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China’s GDP expanded at its slowest pace since the mid-1970s bar the Covid-hit 2020 year, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled under tight pandemic restrictions that were abruptly ditched late in 2022.

The economy grew 3% last year, well shy of the 5.5% pace the government had targeted at the start of the year and the 8.1% recorded for 2021. The actual rate though, was better than the 2.7% predicted by the World Bank earlier this month.

Analysts will focus on the December quarter growth tally of 2.9%, which exceeded market forecasts of 1.8%, according to Reuters. The economy was roughly static compared with the previous three month, dodging the 0.8% retreat pundits had tipped.

The figures meant China’s GDP rose at the slowest pace in about half a century if the 2.2% expansion in the first Covid year of 2020 is excluded.

For most of the last three years, the Chinese government persisted with rolling lockdowns and mass testing under its Zero-Covid strategy to stop the virus spreading. It abandoned the policy early last month with little warning and without preparations for vaccination campaigns or other medical measures.

Still, the policy shift has been widely interpreted as likely to help spur economic growth in China in 2023 and beyond. The World Bank forecasts GDP growth will quicken to 4.3% this year and 5% the next, expectations that are now being exceeded by many private economists.

Uncertainties include how the soaring death toll – officially 60,000 in the last month or so, will affect wider confidence among consumers. Disruptions to supply chains as workers call in sick may dent the recovery and affect economies reliant on Chinese imports.

The health of the giant property market will be another threat to an economic revival with real estate prices continuing to fall in the final months of 2022. New government support packages to encourage buyers are likely in coming months.

China’s growth has a big influence on its neighbours – and nations such as Australia – with its voracious demand for iron ore, gas and other commodities. In the wake of the GDP release, shares in BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue – Australia’s three largest iron ore miners – were down 1.1%-1.7% compared with a 0.1% decline for the overall market.

David Bassanese, chief economist for Betashares, said that while official statistics always needed “to be taken with a grain of salt”, the GDP figures were “much better than feared in the final months of 2022”.

Retail spending and industrial production were also stronger than market expectations in the month of December alone, he said.

“This suggests the economy may have already begun to benefit from the partial reduction in Covid restrictions last month and is well placed to rebound even more strongly in the first few months of this year,” Bassanese said.

Shares of commodity producers should benefit from any acceleration of growth, he said, adding: “it also suggests this could be a banner year for the Chinese stock market”.

Some critics, though, raised doubts about the veracity of annual data that are released early in the new year – despite the size and complexity of the economy – and typically don’t get revised until years later, if at all.

Bloomberg cited Kang Yi, director of the national bureau of Statistics, as saying consumption contributed one-third, or one percentage point of China’s annual growth rate. Higher consumption appeared at odds, though, with the scale of the country’s lockdowns during 2022.

In December alone, retail sales were down 1.8%, a much better result than the 9% slump economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted.

After the dismantling of the zero-Covid policy, the virus spread rapidly through the economy, with millions of people catching it, leaving many sick off work.

The retail figure for December “jars with the turmoil and fear reported across major cities as Covid-zero was abandoned, but the survey detail makes sense of the situation,” said Elliot Clarke, Westpac’s senior economist.

Services such as catering came under substantial pressure as fears over the virus spread, with annual growth in the sector sinking from a minus 8.4% annual rate in November to minus 14.1% in December, he said.

This decline in activity was offset by precautionary purchases of medicine – which quickened 39.8% year on year in December, from an 8.3% rate in November – and food spending jumped to an annual pace of 10.5% in December, almost tripling the 3.9% rate in November.

Capital investment contributed 1.5 percentage points of growth last year as authorities continued to pour funds into new rail lines, bridges and other infrastructure. Resource exporters will be banking on further expansion in 2023 particularly as net export growth will be harder to achieve as rich economies in Europe and North America slow with some headed for recession.

“Overall, the December data round supports our long-held view that China’s economy is well positioned to not only rebound from Covid-zero, but also to grow strongly into the medium-term, averaging growth of 5% or more through 2022-2024,” Clarke said.

