Day: April 11, 2021

(Xinhua)09:19, December 28, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — A recent survey revealed that 69.8 percent of the Chinese working population were cautious about landing new jobs in the upcoming job change season.

Nearly 86 percent of the respondents in the survey by the China Youth Daily noted that people should be more prudent about job-hopping at the turn of the year, a perspective which received the most support from people born in the 1980s and 1990s and those with an annual income between 100,000 yuan (around 15,300 U.S. dollars) and 200,000 yuan.

The survey found only 28.4 percent of respondents optimistic about changing jobs in the next couple of months.

Most of the bulls are either 5 to 10 years into the workplace or with an annual income between 200,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, it noted.

Slightly more than 79 percent of the respondents toyed with the idea of switching jobs in 2020, while 41.3 percent put the idea into practice, according to the survey.

A total of 2,015 working staff took part in the survey, among whom people born in the 1980s accounted for 47.6 percent, those born in the 1990s accounted for 42.5 percent, and those born in the 1970s accounted for 8.5 percent.

In terms of work experience, 31.5 percent have worked from 5 to 10 years, 27.9 percent for three to five years, and 19.8 percent have a work experience of more than 10 years.

(Xinhua)09:21, December 28, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) — Chinas automobile imports and exports expanded further in November, according to data provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

Last month, the import and export volume of automobile commodities totaled 16.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 6.3 percent month on month, said the CAAM, citing customs data.

Auto imports rose 2.4 percent month on month to 8.53 billion U.S. dollars in November, while exports climbed by 11 percent to 7.77 billion dollars during the period.

In the first 11 months of the year, auto imports and exports totaled 134.67 billion U.S. dollars, down by 6.3 percent year on year but the decline narrowed 1.7 percentage points from the decrease in the January-October period, said the CAAM.

Chinas auto market, hit hard by COVID-19, began to recover in April thanks to unleashed pent-up demand and supportive policies, according to the CAAM.

(Xinhua)09:35, December 28, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) — Chinas drive to open its futures markets to the outside world has gathered pace with an ultimate goal to serve the real economy amid the countrys efforts to seek high-quality development.

China currently has seven kinds of commodity futures and options open to direct participation by international investors, after overseas investors were allowed to participate in the futures trading of a type of palm oil on Dec. 22.

This came right after China launched the listing and trading of bonded copper futures contracts on Nov. 19, which are open to global traders.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the countrys top securities regulator, said Friday it will further expand the scope of specific futures varieties, enhance the participation of overseas traders and support overseas financial institutions in controlling or holding a stake in domestic futures firms.

The futures market can sharpen its competitive edge amid the internationalization while attracting more global investors, CSRC vice chairman Fang Xinghai said at a conference on Dec. 19.

The opening-up of the sector can boost Chinas pricing power in key commodities markets, said Luo Xufeng, chairman of Nanhua Futures Co., Ltd.

China has fast-tracked the opening-up of the futures market this year, with new rules making it easier for international investors to trade in Chinas markets.

The country removed foreign ownership limits for foreign-invested securities companies, fund management firms and futures companies at the beginning of this year.

The top securities regulator in June granted approval allowing J.P. Morgan Futures Co., Ltd. to become the countrys first wholly foreign-owned futures trading firm.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of Chinas futures market, which has developed quickly in recent years.

At the end of November, funds in Chinas futures market had exceeded 855.95 billion yuan (130.48 billion U.S. dollars), up 55.2 percent year on year, CSRC data showed.

Meanwhile, the turnover in Chinas futures market reached 382.5 trillion yuan from January to November, up 45.5 percent year on year, according to the data.

The commodity futures available to international investors have been operating smoothly, such as crude oil and iron ore futures.

In Shanghai, the transshipment business of crude oil based on Shanghai crude oil futures price has expanded to the Republic of Korea, Singapore and other regions.

The iron ore futures trading on the Dalian Commodity Exchange has attracted about 270 overseas investors from 21 countries and regions.

Though Chinas futures market has made remarkable progress, it still needs to improve market mechanisms, products, rules and infrastructure, while boosting its pricing power on key commodities to better serve the high-quality development of the economy, Fang said.

(Global Times)09:42, December 28, 2020

With the Chinese economy recovering a long way ahead of most other economies, the continuing flow of capital into Chinas bond and stock markets is expected to maintain the yuans appreciation trend into 2021.

