[unable to retrieve full-text content]Finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 largest economies agreed on Monday to develop an “action plan” to respond to a coronavirus pandemic that the International Monetary Fund now expects to trigger a global recession, but they offered no specifics.The Group of 20 (G20) secretariat issued the statement after the finance officials met by video conference for nearly two hours, amid growing criticism that the world’s “fire station” has been slow to respond to the worsening…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s pork imports in the first two months of 2020 surged 158 per cent from a year earlier to 560,000 tonnes, customs data showed on Tuesday, as the world’s top consumer brought in large supplies ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in January.The jump came even after the clearing of frozen goods at ports slowed sharply in February because of the coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 3,000 people in China and kept millions more at home in quarantine.China is facing a severe shortage…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]G20 finance leaders will not issue a statement after Monday’s teleconference, a source told Reuters, underscoring the challenge they face in garnering a consensus on how to deal with the rising economic risk from the coronavirus outbreak.The talks come as the Group of 20 (G20) faces pressure to take coordinated action against a pandemic that has jolted markets and stoked fears of a global recession.At the teleconference, the G20 finance leaders are expected to prepare for a summit complicated…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China kept its benchmark lending rate steady on Friday, defying expectations for a reduction to ease borrowing costs in an economy jolted by widespread disruptions to businesses from the coronavirus pandemic.The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was left unchanged at 4.05 per cent from the previous monthly fixing, while the five-year LPR remained at 4.75 per cent.Analysts said the unchanged rate suggests policymakers may think recent measures are enough to help the economy in the immediate term,…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Car manufacturers in China are calling on the government to help after industry-wide sales plunged 79 per cent in February to mark their biggest ever monthly decline, with demand pummelled by the coronavirus outbreak.Their wish list includes cuts to the purchase tax on smaller vehicles, measures to support sales in rural markets and an easing of car emission requirements, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said.February sales in the world’s biggest car market tumbled to…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]New bank lending in China fell more than expected in February from a record in January, but the drop was likely due to seasonal factors as policymakers stepped up support for the economy jolted by a coronavirus outbreak.Chinese banks extended 905.7 billion yuan (US$130 billion) in new yuan loans in February, down from a record 3.34 trillion yuan (US$480 billion) in January and missing analyst expectations, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Wednesday.Analysts…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Air freight rates are skyrocketing after the grounding of many passenger flights in Asia has left shippers scrambling to book limited spots on cargo planes as Chinese industrial production restarts, according to industry insiders.About half of the air cargo carried worldwide normally flies in the belly of passenger jets rather than in dedicated freighters. But deep flight cuts in response to the coronavirus outbreak have made the market more dependent on freight haulers.Freight forwarder…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s foreign exchange reserves fell less than expected in February as the yuan weakened on fears over the coronavirus epidemic and its impact on economic activity.The country’s forex reserves – the world’s largest – fell US$8.779 billion in the month to US$3.107 trillion, according to figures from the People’s Bank of China released on Saturday.Economists had expected the total to fall by US$15.497 billion to US$3.1 trillion, likely due to fluctuations in global exchange rates and the prices…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The US Trade Representative’s office in recent days granted exclusions from import tariffs for dozens of medical products imported from China, including face masks, hand sanitising wipes and examination gloves, filings with the agency showed on Friday.Many of the exclusion requests for medical products appear to have been expedited amid the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, with approvals granted just over one month past a January 31 application deadline.Requests to exclude other products…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg on Friday pledged to de-escalate US-China trade tensions, make it easier for farmers to hire foreign labourers and increase federal agricultural research.The former New York mayor’s farm policy programme, first reported by Reuters, comes ahead of the “Super Tuesday” March 3 nomination contests in 14 states, including farm-heavy states like Minnesota and Oklahoma.Bloomberg, a billionaire who is self-financing his campaign, is a leading…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s top container ports are loosening the backlog of cargo on their docks as workers return after coronavirus travel curbs that kept them away and jammed up global supply chains have been eased.The flu-like epidemic, which originated in the city of Wuhan, an inland logistics hub in Hubei province, has killed more that 2,700 and infected over 78,000 in China alone, and caused massive port congestion due to labour shortages caused by city lockdowns across the country.China is the largest…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Car sales in China fell 18.7 per cent in January, more than expected and marking the industry’s 19th consecutive month of sales decline, data from the country’s biggest auto industry association showed on Wednesday.The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) posted on its official WeChat account that new energy vehicle sales during the month fell 51.6 per cent year-on-year, adding that declines in China’s car production and sales levels will be more significant in February due to…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he does not expect the coronavirus outbreak to have a material impact on the phase one US-China trade deal, although that could change as more data becomes available in coming weeks.Finance officials from the world’s 20 largest economies said on Sunday they would keep a close watch on the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, but stopped short of identifying it as downside risk to the global economy.Fears of a coronavirus pandemic mounted even as the…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China cut the benchmark lending rate on Thursday, as widely expected, as the authorities moved to lower financing costs for businesses and support an economy hit by a fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak.The outbreak has disrupted global supply chains and caused widespread disruption to businesses and factory activity in China, prompting authorities to deliver a steady stream of policy measures over recent weeks to cushion the blow to growth.The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was lowered by 10…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The coronavirus-hit Chinese economy will grow at its slowest rate since the financial crisis in the current quarter, according to a Reuters poll of economists who said the downturn will be short-lived if the outbreak is contained.A Reuters poll of 40 economists based in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, as well as Europe and the United States, from February 7-13 predicted China’s annual economic growth in the first quarter of 2020 to slump to 4.5 per cent from 6.0 per cent in the previous…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The head of an American business lobbying group said on Thursday he was confident that China will still meet its phase one trade deal commitments to massively increase purchases of US goods and services despite the coronavirus crisis.Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council (USCBC), said that the business slowdown in China could affect the timing of purchases, but both governments were committed to meeting the targets. The group represents US companies doing business in and with…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Major air cargo carriers said they have no immediate plans to add China flights to replace the capacity lost amid steep cuts to passenger travel due to the coronavirus, as many factories have remained shut down after the Lunar New Year.Aviation data firm OAG said there would be more than 25,000 fewer flights operated to, from and within China this week compared with two weeks ago, with 30 airlines halting services.About half of the air cargo carried globally is on passenger jets rather than in…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Growth in China’s services sector slowed for a second straight month in January, a traditionally busy sales season, hitting a three-month low as companies cut prices and new orders dipped, a private sector survey showed on Wednesday.

