Foreign investment encouraged in city's key industries

09-08, 2022

Foreign investors will be encouraged to invest in Shenzhen's key sectors, such as advanced manufacturing, emerging industries, high technologies, energy conservation and environmental protection, according to the Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on Foreign Investment, which will come into force Nov. 1 this year, according to the official website of the city government.The regulations aim to provide a solid legal foundation for pushing Shenzhen's opening up to a higher level.They will supplement with detailed stipulations the Foreign Investment Law of China by specifying foreign investment access, improving the facilitation of investment by foreign-funded businesses, and protecting the lawful rights and interests of foreign investors according to local conditions.Pursuant to the regulations, it will be forbidden to formulate restrictions and prohibitions on foreign investment access outside the State-issued foreign investment "negative list."The "negative list" refers to special administrative measures restricting or prohibiting foreign investment in specific sectors, while foreign and domestic investors will enjoy equal access to fields outside of the list.The regulations also highlight the equal participation of foreign-invested enterprises in the city’s R&D public service platform construction, government-backed science and technology programs, and application to be named key laboratories.The city will likewise support these companies to equally take part in the formulation and revision of local standards. The new regulations propose that governments should listen to the opinions of overseas enterprises while setting standards closely related to these firms' manufacturing and operation.Technical cooperations between foreign investors/ enterprises and Shenzhen's universities, colleagues, scientific research institutions, trade associations and enterprises are encouraged as well.In order to better introduce global talents, the city is expected to establish a system for recognizing international professional qualifications, according to the new policies.Under the system, overseas professionals who have obtained occupational qualifications abroad are allowed to get an official recognition to practice their profession in Shenzhen.Shenzhen has become increasingly attractive to foreign investors, thanks to its favorable business environment. Its actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$2.1 billion in the first quarter of this year, surging 32% year on year, according to the commerce bureau.Official data showed that Shenzhen is now home to firms from over 160 countries and regions, including nearly 300 Fortune 500 enterprises, and has approved over 100,000 direct foreign investment projects by the end of May.

City's foreign trade jumps 4.2% in July

08-25, 2022

The city's foreign trade recovery continued in July, with imports and exports increasing 4.2% year on year to 293.2 billion yuan (US$42.67 billion), customs data showed Tuesday.From January to July, cargo imports and exports reached 1.91 trillion yuan, up by 1.8% over the same period last year.In the past seven months, the general trade, which involves longer industrial chains and products of higher added value, topped 967.89 billion yuan, up 1.7% year on year and accounting for 50.7% of the total.The foreign trade through bonded logistics amounted to 455.5 billion yuan, up 5.8% year on year and making up 23.9% of the total.During the period, the city posted an increase of 4.6%, 6.6%, 12.6%, respectively, in trade with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries, Belt and Road countries, and central and eastern European countries.Exports of mechanical and electrical products reached 851.5 billion yuan, up by 6% year on year and accounting for 78.4% of the city's total exports in the past seven months.Mechanical and electrical products also remained to be the main force in imports, accounting for 80% of the city’s total imports in the past seven months. Products, such as integrated circuit, automatic data processing equipment and spare parts, diodes, electrical materials, capacitors, and audio-video equipment and spare parts, were most imported.Shenzhen Qianhai Comprehensive Bonded Zone, which was established two years ago, posted an increase of 49.6% year on year in foreign trade from January to July, which totaled 117.5 billion yuan. The zone is now home to five enterprises generating more than 10 billion yuan of foreign trade annually each and 15 enterprises with an annual foreign trade value of 1 billion yuan each.

Shenzhen's market entities exceed 3.8M by end of July

08-17, 2022

The number of market entities registered in Shenzhen exceeded 3.8 million by the end of July, up 4% year on year, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.The number of Shenzhen's market entities has grown from less than 1 million to around 3.835 million within a decade. The total amount of Shenzhen's market entities has ranked first among big and medium-sized cities in China for many years.The rapid growth of market entities is empowered by innovation. The city government’s work report in 2021 not only emphasized the improvement of innovation capability, but also collaboration in the tech industry.Shenzhen is now home to over 3,100 innovation platforms of different categories, the report said.Liu Chenli, director of the Institute of Synthetic Biology of Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, piloted a construction program in Guangming Science City to allow research institutes and companies to work in the same building. The design can speed up the incubation and development of scientific and technological companies.Shenzhen this year will add 500,000 market entities, 500 national high-tech companies and 100 national "little giant" companies, as per the city's government work report.Shenzhen also took a lead in the country to step up business environment reform and was named as the pilot city for business environment innovation.In face of the pandemic, Shenzhen rolled out a slew of measures to support market entities.Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) E-mobility officially inaugurated its Shenzhen office in Nanshan on Aug. 9."Shenzhen's environment and quality resources offered excellent conditions for our business development. We are confident in China's market and will expand our investment in Shenzhen and China," said Frank Mühlon, chief executive officer of ABB E-mobility Business.Over 100,000 foreign-invested companies have been set up in Shenzhen. The city has absorbed over US$300 billion in foreign investment contracts. Nearly 300 of the world’s top 500 companies have invested in Shenzhen.In 2021, the total foreign trade import and export volume in Shenzhen exceeded 3.5 trillion yuan (US$520 billion). The city's total export volume ranked first among mainland cities for 29 consecutive years, according to the report.In addition, a group of companies including China Electronics Corporation and ZTE have based their headquarters in Shenzhen. The headquarters economy has also served as an important engine for Shenzhen’s high-quality development and internationalization

