[unable to retrieve full-text content]American businesses in China have bounced quickly from the Covid-19 related shutdown last year, with most companies optimistic about profits and investment despite lingering tension between the world’s two largest economies, according to a survey.The study conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham) also found that the existing travel restrictions by Beijing have made it difficult for US companies to attract and retain foreign talent.“Businesses in China recovered quickly…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Shanghai’s municipal authorities closed schools and most public transport services, battening the hatches to prepare for Typhoon Chanthu, the most severe tropical storm to make landfall in China’s commercial hub in years. Flights were cancelled at the city’s Hongqiao and Pudong airports, while high-speed train services coming into and leaving from the city were halted, according to local media. Operations at the Yangshan deep water port, the world’s largest container harbour for the past decade…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Li Auto, one of three New York-listed Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers chasing Tesla’s market lead, said it is mulling the possibility of an offshore production base – perhaps in Europe – to be its stepping stone for the global market, as it maps out a strategy to outgrow China’s bare-knuckle EV market.“We want to be a winner, not just a mere participant, in the global market,” Li Auto’s president and co-founder Shen Yanan said in an interview before the six-year-old EV maker’s HK$11.8…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s hydroelectric power capacity, left unused after the ban on cryptocurrency mining, has created the perfect opportunity for electric car (EV) changing networks to grow, creating the condition that could further bolster the popularity of so-called new-energy vehicles.The ban on energy-sapping cryptocurrency mines saves more than 50 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, enough to power an industrialised city with 1 million residents for 33 years , or support 10 million Tesla Model 3s a year…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Shanghai, mainland China’s commercial and financial capital, is bracing for turbulent times as the Covid-19 pandemic still wreaking havoc in other countries could derail the city’s rising exports and foreign direct investment (FDI).An economic recovery in the mainland’s gateway city has yet to find solid ground as economic uncertainties abound around the world, according to Tang Huihao, deputy head of Shanghai’s statistics bureau.“The pandemic is still developing around the globe,” said Tang at…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s central government has announced an unprecedented devolution of authority to Shanghai, allowing municipal authorities greater freedom to enact legislations, offer tax breaks and liberalise the capital market to spur growth.The Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council on Thursday jointly published a long-awaited set of guidelines about transforming Pudong district on the eastern bank of Shanghai’s Huangpu River, into a “pioneer zone,” or a showcase of China’s…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Fanny Zhang, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member, wanted to treat herself to an expensive gift at the Xintiandi commercial complex ahead of the party’s centenary celebrations.“The Party has advanced with the times over the past 100 years,” said the 42-year Shanghai woman. “Now it is time for middle class consumers to spend more as a way of paying tribute to the great Party.”Xintiandi, or New World in Chinese, refers to the area centred around Madang Road in the heart of Shanghai, the…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Chongming district in Shanghai, dubbed the “Long Island in the East”, has set its sights on sports and health care to buoy its economic growth and help it achieve its goal of becoming a world-class ecological territory.Miao Jing, governor of Chongming, an island which at 1,400 square kilometres covers more than a fifth of Shanghai’s total area, told a government conference on Wednesday that the district is fine-tuning its business climate to draw capital from global investors, with priority…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Shanghai’s municipal authorities are counting on better education, an upgraded industrial mix as well as imported talent to sustain the competitiveness of China’s commercial and financial hub, even as a greying population potentially leaves the megapolis with a labour shortage.A highly educated population would cushion a decline in the labour force, said the city’s statistics bureau director Zhu Min, as he rolled out the red carpet to professionals around the world to settle down in the city…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]An official with China’s top economic planning agency has told American company executives that they are “a quintessential part” of the country’s development, amid escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Gao Jian, a deputy director with the international cooperation department of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told more than 90 representatives of US companies in Shanghai on Thursday that Beijing was determined to broaden access for