Economics: Research Guide

The volume of China’s export shipments of magnets to the US, a chokepoint in the ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies, plunged in volume by 93.3 per cent in May, year on year, according to the latest customs data. China exported around 46.4 tonnes of magnets to the US last month. It was also a sharp month-on-month decline of 81 per cent from 246.3 tonnes shipped in April. The total export of magnets, which dominate China’s critical minerals shipments, fell by nearly 74.3...

Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao and European trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic held a video call on Thursday, as the two sides strive to keep a lid on simmering economic tensions and pave the way for a leaders’ summit in Beijing. “Both sides agreed to work together to lay the groundwork for key economic and trade items on the China-EU agenda this year,” the Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement released on Friday. The two officials discussed a series of topics during the call,...

China reduced its stockpile of US Treasuries to a 16-year low in April, as an escalating trade war with Washington sparked concerns about the long-standing status of American government bonds as the world’s safest asset. Beijing’s holdings dropped to US$757 billion, down US$8.2 billion from March, according to the latest data released by the US Treasury Department. The figures for April marked the second consecutive month of decline and the lowest level since March 2009, according to data...

China’s cross-border yuan payment system has signed up more financial entities from Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, as Beijing accelerates efforts to promote the global use of its currency amid rising tensions with the United States. A group of six financial institutions officially joined the yuan-based Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) as direct participants during a ceremony in Shanghai on Wednesday, becoming the latest entities to sign up to China’s alternative to the...

The company developing China’s first home-grown widebody passenger jet – the C929 – is aiming to see it make its maiden commercial flight by 2035, foreign partners have been told at this week’s Paris Air Show, according to a person familiar with the discussion. The time frame, although longer than previous estimates, was in line with the “long-haul” one that Boeing and Airbus used when developing their first widebodies and reflected Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China’s (Comac) “prudence”...

Hong Kong will assess the risks and study Beijing’s monetary policies before launching yuan-pegged stablecoins to bolster the internationalisation of the Chinese currency, according to a local senior official. Christopher Hui Ching-yu, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, said during a panel on Wednesday at the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai that while Hong Kong was technically ready to proceed, more time was needed to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of issuing such a...

As Beijing looks to shore up China’s economic growth amid mounting challenges, Premier Li Qiang has called on Jiangsu province, a key manufacturing hub on the country’s east coast, to step up its efforts in technology, trade and consumption. During a three-day visit to the province from Monday, Li emphasised the importance of embracing innovative development, stimulating effective demand, fostering entrepreneurship, and deepening reform and opening up to support China’s sustained economic...

China has attracted a growing influx of capital from Middle Eastern investors seeking to diversify their US-heavy portfolios in recent months, but Beijing will need to further open up its financial markets to sustain the trend, analysts said. Beijing announced on Tuesday that China had recorded a US$33 billion net capital inflow from non-banking sectors and higher foreign holdings of Chinese equities in May – an acceleration from April’s US$17.3 billion inflow. The department did not break down...

China’s presence at the Paris Air Show – the globally renowned civil aviation expo – is usually reduced to Beijing’s biggest names in the field. In particular, conversation tends to focus on the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the maker of the C919 passenger jet. But things have changed this year. Dozens of lesser-known Chinese firms from across the supply chain have flocked to the European capital to showcase their products to Western buyers. The number of Chinese companies...

China leads the world in converting decommissioned coal-mining sites into solar power projects, a trend that promises to advance the clean energy transition while potentially reducing a surplus of solar panels produced by struggling Chinese manufacturers, according to Global Energy Monitor (GEM). Conversion of surface-mined lands into solar-generation projects had surged in 15 countries, particularly over the past couple of years, the non-governmental organisation said in a report on...

With global economic ramifications on the line, those with a vested interest in supply chains and geopolitical stability watched closely and waited as high-ranking officials from the United States and China emerged from last week’s trade talks in London. Then, the public was told little. In the absence of an official readout from both sides, hope for a bit more clarity has given way to a fog of questions and buzzy speculation about what happened behind those doors. Was leverage being applied? By...

As the United States scales back foreign aid and increases financial sanctions through long-arm jurisdiction, analysts said Beijing is strengthening its influence in international development finance and regional economic cooperation. Driven by rising geopolitical tensions and Russia’s strategic pivot to the East, they said the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Development Bank, which has been stalled for over a decade, was now closer than ever to becoming a reality. Momentum is building...

China’s chief civilian aircraft maker has secured deals to buy Western-made parts for its first widebody jet – expected to resemble the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 series – despite ongoing turbulence in trade and supply chains. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) reached an agreement to work with French aerospace firm Safran on the development of the widebody C929’s brake controls, ice detection system, tyre pressure indicators and on-board oxygen system, according to reports...

China will nearly double its nuclear power capacity by 2040, making it by far the world’s largest nuclear power generator, according to a new report by the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA). The country is set to build dozens of new reactors to raise its installed capacity to 200 gigawatts – more than double the US’ current capacity – by the end of the next decade, the Chinese industry body said in the paper released on Monday. Beijing has embarked on one of the fastest buildouts of...

China has announced that US semiconductor giant Nvidia will attend its flagship supply chain event for the first time, despite growing tensions between the two countries over a string of trade and technology issues. Nvidia will be among more than 100 exhibitors from the United States and Europe attending the China International Supply Chain Expo in July, the event’s organiser confirmed during a press conference on Tuesday morning. The artificial intelligence chip firm’s appearance in Beijing...

Supply chain competition between China and the United States is set to intensify over the next five years, with eight developing countries – including four in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – poised to benefit from the relocation of manufacturing from China, according to a recent study. The research, published in the Chinese journal Economist, identifies Malaysia, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, Thailand, Indonesia, India and Brazil as the top candidates likely to benefit from...

