CBN丨First phase of Canton Fair concludes with traffic exceeding 1.26m

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

大家好，我是主持人李莹亮。

Coming up on today’s program.

重点提要

• First phase of Canton Fair concludes with traffic exceeding 1.26 million;
• FDI into Chinese mainland continued to increase with over 10,000 foreign invested firms added in Q1.

Highlight of the 133rd Canton Fair

广交会，新方位

The 133rd China Import and Export Fair concluded its first phase on Wednesday with better-than-expected traffic, exceeding 1.26 million.

The first phase, which ran from April 15 to 19, comprises 20 exhibition areas, for categories including household appliances, building materials and new energy products. The offline event has attracted 12,911 companies to participate, among which 3,856 are new exhibitors. The long-standing event will run until May 5 in three phases.

This year, three new exhibition sections and three new zones are added to the event to further meet the sourcing queries of current trending hits, including industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing in phase 1, as well as new energy and intelligent connected vehicles, which captured attention of global buyers at the Fair this year.

In addition to the commonly known electric cars and trucks, other NEVs, such as electric tractors, hydrogen-fueled buses, and pure electric go-karts, were also on display in the newly built Exhibition Area D, which had specific halls for NEVs and intelligent connected vehicles.

According to a sales person of SAIC GM-Wuling, a total of 142 customers from 77 countries made inquiries in the first two days, mainly from Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.

EVs, together with lithium batteries and solar cells, are hailed as the new pillars of China's foreign trade given their export boom. The three industries had a total export volume of 264.7 billion yuan ($38.5 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, up 66.9 percent year-on-year and accounting for 4.7 percent of China's total exports, according to latest customs data.

In the first phase of the event, the participating companies and overseas buyers have fully recognized the exhibition results and generally believe that they are better than expected, said Xu Bing, the spokesperson of the fair, adding that exhibitors in the industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing have garnered orders worth USD10 million.

第133届广交会第一期顺利结束。

4月19日，广交会新闻发言人、中国对外贸易中心副主任徐兵介绍了第一期运行情况。据介绍，第一期为4月15-19日，共设家用电器、建材卫浴、五金工具等20个展区，12911家企业线下参展，其中新参展企业3856家。第二期将于4月23日开展。

徐兵表示，当前全球经济复苏缓慢，国际贸易增长乏力，国际航班往来仍不够便利，但从第133届广交会第一期运行情况看，参展企业和境外客商对参展效果充分肯定，普遍认为好于预期。

现场人气旺。截至4月19日，累计进馆人流量超过126万人次。万商云集的盛况，向世界展现了广交会的独特魅力和吸引力。

成效超预期。企业普遍认为，尽管境外采购商到会还在恢复中，但参会采购商成交意愿较强，下单更快。不少采购商千里迢迢、克服航班等不便来到广交会，目的就是为了签订单，看望老朋友、结识新客户。有采购商称广交会综合性的特点满足了“一站式”采购需求。有些参展企业首日已收获300万美元意向订单，工业自动化及智能制造展区有参展企业订单达1000万美元。

溢出效应强。随着市场需求呈现定制化、个性化趋势，展会的功能和成交模式也在不断拓展，溢出效应更强，现场看样、实地看厂、调整产品设计方案后再下单的成交模式逐渐增多。本届广交会上，很多企业表示已有大量客户预约实地看厂。

值得注意的是，近年来，全球对新能源、绿色低碳领域的重视程度逐步提高，国际市场的旺盛需求也带动中国绿色低碳产品出口增长，这也在今年广交会上“新三样”走俏的热闹景象中得到印证。

第一展期以工业类题材为主，接近9700家机电企业参加。新启用的D展馆中，以电、光、锂这“新三样”为代表的企业对未来市场普遍看好，预计成交量高于预期。上汽通用五菱汽车股份有限公司工作人员说，这届广交会上新能源汽车品牌已斩获首批海外订单。浙江公元新能源科技股份有限公司是太阳能组件、太阳能灯具和户外储能制造商。本届广交会展出的新品TOPcon组件与储能等产品在节能、效率等方面有了较大提升。

电动载人汽车、锂电池、太阳能电池“新三样”已经成为大陆出口新的增长点。海关数据显示，今年一季度，大陆“新三样”产品合计出口增长66.9%，合计出口2646.9亿元，拉高了出口整体增速2个百分点。

Next on industry and company news

产业及公司新闻

• China's industrial economy maintained steady performance in the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told a press conference on Thursday. Industrial output grew by 3 percent in the first three months, 0.3 percentage points faster than in the previous quarter and reversed the downward trend since last October. Investment in the manufacturing sector grew steadily, with manufacturing investment up 7 percent year on year, 1.9 percentage points higher than that of fixed asset investment. Meanwhile, major industrial powerhouses in China are taking the lead in recovery, as Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces saw their pace in industrial growth significantly faster than the national average, while Guangdong and Zhejiang picked up momentum since March.

