8 billion yuan, leading all four lenders by amount, while based on profit growth from a year earlier, CCB led with an increase of 3.03 percent.

Despite slight profit growth amid business restructuring, the asset quality of the banks rose in the January-March period. ICBC’s bad loan ratio fell 0.03 percentage points, and AgBank’s slipped 0.04 percentage points compared with the end of last year.

It is also the first time that the gains of China Merchants Bank, one of the country’s biggest joint-stock commercial banks, surpassed BoCom.

CMB posted first-quarter profit of 19.98 billion yuan, 654 million yuan higher than BoCom’s net profit for the same period.

Source: Shanghai Daily, May 3, 2017

China's manufacturing activity expands for 9th straight month

2nd May 2017

CHINA'S manufacturing sector continued to expand in April, though at a slower pace, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday.

The country's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 51.2 in April, lower than the 51.8 recorded in March, according to NBS data.

The reading fell short of market expectations but still stayed above the boom-bust line of 50 for the ninth straight month.

The slower expansion was in part due to sluggish growth in both market demand and supply, said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

The sub-index for production stood at 53.8 in April while the sub-index for new orders came in at 52.3, both down from the level a month ago.

"While both the production and the new orders indices are still in the expansion territory, the gap between them has widened, which needs to be closely watched," Zhao said.

The lower-than-expected expansion was also a result of contraction in the high energy-consuming industries, lower price at factory gate, and slower expansion in both imports and exports, Zhao said.

On a positive note, equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing continued robust growth, with the sub-indices coming in at 52.1 and 53.4 respectively, well above the 51.2 registered for all manufacturing industries.

Consumer goods manufacturing also rose to 52.2, indicating an increasingly important role it plays in the economy, Zhao said.

Source: Shanghai Daily, May 2, 2017

Shanghai to have biggest office sector in China

28th April 2017

SHANGHAI is set to surpass Hong Kong as the largest office market in China when 11 million square meters of Grade A space will be available by 2020, real estate service provider JLL said in a latest report.

Around 1.1 million square meters of prime office space are expected to be available in Shanghai’s central business district by then. An additional 3.3 million square meters of office developments will be completed in the decentralized Pudong, Hongkou and Minhang sub-markets.

“Domestic firms are expected to drive demand for Grade A office space in Shanghai, while more multinationals are likely to vie for prime office space by 2020,” said Joe Zhou, head of research for JLL China. “This high forecast demand for office space is likely to absorb the massive supply pipeline over time.”

Notably, technology firms were the main tenants of Grade A office space in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu, JLL’s data showed.

“Large volumes of capital funding are enabling more tech companies such as Didi Chuxing and Baidu to upgrade or expand to Grade A office space,” said Megan Walters, head of research for JLL Asia-Pacific.

“This trend is supported by inventories as all four first-tier cities in China’s mainland have rapidly growing CBD markets that offer new Grade A space.”

Source: Shanghai Daily, April 28, 2017

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