SZ tops foreign trade competitiveness list

10 25, 2021

Shenzhen ranked first among China's top 100 foreign trade cities for 2020, according to a list released recently by China Customs magazine sponsored by the General Administration of Customs.Shenzhen dominated the No. 1 position for 13 consecutive years since the journal published the foreign trade comprehensive competitiveness ranking in 2008. Shanghai and Suzhou ranked second and third respectively for the 2020 list. Moreover, Shenzhen also scored the highest for capacity and potential competitiveness indexes.Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Shenzhen's foreign trade industry has maintained a strong momentum. In 2020, the city's total import and export value reached 3.05 trillion yuan (US$477.69 billion), up 2.4 percent from the previous year, ranking second in China. The city's total import value was 1.35 trillion yuan, up 3.6 percent, ranking third in the country, while its total export value was 1.7 trillion yuan, up 1.5 percent, ranking first among mainland cities for 28 years in a row.In terms of the processing trade industry, Shenzhen Customs has implemented a pilot reform, shortening administrative procedures for enterprises, which enjoy customs examination guarantee payment exemptions. During the first three quarters, Shenzhen's total import and export value in this sector grew 20.3 percent year on year, reaching 640.09 billion yuan.In terms of the advanced manufacturing export industry, Shenzhen continues to play a highly competitive role in the global market this year. Shenzhen's sound industrial chains and company clusters in South China enable micro, small and medium-sized businesses to export commodities to foreign countries.In terms of the cross-border e-commerce industry, Shenzhen's Qianhaiwan Free Trade Port Area took lead in rolling out cross-border e-commerce import and export business pilot policies in 2013. Statistics showed that the export and import value of cross-border e-commerce regulated by Shenzhen Customs has increased 35 times in the last five years, pushing forward with Shenzhen's foreign trade structure optimization. The authority is also actively building a logistics system combining multiple transportations by sea, rail and land.A total of 10 cities from Guangdong Province entered the listing for the top 100 foreign trade cities. Apart from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Foshan, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing and Zhanjiang made it to the list.

City's banking industry assets reach 10.99 trillion yuan

10 12, 2021

Shenzhen banking industry's total assets had witnessed a year-on-year growth of 12.84 percent and reached 10.9 trillion yuan (US$1.7 trillion) at the end of June, ranking third among large and medium-sized Chinese cities, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.Looking at the city's banking industry’s balance sheet, its deposits amounted to 7.8 trillion yuan by the end of June, up 10.49 percent year on year. Its loans totaled 7.48 trillion yuan, up 12.74 percent year on year. According to economist Song Qinghui, Shenzhen’s banking industry has played an indispensable role in promoting economic development and is an important force behind "Shenzhen Speed."In 2020, Shenzhen’s financial institutions in the banking industry had a total of 2,005 service outlets, 83,623 employees and 35 corporations including large commercial banks, foreign-funded banks, trust companies and finance companies, statistics from the People’s Bank of China, Shenzhen Central Sub-branch showed.With the development of fintech, bank outlets are also adapting to the changes of the times and exploring new business formats with personalized and customized characteristics for different customer groups.In addition, noticeable effects can be seen after Shenzhen banks’ credit funds have returned to the main business and supported the real economy.As per data from the Shenzhen office of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as of the end of June, the balance of inclusive loans granted to micro and small businesses totaled 1.04 trillion yuan, up 39.39 percent year on year.Meanwhile, new loans issued by the city's banking industry are mainly invested in manufacturing and strategic emerging industries.As of the end of June, the balance of loans for manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, and technology enterprises reached 851.1 billion yuan, 455.8 billion yuan and 565.7 billion yuan, respectively.Shenzhen’s banking industry has also continued to classify asset risks and strengthened the disposal of nonperforming assets.By the end of this June, nonperforming loans' balance was about 100.81 billion yuan, a decline of 1.54 billion yuan over the beginning of the year. Nonperforming loan ratio stood at 1.35 percent, down 0.13 percentage points from the beginning of the year and 0.51 percentage points lower than the national level.