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Source: The Guardian

The key take-aways from the list are:
 

• Total sales among the top 100 FIEs in China reached $1 trillion in 2021 or the equivalent to 7% of China's GDP.

• 59% of companies sell direct to consumer with 41% selling to business. 81% sell physical goods with 19% selling software or services.

• Hon Hai Precision (Foxconn) maintains first place on the list with revenue of over $100 billion. VW and Apple sit in second and third respectively. VW sold 3.3 million vehicles in 2021 while Apple holds a 25% market share for phones in China. The highest-ranking British company is HSBC which sits in sixth place.

• In terms of how many companies make the list, the UK sits in joint second place with Japan on 14 companies with the US way out in front at 36 companies.

• 44 of the top 100 are from Europe (and yes, the UK is included in this number).

• The average number of employees among the top 100 FIEs in China is 30,000 with close to 3 million in total.

• Automotive sits top of the sector chart with 16 companies followed by consumer (12) and healthcare (12).

• The sectors with the highest number of new additions are chemicals (+2) and, perhaps surprisingly, semiconductors (+2). The sectors which saw the biggest drops were consumer (-2) and healthcare (-2).

• The companies to make the top 100 which entered China most recently are Tesla (2012), AMD (2004), Qualcomm (2004), JLR (2004), Tokyo Electron (2002), and Uniqlo (2002). AMD, Qualcomm, and Tokyo Electron all sit within the semiconductor sector.

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Source: Hurun.net

China is back on a pragmatic path, with the lifting of zero-COVID and property market policies that throttled domestic demand in 2022. COVID cases are likely to continue to rise in the coming months, but that is unlikely to disrupt progress towards living with the virus, and an economic recovery in the second half of 2023.

Why I’m Bullish

I’d like to explain why I’ve gone from being cautiously optimistic about Xi Jinping returning to a pragmatic path, to now being bullish on China: Xi Jinping has, in recent weeks, given clear signals that he is returning to a pragmatic approach to COVID, to the economy, and to relations with the United States.

COVID Pragmatism

The return to pragmatism began soon after the end of the Party Congress, when Xi’s third term as leader was formally confirmed. In a November 11 speech, he announced 20 measures on COVID mitigation designed to reduce obstacles to normal life.

Since that time, four important things have happened. First, most zero-COVID restrictions have been abandoned in most places in China. Routine testing is no longer required, and the government has ended the forced quarantine of people who have COVID but are not seriously ill.

Second, the end of zero-COVID has resulted in a large wave of COVID cases across the country. Because frequent, mandatory tests have largely ended, the official case count is no longer a useful metric. (This is similar to most countries, where people who test positive at home rarely report those results to the government.) Anecdotally, however, it is clear that COVID is sweeping across the country, including Beijing, where the Party leadership lives.

Third, this wave of cases does not appear to have resulted in a spike in serious illness. For the whole country, there were only 147 cases classified as “severe” on December 12. Since Xi’s November 11 speech, only nine deaths have been attributed to COVID. This may reflect that the current variant of the virus circulating in China is less dangerous than earlier iterations, and that the domestic vaccine is providing significant protection. There is, of course, a risk that the impact of the virus changes and the health care system is overwhelmed, but that is not happening at this time.

Fourth, the government has begun to ramp up its campaign to raise vaccination rates, especially for the elderly. This is important because although by late November, 90% of Chinese had received two shots (compared to 69% in the U.S. and 88% in the UK), only 58% of Chinese had received a third jab (compared to 53% in the U.S. and 70% in the UK). Moreover, about 25 million Chinese over the age of 60 had not received any jabs, and 58 million older Chinese needed a booster.

Over seven days through December 12, a total of 5.7 million doses of vaccine were administered, compared to only 760,000 doses during the seven days prior to November 11. Much more needs to be done, and it is unfortunate that this second vaccination campaign did not begin much earlier, but the process appears to be finally back on track.

All of this adds up to a significant change in direction of policy, towards living with the virus, and away from zero tolerance for cases. It is very unlikely that this change in direction could be reversed next year.

