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Macro
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01
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【Preview: State Council Information Office to Hold Routine Policy Briefing on Expanding Implementation of the "Two New" Policy】
The State Council Information Office is scheduled to hold a routine policy briefing on January 8, 2025 (Wednesday) at 10:00 a.m. Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, People's Bank of China, and State Administration for Market Regulation will introduce the expansion and implementation of the "Two New" policy and answer questions from the press.
02
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【Ministry of Commerce: 96 Bank-Enterprise Matchmaking Events Held in 2024 Across 13 Provinces and 23 Cities, Achieving Credit Approvals Exceeding 10 Billion Yuan】
Li Wei, Deputy Director of the Department of Market System Development of the Ministry of Commerce, stated at a special press conference by the NDRC that efforts are being made to accelerate credit application and fully unleash the benefits of credit. The aim is to deeply integrate credit development with economic growth and public welfare, making credit tangible, visible, and accessible for businesses and the public. To facilitate enterprises, a series of bank-enterprise matchmaking events were organized in collaboration with financial institutions, establishing a regular and institutionalized cooperation platform to assist creditworthy enterprises in obtaining financing. In 2024, focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises, 96 matchmaking events were held across 13 provinces and 23 cities, achieving credit approvals exceeding 10 billion yuan and benefiting over 2,500 enterprises. On the public welfare side, major commercial banks were organized to launch "Credit for Public Welfare" campaigns. In sectors such as dining, accommodation, and large-scale consumption like automobiles and home appliances, a series of discount and promotional activities were introduced. Statistics show that 20 well-known commercial districts nationwide, including Wangfujing in Beijing and Beijing Road in Guangzhou, along with 800 commercial complexes, participated in the events, attracting 10.77 million consumer visits and driving consumption worth 53.5 billion yuan.
03
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【NDRC: Fully Remove Household Registration Restrictions for Social Insurance Enrollment at Employment Locations and Improve Social Insurance Transfer Policies】
The NDRC issued the "Guidelines for Building a Unified National Market (Trial)." It emphasizes the need for relevant departments to establish a unified and standardized human resources market system, improve public employment services, build a national public employment service platform, and establish a unified national social insurance public service platform. It also calls for the full removal of household registration restrictions for social insurance enrollment at employment locations and the improvement of social insurance transfer and continuation policies.
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Industry and Downstream
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01
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【SMM Weekly Maintenance Statistics】
According to SMM statistics, during the week of January 4 to January 10, the impact from blast furnace maintenance on pig iron production was 1.8441 million mt, down 152,800 mt WoW. For the week of January 11 to January 17, the impact from blast furnace maintenance on pig iron production is expected to increase by 17,100 mt WoW to 1.8612 million mt.
02
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【CAAM: 139 Car Models from 9 Companies, Including Chongqing Changan, SAIC, and BYD, Meet Four Automotive Data Security Compliance Requirements】
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) today released the "Notice on the Detection of Compliance with Four Automotive Data Security Requirements (Second Batch)." Based on relevant regulations and standards from CAAM and the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center, and following the principle of voluntary submission by enterprises, compliance testing for automotive data security (covering anonymization of external facial information, default non-collection of cabin data, in-cabin data processing, and prominent notification of personal information processing) has been conducted since September 2024. A total of 139 car models from nine companies, including Chongqing Changan, SAIC, BYD, Chery, Geely, Great Wall, NIO, XPeng, and FAW-Volkswagen, were found to meet the four compliance requirements.
03
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【Shanghai's 2025 First Batch of Residential Land Projects: Four Plots with a Planned Construction Area of 227,300 m²】
According to the Shanghai Land Market, Shanghai recently released the "2025 Proposed Residential Land Supply List Information Disclosure and Pre-Announcement (Batch 1)." The announcement highlights an increase in the supply of high-quality residential land, with the annual land supply plan being disclosed in batches. The first batch includes four residential land plots located in Pudong New Area, Hongkou District, and Fengxian District, with a total transfer area of approximately 96,000 m² and a planned construction area of 227,300 m².
