Chinese Economics Thread
- Thread starter Norfolk
- Start date
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Chinese consumers don't idealize American products the way they used to — and that’s bad news for Apple and Tesla
Harrison Jacobs,Business Insider 10 hours ago
Chinese people born before 1985 have a "mindset that foreign brands are better" than Chinese ones, billionaire William Li told Business Insider during . But for those who were born after 1985, the mindset is different.
"When I first went to the United Kingdom in 1997, I thought that the difference between China and Europe was quite significant," Li said. "But for those born in the 1990s, when they visit Europe or the US, they do not think there is a significant different."
Li is the founder of electric car startup Nio, which is counting on that trend to help it compete with Tesla.
The change in perception among Chinese consumers is showing up in numerous markets in China previously dominated by western companies. A released in March found that young Chinese consumers are increasingly showing a "domestic brand bias."
More than 90% of young Chinese consumers would prefer to buy domestic home appliance brands, according to the study. Meanwhile, domestic companies producing food, beverages, or personal care products by 3.3% over the last decade to nearly 70%, according to Nielsen.
“Chinese consumers, especially the younger generation, don’t just believe the notion that foreign brands are better. Right now, Chinese consumers think China is good and ‘Made in China’ is not bad at all," Charlie Chen, head of China consumer research at Credit Suisse, told South China Morning Post in March.
The Chinese smartphone market is — Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Apple is the only foreign brand in the top five, but it has lost significant ground to the domestic brands in recent years.
Apple's market share is believed to be down to 37% from a 2015 high of 54%.
Li believes that the rise of domestic smartphone companies is attributable both to a closing gap in perceived quality and because smartphones serve their users better when they "rely on local service, local software, local support, and local data."
"That's why, for the Samsung and the iPhone, their market share is now decreasing in the China market," Li said.
UBS
The trend has also been happening in the auto industry. In 2017, Chinese car makers . That's up from . Li is bullish that domestic car brands can grow to 65% market share over the next decade.
The increase in market share is more impressive when you consider that many Chinese car companies like JAC, Geely, and SAIC are priced similarly to foreign brands, Li said.
Li is hoping the change in Chinese consumers' perceptions extends to the electric car market, where he hopes Nio will be able to take on Tesla, which in 2017.
Though Tesla currently dominates as a status symbol among China's luxury market, Li said that he believes Nio and other Chinese electric car manufacturers will eventually prevail because they have "a better understanding about Chinese users and they can develop their software and adapt it to their behaviors."
NOW WATCH:
Harrison Jacobs,Business Insider 10 hours ago
- Younger Chinese consumers don't appear to see products from Europe and the US to be superior to domestic brands the way that their parents did.
- The shift in perception has led to increased dominance of the Chinese smartphone market by domestic companies, rather than Apple.
- William Li, founder of electric car startup Nio, believes the same trend will play out between his company and Tesla in the Chinese automobile market.
Chinese people born before 1985 have a "mindset that foreign brands are better" than Chinese ones, billionaire William Li told Business Insider during . But for those who were born after 1985, the mindset is different.
"When I first went to the United Kingdom in 1997, I thought that the difference between China and Europe was quite significant," Li said. "But for those born in the 1990s, when they visit Europe or the US, they do not think there is a significant different."
Li is the founder of electric car startup Nio, which is counting on that trend to help it compete with Tesla.
The change in perception among Chinese consumers is showing up in numerous markets in China previously dominated by western companies. A released in March found that young Chinese consumers are increasingly showing a "domestic brand bias."
More than 90% of young Chinese consumers would prefer to buy domestic home appliance brands, according to the study. Meanwhile, domestic companies producing food, beverages, or personal care products by 3.3% over the last decade to nearly 70%, according to Nielsen.
“Chinese consumers, especially the younger generation, don’t just believe the notion that foreign brands are better. Right now, Chinese consumers think China is good and ‘Made in China’ is not bad at all," Charlie Chen, head of China consumer research at Credit Suisse, told South China Morning Post in March.
