DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ China EV brand Zeekr to launch its first luxury sports car
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A man walks past a sign of Geely's new premium electric vehicle (EV) brand Zeekr at its factory in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China April 15, 2021. REUTERS/Yilei Sun/File PhotoSHANGHAI, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's Zeekr, Geely Automobile's (0175.HK) electric vehicle brand, said on Thursday it will launch its first luxury sports car, which will be priced above 1 million yuan ($140,000). BYD launched an electric off-road SUV with a starting price of 1.098 million yuan as the first model under its luxury brand Yangwang in January. Founded in 2021 as a premium EV brand, Zeekr has three models for sales with starting prices ranging from 189,800 yuan to 499,000 yuan. ($1 = 7.2116 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Miral FahmyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Geely Automobile's, Tesla, EVs, BYD, Zeekr, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Edmund Klamann Organizations: REUTERS, Yilei, HK, EV, Thomson Locations: Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China

☆ Analysis-China's stubborn savers risk precipitating liquidity trap
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Winni Zhou | Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

“Based on Japan’s experience in the 1990s, there is the risk that China is entering a liquidity trap due to the risks of balance-sheet recession,” said Natixis’s chief economist for Asia Pacific Alicia Garcia Herrero. Fan Gang, a prominent economist and former adviser to the central bank, told a forum in June that China faces a liquidity trap but not a Japan-style deflationary morass. Yet about 180 domestic A-share companies say in their stock filings that they have invested in CDs this year. China’s 220 million retail stock investors, equivalent to Brazil’s population and the biggest drivers of daily moves, have kept to the sidelines this year. “I wouldn’t pour money into the stock market any time before I see a clear rising trend,” he said.

Persons: Florence Lo, ”, Asia Pacific Alicia Garcia Herrero, “, Byron Gill, ‘, ” Gill, Betty Wang, Wu, ” Wu, John Organizations: REUTERS, Companies, Asia Pacific, Pacific Opportunities Fund, U.S, Bank, ANZ, Eastroc Beverage, China Merchants Bank, Bank of Ningbo’s Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, Japan, China, Bank, Shanghai

Analysts see the same lack of confidence in today's Chinese households and companies that Japan grappled with in the 1990s. But in China's case there is a key difference; there is no deflationary threat yet, nor have banks switched off lending. Fan Gang, a prominent economist and former adviser to the central bank, told a forum in June that China faces a liquidity trap but not a Japan-style deflationary morass. China's policymakers have cut rates and encouraged banks to lend more in efforts to revive economic growth after the pandemic. China's 220 million retail stock investors, equivalent to Brazil's population and the biggest drivers of daily moves, have kept to the sidelines this year.

Persons: Florence Lo, Asia Pacific Alicia Garcia Herrero, Byron Gill, Gill, Betty Wang, Wu, John, Winni Zhou, Rae Wee, Vidya Ranganathan, Shri Navaratnam Organizations: REUTERS, Companies, Asia Pacific, Pacific Opportunities Fund, U.S, Bank, ANZ, Eastroc Beverage, China Merchants Bank, Bank of Ningbo's, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, Japan, China, Bank, Shanghai, Singapore

SEOUL/SHANGHAI, July 31 (Reuters) - Chinese battery materials firms are ramping up investment in South Korea, announcing projects worth at least $4.4 billion this year to try to meet U.S. electric vehicle (EV) tax credit rules aimed at lowering reliance on China's supply chains. The IRA, designed to wean the U.S. off the Chinese supply chain for electric vehicles (EVs), will also eventually bar tax credits if any EV battery components were manufactured by a "foreign entity of concern", a provision aimed at China. South Korea has a free-trade agreement with the United States that would likely make batteries manufactured in the North Asian nation and later installed in U.S.-manufactured electric cars eligible for the federal tax credits. SK On and its supplier EcoPro Co (086520.KQ) also announced a joint venture with China's Green Eco Manufacture to make battery precursors in South Korea. POSCO Holdings (005490.KS) said last month it would cooperate with China's CNGR Advanced Material (300919.SZ) on nickel refining and precursor production in South Korea.

Persons: Kang Dong, hasn't, China's, 1,274.0000, Heekyong Yang, Zoey Zhang, Miyoung Kim, Tom Hogue Organizations: SK, U.S, Hyundai Motor Securities, China JV, U.S . Treasury Department, South, New Energy Technology, Reuters, Zhejiang, LG Chem, LG Energy, EcoPro, China's, POSCO Holdings, LG, Samsung SDI, EV, Thomson Locations: SEOUL, SHANGHAI, South Korea, United States, China, U.S, Korea, Ningbo, Seoul, South Korean, Korean, KS, Shanghai

☆ Their parents made China the world's factory. Can the kids save the family business?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( David Kirton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Du, like tens of thousands of other young Chinese factory bosses, is inheriting a basic manufacturing business that can no longer rely on the labour-intensive model that made China the world's largest exporter of goods. Those skills would come in handy in a factory the Chinese state set up in 1951 and privatised in 2002. Like five of the other chang er dai who spoke to Reuters, Zhang never planned to take over the factory. Chang er dai, however, help lift the bottom, which is also important for preserving China's share of world manufacturing, two industry experts told Reuters. Not all chang er dai will get there.