04
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【Fujian: Aims to Complete 170 Billion Yuan Investment in Provincial Key Projects in Q1 and Start Over 50 Major Projects with Total Investment Exceeding 1 Billion Yuan Each】
On January 7, Fujian Province held a press conference to interpret the recently issued "Measures for Achieving a Good Start in Economic and Social Development in Q1 2025." Wang Gaohui, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Director of the Fujian Development and Reform Commission, introduced measures to accelerate the implementation of effective investments. Fujian plans to fully leverage government investment to drive progress, ensuring resources follow projects and services revolve around projects. Key measures include: 1) Promoting major project construction by encouraging provincial key projects to minimize or avoid halts during the Chinese New Year and resume work early, aiming to complete 170 billion yuan in investments in Q1 and start over 50 major projects with total investments exceeding 1 billion yuan each. 2) Accelerating marine economy projects, advancing the implementation of projects signed during the 2024 World Maritime Equipment Conference, aiming to start over 20 projects and complete investments exceeding 3 billion yuan in Q1, and implementing over 100 key projects in marine economy demonstration zones with investments exceeding 5 billion yuan in Q1. 3) Boosting commercial housing sales by stabilizing markets in major urban centers, identifying unsold completed housing inventories, matching them with local housing needs, and supporting state-owned enterprises in acquiring unsold housing stock. Monthly meetings between banks and real estate enterprises will be held to facilitate communication.
05
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【Lichuan County, Jiangxi: Plans to Reclaim Idle Land in County's Central Urban Area, Including Land Under Judicial or Bankruptcy Auction Procedures】
The Natural Resources Bureau of Lichuan County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, issued a public notice on January 6 regarding the collection and reclamation of idle land in the county's central urban area. The scope includes idle land within the central urban planning area caused by non-enterprise reasons, land where enterprises are unable or unwilling to continue development, unsold residential and commercial land that has been supplied but not developed, land under judicial or bankruptcy auction procedures, land reclaimed for redevelopment or infrastructure needs, and partially developed plots with unbuilt sections. For pricing, land identified for reclamation and included in the land reserve plan will undergo market price evaluation by certified land appraisal agencies, with the base price for reclamation determined at the lower end relative to enterprise land costs.
06
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【Fujian: Launches Spring Consumption Promotion Campaign with 30 Million Yuan Allocated for Tiered Subsidies on New Passenger Car Purchases】
On January 7, Fujian Province held a press conference to interpret the recently issued "Measures for Achieving a Good Start in Economic and Social Development in Q1 2025." Wang Gaohui, Deputy Director of the Fujian Development and Reform Commission, introduced measures to boost consumption during the Chinese New Year shopping season by enhancing the synergy of "policies + activities" and expanding the implementation of the "Two New" policy. Key measures include: 1) Launching a spring consumption promotion campaign, allocating 10 million yuan from provincial business development funds for dining vouchers, 30 million yuan for tiered subsidies on new passenger car purchases (which can be combined with trade-in subsidies), and 20 million yuan to support the opening of flagship stores and hosting of first-launch events. 2) Stimulating winter and spring cultural tourism consumption by organizing over 1,500 public welfare theater performances, intangible cultural heritage experiences, and museum exhibitions, as well as over 500 commercial performances, and conducting no fewer than 100 cultural tourism consumption promotion activities at the provincial, municipal, and county levels. 3) Accelerating trade-in programs for consumer goods by aligning with the latest national trade-in policies and striving to include more distinctive products in the national subsidy scope.
07
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【Henan: Continues Trade-In Policy for Consumer Goods, Expanding Support to Include Phones, Tablets, Smartwatches, and Bands】
The General Office of the Henan Provincial Government recently issued the "Policies and Measures for Achieving a 'Good Start' in Q1 2025." The document mentions the continuation of the trade-in policy for consumer goods, expanding its scope to include phones, tablets, smartwatches, and bands. It also aims to fully upgrade the online application process, optimize the approval and subsidy disbursement workflow, and reduce the total processing time for trade-in applications to within 20 working days. Over 500 consumption promotion activities at various levels will be conducted in Q1 2025.