The Chinese smartphone market is — Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Apple is the only foreign brand in the top five, but it has lost significant ground to the domestic brands in recent years.
Apple's market share is believed to be down to 37% from a 2015 high of 54%.
Li believes that the rise of domestic smartphone companies is attributable both to a closing gap in perceived quality and because smartphones serve their users better when they "rely on local service, local software, local support, and local data."
"That's why, for the Samsung and the iPhone, their market share is now decreasing in the China market," Li said.
The trend has also been happening in the auto industry. In 2017, Chinese car makers . That's up from . Li is bullish that domestic car brands can grow to 65% market share over the next decade.
The increase in market share is more impressive when you consider that many Chinese car companies like JAC, Geely, and SAIC are priced similarly to foreign brands, Li said.
Li is hoping the change in Chinese consumers' perceptions extends to the electric car market, where he hopes Nio will be able to take on Tesla, which in 2017.
Though Tesla currently dominates as a status symbol among China's luxury market, Li said that he believes Nio and other Chinese electric car manufacturers will eventually prevail because they have "a better understanding about Chinese users and they can develop their software and adapt it to their behaviors."
NOW WATCH:
Jura The idiot
General
Jura The idiot
General
now noticed the tweet
China will expand high- and medium-end product imports to further promote consumption upgrades, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
China will expand high- and medium-end product imports to further promote consumption upgrades, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
People should make intelligent decision when it come to buying car and solely judged based on quality and not of national origin case in point ford
Ford's April China vehicle sales slump 26 percent
By Norihiko Shirouzu,Reuters 6 hours ago
The Ford logo is seen on a car in a park lot in Sao Paulo, Brazil June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker/Files
By Norihiko Shirouzu
BEIJING (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co's vehicle sales in China fell 26 percent in April, the company said on Friday, as its business remained under pressure in the world's biggest auto market partly due to a dearth of fresh products.
Ford's business continued to falter even as China's overall auto market kept growing.
Ford officials have said the company's business in China this year will remain pressured by the shortage of new or significantly redesigned cars models in its product lineup - a situation they indicated should last at least through the end of 2018.
The company's sales in China fell 26 percent to 69,503 vehicles in April from a year earlier. That follows an 11 percent slide in volume in March.
Sales volume during the first four months of the year dropped 21 percent to 276,642 vehicles, from the same period a year ago, Ford said.
According to the automaker, sales of its premium brand Lincoln fell 14 percent last month from a year earlier to 3,553 vehicles. However, volume for the first four months was up 4 percent at 16,263 vehicles.
A Ford spokesman attributed the Lincoln sales slide last month in part to the fact that the MKC, the brand's best-selling SUV, is nearing the end of its product life cycle.
"The sales performance was also affected by the recent MKZ recall," he said in an emailed response.
According to data released by an industry body on Friday, China's overall vehicles sales in April jumped 11.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.32 million vehicles.
Sales volume in China in the first four months of 2018 was up 4.8 percent from the same period last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Sales totaled 9.5 million vehicles.
Ford last month unveiled three models for China - the significantly revamped Focus compact car, the more modestly recast Escort, as well as a new pickup truck for China, the Thai-produced Ranger Wildtrak. Those products are expected to hit showrooms in China by the end of the year.
The company also said last month, Lincoln plans to launch soon in China new SUVs called the Aviator and the Nautilus, as well as the redesigned MKC, also an SUV.
Those new products are part of 50 fresh or freshened products Ford plans to launch in China by 2025, the company said.
(Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gopakumar Warrier)
n point car
Ford's April China vehicle sales slump 26 percent
By Norihiko Shirouzu,Reuters 6 hours ago
By Norihiko Shirouzu
BEIJING (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co's vehicle sales in China fell 26 percent in April, the company said on Friday, as its business remained under pressure in the world's biggest auto market partly due to a dearth of fresh products.