Persons: Steven Du, Du, Zhang Zhipeng, Mao Zedong's, Du said, Zhang, Zhang Zeqing, Chang, Zhou Yuxiang, Tian Weihua, Tian, Zhang Ying, David Kirton, Marius Zaharia, David Crawshaw Organizations: Shenzhen Research Institute of High, Reuters, Apple, Agricultural Products, Lake Technologies, Science, Technology Innovation Research Institute, University of Arts, Workers, Thomson Locations: RUICHANG, China, Shanghai, Southeast Asia, India, New Zealand, United States, TW, Wisconsin, Ruichang, France, London, Ningbo

☆ The US Navy has its eyes on a new submarine base that will help it keep track of China's growing undersea fleet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

As part of the AUKUS agreement, US and British subs will operate out of western Australia by 2027. The deal on the base comes as rivals, mainly China, increase their submarine activity in the region. Ray Mabus, then US navy secretary, departs a Chinese Yuan-class submarine in Ningbo in November 2012. The Defense Department report also says China's six operational Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile subs are likely already conducting "near-continuous at-sea deterrence patrols," a sign that China's submarine force continues to improve its operational capabilities. For the US Navy, those developments make the ability to base subs closer to the Western Pacific a greater priority.

☆ China's May Day holiday spending exceeds pre-pandemic levels for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong CNN —Holiday spending during China’s Golden Week has surged past pre-pandemic levels for the first time in three years, in a sign the country’s travelers have fully emerged from the depths of Covid-related restrictions and are eager to live large to make up for lost time. Alipay, the country’s biggest digital payment app, reported a 200% increase in online holiday spending from a year earlier. “The fact that domestic tourism spending is now back to 2019 levels suggests that the reopening boost to consumer spending has largely run its course,” said Capital Economics analysts in a Thursday report. “The swift recovery in in-person services has been the major driver of China’s post-Covid recovery this year,” they said. However, “the lackluster property recovery, a global slowdown and rising geopolitical conflict remain major challenges for China’s recovery to be sustained.”

☆ China regulators plan new bond market rules, will coordinate more after turmoil, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"After the chaos, coordination between bodies will be strengthened," one of the regulatory sources said. Turnover in the market — the world's second-largest bond market with $21 trillion in notes outstanding — slid and traders said they had to scramble to chat groups for quotes. In contrast to the pre-ban market, Tullet Prebon's data is now available on all other bond market information platforms including Wind, Dealing Matrix and government-affiliated iDeal. China's interbank bond market operator also said on March 20 that iDeal now offers price data from six interdealer brokers. The strength of the market's reaction to the data ban had surprised authorities, according to one of the regulatory sources.

[1/3] A staff member attends to visitors at an oven retailer at the China Import and Export Fair, also known as Canton Fair, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China April 16, 2023. REUTERS/Ellen ZhangGUANGZHOU, April 16 (Reuters) - Chinese exporters exhibiting their products at the country's largest trade fair said the weak global economy was hurting their businesses, with many freezing investments and some cutting labour costs in response. Lin said the company cannot afford to sell at lower prices, but it may look to reduce labour costs. Vicky Chen, foreign trade manager at socket producer Qinjia Electric, said she did not expect a big sales boost at the fair, which runs until May 5. "The whole global economy is fairing poorly at the moment, and the fair won't change that."

☆ Exclusive: Tesla taps Asian partners to address 4680 battery concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Details about Tesla's Cybertruck battery strategy, including use of 4680 cells and consideration of other options, have not been reported. The Tesla-designed 4680 cell - so named for its external dimensions (46mm diameter, 80mm length) - is crucial to future production plans. Last year, LG said it planned to open a new 4680 production line at its Ochang plant in Korea in the second half of 2023. Tesla also has been installing first-generation 4680 cells with "wet" cathodes in so-called structural packs in Texas-built Model Ys. Tesla plans to use a cathode with more than 90% nickel in the next generation of 4680 cells, two sources said.

