Foreign Trade

China Pushes for East Asia FTA

Nov. 24 – In contrast to the persistent economic woes affecting the Eurozone and U.S. markets and political instability in the Middle East, the emerging economies of East Asia have attracted a great deal of positive attention. During U.S. President Barack Obama’s Asian tour last week it became apparent that attempts to maximize trade volume in the region by the world’s two major economies – the United States and China – have resulted in promising proposals to increase economic cooperation and growth.

In response to Obama’s “aggressive” political maneuvering recently in the Asia-Pacific region, China has been working on its relations with Southeast Asian nations to try and form an East Asian Free Trade Area, which will include Japan and South Korea. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Foreign Trade | Tagged ASEAN FTA, Barack Obama, China ASEAN, East Asian FTA, Emerging Asia, TPP, Wen Jiabao | Leave a comment

Report: Emerging Asia Well Placed to Handle Volatile Global Economy

Nov. 23 – Among emerging Asian countries, China, India, and Indonesia appear to be in a fairly strong position to withstand the fallout from the volatile global economy while Malaysia, Mongolia and Thailand seem too vulnerable to cope with an external shock, Fitch Ratings said in a report released this week.

In the report “Emerging Asian Sovereign Pressure Points,” the credit rating agency estimated the potential exposure of emerging Asian economies to the global downturn triggered by the European Sovereign Debt Crisis still looming over the Eurozone. Balance in trade, flexibility of government policy, and emerging Asia’s performance in dealing with the recent Global Financial Crisis will help most countries in the region to overcome further shocks from Europe and the United States. Continue reading →

Posted in Finance, Foreign Trade, Markets | Tagged China, Emerging Asia, European Debt Crisis, Eurozone, External Shocks, Finance, Global Financial Crisis, India, Indonesia, Liquidity, Malaysia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan | Leave a comment

Russia’s WTO Entry Good News for 2012

Nov. 16 – Russia’s expected entry into the World Trade Organization next month will reduce the country’s average maximum import tariff rates from 10 percent to 7.8 percent, the WTO said in a statement released on November 10.

A day after Russia signed an agreement with Georgia, overcoming its last serious obstacle to membership, the WTO’s Working Party voiced its approval for Russia’s candidacy, paving the way for a formal vote on Russia in December. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Foreign Trade, Markets | Tagged Asian Trade, Georgia, Russia Tariffs, Russia WTO, World Trade Organization | Leave a comment

Thailand Floods Raise Doubts Over Industrial Clustering in Asia

By Cindy Tse

Nov. 15 – One month after flooding finally hit Thailand’s industrial zones, Honda’s managers are still riding on rubber boats to their mega-plants in central Thailand, passing the tops of cars submerged in a meter and a half of fetid flood water.

The sustained flooding in Thailand that began in July with heavy monsoon rains lasting more than three months has prompted manufacturers in the country to reevaluate the distribution of their production bases. Specifically, businesses are questioning the viability of concentrating in emerging markets that feature cheap labor given that many such regions are also vulnerable to natural disasters. With one quarter of the world’s external hard disk drives and a significant number of auto parts being churned out of Thailand, even smaller enterprises clustered in Thailand’s industrial zones have expressed doubt about the advantages of agglomeration. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Featured, Foreign Trade | Leave a comment

China-India to Become World’s Largest Trading Partners by 2030

Nov. 14 – Bilateral trade between China and India will increase from this year’s US$63 billion to US$100 billion by 2015, and Asia’s two leading emerging economies are set to become the world’s largest trading partners by 2030, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said last week.

“China has already raced past the United States, Britain and Japan to become India’s largest trading partner,” Assocham said in its statement. “Indian companies can gain substantially by accessing Chinese capital goods at attractive prices by way of imports.” Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Trade, Politics | Tagged Asia Growth, China India Politics, China India Trade | 1 Comment

Sinopec to Acquire 30% Stake in Galp Energia’s Brazil Unit

Nov. 11 – China’s state-owned oil giant Sinopec Group announced Friday that it will buy a 30 percent stake in the Brazilian unit of Portuguese oil company Galp Energia for US$3.54 billion in China’s biggest push into the overseas energy market in 2011. Last year, Sinopec paid US$7.1 billion to Spanish oil giant Repsol for a 40 percent stake in its Brazil assets.

Galp Energia, which was established in 1999 and headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal, is an integrated oil and gas company. According to Sinopec’s statement, the company owns four deep-water offshore blocks around Brazil’s Santos Basin, namely BM-S-11, BM-S-24, BM-S-8 and BM-S-21. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Energy, Featured, Foreign Trade | Tagged Addax Petroleum Corporation, Brazil, China Energy, Galp Energia, Repsol, Sinochem, Sinopec, Statoil | Leave a comment

Report: Asia Pacific Region Responsible for 54% of Global Wealth Creation

Nov. 8 – Led by China and India, the emerging nations of the Asia Pacific region have become the key driving forces of global economic growth, according to the Global Wealth Report 2011 recently released by Credit Suisse.

According to the report, global wealth has risen 14 percent over the past 18 months to US$231 trillion. The Asia-Pacific region – led by China, Japan, Australia and India – has become the most important wealth generators today, accounting for 36 percent of global wealth creation since 2000 and 54 percent since 2010. The report further predicts that global wealth will increase 50 percent to reach US$345 trillion by 2016 due to rapid growth of emerging nations in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa regions. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Featured, Foreign Trade, Markets | Tagged China Economy, China Wealth, Economic Growth, Emerging Asia, Emerging Asia Wealth Creation, India Economy, India Wealth, Singapore | Leave a comment

2point6billion.com provides news and analysis on foreign trade in south east Asia, with a particular focus on China and India. The stories are contributed by the foreign direct investment experts at Dezan Shira & Associates, who have offices throughout China, India and Vietnam.