Property Pragmatism

Xi also announced in November his intention to reverse several policies that had effectively shut down the residential property market. He endorsed new measures which encourage banks and trust companies to extend maturity for construction financing, as well as support for bond issuance by privately owned developers, both of which should improve cash flow and project completion. Government-directed banks have also cut average mortgage rates by 129 basis points (1.29%) since the start of 2022, and mortgage processing time has been reduced.

This pragmatic course correction should lead to a gradual, steady recovery in new home sales in the second half of 2023.

Focused On Growth

The return to pragmatism on COVID and property appear to be part of a coordinated effort to restore consumer confidence and jumpstart the economy.

This is consistent with what Xi said at the Party Congress in October. Xi said he is “focused on promoting high-quality development,” and that he wants to “bring per capita disposable income to new heights.” At the Congress, Xi said “development is our Party’s top priority,” and that “we will provide an enabling environment for private enterprise.”

It's also worth noting that in a December 9 speech, Premier Li Keqiang said his government will take measures to promote consumption, which he called “the main driving force of economic growth.” Li reiterated support for the property market, and he signaled a lighter regulatory approach towards on-line platform companies. “The platform economy has promoted consumption and employment,” Li said, adding that the government “supports the healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy.”

This more pragmatic path will be bumpy, and implementation may stray off course during the winter as cases rise and local officials struggle with the new direction. Consumers may be free from lockdowns, but at least for the coming few months, a wave of COVID cases, although mild, may dampen sentiment and activity. The need to vaccinate many millions of older people is also a challenge.

But, short of a public health catastrophe, it is hard to imagine that the Party will return to its zero-tolerance approach, especially since the change in policy direction was personally announced by Xi, and because the virus is now so widespread in China that lockdowns would clearly be pointless.

Washington Pragmatism

Another reason I’m bullish is that when Xi and Biden met in Bali in November, both made serious efforts to put a floor under the rapidly sinking bilateral relationship.

I do not expect U.S.-China relations to improve significantly, in large part because of domestic politics in the U.S., but the odds of further deterioration were reduced as a result of their first in-person meeting since Biden was elected president.

After the meeting, Biden said, “I do not think there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan.” That is an important change from what his Secretary of State told an audience at Stanford a few weeks earlier.

In Bali, Biden also said, “I absolutely believe there’s need not be a new Cold War,” and he said about Xi, “I think that we understand one another.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Biden said, “And do I think he’s willing to compromise on various issues? Yes.”

According to the official Chinese media, Xi’s message to Biden was also constructive. Xi said he “takes very seriously” Biden’s pledge to continue with a One-China policy, and Xi said “China and the U.S. need to have a sense of responsibility for history [and] put the relationship on the right course. . . The successes of China and the U.S. are opportunities, not challenges, for each other.”

The two leaders agreed to increase the level of dialogue between their advisors, and Xi added that he will “unswervingly pursue reform and opening-up, and promote the building of an open global economy.”

It is also positive that it appears that inspectors from the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, completed their initial audits in Hong Kong without incident— I’ve heard no rumors that they didn’t get all the access they needed—which means Chinese ADRs are likely to continue trading in New York. This represents another signal from Xi that he wants to stabilize relations with Biden, and does not want financial decoupling from the U.S.

I believe U.S.-China relations will remain tense, but conflict, including over Taiwan, will be avoided.

China’s economy is driven by domestic demand, and active investment in Chinese companies selling goods and services to Chinese consumers mitigates the impact of political tensions.

Optimistic for a second half recovery

These developments over the last few weeks—on COVID, property and relations with the U.S.—leave me feeling very optimistic about prospects for the Chinese economy, especially after the end of the winter flu season, when COVID cases are likely to subside. I expect the macro data to remain weak in the first half of 2023, before a gradual recovery begins in the spring.

I understand that some may be skeptical about whether Xi will follow through on these three issues, but in my view, these pragmatic paths are all in Xi’s own self-interest.

With these recent decisions, Xi has acknowledged that, in the past, pragmatic policies have made China rich and kept the Communist Party in power, and that pragmatism is the best course for his country’s future, and for his own legacy.