The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slowed to 51.8 last month from 52.5 in December, but was still higher than an eight-month low hit in October.

The slowdown in growth suggests the services sector, which accounts for more than half of the…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s central bank lowered the interest rates on reverse repurchase agreements on Monday, but the move is “too marginal” to boost economic activity in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, according to an economist.The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website that it was lowering the seven-day reverse repo rate to 2.40 per cent from 2.50 per cent, and cutting the 14-day tenor to 2.55 per cent from 2.65 per cent previously.The cut came as Chinese financial markets reopened after an…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The United States on Friday lifted sanctions on one of two units of the giant Chinese tanker company Cosco, the Treasury said, partially reversing its punishment to the company for transporting Iranian oil after China raised the issue in trade talks with Washington.US President Donald Trump’s administration on September 25 blacklisted two units of Cosco, named after the northeastern Chinese port of Dalian. The move sent worldwide freight costs to record highs and disrupted the global shipping…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s imports of soybeans from the United States surged in December from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, as China ramped up purchases during a thaw in the two country’s trade war.China brought in 3.09 million tonnes of soybeans from the US in December, 44 times the level a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.The figure was also up from 2.56 million tonnes in November, after some delayed cargoes cleared customs, but was still shy of the six million-plus…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Levi Strauss & Co has shut about half of its stores in mainland China due to the outbreak of a new coronavirus and will take a near-term financial hit from the store closures, Chief Financial Officer Harmit Singh said on Thursday.The pullback comes after the jeans-wear maker opened its largest store last October – a three-storey outlet covering 7,500 sq ft – in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei and the epicentre of the epidemic which has killed more than 200 people.“It will put a dampener…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Wednesday he does not know whether China’s coronavirus outbreak will upset Beijing’s pledge to radically increase purchases of American farm goods as part of the countries’ recent trade deal.The virus has cast further doubt on China’s ability to buy US$36.5 billion of agricultural goods from the United States in 2020. Traders were already questioning the commitment as rival soybean supplier Brazil harvests a massive crop and a deadly pig disease…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Foreign direct investment in China in 2019 grew the most in two years, though outbound investment declined amid continuing capital controls.Foreign direct investment (FDI) was up 5.8 per cent year-on-year to 941.5 billion yuan (US$137 billion) last year, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday, the biggest rise since 2017, when it grew 7.9 per cent in yuan terms.China remained the second largest recipient of FDI globally, said Chinese vice-commerce Minister Qian Keming on Tuesday in Beijing.China…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The United States, the European Union and Japan proposed new global trade rules on Tuesday to curb subsidies they say are distorting the worldwide economy, with China their clear target.A day before Chinese officials are expected to sign the first phase of a trade deal with the United States in Washington, Beijing is again the focus of criticism from its main trading partners.The phase one US-China deal will lead to China buying more US products, but not tackle hard issues such as subsidies…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump to restructure the nation’s top trade relationships have cost American companies US$46 billion since February 2018, and US exports of goods hit by retaliatory tariffs have fallen sharply, according to an analysis of Commerce Department data.The lion’s share of the higher tariff costs, some US$37.3 billion, stemmed from duties on imports from China, said Washington-based consultancy Trade Partnership Worldwide, which calculated cumulative tariff costs…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China has suspended its plan to implement a nationwide petrol blend containing 10 per cent ethanol this year, three sources briefed on the matter said, after a sharp decline in the country’s corn stocks and limited production capacity of the biofuel.Beijing announced in September 2017 that the national petrol supply would contain 10 per cent ethanol from 2020, part of a broad reform of its corn industry that at the time was suffering from a huge surplus.But at a meeting in late December with…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s foreign exchange reserves rose more than expected in December as the yuan rebounded after Washington and Beijing reached a partial trade deal.China’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest, rose US$12.3 billion in December to $3.108 trillion, central bank data showed on Tuesday.Economists polled by Reuters had expected China’s reserves to rise by US$7.4 billion to US$3.103 trillion.The reserve increase in December was due to changes in currencies and the prices of international…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China’s services sector expanded at a slower pace in December following a strong rebound in the previous month, with business confidence falling to the second lowest on record despite a pickup in new orders, a private survey showed on Monday.The more downbeat reading suggests services companies remain cautious about the outlook for China’s economy despite a flurry of stimulus measures, signs of improvement in the manufacturing sector and a long-awaited US-China trade deal.The services sector…

[unable to retrieve full-text content]China has decided to keep its inflation target unchanged this year at around 3 per cent, sources say, suggesting policymakers will continue to roll out economic stimulus gradually and avoid more aggressive measures.Some analysts have speculated that Beijing will raise the inflation target to 3.5 per cent, which would give authorities more room to support the world’s second-largest economy as growth tails off to the slowest in nearly 30 years.But policy sources told Reuters the government…