Everything You Need to Know About China's Economy on Wednesday
Daily Updates on the Chinese Economy
by TIANDongdong@CPW
-- China's postal sector registers stable growth in January-July
China's postal industry witnessed stable growth in both business revenue and parcel volume in the first seven months of this year, official data shows.
The sector raked in 848.23 billion yuan (about 117.83 billion U.S. dollars) in business revenue during the period, 10.5 percent higher than a year ago, according to the State Post Bureau. In July alone, the business revenue totaled 119.45 billion yuan, up by 5.3 percent.
Some 87.37 billion parcels were delivered in the January-July period, an increase of 12.8 percent year on year. The figure was 13.16 billion in July, up by 9.7 percent.
China's express delivery service companies handled 70.3 billion parcels from January to July, a year-on-year increase of 15.5 percent. Their business revenue jumped 10.5 percent from a year ago to 649.53 billion yuan during the period.
In July, the business revenue of the express delivery service industry increased 6 percent from a year ago to stand at 95.24 billion yuan.
-- China's coastal bulk freight price index down in July
China's coastal bulk freight price index went down 1 percent month on month in July, data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange (SSE) showed.
Last month, the composite price index for coastal bulk freight, which measures transportation costs in the coastal shipping market, stood at 950.75, according to the SSE.
In this period, the sub-index for refined oil saw the most notable decrease of 2.5 percent, followed by that for coal and metal ore, which fell 1.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Bucking the trend of contraction, the price index for grain logged a 6.3-percent increase from the previous month.
-- China's urban passenger trips surge 15 pct in H1
The number of urban passenger trips in China soared 15 percent year on year in the first half of this year (H1), official data shows.
A total of 45.42 billion passenger trips were made in China's urban areas during the period, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Specifically, the number of passenger trips handled by China's urban rail transit networks surged 45.9 percent year on year to 13.64 billion, while those through ferry services skyrocketed 113 percent to 38.72 million.
In the same period, urban passenger trips made via bus and tram stood at 19.87 billion, up 4.6 percent from the same period last year, while trips by taxi rose 6.8 percent year on year to 11.87 billion, the data shows.
-- China's export container shipping price index down in July
China's export container shipping price index dropped in July, data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange shows.
The average China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) stood at 869.89 last month, down 5.3 percent from June, according to the shipping exchange.
The sub-reading for the Korea service led the decline, with a month-on-month decrease of 13 percent. It was followed by the Europe service and Mediterranean service, which fell 6.9 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively.
The CCFI tracks spot and contractual freight rates from Chinese container ports on 12 shipping routes across the globe, based on data from 22 international carriers.
-- China sees 614 mln railway passenger trips since July
China has seen 614 million railway passenger trips from July 1 to Aug. 15 during the peak summer holiday season, data from the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. showed.
The average daily number of railway passengers reached 13.47 million in the first 10 days of August, marking an increase of 71.8 percent from the same period last year and 13.1 percent over the same period in 2019.
Since Aug. 10, there has been a notable increase in the volume of returning passenger trips, the company said.
The number of passengers handled by railways nationwide reached nearly 15.33 million last Saturday, hitting a record daily high since July, the data showed.
-- Chinese yuan weakens to 7.1986 against USD Wednesday
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 218 pips to 7.1986 against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.
-- China's central bank conducts 299-bln-yuan reverse repos
China's central bank conducted 299 billion yuan (41.54 billion U.S. dollars) of seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 1.8 percent Wednesday.
The move aims to offset the impacts of tax period and government bond issuance, and to keep liquidity in the banking system reasonable and ample, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
-- China's benchmark interbank gold prices mixed Wednesday
China's benchmark prices for spot interbank gold transactions were mixed Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
The benchmark price for gold that is 99.95 percent pure or above stood at 455.54 yuan (63.28 U.S. dollars) per gram, down 4.41 yuan from the previous trading day, while the price for gold that is 99.99 percent pure or above gained 0.05 yuan to 456 yuan per gram.
Spot transaction prices on the interbank price inquiry market are allowed to rise or fall within 15 percent from the benchmark prices each trading day.
-- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closes 1.36 pct lower
Hong Kong's stock market ended lower on Wednesday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 1.36 percent to close at 18,329.3 points.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.47 percent to end at 6,272.86 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.27 percent to close at 4,126.13 points.
-- Guangdong carbon market closes lower
Carbon emissions allowances closed at 74.77 yuan (about 10.39 U.S. dollars) per tonne on Wednesday, 0.61 percent down from Tuesday, at Guangzhou Emissions Exchange, the largest local carbon market in China.
A total of 3,213 tonnes of allowances were transacted on Wednesday, with a turnover of 245,197.18 yuan.
The allowances, officially known as Guangdong Emissions Allowances (GDEA), are carbon dioxide emissions caps assigned to companies. Firms whose emissions surpass their share must buy extra quotas from authorities or purchase unused quotas on the market from those that cause less pollution.
-- Iron ore futures close higher
Iron ore futures closed higher on Wednesday in daytime trading at the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE).
The most active iron ore contract for January 2024 delivery gained 6 yuan (about 83 U.S. cents) to close at 738.5 yuan per tonne.
On Wednesday, the total trading volume of 12 listed iron ore futures contracts on the exchange was 620,134 lots, with a turnover of about 46.37 billion yuan.
-- Soybean futures close higher
No.1 soybean futures closed higher on Wednesday in daytime trading at the DCE.
The most active No.1 soybean contract for September 2023 delivery gained 49 yuan (about 6.81 U.S. dollars) to close at 5,084 yuan per tonne.
On Wednesday, the total trading volume of six listed No.1 soybean futures contracts on the exchange was 220,107 lots, with a turnover of about 11.12 billion yuan.
-- Cotton futures close lower
Cotton futures closed lower Wednesday in daytime trading on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE).
The most active cotton contract for January 2024 delivery lost 280 yuan (about 38.9 U.S. dollars) to close at 16,870 yuan per tonne.
On Wednesday, the total trading volume for six listed cotton futures contracts on the ZCE was 814,710 lots with a turnover of 69.35 billion yuan.
-- Sugar futures close lower
Sugar futures closed lower Wednesday in daytime trading on the ZCE.
The most active sugar contract for January 2024 delivery lost 17 yuan (about 2.36 U.S. dollars) to close at 6,844 yuan per tonne.
On Wednesday, the total trading volume for six listed sugar futures contracts on the ZCE was 429,260 lots with a turnover of 29.35 billion yuan.