Three Things to Keep in Mind

As we continue to track milestones on this path to pragmatism, there are three things investors should keep in mind:

First, China is likely to remain the only major economy engaged in serious easing of fiscal and monetary policy, while much of the world is tightening.

Second, Chinese households have been in savings mode since the start of the pandemic with family bank balances up 42% from the beginning of 2020. The net increase in household bank accounts during this period is equal to US$ 4.8 trillion, which is larger than the GDP of the UK.

Third, those funds should fuel a consumer rebound in China and a recovery in mainland equities, where domestic investors hold about 95% of the market.

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Source: By Andy Rothman for Matthews Asia

Saudi Arabia and China signed a strategic partnership agreement on Thursday during a visit by the Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the kingdom, underlining the growing ties between Beijing and a longstanding American ally that is seeking greater self-reliance.

Mr. Xi held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 37, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, in the first of a series of summits planned for the Chinese president’s three-day visit. After his bilateral meetings with Saudi officials, Mr. Xi is expected to attend twin summits with leaders from other Gulf, Arab and African countries, including Egypt, Djibouti and Iraq. The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, is also expected to join.

“This will be the largest and highest-level diplomatic event between China and the Arab world since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, told reporters on Wednesday. “It will be an epoch-making milestone in the history of China-Arab relations.”

Saudi Arabia has long been a close ally of the United States, but its ties to China have been strengthening rapidly, turning what was once a mostly oil-based relationship into a more complex one involving arms sales, technology transfers and infrastructure projects. That shift predates the leadership of Prince Mohammed, who became heir to the throne in 2017: China eclipsed the United States as Saudi Arabia’s main trading partner years ago.

But Prince Mohammed has accelerated efforts to diversify Saudi Arabia’s alliances, trying to move beyond its reliance on the United States as its main security guarantor and weapons supplier to forge a more independent path.

Some of that is because of growing perceptions among officials, scholars and businesspeople in Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East that the United States has lost interest in their region and is a superpower in long-term decline.

“I still think that the world is living within an American international security order,” though it is “stumbling quite frequently,” said Mohammed Alyahya, a Saudi fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. “The worry is what will come in five years or 10 years.”

Saudi Arabia’s ties with the United States have been especially strained in the past few years, with President Biden pledging on the campaign trail to treat the kingdom like a “pariah” and pressing Prince Mohammed about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Saudi citizen killed by Saudi agents in Istanbul in 2018.

Early in his administration, Mr. Biden released a U.S. intelligence report that said Prince Mohammed had most likely ordered the killing — a charge the crown prince denies. More recently, the two countries have clashed over a decision to cut oil production by the OPEC Plus cartel, which Saudi Arabia effectively leads.

The official Saudi Press Agency reported that King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Mr. Xi had met and signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement, without providing further details.

Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to hold meetings between their heads of state every two years, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. Beijing also agreed to list Saudi Arabia as a destination for group travel and to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, Mr. Xi said on Thursday during his talks with Prince Mohammed.

Other pacts signed by officials during the state visit included a memorandum of understanding on hydrogen energy and an “alignment plan” between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification program, the Saudi Press Agency report said.

Upon arrival on Wednesday, Mr. Xi was met by a grander reception than Mr. Biden received in July, when the American president visited the coastal city of Jeddah, partly in a bid to repair ties with the Saudi government.

Footage of Mr. Xi’s reception on Wednesday showed jets flying overhead with smoke trails in the red and yellow colors of the Chinese flag.

On Thursday, he was taken to the palatial royal court, where his car, a luxury Chinese sedan, was escorted by horse riders carrying Saudi and Chinese flags. Prince Mohammed greeted him with a warm handshake, contrasting with Mr. Biden’s greeting of a fist bump.