Ford's business continued to falter even as China's overall auto market kept growing.
Ford officials have said the company's business in China this year will remain pressured by the shortage of new or significantly redesigned cars models in its product lineup - a situation they indicated should last at least through the end of 2018.
The company's sales in China fell 26 percent to 69,503 vehicles in April from a year earlier. That follows an 11 percent slide in volume in March.
Sales volume during the first four months of the year dropped 21 percent to 276,642 vehicles, from the same period a year ago, Ford said.
According to the automaker, sales of its premium brand Lincoln fell 14 percent last month from a year earlier to 3,553 vehicles. However, volume for the first four months was up 4 percent at 16,263 vehicles.
A Ford spokesman attributed the Lincoln sales slide last month in part to the fact that the MKC, the brand's best-selling SUV, is nearing the end of its product life cycle.
"The sales performance was also affected by the recent MKZ recall," he said in an emailed response.
According to data released by an industry body on Friday, China's overall vehicles sales in April jumped 11.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.32 million vehicles.
Sales volume in China in the first four months of 2018 was up 4.8 percent from the same period last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Sales totaled 9.5 million vehicles.
Ford last month unveiled three models for China - the significantly revamped Focus compact car, the more modestly recast Escort, as well as a new pickup truck for China, the Thai-produced Ranger Wildtrak. Those products are expected to hit showrooms in China by the end of the year.
The company also said last month, Lincoln plans to launch soon in China new SUVs called the Aviator and the Nautilus, as well as the redesigned MKC, also an SUV.
Those new products are part of 50 fresh or freshened products Ford plans to launch in China by 2025, the company said.
(Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gopakumar Warrier)
n point car
Jura The idiot
General
AssassinsMace
Lieutenant General
I've been getting these calls but I just hang up. They seem to just call anyone with a Chinese sounding name. Sounds like those Taiwanese scammers that get captured in other countries and sent to China that Taiwan complains about have reached the US. I got a new landline phone number a while back and gave the number to no one and soon after started getting telemarketers calls. You know the phone companies can end these calls but they're making money selling the numbers to third parties. It's no different from how internet social media companies are in trouble because of fake news. They can stop it if they wanted to but they make money from it.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Trade facilitate understanding and promote prosperity and peace and should be commended China didl the right thing by facilitating trade with her neighbor like Vietnam
Border city aims to play bigger role in B&R initiative as China-Vietnam trade thrives
By Chen Qingqing in Pingxiang Source:Global Times Published: 2018/5/10 18:53:44
Border city aims to play bigger role in B&R initiative
A Vietnamese truck arrives at the Pingxiang border inspection zone. The town is on the China-Vietnam border in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT
Pingxiang, a town at the China-Vietnam border in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is becoming a major gateway to Southeast Asia. However, although it is an important part of the China-proposed (B&R) initiative, the land port is still facing challenges in realizing its full potential to connect China with the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ().
A logistics company called Guangxi Dingyi set up a bureau in Pingxiang in April 2017 in order to cater to growing imports from Vietnam. A large portion of cargos shipped by the Shenzhen-headquartered firm belong to Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, also known as Foxconn, which is a supplier of US smartphone-maker Apple Inc.
"As Foxconn has relocated its headset and cable facilities to northern Bac Ninh in Vietnam, we've seen growing exports of raw materials from China to Vietnam through Pingxiang, and more imports of iPhone components shipped back from Vietnam to cities like Zhengzhou [capital of Central China's Henan Province] for assembly," Zeng Guosheng, a manager at Guangxi Dingyi, told the Global Times.
Due to rising labor costs and an aging population in China, some labor-intensive industries have been moving to ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia to seek cheaper labor costs.
As the trade volume between China and Vietnam has been growing at Pingxiang port in recent years, particularly after supply chain restructuring in the manufacturing industry, more companies like Dingyi have decided to move their offices to the border town in southern Guangxi.