SZ attracts 229 Global 500 firms

09 30, 2021

The Pearl River Delta region had attracted a total of 276 Fortune Global 500 enterprises for investment by the end of December 2020, among which 256 invested in Guangzhou and 229 invested in Shenzhen.According to Fortune Global 500’s 2021 investment report in Guangdong released Tuesday, 350 Fortune Global 500 enterprises have invested in 2,416 enterprises in Guangdong Province, with accumulative registered capital scale at US$180.7 billion. Among the enterprises, 93 percent are located in the Pearl River Delta area and 67.5 percent, or 1,632, are located in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.The investments of Fortune Global 500 enterprises in Guangdong ranked third in China, following Beijing and Shanghai.In terms of overseas investments by Fortune Global 500 firms, 83.6 percent came from Asia, with Hong Kong taking up 60 percent followed by Singapore at 32 percent during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the report showed.In the secondary industry, overseas investments by Fortune Global 500 firms in Guangdong mainly focus on energy manufacturing and supply, with registered capital of US$13.88 billion, taking up 97.8 percent of the industry’s total registered capital by these firms.In the tertiary industry, investments by these firms are mainly in business services, whose combined registered capitals reached US$6.96 billion, taking up over 50 percent of their total registered capital invested in the tertiary industory.

City’s digital economy takes lead in China

08 26, 2021

Shenzhen's digital economy ranked first among Chinese cities in terms of both added value and its proportion to the city's total GDP, the city’s industry and information technology bureau said at a news conference in Guangzhou on Tuesday.According to the bureau, Shenzhen’s core digital industries' added value hit 844.6 billion yuan (US$130 billion) in 2020, accounting for 30.5 percent of the city's GDP.The output value of electronic information manufacturing reached 2.2 trillion yuan, making up 20 percent of the country's total.Shenzhen is home to 21 of China's top 100 electronic information enterprises. The revenue of its software businesses is 10 percent of the country’s total, ranking second among Chinese major cities. The city boasts 11 software enterprises that are among the country’s top 100.Shenzhen has expedited the digital transformation of manufacturing.In 2020, Bao'an District became a national demonstration base for new type industries and Longhua District was approved to be a provincial demonstration base for industrial internet.Huawei, Foxconn and Tencent made it onto the 15 enterprises in China's cross-industry and cross-sector industrial internet platform list.The city has also sped up construction of its digital infrastructure.By the end of 2020, Shenzhen had completed installations of 47,600 5G stations, becoming the world’s first city with full 5G network coverage.The city's free WiFi covers 90 percent of public areas. Shenzhen is also the country's first to start laying out multifunctional smart poles.Also at the news conference, Guangdong’s top legislature announced the regulation on promoting digital economy development will take effect in September.Last year saw Guangdong's digital economy generate added value of 5.5 trillion yuan, or 46.8 percent of the provincial total, topping the country, the provincial government said at the conference.China's digital economy increased 9.6 percent year on year in 2020, the fastest growth rate globally, according to an industry white paper released earlier this month by the China Academy of Information.The U.S. continued to lead the world in terms of digital economy scale, which hit US$13.6 trillion in 2020, followed by China (US$5.4 trillion), Germany (US$2.54 trillion), Japan (US$2.48 trillion) and the U.K. (US$1.79 trillion).