The crown prince’s moves to deepen relationships with countries like China, Russia and South Korea are partly driven by his desire to establish Saudi Arabia a power in its own right, rather than an expectation that any of them could replace the United States. In that context, the pomp and circumstance around Mr. Xi’s visit is as much a signal to his domestic and regional audiences as it is to the United States. Many officials in the Gulf are preparing for what they believe is an emerging multipolar world, in which the United States no longer plays as central a role as it has since World War II.

“The American hegemony today over the international order won’t continue, in my estimation,” Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the president of the neighboring United Arab Emirates, said at a public lecture earlier this year. “China has become a central economic player, a central technological player, a very important political actor.”

Prince Mohammed wants to diversify the oil-dependent kingdom’s economy, develop a civilian nuclear program and build a robust local defense industry. Securing technology and know-how from China is key to those goals, and Saudi pundits often compare the kingdom’s economic transformation to China’s decades ago.

ٍSaudi and Chinese companies signed 34 agreements on Wednesday in fields including information technology, genetics, mining, hydrogen energy and manufacturing. One Saudi firm partnered with a Chinese company to set up an electric vehicle plant in the kingdom.

Huawei, the telecommunications conglomerate targeted by American sanctions, signed a memorandum of understanding with a Saudi government ministry, partly to enable Huawei to build a data center in the kingdom.

At a conference in neighboring Bahrain last month, Brett McGurk, the top U.S. National Security Council official for Middle East policy, cautioned that “certain partnerships” with China will “create a ceiling” for what the U.S. is able to provide its allies.

“But thus far, we are not seeing that type of relationship that is getting in the way of what we are working here to build,” he said.

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Source: By Vivian Nereim for the New York Times

NIO Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells smart electric vehicles in China. NIO Inc. is a pioneer and a leading company in the premium smart electric vehicle market. Founded in November 2014, the company was formerly known as NextEV Inc. and changed its name to NIO Inc. in July 2017.

NIO has established R&D centers, manufacturing, sales and service facilities in Shanghai, Hefei, Beijing, Nanjing, San Jose, Munich, Oxford, Oslo and other places. Further, the company provides repair, maintenance, and bodywork services through its NIO service centers and authorized third-party service centers. It began its global market entry in 2021in Norway. In 2022 it introduced its lineup to four new countries in Europe — Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden — along with an innovative subscription-based ownership model. The countries join NIO’s customer base in China and Norway.

The models launching in the European market are all built on the NIO Adam supercomputer, which uses four NVIDIA DRIVE Orin systems-on-a-chip to deliver software-defined AI features.These intelligent capabilities, which will gradually enable automated driving on expressways and urban areas, as well as autonomous parking and battery swap, are just the start of NIO’s fresh take on the vehicle ownership experience. As the automaker expands its footprint, it is emphasizing membership rather than pure ownership. NIO vehicles are available via flexible subscription models.

Nio currently offers five, six, and seven-seater electric vehicles consisting of the ES8, a six- or seven-seater flagship premium smart electric SUV, the ES7 (or the EL7), a mid-large five-seater premium smart electric SUV, the ES6, a five-seater high-performance premium smart electric SUV, the EC6, a five-seater premium smart electric coupe SUV, the ET7, a flagship premium smart electric sedan, and the ET5, a mid-size premium smart electric sedan.

The company is also involved in the provision of energy and service packages to its users; design and technology development activities; manufacture of e-powertrains, battery packs, and components; and sales and after sales management activities. In addition, it offers power solutions, including Power Home, a home charging solution; Power Swap, a battery swapping service; Power Charger, a fast-charging solution; Power Mobile, a mobile charging service through charging vans; Power Map, an application that provides access to a network of public chargers and their real-time information; and One Click for Power valet service, where it offers vehicle pick up, charging, and swapping services.

Securing Lithium

In September 2022 Nio announced it may invest an estimated 600 million yuan ($83.74 million) in Australia-based miner Greenwing Resources Ltd. Which will help it to expand its global footprint, and thereby secure raw material supply for EV batteries. Nio's move came after the price of lithium, surged over 700 percent since the start of 2021, which has led to a surge in battery pack prices.

