Ease Market Restrictions

Increasing Tea Output

China’s tea output is estimated to reach 2.8 million tons in 2018, with the value of the whole industry chain topping about $86.4 billion, according to the China Tea Marketing Association (CTMA).

The sales volume of tea within China will reach 2 million tons this year, the CTMA said at a tea industry forum held in the city of Wuyishan, southeast China’s Fujian Province.

“The consumption of tea in China has been increasing steadily in recent years,” said Wang Qing, President of the CTMA.

The country’s tea export will exceed 300,000 tons this year. Wuyishan, a major tea production base in China, is home to the well-known Wuyi rock tea, a type of oolong tea. China will step up efforts to ease market restrictions over foreign investment, with measures to open up more sectors and guarantee equal treatment.

Tang Wenhong, an official with the Ministry of Commerce, said the ministry will make specific arrangements and set a clear agenda to push forward the implementation of policies designed to improve the business environment and encourage foreign investment.

By the end of March 2019, the government will eliminate all limits that go beyond the official negative list for foreign investment and a special inspection will be launched to ensure all foreign-funded firms are treated equally in areas including government procurement, subsidies and licenses.

2 million tons of tea is expected to be sold in China this year

New Sales Record

Chinese consumers shrugged off concerns over a slowing economy by snapping up goods and services from home and abroad during the Singles Day online shopping carnival, which falls on November 11 each year. The one-day annual buying frenzy broke last year’s record.

China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba launched the annual online shopping promotion on November 11, 2009, a day celebrated by many young Chinese people as Singles’ Day. Over the years, its rivals have also joined the shopping spree. Alibaba announced on November 12 that Singles’ Day sales on its online shopping platforms Tmall this year reached a record 213.5 billion yuan ($30.7 billion). Total sales on its platform represented an annual increase of about 27 percent from 168.2 billion yuan ($24.2 billion) a year ago, Alibaba said.

Services Import Prospects

China’s cumulative services imports are expected to exceed $2.5 trillion in the next five years, a Ministry of Commerce report showed. The country’s services imports will account for more than 10 percent of global service imports, contributing over 20 percent to total global growth in the next five years, according to the Report on China Services Imports released at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai in early November.

It is the first report on services imports issued by the Chinese Government. China has seen fast growth in imports of services since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Its services imports surged to $467.6 billion in 2017 from $39.3 billion in 2001, with its global share increasing to 9 percent from 2.6 percent, data from the report showed.

Software Industry Growth

China’s software industry registered rapid revenue growth in the first three quarters of this year, official data shows. Business revenue increased by 15 percent year on year to reach $647.4 billion, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Profits of the industry climbed by 14.4 percent to $81.9 billion during the January-september period. In the third quarter (Q3), software industry profit jumped by 21.8 percent, faster than 10.8 percent and 10.2 percent in Q1 and Q2, respectively. Sales of software products reached $191.4 billion in the first three quarters while revenue of information technology services surged 18.5 percent to $359.7 billion, MIIT data shows.

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