Day: November 25, 2020

(Xinhua)08:50, August 06, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt the hardest blow to the arts and entertainment sector as well as the retail, wholesale and food services in the European Union (EU), Eurostat statistics issued on Wednesday revealed.

According to the EUs statistical office, the sectors were hit both in terms of gross value added (GVA) and the number of hours worked by employees during the pandemic.

Declines in compensation of employees and employment were observed in most industries, but to a lesser extent, reflecting government support schemes, showed the Eurostat report about the impact of COVID-19 on industries.

Information and communication activities saw a different trend with 0.9 percent increase in the number of persons employed and 1.1 percent increase in the compensation of employees.

The same trend was observed, though to a lesser extent, for public administration, defense, education, human health and social work activities, which saw a 0.3 percent increase in the number of persons employed and 0.5 percent increase in compensation.

GVA and hours worked decreased in all industries in the first quarter of 2020 across the EU, Eurostat said.

(Xinhua)09:31, August 06, 2020

China will as always welcome companies from other countries to invest and operate in China, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Spokesman Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a routine press briefing after Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, on Tuesday expressed confidence of European companies in Chinas development prospects.

As a champion and promoter for an open world economy, China has always kept its door wide open and committed to provide a market-oriented, law-based and international business environment for companies from Europe and other parts of the world, Wang said.

By 2019, the European Union had been Chinas top trade partner for 16 consecutive years, with a total trade volume exceeding 700 billion U.S. dollars for the first time last year, he said.

Wang emphasized that be it companies from Europe or other parts of the world, they are optimistic about Chinas economic prospect and improving business environment.

China will as always welcome European investors and companies from other countries, continue to firmly deepen reform and expand opening up, and provide more cooperation opportunities and development dividends for their operations in China, Wang said.

Foreign companies, including European ones, were part of the story of Chinas development, and we believe they will continue to be part of the successful story of Chinas development and win-win cooperation, he added.

China remains one of the top three destinations for 63 percent of respondents in a survey conducted earlier this year by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and global consultancy firm Roland Berger.

(Xinhua)09:33, August 06, 2020

The overall U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June as exports rose faster than imports, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

U.S. exports rose by 9.4 percent to 158.3 billion U.S. dollars in June while imports increased by 4.7 percent to 208.9 billion dollars, the department said. Overall trade deficit declined by 7.5 percent to 50.7 billion dollars from a revised 54.8 billion dollars in May.

Although exports rebounded more, causing the overall trade deficit to narrow, imports are just 15.2% off their pre-virus February level compared to over 25% for exports, Shannon Seery, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities, wrote Wednesday in a note.

This report signals activity began to recover in June, but as COVID cases have re-accelerated domestically and abroad the question remains to what extent the rebound progresses, Seery wrote, expecting a continued albeit modest recovery in the third quarter barring renewed lockdowns.

The narrowing trade deficit came after the department reported last week that the U.S. economy contracted at an annual rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter of the year, the steepest decline since the government began keeping records in 1947.

While the U.S. economy is likely to rebound in the third quarter, economists are warning that a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases across the country will undermine public confidence, dampen consumer spending and investment, and weigh on the fragile recovery nationwide.

(Xinhua)09:36, August 06, 2020

Eurostat, the European Unions statistics agency, said on Wednesday that in June the blocs retail sale regained 99.7 percent of the volume that it had reached in February before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The seasonally-adjusted volume of retail trade increased by 5.7 percent in the euro area in June and by 5.2 percent in the EU compared with the previous month.

Eurostat also revised its earlier estimate of the retail trade volume to 20.3 percent increase in the euro area and 18.3 percent increase in the EU in May.

In March and April, when most of the prevention measures were taken in the EU member states, all non-food product groups showed exceptionally big decreases, in particular the decline for textiles, clothes and footwear was extremely steep.

The two months loss for automotive fuel was 43.4 percent, for computers, books and similar products it was 40.7 percent, and for electrical goods and furniture, 34.5 percent, said Eurostat.

When the containment measures began to be eased in May, sales for all non-food product groups picked up. With the next increases of sales in June, the pre-crisis level of sales was regained or even exceeded for some product groups.

Sales of textiles, clothing and footwear grew by 20.5 percent month-on-month in June in the EU, after a record 130.7 percent jump in May. Consumers also bought more car fuel, computer equipment and medical goods

(Global Times)09:52, August 06, 2020

Apples iPhone is the only smartphone on the Chinese market that doesnt list in its functions supporting the BeiDou Satellite Navigation System (BDS), but it will soon, predicted Ran Chengqi, BDS spokesperson and director general of China Satellite Navigation Office, according to a report by the China Business Journal on Wednesday.

Apple will come to use it sooner or later, because if BDS is good, they will of course use the better system, Ran said, according to the report.

BDS is Chinas large space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, that also included the US GPS, Russias GLONASS and the European Unions Galileo.

Most smartphones sold in China support BDS positioning function and smartphones supporting high-precision applications have been launched, Ran told a press conference on Monday.

Apple said its iPhone 11 model is now using BDS as part of its location data system. However, it did not further elaborate, said Chinese news site guancha.com.

Apples official Chinese website shows the iPhone 11 only displays built-in GPS and GLONASS systems. While Huaweis P40 separately lists all four systems.

Samsung S10+, OPPO, Xiaomi and other mobile phone brands also support BDS.

According to Ran, the BDS global positioning accuracy is better than 10 meters, with a timing accuracy better than 20 nanoseconds, and its performance in the Asia-Pacific region is even better.

So far, BDS has been applied in industries such as transportation, public security, disaster relief, farming and urban governance, as well as being integrated into Chinas key basic infrastructure construction including electricity, finance and telecom, said Ran.

The systems services now cover more than 200 countries and regions, with more than 100 million users and 200 million daily services.

BDS-related products have been exported to over 120 countries and regions, serving hundreds of millions of users. BDS-based services have been successfully applied in mapping, agriculture, and digital construction in member countries of ASEAN, South Asia, Eastern Europe, West Asia and Africa.