New Car Deliveries

• NIO delivered 14,178 vehicles in November 2022, increasing by 30.3% year-over-year
• NIO delivered 106,671 vehicles year-to-date 2022, increasing by 31.8% year-over-year
• Cumulative deliveries of NIO vehicles reached 273,741 as of November 30, 2022

2022 Management

Bin Li, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Lihong Qin, Co-founder, Director and President

Feng Shen, Executive Vice President and Chairman of Quality Management Committee

Xin Zhou, Executive Vice President and Chairman of Product Committee

Wei Feng, Chief Financial Officer

Ganesh V. Iyer, Chief Executive Officer of NIO U.S.

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To this end, the latest draft law talks about the need to use “diverse methods such as statistical methods, modeling, and field certification” to conduct credit assessments and combine data from different government agencies. “It gives only the vaguest hint that it’s a little more tech-y,” says Daum.

How are Chinese tech companies involved in this system?

Because the system is so low-tech, the involvement of Chinese tech companies has been peripheral. “Big tech companies and small tech companies … play very different roles, and they take very different strategies,” says Shazeda Ahmed, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University, who spent several years in China studying how tech companies are involved in the social credit system.

Smaller companies, contracted by city or provincial governments, largely built the system’s tech infrastructure, like databases and data centers. On the other hand, large tech companies, particularly social platforms, have helped the system spread its message. Alibaba, for instance, helps the courts deliver judgment decisions through the delivery addresses it collects via its massive e-commerce platform. And Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, partnered with a local court in China to publicly shame individuals who defaulted on court judgments. But these tech behemoths aren’t really involved in core functions, like contributing data or compiling credit appraisals.

“They saw it as almost like a civic responsibility or corporate social responsibility: if you broke the law in this way, we will take this data from the Supreme People’s Court, and we will punish you on our platform," says Ahmed.

There are also Chinese companies, like Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Group, that have built private financial credit scoring products. But the result, like Alibaba’s Sesame Credit, is more like a loyalty rewards program, according to several scholars. Since the Sesame Credit score is mostly calculated on the basis of users’ purchase history and lending activities on Alibaba’s own platforms, the score is not reliable enough to be used by external financial institutions and has very limited effect on individuals.

Given all this, should we still be concerned about the implications of building a social credit system in China?

Yes. Even if there isn’t a scary algorithm that scores every citizen, the social credit system can still be problematic.

The Chinese government did emphasize that all social-credit-related punishment has to adhere to existing laws, but laws themselves can be unjust in the first place. “Saying that the system is an extension of the law only means that it is no better or worse than the laws it enforces. As China turns its focus increasingly to people’s social and cultural lives, further regulating the content of entertainment, education, and speech, those rules will also become subject to credit enforcement,” Daum wrote in a 2021 article.

Moreover, “this was always about making people honest to the government, and not necessarily to each other,” says Ahmed. When moral issues like honesty are turned into legal issues, the state ends up having the sole authority in deciding who’s trustworthy. One tactic Chinese courts have used in holding “discredited individuals” accountable is encouraging their friends and family to report their assets in exchange for rewards. “Are you making society more trustworthy by ratting out your neighbor? Or are you building distrust in your very local community?” she asks.

But at the end of the day, the social credit system does not (yet) exemplify abuse of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, and it’s important to evaluate it on the facts. The government is currently seeking public feedback on the November draft document for one month, though there’s no expected date on when it will pass and become law. It could still take years to see the final product of a nationwide social credit system.

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Source: By Zeyi Yang for the MIT Technology Review

Jinko Solar, headquartered in Shanghai, is one of the world’s largest solar module manufacturers. It started out as a wafer manufacturer in 2006, and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2010. Since its inception, Jinko has been working on developing a vertically integrated supply chain, which has helped it establish its dominant position in the solar industry. The company now produces mono wafers, solar cells, and solar modules. It was named as one of the top 50 Forbes China Most Innovative Companies in 2022, reaffirming its continuous innovation and achievements.

