China’s central bank said Wednesday it has joined its counterparts in Thailand and the United Arab Emirates to study the use of digital currencies in cross-border payments, a move that puts it closer to setting the global rules for international transactions handled in national virtual currencies.
China surpassed the US becoming the EU’s No.1 trading partner in 2020, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said on Monday. This was due to an increase in imports (+5.6%) and exports (+2.2%) with China. With the EU-China CAI making progress while the future of transatlantic trade remains unclear.
China poised to take over the US as the world’s top destinations for foreign investment in 2020. This is helped by the country’s ability to secure a stable production while the global supply chain is fractured by the coronavirus outbreak.
China’s GDP topped 100 tln yuan for first time, reaching 101.59 tln yuan with 2.3% y-o-y expansion in 2020, said NBS official on Mon. It is estimated to account for 17% of global total for the year, with China expected to become only major economy with positive growth in 2020.
China’s 2020 new shipbuilding orders exceed South Korea’s, back to No.1 in world after two years.
1-1-21 The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world measured by the number of countries participating. The pact connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4 trillion. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, but achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures.
12-30-20 China-EU bilateral investment treaty BIT is a comprehensive, balanced and high-level deal marked by concrete rules and institutional openness, China’s Ministry of Commerce said at a briefing after the two sides announced Wed they had completed BIT negotiations on schedule.
You go on Taobao, everything is cheap, cheaper than a few years ago. So I buy, buy and buy.
Eight missions for 2021 from China’s Central Economic Work Conference
1, Strengthen national strategic scientific and technological strength
2, Enhance independent controllability of the industrial supply chain
3, Adhere to strategic basis of expanding domestic demand
4, Comprehensively promote reform and opening-up
5, Solve the problems of seeds and arable land
6, Strengthen anti-monopoly and prevent disorderly expansion of capital
7, Solve outstanding problems of housing in big cities
8, Work toward carbon neutrality
11-29-20 At a closed-door conference held in Beijing on November 29, Chinese government bodies including the Ministry of Ecology and Environment finally approved new classification standards for the country’s steel scrap sector. Though the details are yet to be released, the new standards classify categories of steel scrap and are comparable to those in use internationally, paving the way for China to re-open its ports to approved types of foreign steel scrap. Despite the size of the China’s steel scrap industry, until now the country has lacked a unified system of steel scrap classifications and those that Chinese steelmakers and scrap collectors are presently using have been described as “crude” and at odds with those of other countries.
The release of the new China steel scrap standards may mark the first step in China’s push to diversify raw materials for steel production, a move that analysts say will reduce reliance on Iron Ore imports from Australia amid fraught bilateral ties, souring prices and in align with China’s pursuit for carbon neutrality by 2060.
12-31-20 Ministry of Ecology and Environment, National Development and Reform Commission and other five departments jointly issued a “Notice on matters relating to the standardization of the import management of recycled iron and steel raw materials,” the announcement said that products that meet the national standard of “recycled iron and steel raw materials” are not solid waste and can be imported freely. The announcement aims to regulate the management of China’s imports of recycled iron and steel materials to clarify requirements and form a synergy. According to China’s import and export regulations for recycled iron and steel materials to clarify the customs commodity code, while proposing that does not meet the “recycled iron and steel materials” national standards will be prohibited from import. The announcement will be implemented from January 1, 2021. Steel scrap standards have been officially released on December 17, the standard for the integrated use of domestic and international recycled steel raw materials resources to provide standard technical support, is conducive to promoting the high-quality development of China’s steel industry.