SZ's banking sector ranks 3rd in total assets in H1

08-02, 2022

In the first half (H1) of the year, Shenzhen's banking sector ranked third among large and medium-sized Chinese cities in terms of total assets, as well as deposits and loans, according to the Shenzhen office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.The CBIRC data for H1 showed that Shenzhen's total banking assets stood at 12.01 trillion yuan (US$1.77 trillion) by June 30, up 9.35% year on year.The sector's loan balance was 8.36 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.38% year on year, while the deposit balance rose by 9.74% year on year to reach 8.56 trillion yuan.According to the statistics, the city's bad loan ratio was 1.60%, 0.17 percentage points lower than the national average in the same period.The city's insurance industry accumulated assets reaching over 766 billion yuan by the end of June, up 16.41% year on year.In the first half of this year, Shenzhen's banking and insurance sectors further strengthened the financial support for small and micro enterprises as well as self-employed people that were hit hard by the pandemic outbreaks.Loans worth 131.56 billion yuan were lent to transportation, logistics, catering and lodging, tourism and culture, wholesale and retail industries, as part of the city's stimulus package, CBIRC's Shenzhen office said.

23 SZ firms listed as companies with most potential in metaverse

06-17, 2022

A total of 23 Shenzhen-based companies including Tencent and Huawei were listed on Hurun China Metaverse Companies with the Greatest Potential 2022 released by Hurun Research Institute on Wednesday.Shenzhen ranked third in the number of listed companies, following Beijing (55) and Shanghai (33). Moreover, 22% of the companies are based in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.The list included the top 200 Chinese enterprises with the greatest development potential in metaverse. Companies such as China Mobile, China Telecom, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, Huawei and ZTE were among the top 20.Tech companies accounted for 38% of the total listed companies, while application enterprises took up 23%, followed by companies in fields of platform technology (20%), intelligent terminals (10%) and network technology (8%)."This is because metaverse needs the support of digital facilities, which is both a challenge and an opportunity for chip companies, especially the leading companies in the fields of GPU chips, MCU chips, LED chips, Wi-Fi chips and sensor chips. At the same time, metaverse needs cloud computing to process data, so data companies also have great potential," Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher, explained.In addition, the companies whose main businesses were mostly in software and data services, accounted for 17%, followed by semiconductor companies (16%), as well as media and entertainment enterprises (15%).Hoogewerf added that "companies in the media and entertainment industries have actively used existing technical means to explore the application possibilities of metaverse. At present, games, films and virtual IPs are popular test fields.""According to a recent CitiBank forecast, the total number of metaverse users will reach 5 billion by 2030, and the potential market size of the metaverse economy may reach between US$8 trillion and US$13 trillion. This is a huge market involving many fields, which will significantly impact people's future life," Hoogewerf said.

SZ's trade with RCEP countries hits ¥279.1B

06-17, 2022

Shenzhen's foreign trade with the other 14 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries reached 279.1 billion yuan (US$41.82 billion) in the first four months of this year, up 1.5% year on year and accounting for 27% of the city’s total trade.Exports between Shenzhen and RCEP members reached 96.59 billion yuan, an increase of 8.1% percent year on year.Among export products, mechanical and electrical products accounted for over 70% of the total, reaching 70.97 billion yuan and registering a 9.1% growth year on year. Exports of data processing equipment and spare parts such as electrical equipment, computers, medical devices and mobile phones all kept a two-digit growth.Imports of mechanical and electrical equipment reached 152.4 billion yuan, accounting for 80% of the total imports.