Its business covers the core links of the photovoltaic industry chain, focusing on the R&D of integrated photovoltaic products and integrated clean energy solutions. At present, Jinko Solar's products serve more than 3,000 customers in more than 80 countries around the world, and the company has ranked No.1 in global module shipments from 2016 to 2019. By the end of March 2022, the cumulative module shipments of Jinko Solar have exceeded 100GW. Jinko Solar is an industry opinion leader under various international frameworks such as B20, and it is also the first solar energy company to join the RE100 green initiative.

JinkoSolar has over 15,000 employees across its 7 productions facilities globally, 14 overseas subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Australia, and global sales teams in China, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Ukraine, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Morocco, Kenya, South Africa, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Poland and Argentina. As of Q2 2022 , the company's effective production capacity of monocrystalline silicon wafers, cells and modules reach 40GW, 40GW and 50GW respectively.  Jinko Solar has more than 1,000 R&D and technical employees.

Primary PV Products.

Tiger Neo: Power 620w, Efficiency 22.3%

Tiger Pro: Power 585w, Efficiency 21.4%

Tiger:  Power 475w, Efficiency 21.16%

Cheetah: Power 410w, Efficiency 20.38%

ESS Lithium Ion Battery: Battery Type: Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP), Battery Life Cycle: 8000 Cycles, 0.5C @25°C, Nominal Capacity: 50-1000kWh (Customized), Voltage Range: 500-1500V, IP Rating: IP54

Current Leadership 2022

Li Xiande (李仙德), Chairman and CEO

Chen Kangping (陈康平), Director

Li Xianhua (李仙华), Director

Siew Wing Keong (苏文刚), Independent Director

Steven Markscheid, Independent Director

Liu Yingqiu (刘迎秋), Independent Director

Cao Haiyun (Charlie) (曹海云), Director and CFO

Comapny Website: Jinko Solar

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China's pet food industry is developing rapidly. Staple food account for 75% of the pet food market. With the continuous expansion of the market size of the pet-related industry and the upgrading of consumers' scientific pet-keeping ideas, both the brands and categories of the staple food industry are upgrading. Based on product forms and functions, the staple food for pets has four development stages and it's now in stage 2.0 in China.

Penetration rates of families with pets and pet food affect the market size of the pet food industry. The pet food market in China has reached 133.7 billion yuan, of which cat food market and dog food market reached 52.7 billion yuan and 66.7 billion yuan, respectively . It is expected that by 2025 the pet food market size will reach around 241.7 billion yuan.

Due to the adjustment of dog management regulations, the pandemic prevention and control methods as well as other objective factors, the number of dogs is expected to experience negative growth in 2021. Since cats can be kept at home, they have a growth rate than dogs . The monthly spending on cats is also than that on dogs, and the gap is expected to be larger and larger.

Thanks to their constantly improving product power,  brand power, and supply channels, Chinese domestic companies are increasingly competitive. iResearch has found the key elements for Chinese brands' fast growth and analyzed the outstanding companies.

Due to their production area, channel strategy, R&D investment and leading categories, overseas brands have their unique product advantages. Thanks to their historical accumulation and long-term deep cultivation of the Chinese market, foreign brands have formed brand power to carry out international operations.

Last week, the 15th China Smart City Conference took place over two days in Beijing. The theme of the event was “Promoting data sharing and integration, serving the people full-time.” The conference included an award ceremony for pioneering smart city apps and software.

Freedo 北京飞渡科技 was one of the companies that received an award. The company’s founder, Sòng Bīn 宋彬, gave an acceptance speech in which he discussed Freedo’s self-developed platform as a service (Paas) application and database, a 3D computational engine that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to integrate real and virtual data for developing digital twin models of cities.

Such digital twins can be used to model and plan different types of urban spaces, and manage resource usage, for example water supply and conservation.

Smart and super smart cities

Freedo is one of a range of new start-ups in China that are developing apps and software for managing smart cities. Technically, a smart city — or a digital, intelligent or wired city — is an urban area in which technology and sensors are used to collect data, which is then applied in real-time to manage the city’s utilities and resources, such as by improving the quality of infrastructure and services, and reducing waste, energy consumption, and pollution. Smart cities are based on key technology like 5G and the Internet of Things — for machines, vehicles, systems and devices to communicate with each other — and an ecosystem of software and data platforms to store and process information in real-time.