HONG KONG, March 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - European financial centres are rolling out the red carpet for Chinese companies. Its free-float market capitalisation of $1.9 trillion is just a tenth of the New York Stock Exchange, January data from the World Federation of Exchanges show. Yet as tensions between Washington and Beijing rise and Chinese companies in New York face the threat of delisting, traditionally neutral Zurich has become an attractive alternative. That removes the risk that overseas regulators will demand access to mainland companies’ books - the source of a lengthy spat between the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and Beijing. Deutsche Börse (DB1Gn.DE), which operates Frankfurt’s stock exchange, is technically ready to launch the China-Germany Stock Connect, board representative Niels Tomm said in November.

☆ Meet the 4 men tipped to run China’s economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Hong Kong CNN —The team of Communist Party officials running China’s economy is about to get a major makeover. They include the four men tipped to manage the world’s second biggest economy: Li Qiang as premier, Ding Xuexiang as executive vice premier, He Lifeng as vice premier and Zhu Hexin as the new central bank chief. That puts the 63-year-old in line to succeed Premier Li Keqiang when he steps down during the upcoming congress. Li would be the first premier since the Mao era not to have previously worked at the State Council, China’s cabinet, as vice premier, analysts say. Stringer/ICHPL Imaginechina/AP/FileThe 68-year-old would succeed Vice Premier Liu He, who led China’s negotiations with the United States during trade talks in 2018 and 2019.

☆ China’s property crash is prompting banks to offer mortgages to 70-year-olds
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Some banks in the cities of Nanning, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Beijing have extended the upper age limit on mortgages to between 80 and 95, according to a number of state media reports. China’s property market is in the midst of a historic downturn. The mortgage borrower’s age plus mortgage length should not usually exceed 70 years, according to previous rules published by the banking regulator. Separately, a branch of Citic Bank has extended the upper age limit on its mortgages to 80, the paper said, citing a bank client manager. Other than Beijing, some banks in Nanning, the provincial capital of Guangxi province, have raised the upper age limit on mortgages to 80, according to the city’s official newspaper Nanguo Zaobao.

☆ The property market is so bad in China that some banks are letting people be on mortgages till they are 80
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some banks in China are now extending the upper age limit for mortgage borrowers to 80. Banks in cities like Beijing, Nanning, and Ningbo have raised the upper age cap. To attract more mortgage-seekers, some banks are starting to extend the upper age limit for homeowners servicing mortgages to 80 years old, according to various local media outlets. The upper age limit is typically 65 to 70 now, according to news outlet Sixth Tone. Banks have extended the upper age cap for mortgages in cities like Beijing and Nanning, the Beijing Youth Daily reported on February 14.

☆ Investments in Indonesia's nickel industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here are some of the major investment deals involving nickel in Indonesia:Jan. 2020: Indonesia bans exports of unprocessed nickel to attract investment in downstream processing. Dec. 2020: Indonesia's investment ministry signs an MOU with LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) on integrated EV battery investment with total investment of $9.8 billion. 2021: Indonesia establishes the Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC), a joint venture of state owned enterprises to cooperate with foreign investors in developing an EV battery supply chain. Jan. 2022: Indonesia's Investment Ministry signs an MoU with Foxconn (2317.TW), Gogoro Inc, IBC and Indika Energy (INDY.JK) for investment in electric vehicle and battery development. Sept 2022: Vale Indonesia signs an agreement with Zhejiang Huayou to build a second plant to produce nickel MHP with 60,000 tonnes capacity.

[1/2] A VLCC oil tanker is seen at a crude oil terminal in Ningbo Zhoushan port, Zhejiang province, China May 16, 2017. REUTERS/StringerBENGALURU, India, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Oil producers may have to reconsider their output policies following a demand recovery in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, the International Energy Agency's Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Sunday. "We expect about half of the growth in global oil demand this year will come from China," Birol told Reuters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week conference. He added that China's jet fuel demand is exploding, putting upward pressure on demand. OPEC+ rolled over the group's current output policy at a meeting on Wednesday, leaving production cuts agreed last year in place.

☆ Davos 2023: Big oil comes in from the cold on energy transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Maha El Dahan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

CHINA OUT./File Photo/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Energy transition front and centre at Davos meetingEurope energy crisis forces moment of reckoningClimate activists sceptical of oil industry inclusionDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A different type of energy transition has taken place at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting. Unlike 2021's COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, where oil and gas executives were personae non gratae, fossil fuel chiefs and renewable energy bosses sat cheek by jowl in Davos. Thunberg's was not the only voice at Davos with strong objections to the industry's new mantra that the energy crisis justifies new oil investments. Like Birol, British opposition leader Keir Starmer said the oil and gas sector has a role to play in the energy transition. Jaber, who is the founding CEO of Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy firm Masdar and has overseen the UAE's mandate to adopt renewables is not without green credentials.