SZ utilizes US$2.1B foreign capital in Q1

05-11, 2022

Shenzhen's actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$2.1 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, a surge of 32% year on year, according to data released by the city's commerce bureau.The city has become increasingly attractive to foreign investors thanks to its favorable business environment, officials from the bureau said.Shenzhen is now home to corporations from over 160 countries and regions, including nearly 300 companies on the Fortune 500 list. It has so far approved over 100,000 projects with direct foreign investment, official figures show.Government support and incentives have ensured the steady growth of foreign investment in Shenzhen, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.Last year, Shenzhen issued measures for encouraging multinational corporations (MNCs) to set up headquarters enterprises in the city, rewarding recognized headquarters firms with 3 to 6 million yuan (US$447,921-895,843). So far, 35 foreign-invested enterprises have been identified as MNCs' headquarters enterprises in Shenzhen, including Walmart, Kareway Health, Shenzhen Smoore Technology and Flex, among others.At the end of April, a total of 14 projects using foreign capital were awarded some 280 million yuan as part of the city government's incentive plan for this year's foreign capital utilization.In recent years, the actual amount of foreign capital used in Shenzhen has been on the rise.Government data showed that between 2016 and 2021, over 40,000 foreign-invested enterprises were established in the city, with the accumulated actual use of foreign capital reaching US$49 billion. The amount of foreign investment increased from US$6.6 billion in 2016 to a record high of US$10 billion in 2021.In 2021, nearly 6,000 foreign-invested enterprises were established in the city, up by 30% year on year.To create a more transparent, stable and predictable foreign investment environment, Shenzhen is actively introducing policies on foreign investment R&D centers, improving the public service system for foreign investment promotion, and accelerating the construction of a market-oriented and law-based business environment.

SZ attracts more foreign investments

04-14, 2022

Nearly 6,000 foreign-invested enterprises were established in Shenzhen in 2021, up by 30% year on year, a source from Shenzhen's commerce bureau said.The city's actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$10 billion, up by more than 20% year on year, the report said.So far, Shenzhen had gathered enterprises from 160 countries and regions including 300 in Fortune 500.The number of direct foreign investment projects has reached 100,000 accumulatively.Shenzhen has gained widespread recognition from international investors. Its policy supports and incentives are the key factors in attracting foreign investments.Earlier this year, the Standing Committee of the Seventh Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress unveiled a draft of Foreign Investment Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone to seek public suggestions.The city will promote the building of a foreign-related legal service system and let foreign companies enjoy the same support policies designed for local companies, according to the draft.It will build a mechanism for urgently needed talents and streamline procedures for foreign talents to live and work in Shenzhen. The city will issue measures like faster entry in the country to support foreign-funded enterprises and make it more attractive to these talents, the draft showed.In January 2021, the Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on Optimizing Business Environment came into force.The regulations eased the market access by allowing all market entities not on the foreign investment "negative list" to have equal access. Also in 2021, the city issued regulations to encourage multinationals to set up headquarters in Shenzhen and 35 foreign-invested enterprises like Walmart, CR Vanguard, Kareway Health and McQuay have been identified as headquarters enterprises of multinational corporations in Shenzhen.Data showed the actual use of foreign investments kept increasing from US$6.6 billion in 2016 to US$10 billion in 2021, and over 40,000 foreign-invested enterprises were set up during the period.Qianhai has become a major destination for foreign investments. Qianhai’s actual use of foreign investments had taken up 50% of its total investments.

City aims to build intl. VC center

04-08, 2022

Shenzhen has rolled out a raft of measures to advance the sustainable and high-quality development of venture capital (VC) investing and build the city into an international VC center, with the measures effective Thursday and valid for five years.The city is offering a reward of 5 million yuan (US$785,500) to the management company of a newly established or relocated private equity (PE) and VC firm if it has invested a total of 400 million yuan or its equivalent in foreign currency in unlisted companies in Shenzhen within three years of its establishment.A single reward for the management company is limited to a maximum of 20 million yuan.Newly established or relocated management companies of private securities investment funds that manage 10 billion yuan and 20 billion yuan or its equivalent in foreign currency, will be awarded 3 million yuan and 5 million yuan, respectively.For PE and VC firms, as well as their management companies, with operating income (including investment income) of more than 200 million yuan and a year-on-year increase of over 10%, or total profit of over 200 million yuan in the previous full fiscal year, they will be rewarded 5% of the investment income generated upon exit in the previous year, with a maximum reward of 20 million yuan for each management company.Shenzhen supports PE and VC firms to increase investment in the city's innovative technology companies in the seed stage or startup stage, as per the measures.Investors of management companies who have invested in the city's innovative technology companies in the seed or startup stage for more than two years will be rewarded 10% of the actual investment. The maximum reward for investing in a single company is 1 million yuan.All districts as well as Dapeng New Area and Shenshan Special Cooperation Zone are encouraged to initiate the establishment and participation of angel funds and VC funds, and to explore the establishment of risk sharing and profit transfer mechanisms, according to the measures.Meanwhile, Shenzhen will offer subsidies to PE and VC firms, as well as their management companies that purchase or rent self-use office space in the city and supports the construction of VC investing demonstration areas.The city strives to direct social capital to invest in innovative projects in high-tech industries, strategic emerging industries and future industries, as well as to enrich the exit channels for private market investors, according to the measures.Shenzhen will establish a PE fund dispute mediation center in line with international practices, strengthen intellectual property rights protection, improve investor education and protection, and encourage the use of legal means to resolve disputes.Official data showed that Shenzhen ranked second in China with 4,308 registered PE firms managing 19,800 funds as of the end of 2021. The city ranked third in China, following Beijing and Shanghai, in terms of assets under management by PE firms, which totaled 2.27 trillion yuan.