According to a study conducted by the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade and Investment, China is greatly expanding its lead over Germany in machinery manufacturing exports. The report pointed out that China’s exports of machinery and equipment this year will increase by nearly 31% to reach 296 billion US dollars, while exports from Germany, the former world champion in machinery and equipment exports, will only increase by 13% to 249 billion US dollars.

In 2020, China surpassed Germany in this field for the first time. According to calculations by the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Federation, China’s exports of machinery and equipment last year accounted for about 15.8% of the total global exports of such products, and Germany’s exports accounted for 15.5%.

The research report pointed out: "Due to the new crown epidemic, China will become the world's largest exporter of machinery and equipment for the first time in 2020." "Chinese competitors are surpassing German exporters in more and more areas."

In 2020, China has been ahead of Germany in 16 of the 28 subdivisions of machinery and equipment manufacturing, including the areas where Germany has traditionally had a large export volume.

Nevertheless, the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Federation believes that the rise of China still brings opportunities for German manufacturers. For example, in the field of industrial robots, China "obviously needs to catch up", which brings good export opportunities.

According to data released by American research company Descartes Datamyne, the volume of sea container shipments from Asia to the United States in July increased by 10.6% year-on-year to 1.71 million TEUs. It has been higher than the previous year for 13 consecutive months, and hit a record high in a single month in July. The main force of increase is changing from home consumption-related products such as furniture and home appliances to automobile-related products.

Chris Jones, executive vice president of industry and services at Descartes Datamyne, believes that the current sky-high prices in the maritime market will continue until the first quarter of 2022. The current inventory-to-sales ratio of US retailers is about 1:1-according to economic data from the Federal Reserve, this is the lowest level in decades. This means that the United States is currently almost at a point where retailers do not have enough inventory to meet consumer demand.

Brazil announced a federal decree on August 11, 2021 to reduce industrial product taxes on game consoles, accessories and games (Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados, referred to as IPI, industrial product taxes are required to be paid when importing and manufacturers/importers selling in Brazil) .

This measure aims to promote the development of Brazil's gaming and gaming industries.

This measure reduces the IPI of handheld game consoles and game consoles from 30% to 20% ;

For game consoles and game parts that can be connected to a TV or screen, the tax reduction rate will be reduced from 22% to 12% ;

For game consoles with built-in screens, regardless of whether they can be carried, the IPI tax rate has also been reduced from 6% to zero .

This is the third tax cut for the video game industry since the Brazilian President Bolsonaro took office. When he first took office, the above-mentioned product tax rates were 50%, 40% and 20% respectively. The Brazilian e-sports market has grown substantially in recent years. Well-known Brazilian teams have established their own e-sports teams, and the number of viewers watching live e-sports games has also greatly increased.

Affected by this wave of new crown epidemics, Vietnam's closed manufacturing companies have greatly increased. In the first half of the year, the number of companies that closed down in Vietnam reached 70,209, a year-on-year increase of 24.9%. Among them, the textile industry, a pillar industry in Vietnam, suffered severe damage, and 35% of enterprises have been forced to close their businesses.

The chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, Wu Dejiang, said that due to the severe impact of the new crown epidemic, the Vietnamese textile and apparel industry is facing severe challenges. In the southern region where the epidemic is most severe, a large number of textile and apparel companies have ceased production. Many companies have implemented the "three-in-place" (on-site production, on-site dining, and on-site accommodation) model for a period of time, but they are unable to stick to it. The reason is that the cost of maintaining production is too high, the production efficiency is low, and workers have to arrange food and lodging. The pressure was so great that many factories were forced to stop production. At present, only spinning, weaving, and printing and dyeing enterprises can maintain the "three-in-place" model . The common feature of these enterprises is that they use a large number of machinery and equipment, employ less labor, and it is relatively easy to arrange for workers to eat and stay on-site. However, garment manufacturing enterprises employ a large amount of labor, and some enterprises employ as many as tens of thousands of people. It is not feasible to implement the "three-in-place" model.

Vietnam’s textile industry is facing challenges such as low vaccination rates and labor shortages. Even if the epidemic is brought under control by the end of August, the textile industry’s exports in 2021 will only reach 33 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 6% and only 84% of the annual target.

In addition, according to the assessment of the Vietnam Direct Investment Securities Company (VNDirect), the lack of empty containers and the increasing logistics costs may affect Vietnam's ODM and OBM orders.

Malaysia's rubber industry exports performed well in the first half of 2021, with a total increase of 150% to RM44.43 billion. Exports of the rubber industry performed well in the first half of 2021, with a total increase of 150% to RM44.43 billion. Exports of medical gloves increased by 210.2% year-on-year.