Ma Wenhuan, a manager at Guangxi Overland Total Logistics Co Ltd, said that the company moved its headquarters from Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, to Pingxiang, as its management team believes that the border town will play a more significant role in connecting China and ASEAN. The company imports products such as electronics and textiles from Vietnam, while companies like US sportswear producer Nike have relocated their factories from China to the Southeast Asian country.
From January to April, the cargo volume at the port increased 16.6 percent year-on-year, to 818,500 tons, according to a document the Guangxi Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone Commission provided to the Global Times. Also, authorities launched several new freight routes last year, including the one connecting Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province, Pingxiang and Vietnam, and another connecting Guangzhou (capital of Guangdong), Pingxiang and Hanoi. Both have become important pathways for giant companies like Samsung, Nike and Foxconn.
Employment opportunities
Growing border trade between China and Vietnam has also been encouraging more Vietnamese workers to seek jobs in Pingxiang in the past few years. To help crack down on illegal employment that had previously generated insecurity at border areas in China, the local Pingxiang government launched a border workforce cooperation scheme in 2017. After such measure, the border town now legally employs about 500 Vietnamese workers on a daily basis to fill a variety of jobs in areas such as construction and furniture manufacturing. The number reached a peak level of 5,000 per day after the Chinese New Year in mid-February, which was a busy recruitment period.
Also, more Chinese firms are hiring workers from Vietnam for cheaper labor cost purposes. On average, the salaries of Vietnamese workers are between 2,200 and 2,800 yuan ($345.5 and $439.7) per month, 10 percent lower than their Chinese counterparts.
Big potential
To help the land port play a more significant role in the B&R initiative, authorities have been trying to streamline customs inspection processes at the Pingxiang Friendship Gate since September 2017, as part of efforts to improve customs clearance and connectivity at the border.
The "two countries, one inspection" system was first proposed in February 2016 and will make progress before June 2018. Pilot companies and commodities were suggested in the plan, along with the implementation of unified customs clearance, the Pingxiang trade commission noted in the document it shared with the Global Times. Furthermore, when the Hanoi-Lang Son expressway in Vietnam project is completed in 2019, the cargo volume at Pingxiang is expected to surpass 4 million tons per year.
Still, traders feel there is currently slow progress in opening joint border checkpoints between the two countries at Pingxiang. "We won't see any shared facility at border customs in the next three years," Zeng, from Guangxi Dingyi, told the Global Times.
Border city aims to play bigger role in B&R initiative as China-Vietnam trade thrives
By Chen Qingqing in Pingxiang Source:Global Times Published: 2018/5/10 18:53:44
Border city aims to play bigger role in B&R initiative
A Vietnamese truck arrives at the Pingxiang border inspection zone. The town is on the China-Vietnam border in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Photo: Chen Qingqing/GT
Pingxiang, a town at the China-Vietnam border in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is becoming a major gateway to Southeast Asia. However, although it is an important part of the China-proposed (B&R) initiative, the land port is still facing challenges in realizing its full potential to connect China with the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ().
A logistics company called Guangxi Dingyi set up a bureau in Pingxiang in April 2017 in order to cater to growing imports from Vietnam. A large portion of cargos shipped by the Shenzhen-headquartered firm belong to Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, also known as Foxconn, which is a supplier of US smartphone-maker Apple Inc.
"As Foxconn has relocated its headset and cable facilities to northern Bac Ninh in Vietnam, we've seen growing exports of raw materials from China to Vietnam through Pingxiang, and more imports of iPhone components shipped back from Vietnam to cities like Zhengzhou [capital of Central China's Henan Province] for assembly," Zeng Guosheng, a manager at Guangxi Dingyi, told the Global Times.
Due to rising labor costs and an aging population in China, some labor-intensive industries have been moving to ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia to seek cheaper labor costs.