If doctors believe that the death was caused solely by COVID-19 pneumonia, they must report to their superiors, who will arrange for two levels of "expert consultations" before a COVID death is confirmed, it said. "We have stopped classifying COVID deaths since the reopening in December," said a doctor at a large public hospital in Shanghai. Three other doctors at public hospitals in different cities said they were unaware of any such guidance. Before Saturday, China was reporting five or fewer COVID deaths per day. But the hospital told him it had run out of medicine, so they could only go home.

☆ China’s reopening has gotten Wall Street excited. Here’s how the pros are playing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Over the past week, a host of Wall Street banks have turned increasingly bullish on the world's second-largest economy and have upgraded their outlook on Chinese stocks. Morgan Stanley expects China's GDP to grow by an "above-consensus" 5.4% in 2023, on the back of a "fast-tracked" reopening and more proactive policy easing. Meanwhile, UBS says Chinese stocks look increasingly attractive. How to play the reopening Against this backdrop, analysts have named a slew of both Chinese and global stocks they think will benefit most from China's reopening. Bank of America's domestic reopening beneficiaries include consumer stocks such as alcoholic beverage makers Kweichow Moutai and Tsingtao Brew , airline stocks including China Southern Airlines , as well as online travel platform Trip.com .

☆ China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-Covid policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Travelers began streaming into mainland China by air, land and sea on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the abrupt policy reversal has triggered a massive wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruptions. China on Sunday also resumed issuing passports and travel visas for mainland residents, and ordinary visas and residence permits for foreigners. Beijing has quotas on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China each day. I’m thrilled, I can’t believe it’s happening,” said a business woman surnamed Shen, 55, who flew in from Hong Kong.

☆ China's new Covid surge is crippling the world's most important factories and biggest ports
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesThe surge in Covid-19 cases in China is impacting the completion of manufacturing orders, according to CNBC Supply Chain Heat Map data. "The container pickup, loading, and drayage (trucking) are also affected as all businesses are facing the impacts of COVID. Three major ports across China are experiencing supply chain delivery problems because of Covid, according to the note. "The booking cancellation is increasing as many factories can't operate properly due to a lot of workers getting invested with Covid," the report said. As a result of the Covid impact on trucking, MarineTraffic is seeing a slowdown in port productivity in Shanghai.

Now, as the country rapidly relaxes restrictions, millions of people have been told to keep going to work — even if they’re infected. For three years, its stringent approach has kept Covid cases and deaths relatively low in the country. Covid control workers walk by a closed shop near a community with residents under health monitoring for Covid on December 4 in Beijing. Top leaders at the Central Economic Work Conference, a key annual meeting that ended Friday, said in a statement that stabilizing economic growth was the top priority for 2023. Officials nationwide had worked frantically to contain Covid cases ahead of the highly sensitive twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle, which saw Chinese leader Xi Jinping emerge more powerful than ever into his third term.

☆ China property sector surges on fundraising support, but COVID protests cloud outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Xie Yu | Jason Xue | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The move is the latest regulatory easing as Beijing steps up support for the property business, a sector that accounts for a quarter of the Chinese economy. Yuan-denominated bonds issued by Chinese developers CIFI Group, Guangzhou Times Holdings, Country Garden rocketed between 20% and 50% each on Tuesday. “Most of the funding channels the property developers need are covered now,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis. “It is now up to whether the market, or basically the state players will actually support the sector,” he said. If funds could be raised from state-backed investors, there will be meaningful consolidation in the property sector, Ng said.

☆ Chinese nickel firm Lygend to raise $470 mln in Hong Kong IPO - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Alexander Marrow | Supantha Mukherjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 25 (Reuters) - Chinese nickel producer and trader Lygend Resources has priced shares at HK$15.80 apiece to raise $470m in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Ningbo-based firm sold 232.54 million shares in the IPO, the fourth largest in Hong Kong so far in 2022. The biggest IPO fundraising so far this year has been CALB's (3931.HK) $1.28 billion issue. The company says it is the world's largest nickel product trader, and the largest in China in terms of nickel ore trading in 2021, with a market share of 26.8% in 2021. ($1 = 7.8120 Hong Kong dollars)Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Georgina Lee in Hong Kong; Additional reporting Gao Zhuo; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Chinese Nickel Producer Lygend Seeks Up to $593 Million in Hong Kong IPO
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Dave Sebastian | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lygend Resources & Technology Co. , a Chinese nickel producer and trader, wants to raise as much as $593 million in its Hong Kong initial public offering, becoming the latest company along the electric-vehicle supply chain to tap public markets in a lackluster year for debuts. The company, based in Ningbo, China, said Monday that it is taking investor orders through Thursday, and that it expects to list on Dec. 1. Its offer price will be somewhere from HK$15.60—equivalent to $1.99—to HK$19.96 apiece, Lygend said. About 90% of the 232.5 million shares on offer will be available to international investors, the company added.

Search resuls for: "Ningbo"

25 mentions found