08
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【Henan: All Eligible Stock Housing Development Loan Projects to Be Included in "Whitelist" Mechanism by End of March】
The General Office of the Henan Provincial Government recently issued the "Policies and Measures for Achieving a 'Good Start' in Q1 2025." The document outlines measures to guide local governments in implementing real estate stock support policies, urging them to introduce enhanced support policies tailored to local conditions. It also plans to host no fewer than 50 housing sales exhibitions, further implement optimized personal housing loan policies, provide purchase and deed tax subsidies based on local conditions, and utilize local government special bonds, affordable housing loans, and other policies to revitalize idle land, increase land reserves, and acquire unsold housing stock. By the end of March, all eligible stock housing development loan projects will be included in the "whitelist" mechanism to stabilize and recover the real estate market.
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Other Hot Topics
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⭕【Guangdong Clarifies That Water Conservancy Projects Will Follow the Province's Time-of-Use Electricity Prices Policy】
The Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued a notice regarding the implementation of time-of-use electricity prices for water conservancy projects. The notice mentions that some water conservancy enterprises recently suggested adopting time-of-use electricity prices for such projects. Considering the electricity usage characteristics of water conservancy projects, the policy aims to guide users to shift peak loads, reduce electricity costs, and implement the province's time-of-use electricity prices policy.
⭕【Economic Daily's Jin Guanping: Proper Management and Utilization of Special Bond Funds】
The Economic Daily published an article stating that special bonds are an important tool for implementing proactive fiscal policies and can directly and effectively boost investment. Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Optimizing and Improving the Management Mechanism of Local Government Special Bonds," proposing measures such as expanding the scope of special bond investment fields and their use as project capital, implementing a "negative list" management for investment fields, and strengthening supervision and accountability to ensure that special bonds better contribute to strengthening infrastructure, addressing weaknesses, improving public welfare, and expanding investment.Optimizing and improving the management mechanism of special bonds, with strict supervision being a crucial part. Expanding the scope and accelerating the pace does not mean "cutting corners"; instead, it is necessary to strengthen the full life cycle management of special bonds, including borrowing, usage, management, and repayment, to ensure standardized operations and enhance policy effectiveness. At the same time, the repayment mechanism for special bonds should be improved to ensure repayment sources and effectively prevent government debt risks. Issues such as idle funds and misuse of funds should be strictly supervised, with accountability strengthened and rectifications rigorously implemented.
⭕【Cold Air Continues to Affect Central and Eastern Regions; Hunan and Guizhou May See First Snow of This Winter】
Over the next three days (January 7 to 9), cold air will bring significant temperature drops to most parts of central and eastern China, with temperatures in many areas hitting new lows since the start of winter. Meanwhile, precipitation in south China will gradually expand eastward and increase, affecting areas such as the western Jiangnan region. Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hubei, and Hunan will experience a transition from rain to snow, with localized areas needing to be alert for freezing rain.
⭕【Indonesia Becomes an Official BRICS Member; Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "BRICS Plus Cooperation" Holds Great Potential and Promising Prospects】
On January 7, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiakun Guo hosted a regular press conference. A reporter asked about the announcement made last night by Brazil, the 2025 BRICS chair, that Indonesia has become an official BRICS member. On January 1, countries such as Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Cuba, and Bolivia became BRICS partner countries. Jiakun Guo stated that China warmly welcomes new members to join the "BRICS family." China is willing to work with all BRICS countries, upholding the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, and win-win cooperation, to promote high-quality development of "BRICS Plus Cooperation," jointly advocate for a multipolar world order that is equal and orderly, and foster inclusive and mutually beneficial economic globalization, thereby advancing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. "BRICS Plus Cooperation" holds great potential and promising prospects.
⭕【Canada Considers Early Release of Proposed Retaliatory Tariffs Against the US】
According to unnamed senior government officials, Canada is considering releasing a proposed list of US goods earlier than planned. If Donald Trump, upon assuming the US presidency, implements a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods, Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on these goods.