foreign…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Financial controllers at companies operating in China are expecting their businesses to perform better in 2021, bolstered by the global roll-out of vaccinations and rising consumer demand in Western economies, a Deloitte survey has found.Some 89 per cent of respondents said earnings would improve this year amid a brighter economic outlook, the survey of chief financial officers (CFOs) in China showed.Half of the CFOs are more upbeat about the Chinese economy than they were six months ago, the…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Dongfeng Motor, the Chinese partner of Japan’s Nissan Motor and PSA Peugeot Citroen of France, has entered the world’s largest market for so-called new energy vehicles (NEVs), launching a new brand called Voyah to take on Tesla.The first all-electric Voyah model will be launched in July, fitted with a 60 kilowatt-hour battery with a range of up to 500 kilometres (310 miles) on a single charge, the Chinese carmaker said during a webinar. The basic model, expected to be priced at less than 400…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Shanghai, the mainland’s commercial and financial capital, riding high on the success of Tesla’s Gigafactory 3, is on the lookout for more foreign direct investment (FDI) projects to achieve ambitious growth and employment targets the city has set this year.Mayor Gong Zheng told a press conference on Wednesday that Shanghai remained the top choice for global investors looking to secure a foothold in the mainland, and FDI projects would continue to be a major growth driver for the country’s…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The global coronavirus pandemic boosted the brand value of China’s largest technology companies last year, even as it decimated livelihoods and economies the world over, according to a report by the British consultant Brand Finance.The brand value of Alibaba.com, the trading platform of Alibaba Group Holding that focuses on serving business and enterprises, jumped by 108 per cent to US$39.2 billion as the second fastest-growing brand, second only to Tesla’s 158 per cent increase, according to…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A score of Shanghai’s legislative advisors have called for the merger of the local stock and futures exchanges to attract global companies and investors raising funds, as the city marked 30 years of explosive growth to become the elder sibling of the world’s second-largest capital market.The merger was proposed by 20 delegates of the Shanghai People’s Political Consultative Conference (SPPCC), including the Shanghai Gold Exchange chairman Jiao Jinpu, the Shanghai chief of the Export-Import Bank…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s car sales increased during the six months ended in December, as customers returned to showrooms amid a tentative recovery in consumer sentiment in the first major economy to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown.Sales of passenger vehicles – cars, sports-utility vehicles (SUVs) and minivans, excluding commercial trucks and buses – rose 8 per cent to 11.75 million units in the six-month period, compared with the interim a year earlier. Annual sales volume fell for the third straight year…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Beijing’s encouragement has fired up China’s new energy vehicle sector, pitting start-up electric vehicle (EV) makers against its more established conventional carmakers.But while US carmaker Tesla has reported rising sales and three New York-listed Chinese EV companies have seen their stocks skyrocket recently, industry observers say the established players will overtake these carmakers on their own turf.“Conventional carmakers still have an upper hand over the upstart EV makers in terms of…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s residential property market rose for the 33rd straight month in November, prompting the government to continue its drumbeat of market-cooling measures to stave off the kind of risk that led to the 2008 subprime lending crisis in the United States.November’s average home price across 70 cities rose 4 per cent from a year ago, even if the growth pace was the slowest in six months, according to data by the National Bureau of Statistics. The average price rose 4.3 per cent in October from a…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Beijing plans to expand two pilot programmes that allow residents to buy overseas equities under quotas amid investors’ increasing demand for global asset allocation.A free-trade zone in the southern Chinese province of Hainan, and the megapolis of Chongqing will begin trial runs of the qualified domestic limited partner (QDLP) and qualified domestic investment enterprise (QDIE) schemes soon, according to a Sunday notice by state news agency Xinhua, citing unidentified officials with the State…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Alibaba Group Holding, which operates the biggest e-commerce platform, said the latest Singles’ Day shopping gala has produced “satisfactory” results, pointing to a resilient economy amid a rebound in consumption, chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong said.Purchases by mainland consumers during the extended Singles’ Day festival – an 11-day event from November 1 to 11 – reached 498.2 billion yuan (US$75.8 billion), breaking last year’s one-day record by 26 per cent. Last year, the