China

ChinaSolarPanels

China’s Dominance In The Solar Industry: A Danger For Massive ESG Investment

Portocolom AV | China currently dominates the solar industry, with Chinese companies controlling around 80% of the global solar supply chain, from raw material refining to panel production and assembly. In 2020, 45% of the global supply of poly silicon, the key refined material that comprises 95% of solar panels, came from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The governments of the US, UK, Canada and the Netherlands have declared that China has committed genocide and crimes against humanity in its treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim-majority peoples in Xinjiang.


china central bank

China Bucks The Trend By Tightening Monetary Policy

Bank lending rose by RMB 1.28 trillion, well below consensus expectations of RMB 1.56 trillion, while aggregate financing to the real economy (AFRE), which includes loans and bonds, recorded net growth of RMB 1.85 trillion (against expectations of RMB 2.25 trillion). As a result, China’s M2 money supply declined from +9.4% y-o-y in March to +8.1% y-o-y in April. It has returned to pre-Covid levels in 2018/19.


china central bank

China | Monetary Policy Challenges In The Post-Pandemic Era

JINYUE DONG & LE XIA (BBVA Research) | The PBoC started to exit the above easing measures in May 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic got controlled in mainland China. Historically, the exit of easing monetary measures in the post-crisis time has always been a global challenge to central banks. China is not an exception in this respect. In February 2021, the normalization progress in China led to the gyration of the interbank interest rate in February 2021, just before the Chinese Lunar New Year as the investors’ fear of the authorities’ fast tightening climbed to a new high.


huawei 5G Europe

Beijing’s Inroads Into European Infrastructure Go Far Beyond Huawei And 5G

European Views | A growing number of EU countries are voicing their concerns over Beijing’s increasing leverage as Chinese companies gain footholds in a number of essential European sectors. The Finnish intelligence community recently raised particular concerns about Huawei’s involvement in 5G networks and claimed that China & Russia are “trying to get hold of Finland’s critical infrastructure”. Dutch intelligence services, meanwhile, released a report last week arguing that Chinese cyber-espionage might pose an “imminent threat” to Dutch national security interests, particularly in key sectors including banking, energy and infrastructure.


Repsol's plan of acquisitions

Repsol Signs An Agreement With A Chinese Producer To Build Three Chemical Plants In Jiangsu

Repsol has licensed its technology for propylene oxide (PO) and styrene monomer (SM) and polyols so that a 200,000 tons/year PO and 450,000 tons/year SM plant can be built, and two plants with an aggregate production capacity of 125,000 tons/year of flexible polyether polyols (PPG) and polymeric polyols (POP). This agreement is in addition to the three previous technology licensing agreements reached by Repsol with Chinese companies since 2013.


coronavirus china

China Has A Buffer For Contingencies

Intermoney | China surpassed its economic growth previous to the health crisis. Specifically it recorded 6.5% per year in Q4’20, when in the same period in 2019 it grew by 6%. Thus guaranteeing China’s rapid recovery, while also highlighting the country’s margin for facing up to any temporary turbulence linked to the resurgence of COVID-19. Furthermore, China would encourage the population to continue working to limit the number of people returning to their places of origin during the New Year celebrations.


china industry

China: 2021 GDP Growth To Bounce Back To 7.5%.

Jinyoue Dong & Betty Huang (BBVA Research) | Vaccination, accommodative monetary policy with “no sharp turnaround”, possible alleviation of China-US tension under Biden’s presidency and deflationary environment give Chinese authorities a chance for a short respite in 2021.


china lantern

Chinese Economy, Priorities For 2021

Morgan Stanley | With growth already at pre-Covid levels, China has announced its priorities: a gradual exit from stimulus, internalisation of the yuan and reduction of carbon emissions. These are  some of our predictions: Foreign Exchange reserves of $3,190 bn (vs $ 3,178 bn in November 2020; Headline inflation from -0.5% to 0% and a credit growth down 0.1% to 13.6%. Furthermore, we estimate that the deficit will fall to 12% of GDP, after reaching a record high of 15.4% in 2020. But still above 9.9% in 2019.