What's happening in China this week? (Jan.15-19,2024)
Sunny (Juan) Shen 沈娟 ??????
China Business Consultant & Founder of Sunny Business Consultation. - Bridging China and the world and helping businesses globally navigate challenges related to China with customized solutions.??
1). The BMW Group delivered 99,972 all-electric vehicles in the Chinese market in 2023, a year-on-year increase of more than 138 percent, the automaker has said.?
The rapid growth in sales of new energy vehicles in China has boosted the demand for charging and energy supplementation equipment. By the end of 2023, BMW's public charging network had access to more than 580,000 public charging piles across the country, covering more than 320 cities.
In August, BMW launched a supercharging station program with high-power charging pile supports that have up to 600 kilowatts of charging power.
By the end of 2023, 50 such stations had been built in China, covering 17 first and second-tier cities.
In 2023, the BMW Group delivered a total of more than 820,000 BMW and MINI vehicles in the Chinese market.
2). Apple will offer discounts of up to 800 yuan (US$112.50) on each device of its latest iPhones and Mac computers in China, the company said on its local website on Monday.
The rare iPhone price cut – only several months after the iPhone 15 models' debut – and the rare move of using its website for the announcement, means that Apple is facing stiff competition from domestic brands such as Huawei, Vivo, and Honor and its sales are declining in the domestic market, analysts said.
Apple will offer discounts of as much as 500 yuan on its latest iPhones in China, and up to 800 yuan for Mac computers, with a limited-time deal between January 18 and 21, Apple said on its Chinese website on Monday.
It's expected to stimulate the sales of iPhone 15 models in China ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, which falls next month. It is the biggest festival in the country with family reunions and gift purchases.
3). Germany-based chemicals maker BASF announced the launch of a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) facility on Thursday, its second plant to come on stream at the 10-billion-euro ($10.9 billion) Verbund site being built in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.
The new plant will better enable BASF to meet growing demand in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the industrial, e-mobility, and new energy sectors, said Martin Jung, president, of performance materials, BASF, at a ceremony in Zhanjiang on Thursday.
The TPU market in the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow by an average of 7.4 percent annually by 2030, he said, citing a sectoral research report.
The new plant has BASF's largest single TPU production line globally.
4). China and Switzerland announced on Monday the completion of the joint feasibility study on upgrading the bilateral free trade agreement, an important stride toward negotiations and deeper economic cooperation.?
5). China's gross domestic product (GDP) posted a growth of 5.2 percent year on year in 2023, higher than the annual target of around 5 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday.
The country's GDP reached a record of 126.06 trillion yuan (US$17.71 trillion) in 2023, the NBS data showed.
In the fourth quarter, the Chinese economy expanded 5.2 percent year on year, according to the NBS.
6). China will apply a unilateral visa-free policy to Ireland to facilitate personnel exchanges between the two countries, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said here on Wednesday.
7). China's tax and fee cuts last year were worth more than 2.2 trillion yuan ($305 billion).
Tax deductions extended to companies' research and development expenses rose significantly, said the State Taxation Administration on Thursday.
These measures are believed to have greatly boosted companies' confidence to spend more on technological innovations. This, in turn, will inject greater vitality into corporate development as well as economic growth, said industry experts.
8). China will continue to introduce supportive policies and optimize services for foreign investors, a government official said on Thursday.
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Liu Sushe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, said that the NDRC, together with relevant departments, will promptly introduce relevant policies, including revising a nationwide negative list for foreign investment access and removing all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector.
"We strive to solve difficulties and ease barriers faced by foreign-invested enterprises through a package of pragmatic measures, such as increasing support and safeguard policies and aligning with high-standard international economic and trade rules," Liu told a press conference in Beijing.
Liu said that efforts will be made to facilitate the actualization of foreign-invested projects in China, adding that the NDRC in recent years has facilitated seven batches of big foreign-invested projects, with the first six batches producing a total investment value of 73 billion US dollars and the seventh batch of projects, involving biomedicine, automobile manufacturing, new energy batteries, the chemical industry, and other fields, expected to realize a planned investment totaling more than 15 billion US dollars.
"We will coordinate and address issues related to land use, sea use, environmental impact assessment, energy consumption, and other issues related to project implementation at the national level, and speed up the implementation of major foreign-invested projects," said Liu, who also pledged the government's determination to continue to optimize services.
In addition, the NDRC will engage in a series of activities aimed at international industrial investment promotion and develop a business match-making platform to connect multinationals and investment destinations, Liu said.
Regarding Chinese companies' overseas operations, Liu said the government will promote cooperation with global partners in industrial development, third-party joint ventures, connectivity infrastructure, and livelihood projects, and guide Chinese enterprises to follow market principles and international practices in their efforts to build both high-quality landmark projects and "small but beautiful" projects and allow these cooperation outcomes to benefit more people and promote global economic development.
9). China's catering industry registered robust recovery in 2023, with its total revenue nearing 5.29 trillion yuan (US$743 billion) for the first time, official data shows.
In 2023, the catering industry led to about 2 trillion yuan of operating revenue growth in the sectors of agricultural and sideline products, as well as food processing, according to the calculation from the China Hospitality Association.
Among nearly 15.73 million catering enterprises across the country, more than 4.1 million were newly registered last year, with private firms accounting for over 80 percent, industry data shows.
10). China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Thursday that it would take solid steps to bolster domestic demand and expand effective investment, as part of efforts to consolidate the improving trend of economic recovery in 2024.
Yuan Da, from the NDRC, said that the country will give more prominence to employment, ensure the employment of key groups, and enlarge the size of the middle-income group.
The NDRC said the country will work to develop new consumption growth points such as smart homes, sports events, domestic products, and Chinese goods. Efforts will also go into boosting spending on big-ticket items and improving the consumption environment, it said.
In expanding effective investment, greater support will be given to fields such as core technologies in key fields, new infrastructure, energy conservation, and decarbonization, the NDRC official said.
In addition, the state planner said it will take steps to stimulate the vitality of private investment and cut the costs of investment and financing.
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