The Chinese yuan has strongly appreciated against the US dollar since May. Offshore yuan closed on Friday at 6.5108 against the US dollar. So far this year, the Chinese currency has appreciated 6.5 percent in the offshore market. On the same day, the central banks central parity rate of the yuan, or daily trading reference, reached 6.5333 against the US dollar, representing a gain of more than 6.3 percent this year.

The yuans strong performance has attracted market attention and triggered discussions on its future trend. According to Liu Ligang, chief China economist at Citigroup, since a large amount of foreign capital inflows chase yuan-denominated assets, which will offer much higher yields than the rest of the world, the yuan could strengthen by up to 10 percent to hit 6 against the US dollar by the end of 2021.

Eric Robertsen, the global research head of Standard Chartered, predicted in an annual financial market report that the yuans rate against the greenback may rise to 6:1 in 2021.

While the appreciation of the Chinese currency represents the rise in Chinas economic power, there are also concerns as to whether the strengthening currency will put on too much pressure on the countrys exporters, who may see their products become more expensive and less competitive in overseas markets.

However, given the current circumstances, it may seem too early to overplay such worries about a stronger yuan. If anything, there is some rationality in the recent appreciation of the Chinese yuan. In 2020, China effectively put the coronavirus epidemic under control and became the first major economy to recover from the COVID-19 fallout, which could be seen as one of the few stabilizers in the global economy. It is the solid economic fundamentals that have offered the strong support to the strengthening trend of the yuans rate.

The steady growth of the Chinese economy has ensured relatively high yields for yuan-denominated assets, attracting tens of billions of dollars of foreign capital inflows into the country in recent months. The appreciation of the yuan has also led to increased usage of the currency in trade settlement. According to a monthly SWIFT report, the Chinese yuan went up one position to regain the title of fifth most used currency in the international payment market in November.

On the whole, the appreciation of the yuan is mostly caused by structural factors relating to this countrys strong economic performances, which is unlikely to become a burden on the Chinese economy in the medium to long run.

(China Daily)09:52, December 28, 2020

High-rises dominate the skyline on both sides of the Huangpu River in Shanghai. (Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily)

BEIJING锛岮s the year draws to a close, Chinas economic rebound from COVID-19 is gathering pace and boosting hopes for the worlds economic recovery.

Key growth figures in China have all improved. For many market watchers, they represent a boon for the world economy, which is still scrambling to shake off the severest recession in nearly a century.

In the latest World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund projected Chinas economy to grow by 1.9 percent this year, 0.9 percentage point above its June forecast, making China the only major economy that will see positive growth this year.

With the right mix of supportive macroeconomic policies focused on strengthening social safety nets and further key reforms, China will secure the recovery and ensure balanced and high-quality growth, which will benefit China and the world, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

A set of early indicators had shown that an across-the-board recovery of the worlds second-largest economy was firmly on track. In November, the purchasing managers index for the manufacturing sector, the main gauge of factory activities, reached 52.1锛峸ell above the boom-bust line of 50 and representing the highest level of the year.

Accounting for more than half of Chinas GDP growth, the services sector has long been one of its main economic barometers. Last month, the subindex for business activities in the services sector rose to 55.7, also the highest level of the year.

In terms of foreign trade, the revival continued too, as both new export orders and import subindexes hit a year-high and stayed in the expansion territory for three consecutive months.

Some China watchers are concerned that the countrys recovery is unbalanced, with a faster rebound in the industrial sector and declining consumer spending, despite the latter being emphasized by the leadership as a leading driver amid a broader shift toward consumption-oriented growth.

In yet another encouraging sign, the consumption sector rebounded too. In November, Chinas retail sales of consumer goods went up by 5 percent yearon-year to 3.95 trillion yuan ($604.2 billion), up from the 4.3 percent gain in October after positive growth in August.

More vigorous consumption recovery became apparent during this years Singles Day shopping festival from Nov 1 to Nov 11, which yet again shattered a string of records from total sales volumes to participating brands.

Boosted by the rebound, global chief financial officers have upgraded Chinas economic outlook to modestly improving for the fourth quarter from stable in the third quarter, showed a survey by the CNBC Global CFO Council, which gathers around 150 CFOs of some of the worlds largest companies.