China’s economic data showed an improved picture for consumption in May, with retail sales beating expectations in the run-up to a major online shopping holiday even as US tariffs continued to weigh on the country’s manufacturing and exports. Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose by 6.4 per cent in May, compared with the 5.1 per cent growth observed in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday. The figures exceeded a forecast of 4.85 per cent growth by financial...

Until recently, Jiahao’s guest house in a quiet corner of Cairo was a modest pit stop for Chinese tourists on their way to visit the Egyptian pyramids. But this spring, the hostel suddenly began to attract a different kind of client. Jiahao, the hostel’s 26-year-old owner, began welcoming groups of factory owners from across China and Southeast Asia – grizzled businesspeople whose trips were not about sightseeing, but survival. “Many business owners now book week-long stays,” Jiahao said. “I...

This year’s escalation of the US-China trade war has led many Chinese companies to rethink their overseas expansion strategies, with accessing the American market no longer their top priority when considering building factories in foreign countries, industry insiders said. There had been a “drastic downshift” in inquiries from Chinese companies seeking land to rent or purchase in Mexico, one of their hottest overseas investment destinations in the past, said Jack Lee, an industrial property...

Canada’s new government will invest more in mining at a time when the country’s economy and manufacturing sector are facing “challenges” related to China’s curbs on rare earth exports, Bill Morneau, former Canadian finance minister, told the Post. “One of the challenges for Canada is that we will need to increase our own mining,” Morneau, who was in office between 2015 and 2020 under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, said in Shanghai on Friday. “The initiative by new [Prime Minister] Mark...

Fashionable, frivolous or downright foolish? Which of these words best describes the trend in markets toward derivatives, cryptocurrencies, digital assets and tokens as supplements or alternatives to traditional finance? Where is this great “paper chase” leading? For one thing, it is likely to be causing a flight into gold. But unless gold is remonetised and mining output is stepped up sharply, that trend could lead to deflation and limited economic growth. So a retreat to sustainable safety...

Chinese tourism to South Korea is picking up with the end of political instability in Seoul and the two nations pledging closer relations shortly before visa exemptions take effect, travel industry sources said this week. Bookings from China to South Korea for the three months from April to June have been about 24 per cent higher than for the three months ending in February, according to data compiled by China Trading Desk, a travel marketing and technology company. China is South Korea’s...

Chinese companies are showing growing interest in shipping goods to the West via the Northern Sea Route – an icy Arctic passage that opens up each summer – according to Rosatom, the Russian company that operates infrastructure along the route. The firm anticipates a significant uptick in voyages by Chinese companies along the NSR during the coming summer-autumn shipping season, and is adding more nuclear-powered icebreakers to its fleet to handle the growing traffic flow. Cargo traffic on the...

China’s central bank set the yuan’s daily fixing against the US dollar at its strongest level in more than two months, as the greenback tumbled to a multi-year low amid expectations for more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve later this year. On Friday, the People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s midpoint rate – also known as the daily fixing rate – at 7.1772 per US dollar, its strongest showing since late March. The move came as the US dollar index plummeted to 97.61 on Thursday - a...

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) has reportedly bid to take a majority stake in the flag carrier of Laos, as the state-owned Chinese aviation firm continues its push to expand its market in Southeast Asia. The deal – which is pending approval by the Lao authorities – would see Comac help Lao Airlines overhaul its operations and stem its losses in exchange for the carrier agreeing to use the Chinese company’s passenger jets, Vientiane Times quoted Prime Minister Sonexay...

After the United States imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs on imports from China in April, Beijing took steps to help Chinese exporters sell their products domestically. In addition to the staging of product promotion events across the country and the offering of fiscal and financial incentives, Beijing also encouraged the increased use of letters of credit (L/Cs) to help such businesses switch focus to the domestic market. What is a domestic letter of credit? A letter of credit, also known as...

A commercial-vehicle subsidiary of China’s state-owned carmaker GAC Group has its sights set on Europe, where it hopes its electric vans can lure corporate buyers away from petroleum-powered models built by the likes of Ford and Stellantis. Xiao Ning, CEO of Miraco Motor, told the Post that the company would launch its first model in Europe next year. It aims to grab 10 per cent of the European market, where more than 1.7 million vehicles of this type are sold each year for public transport,...

As Chinese companies ponder how best to market their products internationally, the example set by Pop Mart – the Beijing-based brand behind the viral Labubu toy – has been praised by the country’s state media for the creativity that underlies its success. The wide-mouthed, bug-eyed toy’s global fan base is evidence of a shift in priorities for China as it transforms from a producer of low-value goods to a hub of innovation, Qiushi, the Communist Party’s top theoretical journal, said in a...

While touring the China Pavilion at Paris VivaTech, Europe’s biggest tech fair, Chinese ambassador to France Deng Li’s attention was drawn not only to the flashy robot dogs and humanoids, but also to a less eye-catching exhibit: a display of metal parts produced by specialised 3D printers. “To make something so complicated, 3D printing really saves a lot of trouble compared to traditional production methods,” Deng told his entourage, expressing his amazement at how a printer could produce...

After two days of closely watched trade talks between the United States and China in London, US President Donald Trump has declared the negotiations have led to a wide-ranging deal to maintain the fragile truce laid out after earlier talks in Geneva. The agreement, Trump said, would cover numerous points of contention, including shipments of rare earth minerals, student visas and tariffs. China, meanwhile, has been reticent to comment on the talks’ outcome, with representatives only saying they...