As the trade volume between China and Vietnam has been growing at Pingxiang port in recent years, particularly after supply chain restructuring in the manufacturing industry, more companies like Dingyi have decided to move their offices to the border town in southern Guangxi.
Ma Wenhuan, a manager at Guangxi Overland Total Logistics Co Ltd, said that the company moved its headquarters from Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province, to Pingxiang, as its management team believes that the border town will play a more significant role in connecting China and ASEAN. The company imports products such as electronics and textiles from Vietnam, while companies like US sportswear producer Nike have relocated their factories from China to the Southeast Asian country.
From January to April, the cargo volume at the port increased 16.6 percent year-on-year, to 818,500 tons, according to a document the Guangxi Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone Commission provided to the Global Times. Also, authorities launched several new freight routes last year, including the one connecting Qingdao in East China's Shandong Province, Pingxiang and Vietnam, and another connecting Guangzhou (capital of Guangdong), Pingxiang and Hanoi. Both have become important pathways for giant companies like Samsung, Nike and Foxconn.
Employment opportunities
Growing border trade between China and Vietnam has also been encouraging more Vietnamese workers to seek jobs in Pingxiang in the past few years. To help crack down on illegal employment that had previously generated insecurity at border areas in China, the local Pingxiang government launched a border workforce cooperation scheme in 2017. After such measure, the border town now legally employs about 500 Vietnamese workers on a daily basis to fill a variety of jobs in areas such as construction and furniture manufacturing. The number reached a peak level of 5,000 per day after the Chinese New Year in mid-February, which was a busy recruitment period.
Also, more Chinese firms are hiring workers from Vietnam for cheaper labor cost purposes. On average, the salaries of Vietnamese workers are between 2,200 and 2,800 yuan ($345.5 and $439.7) per month, 10 percent lower than their Chinese counterparts.
Big potential
To help the land port play a more significant role in the B&R initiative, authorities have been trying to streamline customs inspection processes at the Pingxiang Friendship Gate since September 2017, as part of efforts to improve customs clearance and connectivity at the border.
The "two countries, one inspection" system was first proposed in February 2016 and will make progress before June 2018. Pilot companies and commodities were suggested in the plan, along with the implementation of unified customs clearance, the Pingxiang trade commission noted in the document it shared with the Global Times. Furthermore, when the Hanoi-Lang Son expressway in Vietnam project is completed in 2019, the cargo volume at Pingxiang is expected to surpass 4 million tons per year.
Still, traders feel there is currently slow progress in opening joint border checkpoints between the two countries at Pingxiang. "We won't see any shared facility at border customs in the next three years," Zeng, from Guangxi Dingyi, told the Global Times.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
"The calls first came to McCaffrey's attention in December 2017, when a 65-year-old Chinese woman complained to the NYPD that she had been scammed out of $1.3 million.
The robocall messages are usually some variation on that theme: This is the consulate; we have an important document that needs to be picked up; it may affect your status in the U.S.; press a button to speak with a specialist — and that is when a connection is made to a live scammer.
That person then tries to execute what is known as a "parcel scam" — pretending to be from a courier company and claiming that a package addressed to the victim is connected to a criminal case. The phone call is then transferred to a fake police officer who says that it's a money laundering investigation and that if the victim transfers money to a Hong Kong bank account, the police will resolve the case."
LOLOL Scammers targeting corrupt runaways no doubt. If you receive a call saying that you're being investigated for financial crimes and you immediately agree to pay $1.3 million to the police to "resolve the case," that means you deserve very badly to be under actual investigation for financial crimes.
My mom got a call from a scammer like this last month. She laughed the the whole way through and said, "Yeah, I'll go to court. I don't need a lawyer for anything cus I didn't do shit. When's my court date and where's the court? Better yet, I'll have my husband, who is a co-owner on all of my bank accounts, come to your police station to straighten things out; what's the address?" And they gave up
My mom didn't know she was being scammed until she heard nothing back for a week and she called the real consulate herself to ask what was the status of her case.
Last edited: