|
Despite tensions, there is still much opportunity in the China trade
Trade with China has always had its ups and downs, but it has been good for all in the main. Despite the current fit of bad temper with the US, which may yet produce a more equitable situation, as issues are resolved, life goes on as it always has.
While the China trade has lost some of its momentum in recent years, it is still well within positive growth territory, and barring catastrophic developments, it is likely to continue that way.
There are three, often neglected trends, that are worth noting at this point, and ways in which lesser corporate lights in commerce can shine in the China trade.
First, there is the small- and medium-sized (SME) business, which given the scope of the Internet and the rising affluence of Chinese people, are increasingly ready to buy what were once unaffordable western products.
|
|
HSBC: China's Belt and Road is a world game changer if it lives up to its billing
The way the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) sees it, China's Belt and Road Initiative will connect and stimulate economic activity in more than 65 countries and have a huge global impact if it lives up to its billing.
As incomes rise for Asia's middle classes and discretionary spending increases, the London-based bank reasons, demand for both low-cost value-added manufacturing goods as well as higher-end items are sure rise.
Expanding trade corridors - both physically and digitally - will make it easier for large multinationals as well as SMEs and young entrepreneurs to reach new consumers and markets.
What is the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI as it is often called? It is a long-term, geographically diverse plan to connect cities in countries along two primary trade routes.
|
|
HK accountants look on the bright side of greater Hong Kong-Guangdong integration
From the accountant's perspective, the rule of thumb is the less cost the better in judging just about anything that falls under his gaze.
So it is hardly surprising to find that the profession's A Plus Magazine, the official journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA), favours greater integration of disparate systems in the Pearl River Delta, from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, which to their minds will create a global economic powerhouse, only surpassed by the United States and Germany.
With a bridge linking Hong Kong to Zhuhai and Macau being built, high-speed rail putting Guangzhou 48 minutes away from Hong Kong, it seems Guangdong and Hong Kong are on an inexorable path towards integration.
|
|
Bluster, hyperbole to expected from Trump, but reciprocity will be key his goal
Looking at the Sino-US trade scene, one can see it two ways. From China's perspective, it seems the Trump Administration is a wrecking ball destroying a good thing involved. And on one level, that is true enough.
China has pulled itself out of the third world through exporting labour-intensive manufactures to the west. This has given China the wherewithal to develop its once impoverished north west, enabling it to lay down railways and roads and massively cut wastage hauling commodities from distant hinterlands to populous coastal ragions, all of which has enriched everyone along these arterial supply chains.
The United States, in turn, has been able to supply its people at low cost goods and services that would have amazed all but the richest of their forefathers. Americans had had it all, from a wide variety of the most fashionable apparel to mobile telephones that bring them concerts, games, movies, with classic literature read to them by talking books. And also, access to the long-sought the China market, which had been the west's desire since Lord Macartney first came to trade with China in 1792.
|
|
|
|