  一季度工业经济运行平稳：20日，工业和信息化部总工程师、信息通信管理局局长、新闻发言人赵志国介绍了2023年一季度工业和信息化发展情况。今年一季度工业经济保持平稳运行。主要呈现三个特点。一是工业生产稳步回升。一季度规模以上工业增加值同比增长3%，增幅高于去年四季度0.3个百分点，扭转了去年10月份以来持续下行态势。二是制造业投资持续稳定增长。一季度制造业投资同比增长7%，高于全国固定资产投资1.9个百分点，在连续两年同期高基数的基础上保持较快增速。三是工业大省挑大梁作用明显。河北、山东、江苏等工业大省工业增速显著高于全国水平，3月份以来，广东、浙江等省工业经济回升势头向好。

• Huawei Technologies forecast that global AI computing power will increase 500 times by 2030, and the company will keep investing in domains like connectivity, computing, storage and cloud to help accelerate digital transformation, Meng Wanzhou, rotating chairwoman and chief financial officer of Huawei, said at Huawei's ongoing 20th annual Global Analyst Summit in Shenzhen on Wednesday. “Digitalization is a blue ocean for the whole industry and the global spending on digital transformation will reach USD3.41 trillion in 2026," Meng said.

  孟晚舟称2030年AI算力将增长500倍：4月19日，华为副董事长、轮值董事长、CFO孟晚舟亮相华为全球分析师大会，这是她任职轮值董事长后的首次当值。孟晚舟表示，2026年全球数字化转型支出将达到3.4万亿美元，数字化是整个产业链的新蓝海，跃升数字生产力正当时，华为将在联接、计算、存储、云等方面保持投入，与合作伙伴一起助力企业数字化转型，并加大投入伙伴生态、繁荣数字化人才生态。华为预计，到2030年，全球联接总量将突破2000亿。与此同时，企业网络接入、家庭宽带接入、个人无线接入将迎来万兆联接的时代；通用算力将增长10倍、人工智能算力将增长500倍。

• Shares in Kuaishou tumbled today after Chinese internet behemoth Tencent Holding said its investment vehicle will hand part of its stake in the Chinese short video platform to shareholders as a dividend. Parallel Nebula Investment, which is indirectly owned by Tencent’s private equity arm Tencent Plus Partners, is distributing 51 million shares in Kuaishou as a special dividend, Tencent said. Tencent will remain with 19 percent equity after the transaction.

  腾讯否认减持快手：4月19日，Parallel Nebula Investment Limited（简称“PNI”）应其部分外部资本伙伴要求，分配约5100万股快手B类股。港交所权益披露表格显示，PNI是由腾讯旗下的Tencent Plus Partners（TPP）间接控权的投资主体。TPP协助外部资本伙伴与腾讯共同投资。本次分配后，腾讯（除TPP外）所持有的快手B类股股数为约6.4亿股，保持不变，占快手B类股总数约17.96%。腾讯内部人士对媒体表示，此次PNI对快手的分配，主要来自其外部投资伙伴的要求，不影响腾讯在快手的持股。今日快手低开低走，一度跌4%。

• A cargo flight carrying fresh food including salmon from South America to China is expected to start service on May 5, the logistics arm under China Eastern Airlines said on Thursday. The company said it is the first such cargo flight flying from South America. The flight will start from Santiago in Chile to Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

  东航首条南美直飞生鲜货运航线5月开航：瞄准三文鱼等优质生鲜，从智利圣地亚哥直飞中国成都——首条南美至中国的全货机直飞生鲜航线，计划从5月5日起正式开航，由东航物流开展运营。该航段从智利圣地亚哥国际机场起飞，目的地为成都双流国际机场，由东航物流旗下生鲜港公司以市场化方式采购合作伙伴爱派克斯的运力执行，去程从成都至智利圣地亚哥的航段则由爱派克斯公司运营。

Earnings reports express

财报速递

• Shares of China Unicom sank after the state-owned telecom carrier’s profit increased at a slower pace in the first quarter than it did last year. Driven by innovative businesses, net profit jumped 11.6 percent to 2.3 billion yuan on a 9.2 percent gain in revenue to 97.2 billion yuan in the period. Last year, China Unicom’s net profit jumped 15.8 percent. Income from its cloud-based services business jumped 40 percent from a year earlier to 12.8 billion yuan, and revenue from its big data business surged 54 percent to 1.5 billion yuan, the quarterly trading report showed. Telecom service users stood at 900 million at the end of the first quarter, including 224 million 5G users, driving mobile service business revenue up 4.4 percent to 43.8 billion yuan.

  中联通一季度利润创新高：4月18日晚，中国联通发布2023年一季报。一季度，中国联通实现营业收入972.22亿元，比去年同期增长9.2%，增速达到近十年来同期的高位水平。EBITDA（税息折旧及摊销前利润）为257.30亿元，同比增长2.8%，归属于上市公司股东净利润为22.66亿元，同比增长11.6%，利润规模再创公司上市以来同期新高。中国联通收入结构持续优化。财报显示，一季度，中国联通产业互联网业务实现收入223.89亿元，占服务收入比重达到26%，同比提升2.1个百分点。联通云实现收入127.9亿元，较去年同期提升40%。截至一季度末，中国联通“大联接”用户规模达到9亿户。其中，5G套餐用户达到2.24亿户，推动公司移动服务收入实现438.23亿元，同比提升4.4%。

Switching gears to financial news

金融市场消息

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 4.9 percent year on year in the first three months of the year, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday, while China's non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) rose 26.3 percent year on year to 215.97 billion yuan. The ministry said newly added foreign invested enterprises in China jumped 25.5 percent to exceed 10,000 in the period, thanks to the “Invest in China” campaign launched by the ministry and efforts by localities to vigorously attract investment this year.

