Customs Duties Adjustment

China will adjust some of its customs duties on January 1, 2014, to aid economic restructuring and achieve balanced trade growth, the Ministry of Finance said recently. Tariffs on some 760 imported commodities will be lowered by an average of 60 percent. The commodities range from devices for emerging industries such as aero-engines to audio life detection instruments. New tariff items will be added and duties will be levied on products like 3D printers, welding robots and crystal.

City Categories

In a plan released in December 2013, the Chinese Government has identified 262 cities as being dependent on natural resources, in a bid to roll out targeted measures to boost their development. The plan, which is the first national framework on sustainable development for resource-dependent cities, puts the regions into four categories based on their resource sustainability: growing, mature, declining or regenerative. Yunnan, Liaoning and Henan are the three provinces with the highest concentration of such cities. Central authorities will extend fiscal and policy support to facilitate restructuring and upgrading efforts, including accelerating shanty town renovation and boosting employment, according to the plan.

Investment Quota

China should increase the qualification and quota for Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDIIs) and Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs) to help them with their activities, Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said recently. Administrative approval procedures for QDII and QFII qualification and quota shall be eliminated “when conditions are ripe,” Zhou said. In 2002, China launched its QFII scheme to allow licensed foreign investors to use offshore yuan for investing in the country’s capital market. The QDII scheme was launched in 2006 to allow domestic funds to be invested abroad.

Champion City

Shanghai overtook Hong Kong for the first time to become China’s most competitive city in 2013, mainly due to the establishment of its pilot free trade zone, according to a ranking by the China Institute of City Competitiveness in December 2013. With a score of 16,163.08, Shanghai topped the list, which measures the comprehensive competitiveness of a city based on its economy, social stability, as well as environmental and cultural conditions. Shanghai was still closely followed by Hong Kong, the champion for the past 11 years. Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou took the next three spots respectively.

Cloud Computing

A cloud computing industry alliance was set up in late 2013 in Beijing to promote the development and innovation of information technology. The alliance, the first of its kind in China, was established by Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The pact aims to introduce advanced ideas, technologies and study the experiences of cloud computing services overseas in order to boost the industry in China, according to a statement. The alliance will also boost domestic and international cooperation in cloud computing by integrating resources from the government, enterprises, universities, research institutes and the capital market.

E-commerce Prosperity

China’s coastal areas lead the Greater China region in cross-border e-commerce retail, ranking highest in both transaction volume and growth rate, according to a recent report by global online retail giant eBay. From June 2012 to June 2013, the southern coastal province of Guangdong overtook Hong Kong to rank first in the Greater China region in cross-border e-commerce retail sales volume, with Shanghai ranking third, data from the eBay report showed. During the same period, exporters in the coastal provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangsu recorded the fastest year-on-year growth in cross-border ecommerce sales via eBay platforms, with total sales surging 76.1 percent, 56.1 percent and 52.0 percent, respectively. E-commerce business in central China’s Hubei, Hebei and Henan provinces has also been growing quickly.

Pay Rise

An average pay rise of 8.8 percent is expected for company employees in China in 2014, according to a survey released recently by 51job.com, China’s leading jobs website. Some 17.3 percent of the surveyed companies plan to increase pay for their staff at least once in 2014, a slight dip compared with the figure in 2013, the survey revealed, adding that 74.9 percent chose to increase pay only once in 2014. The financial industry will lead other industries with a 10.4-percent pay rise in the year, followed by the real estate, hi-tech and bio-pharmaceutical industries, the survey added.

Numbers

715 mln tons China’s estimated crude steel consumption in 2014

2.6% China’s CPI rose year on year in the first 11 months of 2013

12.7% China’s exports growth year on year in November 2013

$151.5 mln Zambia paid to service external debt from January to November 2013

4.1% Botswana’s inflation in November 2013