The CFOs responding to the fourth quarters survey feel more optimistic about the Chinese economy, the survey said.

At a time when the coronavirus-triggered recession looms large globally, Chinas pace of expanding opening-up has been accelerating, generating positive spillover effects on the worlds economic recovery.

China signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement with 14 other participating countries in mid-November. The worlds largest trade pact will likely open up more sectors and promote business flow among signatories.

It is conducive to boosting regional trade, and the spillover effects of Chinas growth will improve the economic recovery of participating countries, according to Steven Zhang, chief economist at Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities.

(Xinhua)09:34, December 21, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — The total assets of Chinese financial institutions rose 11.2 percent year on year to 347.32 trillion yuan (about 53.18 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of the third quarter, central bank data showed.

At the end of Q3, banking institutions saw their total assets at 315.18 trillion yuan, up 10.5 percent year on year, according to the Peoples Bank of China.

The total assets of securities institutions rose 23.9 percent year on year to 9.7 trillion yuan, while those of insurance institutions rose 12.4 percent to 22.44 trillion yuan.

The total liabilities of Chinas financial institutions were 316.12 trillion yuan, up 11.3 percent from a year ago, the data showed.

(Xinhua)09:40, December 21, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Chinas service outsourcing industry reported stable growth in the first 11 months of 2020, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Chinese firms inked service outsourcing contracts worth about 1.3 trillion yuan (about 187.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the Jan.-Nov. period, up 12.9 percent year on year.

The executed contract value stood at 922.6 billion yuan in the first 11 months, representing a year-on-year increase of 16.4 percent.

Of the total, offshore service outsourcing contracts reached 765.88 billion yuan during the period, up 11.5 percent year on year.

Outsourcing is the business practice of hiring a party outside a company to perform services and make goods traditionally undertaken by the companys employees.

During the period, the United States, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the European Union ranked the top three largest markets in business volume, the ministry said.

Service outsourcing with countries along the Belt and Road totaled 99.12 billion yuan in terms of the fulfilled contract value, up 8.1 percent from a year ago.

In China, service outsourcing is typically divided into three sub-sectors: information technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing.

(Xinhua)09:46, December 21, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Chinas used car sales scored a four-month streak of double-digit expansion in November as the recovery of the domestic market sped up and demand further increased, official data showed.

More than 1.57 million used cars were traded last month, up 13.7 percent year on year, marking the fourth consecutive month of double-digit growth, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

In the Jan.-Nov. period, over 12.63 million second-hand cars were sold, down 4.6 percent year on year. The decline was narrowed by 15 percentage points from the first half of the year, said the MOC.

Chinas automobile market, which was hard-hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, started to recover in April, thanks to unleashed pent-up demand and encouraging policies, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

To invigorate the used car market, the country has taken efforts to accelerate the circulation of used cars and reduce the value-added tax for used car dealing.

(Xinhua)10:02, December 21, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Chinas cargo transport industry maintained fast growth momentum in November as economic activities normalized amid effective epidemic control, industry data showed.

The China Transportation Services Index (CTSI) stood at 173.6 points last month, down 2.9 percent year on year, according to the China Academy of Transportation Sciences (CATS).

The decrease was basically flat with the drop recorded in October.

The sub-index for cargo transport stood at 198.4 points last month, up 7.4 percent year on year, keeping the same growth rate as that of October.

The passenger transport sub-index recorded a decline of 24.5 percent year on year, expanding by 0.9 percentage points from October.

Chinas cargo transport has scored a growth streak of seven months, and its passenger transport is still in the process of recovering, said a CATS official.

The CTSI incorporated the transport volume of passengers and cargo of various transportation means including railways, highways, waterways and civil aviation. With 2010 as the base year and 100 points as the base value, the index includes passenger transport and cargo transport as two sub-indexes.

(Xinhua)10:23, December 21, 2020

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) — Chinas privately offered funds managed a total of 15.91 trillion yuan (about 2.44 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of November, industry association data showed.

The figure increased by about 73.95 billion yuan from the level recorded at the end of October, according to the Asset Management Association of China.

The number of registered privately offered funds rose by 1.92 percent month on month to 94,739 by the end of last month.

A total of 24,611 institutions managed these funds, up 0.4 percent from the previous month, the data showed.

Established in 2012, the association is a self-regulatory organization representing the mutual fund industry of China.