Mar. 30 – China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) issued the newly-revised “Table of Categorization for the Imported Articles of the PRC” (“Table of Categorization”) on Wednesday, March 28. The revised categorization will be effective from April 15, 2012. The complete table, including categories of goods and their respective tariff rates, can be found below. Continue reading
This article includes complimentary downloads of the complete USCBC report and a copy of the China Business Handbook
Mar. 29 – The U.S.-China Business Council has just issued a report detailing the rise of U.S. exports to China, which have passed the US$100 billion milestone for the first time. According to the report, American exports to China reached a record US$103.9 billion in 2011, with 30 U.S. states now counting China among their top three export markets. As a buyer of U.S. goods, China ranks behind only Canada and Mexico—two immediate neighbors with whom the United States has a regional free-trade agreement.
“Exports to China are vital to America’s economic health and create good jobs for American workers,” said USCBC Vice President Erin Ennis. “Between 2000 and 2011, total U.S. exports to China rose 542 percent, from US$16.2 billion in 2000 to a record-breaking US$103.9 billion in 2011. In addition, U.S. exports to China recovered faster after the recession than exports to anywhere else in the world. Clearly, China is a market that is important to U.S. companies’ bottom lines, even in tough economic times.” Continue reading
Impressive increases in exports drive U.S. businesses to export to China. This is a user’s guide on joining the trend – and includes a complimentary U.S. Dept. of Commerce download
Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Founding Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates
Mar. 28 – With the U.S.-China Business Council poised to release a report outlining significant gains in U.S. exports to China over the past 12 months, the opportunities for American companies to sell goods and services to China has never looked brighter. Part of this is a significant and still growing shift concerning China’s own dynamics and demographics – a phenomenon we covered earlier this week in the piece titled “Why China’s Consumer Development is Assured.” Put simply, the article explains that when China began its policy of opening up to foreign investment 25 years ago, it had no developed middle class and there was simply no meaningful Chinese wealth to buy American goods and services. Continue reading
Lewisian turning point impacts upon China demographics with India close behind, meaning sales opportunities in China exist as never before
Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Mar. 27 – China is about to become a great market for international businesses to sell to. That’s quite a statement, and I can recall similar proclamations being bandied about 20 years ago during the early days of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms, and then 10 years later when China eventually joined the WTO. Yet, as many a wise man noted – unless you were in the chopstick business, there weren’t actually a whole bunch of affluent Chinese looking to buy goods and services. That is now changing. But why? Continue reading
By Vivian Ni
Mar. 8 – Consumer goods retailers and female-oriented service providers across China are competing to launch promotional campaigns and offer discounts today in a bid to attract more female consumption. At the end of this year’s “International Women’s Day,” they hope to harvest profits from the wallets of the country’s increasingly wealthy female buyers.
In fact, not only on this symbolic day, but in Chinese people’s day-to-day lives, spending by women has become a significant contributor to the “great Chinese consumption power,” a concept that is becoming the mantra for international businesses nowadays. According to a Nielsen survey in 2010, the consumer confidence of Chinese women aged between 30 and 39 achieved the same level of men in that age group, and there is a growing tendency that younger Chinese women are willing to pay more for their favorite items than men. Continue reading
Op-Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Feb. 17 – The recent dispute between Apple and Proview over the rights to the “iPad” trademark in China has seen some potentially disruptive actions taken, including legal requests made to China Customs looking to prevent Apple from shipping its iPads from China to overseas markets. This is a potentially highly damaging situation given that the bulk of global iPad sales are from Apple’s subcontracted China-based production facilities. The different component parts are being manufactured by a variety of foreign-invested (mainly Taiwanese) and Chinese suppliers before then being assembled, packaged, and exported. Continue reading
Above: Shanghai c. 1990, Below: Mumbai c. 2008
The development similarities are striking, says Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Jan. 31 – A little over 20 years ago, I was sitting in the offices of Asia Law & Practice in Hong Kong, with their managing director at the time who said, “Don’t go to China, Chris. It’s dirty, communist, nothing works and they’ll rip you off.”
Perhaps foolishly, I didn’t listen to that advice, resigning my position (I’d been working on a book called “The Life and Death of a Joint Venture in Shanghai”) and decamping to Shenzhen to start what was then a very embryonic Dezan Shira & Associates. The MD’s words of advice have stayed with me ever since, not because they were wrong – in fact he was fairly accurate – but because they totally discounted the point that China wouldn’t remain in that anti-commercial state of existence for very long. Continue reading
By Vivian Ni
Jan. 30 – Although China has made it more difficult for foreign investors to enter its e-payment sector over the last year, the potential profits offered by the country’s massive consumer population are proving too attractive to miss. Recently, American Express – the U.S. financial service provider that has long considered China as its critical strategic market – established a new partnership with a growing Chinese payment service company, Lianlian Group, by means of equity investment and technology authorization.
AmEx said on January 18 that it will license its digital wallet Serve – a next-generation commerce technology developed to target lower-end consumers – to the Zhejiang-based Lianlian Group. The Chinese company will be allowed to apply the technology in its payment services, but will not necessarily use the Serve brand. Continue reading
Dezan Shira & Associates provide a range of services for companies looking to undertake foreign direct investment into Asia, These include corporate establishment, accounting, tax, payroll, audit and due diligence. To learn more about the firm, please contact one of our specialists at china@dezshira.com, download our corporate brochure or visit at us www.dezshira.com
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