  1-3月全国实际使用外资同比增长4.9%：商务部新闻发言人束珏婷4月20日表示，2023年1-3月，全国实际使用外资4084.5亿元人民币，同比增长4.9%，吸收外资实现了开门红。束珏婷介绍，今年商务部启动“投资中国年”招商引资系列活动，各地纷纷加大了走出去、请进来招商引资力度。1-3月新设外商投资企业超过了1万家，同比增长25.5%。大陆对外投资合作方面，1-3月大陆对外非金融类直接投资2159.7亿元人民币，同比增长26.3%，折合315.4亿美元，同比增长17.2%。

• China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged for the eighth straight month on Thursday in line with expectations, as the economic recovery reduced the need for any immediate monetary support. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) remained at 3.65 percent, while the five-year LPR was kept at 4.30 percent.

  LPR连续八个月不变：4月LPR出炉，1年期与5年期品种利率均与上月持平，已连续8个月维持不变。4月20日，中国人民银行授权全国银行间同业拆借中心公布，2023年4月20日贷款市场报价利率（LPR）为：1年期LPR为3.65%，5年期以上LPR为4.3%。以上LPR在下一次发布LPR之前有效。

• China Development Bank, a major policy bank, has completed the issuance of $300 million in credit to the National Bank of Egypt, the largest state-owned lender in Egypt, to support 49 key projects regarding small and medium-sized enterprise development and infrastructure construction, the Chinese lender announced on Wednesday. Of this sum, $200 million will be earmarked for SMEs in sectors including food processing, healthcare, education and services in the African country.

  国开行实现对埃及国民银行3亿美元授信全额发放：4月19日，国家开发银行实现对埃及国民银行3亿美元授信项目全额发放，支持了埃及中小企业发展、基础设施建设等领域49个重点项目。其中，2亿美元用于支持食品加工、医疗卫生、教育、服务等领域中小企业项目。

• HSBC has hit back at its largest shareholder Ping An's latest proposal to restructure the bank and separate its Asia business into a Hong Kong-listed entity ahead of a new round of shareholders meeting, as disagreement remained after 20 meetings at a senior level. Europe's largest bank said Wednesday the structural reforms suggested by Ping An would undermine the bank's international business model and erode earnings, dividends and shareholder value. Chinese insurer Ping An said on Tuesday that HSBC has "fundamentally failed to address key business model challenges”.

  汇丰控股回应平安战略重组建议：随着股东大会临近，汇丰控股与其第二大股东平安资管就是否拆分汇丰亚太区业务，展开了一轮针锋相对的隔空对峙。19日，汇丰控股董事会在最新对平安资产管理相关声明的回应中表示，由平安提出、转变汇丰亚太区业务结构的建议，会严重影响汇丰环球业务策略的成效，并且大大蚕食集团的收益、回报、股息及股东价值，损害汇丰独有的环球业务的定位。因此，汇丰不能支持或向股东推荐这些由平安建议、涉及改变集团结构的方案。18日，平安资管发声认为汇丰有必要推动结构性的战略重组改革，并建议从原来的分拆方案调整为战略重组方案，并认为战略重组方案完全可以解决汇丰的顾虑，包括但不限于环球价值、运营成本、法律障碍等问题。平安资管董事长黄勇表示，推动汇丰亚洲业务战略重组，将总部设于香港并独立上市，将为汇丰的所有股东带来诸多收益。

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

股市收盘情况

• Chinese stocks eased on Thursday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite down 0.1 percent, and the Shenzhen Component slid 0.4 percent. Hong Kong stocks finished mixed, as the Hang Seng index inched up 0.1 percent, while the TECH index dipped 0.1 percent.

  A股收跌港股震荡：周四A股三大指数全线收跌，科创50大涨2.69%，上证指数收跌0.09%，深证成指收跌0.37%，创业板指收跌1.2%。沪深两市成交额11387亿元，连续第13个交易日突破1万亿元，北向资金全天单边净买入46.91亿元。港股港股震荡，截至收盘，恒生指数涨0.14％，恒生科技指数跌0.09％。

Biz Word of the Day

财经词汇划重点

• A special dividendis a non-recurring distribution of company assets, usually in the form of cash, to shareholders. A special dividend is usually larger compared to normal dividends paid out by the company and is often tied to a specific event like an asset sale, corporate restructuring, spinoff, or other windfall-generating event. Special dividends are also referred to as extra dividends.

  特别股息是公司资产的非经常性分配，通常以现金的形式，分配给股东。与公司支付的正常股息相比，特别股息通常更大，并且通常与资产出售或其他意外事件等特定事件相关。特别股息也称为额外股息。

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

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编委: 于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮

音频制作：李莹亮

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

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