According to the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, Minister Zhu Lin confirmed to host the signing ceremony of the Mini Free Trade Agreement (Mini FTA) between Thailand and my country’s Hainan Province on the 20th of this month. Officials believe that this will create more business opportunities for Thai companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, not only for traditional trade and investment, but also for extensive cooperation in cross-border e-commerce.

According to the news of the Kazakhstan government network on August 12, the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan announced that the automated cross-border trade settlement integration system (ATTIS) developed by the Kazakhstan government is planned to be fully launched at the end of 2021. "All foreign trade enterprises within the framework of the initiative provide a full range of information services. The system will operate in the form of a "single window" to provide foreign trade companies with one-stop services from contract signing to trade settlement. At that time, cross-border trade between China and Kazakhstan can be carried out through the system platform.

According to the news, the automated cross-border trade settlement system is essentially a unified information platform, which can provide support for the "Astana 1" information system (ASTANA-1), the International Air Cargo Data Service System (eFreight), and the Harbin Railway Cargo Company. The information system, as well as existing information systems such as the International Road Transport Union (IRU) information system, are integrated to reduce the number of information searches for related transaction partners and complete all transaction processes on a single platform, thereby saving foreign trade companies from providing required information to state agencies Time and resource costs.

The Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Agency released the "Import and Export Trends of Major Camping Supplies" on August 17, and the import and export of South Korean camping supplies hit a record high under the epidemic. The epidemic has dragged on for a long time, people cannot travel abroad, and the increase in outdoor activities has made camping a new domestic tourism trend in Korea. In the first half of the year, the trade deficit of camping supplies reached US$90 million. Since 2019, the trade deficit has continued to expand. Camping supplies are mainly sold to the United States and Japan, and imports come from China, Vietnam, and the United States.

With the increase in the rate of vaccine delivery, many countries around the world have restarted their economies, and one of the important ones is the recovery of the convention and exhibition industry.

Germany, a major European convention and exhibition country, is already restarting the exhibition.The German Exhibition Industry Association (AUMA) website reported on June 24 that the German exhibition will restart from the end of June; other exhibitions will be arranged in Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Munich and other places in early July; as of the end of August, the German exhibition industry will be held About 10 physical events are mainly regional exhibitions; from September to the end of the year, 148 exhibitions are planned, of which 67 are international or national important exhibitions. Offline exhibitions in Italy have also fully recovered, and the Milan International Wedding Dress Fair in June has been successfully completed.

Some large-scale exhibitions in the United States have already restarted in June. For example, Nevada, where the famous convention and exhibition city Las Vegas is located, has fully untied all exhibition activities in the region from June 1.

A few days ago, Shanghai International Airport Ground Service Co., Ltd. issued the "Letter on Advising International Flights not to Carry Bulk Cargo", strongly recommending that all airlines do not carry cargo in international flights in and out of the port.

A freight forwarder said: After canceling many flights, Shanghai Ground no longer accepts bulk cargo loading on international flights. Effective capacity is further reduced, and subsequent prices will continue to rise.

On August 12, the General Administration of Customs issued Announcement No. 60 of 2021, deciding to conduct random inspections on some import and export commodities other than the statutory inspection commodities in 2021. The scope of the random inspections involves 20 categories of import and export commodities, of which 13 are imported commodities. , 7 categories of export commodities.

The scope of this adjustment focuses on random inspections involving safety, health, and environmental protection. There are many domestic and foreign consumer complaints, a large number of returned goods, large quality accidents, and import and export commodities with new special requirements at home and abroad.

1. Imported 13 categories of non-statutory commodities for random inspection

Dishwashers, air purifiers, electronic toilets, food waste disposers, induction cookers, printers, stationery, simulation accessories, car interior parts, clothing, helmets, child safety seats, plates, dishes, basins made of paper or cardboard , Cups and similar products.

2. The 7 types of non-statutory commodities exported by random inspection

Holiday string lights, LED lighting sources, children's bicycles, children's scooters, electric strollers, toys, plastic food contact products, etc.

Original announcement:

http://www.customs.gov.cn/customs/302249/302266/302267/3817175/index.html

According to the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 49 of 2021, "Announcement on Adjusting the Format of the Certificate of Origin under the China-Switzerland Free Trade Agreement", China and Switzerland will use the new certificate of origin from September 1, 2021. The upper limit of the number of items to be included has been increased from 20 to 50, which will provide enterprises with greater convenience.

Original announcement:

http://www.customs.gov.cn/customs/302249/302266/302267/3744049/index.html