one…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s commercial property deals are expected to double in value over the next decade, buoyed by an increase in capital coming from insurers, the emergence of more investment funds and the creation of real estate investment trusts (Reits), according to CBRE.The global property services firm forecasts in a research report that the transaction value of commercial properties – which includes office and retail spaces – could top 650 billion yuan (US$98.3 billion) in 2030, more than twice the…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s planners are maintaining their bullish target to spur home-grown brands in the world’s biggest electric vehicle market as they repackaged a controversial industrial plan under a new guise, seizing the opportunity to keep factories churning while competitors lay idle amid the coronavirus pandemic.Green vehicles – comprising pure electric cars, petroleum-electric hybrids and vehicles that run on fuel cells – will make up one in five automobiles on China’s roads by 2025, according to a…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Shanghai’s efforts to build itself into an international financial hub suffered a blow when Beijing granted greater autonomy to its high-tech rival, Shenzhen, aimed at boosting its role as a model for the country’s development, according to analysts.With the southern city neighbouring Hong Kong now able make its own laws on market liberalisations, Shanghai, formerly a front runner in making economic and financial reforms, finds itself under mounting pressure to maintain its status as mainland…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Huachen Automotive Group Holding, the state-owned parent of BMW‘s main Chinese joint-venture partner, has defaulted on a bond payment, heightening fears about the debt-ridden carmaker’s fate.The company was not able to repay a 1 billion yuan (US$149.1 million) corporate bond paying 5.3 per cent in annual coupon, which it sold via a private placement three years ago. The group is “working hard to raise money and discussing with investors to iron out the issue,” according to a Shanghai Stock…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s passenger car sales grew for a third straight month in September, and industry insiders said they foresaw a sustained increase in sales during the remainder of the year after the country successfully contained its Covid-19 outbreak.Deliveries of passenger cars, which include sedans, sport-utility vehicles, minivans and multipurpose vehicles, rose 7.4 per cent year on year to 1.94 million units last month, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Deliveries of passenger vehicles…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Manufacturers and assemblers of electric cars in China, the world’s largest vehicle market since 2009, are sharpening their pitches and raising their game as they pour billions of dollars into research, sales and marketing to catch up with the industry leader Tesla in their home turf.Long driving range on a single charge is essential in a nation with the world’s third-biggest land mass, as are sophisticated electronic gadgetry, unique applications, bells and whistles, according to the range of…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Geely Automobile Holdings, China’s largest private carmaker and owner of Volvo Cars, has obtained regulatory approval for a secondary listing on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like exchange for start-ups, as it redefines itself as a technology company with its line-up of 10 electric cars by 2025.The Hangzhou-based carmaker aims to raise as much as 20 billion yuan (US$2.94 billion) on the Star Market to finance its development of new technologies and models, according to an announcement by the Shanghai Stock…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Xpeng Motors, armed with cash from its US$1.7 billion New York stock sale last month, said it’s developing a flying car to sharpen its research into mobility, electrification and digitalisation.The Kiwigogo can carry two passengers and levitate at between 5 metres and up to 25 metres (82 feet), according to the specifications of a prototype displayed at the 2020 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which begins today in the Chinese capital. The drone-like vehicle, installed with eight…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s private sector, the provider of more than 80 per cent of the nation’s urban jobs, has been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, as companies struggle with balancing their profitability with a social obligation to maintain jobs, according to a survey by the biggest industry guild.The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) said its survey of the country’s 500 largest privately owned companies showed 96 per cent of them being walloped by the deadly coronavirus,…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The Chinese population is continuing its headlong plunge into the stock market, a second monthly surge that sustains the momentum behind one of the world’s best-performing major benchmarks this year.July’s new A-share trading accounts more than doubled from last year to 2.43 million, according to data by the China Securities Depository and Clearing (CSDC). That raised the total to 170.2 million accounts as of July 31, making it the world’s eighth largest cluster of people, more than the…