Longgang ranks 5th among top 100 strong districts

08 19, 2021

Longgang District ranks No. 5 among the top 100 districts of cities in China, according to the report of the White Paper on High-quality Economic Development in China’s Urban Areas in 2021 and CCID Top 100 Strong Districts in 2021 released by CCID Consulting on its official website Aug. 17.CCID Consulting is reportedly the first Chinese consulting firm listed in the Growth Enterprise Market of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.The report showed Nanshan District topped the list for the fourth straight year. Guangzhou’s Tianhe District and Shenzhen’s Futian District came in second and third on the list, while Longgang District and Bao’an District took the fifth and eighth place, respectively. Among the top 10, eight are in Guangdong Province.The report used statistical data to select the top 100 districts in China, adopting 23 indicators to evaluate the development of 906 districts of prefecture-level cities (excluding municipalities directly under the Central Government, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) from five categories including economic strength, growth potential, internal support, energy scale and development.In 2020, Longgang’s GDP was 474.45 billion yuan. The added value of its industrial enterprises above designated size reached 278.46 billion yuan. The total fixed assets investment was 132.18 billion yuan. The total consumer goods retail sales reached 127.01 billion yuan. The total tax revenue reached 69.06 billion yuan, with an increase of 6.8 percent. The general public budget revenue was 27.04 billion yuan, up by 11.6 percent.Since CCID Consulting released such a report in 2018, Longgang District has ranked among the top five in the list of top 100 strong districts in China for four consecutive years, which reflects the stable and strong economic development of the district.During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Longgang saw great improvement in its comprehensive strength, with an annual increase of 8 percent in GDP, exceeding 300 billion yuan and 400 billion yuan in succession. The average annual growth of the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 10.6 percent.Longgang is home to one enterprise with a value worth over 100 billion yuan and four enterprises with value worth over 10 billion yuan. The number of commercial entities has increased from 325,000 to 741,000. The number of patent applications maintained an average annual growth of 20 percent. Its PCT application accounted for one-third of the city’s total.

RCEP pact saves SZ firms Ұ5.86b in tariffs in first 7 months

08 13, 2021

Shenzhen companies have enjoyed a total of 5.86 billion yuan (US$900 million) of tariff reductions in trade with countries under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement between January and July this year, Shenzhen Customs said Thursday.Of the total, 3.53 billion yuan went to importers and 2.33 billion yuan to exporters.The RCEP, the world’s largest trade deal measured in terms of GDP signed by 15 Asia-Pacific nations in November last year, involves all 10 ASEAN members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, accounting for about 30 percent of global GDP and one-third of the world population.The RCEP is expected to progressively lower tariffs, eventually eliminating as much as 92 percent on imports between its parties within 20 years of coming into effect. It will also look to allow freer movement of goods within the region by allowing participating countries preferential access to growing markets and allowing companies to export products anywhere within the bloc without having to meet separate requirements for each country, thereby reducing costs and time. The unified rule of origin helps facilitate international supply chains and reduce export costs throughout the bloc."Our company imports different types of electronic components from Japan and tariffs of some components were as high as 12 percent," said Shi, an employee in charge of customs declaration at a telecommunication company in the city. "With the implementation of the RCEP agreement, import tariffs have gradually decreased. This increases the competitiveness of our products."In 2020, auto maker BYD imported stamping molds worth about 120 million yuan from Japan, which would have cost the company nearly 10 million yuan in tariffs, said the head of the customs declaration department of the company surnamed Liu."Thanks to the RCEP pact, the tariffs for the same imports will be approximately cut by about 614,000 yuan in the first year and will be cut to zero gradually," Liu said. "Lowered manufacturing cost will help enhance our cars' competitiveness in the global market and boost the new-energy vehicle industry."Shenzhen Transsion Holdings Co., Ltd., a mobile phone manufacturer, is another beneficiary of the pact.In one case, the company sells to Thailand self-made smartphones with display screens made of Japan-imported glass. It is entitled to tariff reductions since the phone is treated as a made-in-China piece under the unified rule of origin because the trade is conducted within RCEP member countries.