The use and management of renewable energy is a key component of smart cities. This includes the application of smart grids, green construction technology, lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, and smart waste management and water conservation systems. Other key focus areas are smart and autonomous transportation and traffic management, and data-driven public health management.

In China, the scale of digital infrastructure has developed rapidly. Per an interview with a director of the Cyberspace Administration of China published last week, China already has:

• 29 “dual-gigabit” cities with wired and wireless gigabit broadband (this number is expected to rise to 100 cities by the end of 2023);
• 1.85 million 5G base stations with 450 million 5G mobile users;
• 5.2 million standard data center racks, 19 million data center servers, and storage capacity of 800 exabytes.

The concept of smart city development has been incorporated in the 14th Five Year Plan (2021 to 2025) development goals of nearly all Chinese provinces and regions. These include delivering smart governance and services: China’s national e-government service platform has more than a billion users and more than 10,000 standardized services.

Unsurprisingly, China’s smartest cities are its first tier cities, especially Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The latter city in particular has taken the lead in releasing specific plans for constructing a smart city and developing digital governance.

In an interview published in July 2002, the vice chairperson of Deloitte China, Shī Néngzì 施能自, stated that China’s smart city development is now transitioning to the “super smart city” stage in which cities will have “ AI city brains” that can analyze vast amounts of data instantly and implement decisions on services and city management in real-time. Super smart cities will also be able to intelligently connect suppliers with consumers, and provide citizens with more diverse consumption scenarios.

Smart city projects around China

“Smart pipes” in Chongqing

As of the end of June, 36 districts in Chongqing have been connected to a comprehensive urban pipeline management network that makes use of a digital twin command center. The system allows for real-time management of the pipe network with the ability to identify leaks. The system has also been installed in the cities of Wuxi (Jiangsu Province) and Shijiazhuang (Hebei Province), and is being rolled out to other cities across China.

Beijing Smart City 2.0

An official from the Beijing Municipal government stated at a press conference on September 20 that the city has now transitioned to the Smart City 2.0 stage, which includes:

• The Beijing International Data Exchange platform that incorporates 333 data trading entities controlling 773 million transactions.
• The Beijing High-level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone, which is being expanded to cover 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) of the city.
• An urban spaces pilot computing and design system to manage a million square meters (10.76 million square feet) in the Haidian District.
• And currently in development: Digital community governance models, industry-research integrated blockchain systems, and a metaverse experience center.

Beijing smart city start-up program in Fengtai

The Fengtai District of Beijing has implemented a smart city incentive program to attract high-tech companies with subsidies, and the district now claims to have 1,900 high-tech enterprises. On September 22, the district government held a special press conference that highlighted several smart city start-ups operating in the district:

• Jiu-Yi Technology 久译科技 has installed an early warning system in the city’s rail and subway lines that monitors passenger flows, equipment, and facilities, and which can detect safety issues such as waterlogged platforms and dead bodies on the tracks.

• Yunlu Technology 北京云庐科技 has installed a heating pipe network intelligent monitoring platform that can automatically detect leaks and conduct smart temperature adjustments.

• HES Group 北京豪尔赛智慧城域科技 is developing an immerse tourism experience in Beijing with installations of 3D LED screens, interactive displays, and colored buildings.

• All in Tech 傲林科技 has developed an industrial metaverse application that the company claims can transform any industrial problem into manageable datasets.

Smart city decarbonization

On September 21, Terminus 特斯联, which describes itself as an Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) company, launched the latest version of its urban decarbonization operating system for smart cities to comprehensively monitor key indicators like temperature and humidity, manage energy supply and consumption, and optimize energy usage via a digital twin system.

The takeaway

There is a great deal of jargon connected to smart cities, and a lot of speculative investment. It’s also unclear to what extent the new technologies will actually make life more convenient for residents as opposed to providing the government with ever more invasive techniques to surveil and control citizens.

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Source: By Barry Van Wyk for the China Project