Workstations bring convenience to foreign-invested firms in city

07 12, 2021

The Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau recently presented accomplishments of 14 workstations, which were set up to protect the rights and interests of the city’s foreign-invested enterprises.The 14 workstations are nonprofit organizations co-founded by the bureau and two Shenzhen-based business associations. They comprise two workstations at the municipal level, two at the district level and 10 in key industrial parks, where many foreign-funded firms are concentrated.Service specialists working in key industrial park workstations provide specific solutions to practical difficulties foreign enterprises encounter in production and operation. These workstations are responsible for the firms in the park, as well as the neighboring ones.“The preferential policies, intellectual property regulations and labor dispute arbitration are top problems foreign-invested companies inquire about. We also help them in terms of a factory’s rent and relocation, visa issues of expat employees entering or leaving China amid the pandemic and so on,” Liu Jin, a staffer in charge of the two municipal-level workstations, told Shenzhen Daily.Sui Xinyuan, a service specialist with the Shenzhen Bay Eco-Technology Park workstation in Nanshan District, recalled a case in which a foreign-funded digital medical enterprise learned about the city’s supporting policies when the workstation staffers visited the firm and introduced the latest policies to them. “The company applied for a subsidy and successfully received 2 million yuan (US$308,800),” Sui said.Meanwhile, a total of 12 law and policy publicity conferences have been held for all companies with overseas capital in Shenzhen which tackled issues about firms’ concerns such as taxation, customs clearance, foreign exchange and foreign capital management. Over 1,200 enterprise representatives attended offline and more than 30,000 people watched online, according to data provided by the bureau.In the past year, many foreign firms enjoyed the workstations’ support regarding work, production resumption and vaccinations. "A foreign firm found it difficult to get its employees the second (vaccine) dose. The local workstation made a group appointment and rented a bus to take staffers to a designated vaccination site," said Liu. As of now, the workstations have assisted 54 enterprises in this regard.The latest data shows that from January to May this year, Shenzhen set up over 2,400 foreign-funded enterprises, absorbing more than US$12.4 billion in foreign investment. The city’s actual use of foreign investment exceeded US$3.1 billion with a year-on-year growth of 26 percent, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

2,400 foreign-funded firms set up in SZ in first 5 months

07 09, 2021

More than 2,400 foreign-invested companies were set up in Shenzhen in the first five months this year, attracting more than US$12.4 billion of contractual foreign investment, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Wednesday, quoting the municipal commerce bureau.The city’s actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$3.1 billion from January to May this year, an increase of 26 percent year on year.The inflow of foreign investment in newly emerging industries has injected strong impetus into Shenzhen’s drive to build itself into an international innovation-based city and a global commercial and trade hub, the report said.At Minzhi Subdistrict in Longhua District, work on the South China headquarters of U.S.-based global retailer giant Costco is making its headway, which will house its South China flagship store.Nike also set up its global technology center in Shenzhen in the first half of the year.In terms of investment structure, according to the bureau, the tertiary and high-tech industries have absorbed a large proportion of Shenzhen’s foreign direct investment over recent years.Sectors of next-generation information technology, high-end manufacturing, new materials, biomedicine, finance, commodity circulation and digital economy are preferred by foreign investors.Shenzhen is ramping up efforts to attract foreign investment by optimizing its business environment and rolling out incentives.It has introduced a spate of measures to encourage multinational companies to establish regional headquarters and organizations with headquarters functions in the city.The measures, which highlight a tiered reward system with a maximum reward of 6 million yuan (US$928,000), became effective March 1.The city has also taken the country’s lead to establish work stations to better serve foreign-funded businesses.So far, two city-level stations, two district-level stations in Longgang and Longhua districts, and 10 in key industrial parks across the city have been set up.Foreign-funded enterprises account for only 2 percent of business entities in Shenzhen. However, they generate about one-fifth of the city’s GDP, 40 percent of its import and export volume, and nearly 30 percent of its tax revenue every year, 2020 data from the commerce bureau showed.

Commission offers R&D subsidies to enterprises

07 07, 2021

The 2021-2022 accreditation and subsidy application for research institutions of key enterprises in Shenzhen started Monday, sources from the Shenzhen Municipal Science, Technology and Innovation Commission said Monday.The commission is formulating related measures. The city supports enterprises having strong research capacity to establish company-affiliated R&D institutions that have no independent legal entity.According to the measures, the number of accredited key enterprises' research institutions in the city is limited within 20 each year, and a company can apply only one of its research organizations.The subsidy for each accredited enterprise is 25 percent of the company's average R&D spending in the past two years. The maximum subsidy is 10 million (US$1.54 million).The commission stipulates that the establishment of accredited research organizations must be completed prior to the application for accreditation. Qualified applicants can log on to Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technology Business Management System at https://sticapply.sz.gov.cn/ to submit project applications online before July 30.In another development, the commission released the 2022 Integrated Circuit (IC) Special Subsidy for Planned Projects on Monday. Organizations complying with standards can log on to https://sticapply.sz.gov.cn/ to submit their applications before Aug. 4. The subsidies are open only to IC designing enterprises' tape-out, IP purchase, and R&D of IC EDA (electronic design automation) designing tools.