In First Half of This Year, China's Exports to Australia Grow

According to customs statistics, in the first half of this year, China's import and export to Australia reached 337.01 billion yuan, decreased by 20.2% over the last year, and accounted for 2.9% of China's foreign trade value of the same period. Among them, exports to Australia reached 113.09 billion yuan, an increase of 5.3%; imports 223.92 billion yuan from Australia, down by 28.9%; trade deficit 110.83 billion yuan, narrowed by 46.6%.

The main features of China’s import and export to China in the first half of this year
(1) Monthly import and export value trend differentiated, exports maintained growth, imports continued to decline. In June this year, China's import and export to Australia 54.89 billion yuan, down 17.4% year on year; of which exports to Australia 19.39 billion yuan, an increase of 3.8%; imports from Australia 35.5 billion yuan, down 25.7%.

(2) imports and exports through general trade dropped significantly, the proportion of processing trade increased. In the first half, China's general trade import and export to Australia reached 265.79 billion yuan, down 23.9%, accounting for 78.9 percent of total imports and exports; of which exports 65.98 billion yuan, an increase of 4.7%; imports 199.81 billion yuan, down 30.2%. Over the same period, processing trade import and export 42.48 billion yuan, down 5.5%, accounting for 12.6%. In addition, import and export goods through bonded supervision reached 16.72 billion yuan, an increase of 6.5%; imports and exports through customs special supervision areas 10.67 billion yuan, down 11%.

(3) The electromechanical products exports accounted for half of total exports, and oil exports surged. In the first half, China's export of electromechanical products to Australia 56.8 billion yuan, an increase of 4.5%, accounting for 50.2%of total exports. Among them, the automatic data processing equipment and parts exports reached 9.46 billion yuan, down by 13.1%. Over the same period, a total of seven categories of traditional labor-intensive products exports 27.81 billion yuan, an increase of 1%, accounting for 24.6%. Among them, clothing and accessories exports reached 11.64 billion yuan, down 8.6%; furniture and parts and textile yarn exports were respectively 5.29 billion yuan and 3.84 billion yuan, up by 13.6% and 5.5%. In addition, exports of refined oil products 2.98 billion yuan, surging 1.5 times.

(4) Mainly imported products are iron ore, coal and other resource-based products, imports of agricultural products like barley and wool grow rapidly. In the first half, China imported 111.45 billion yuan of iron ore and concentrates from Australia and concentrates, down by 39.4%; imported coal and lignite of 16.63 billion yuan, down by 41.9%; these two imports accounted for 57.2% of the total value of imports from Australia over the same period. Over the same period, barley imports were 5.47 billion yuan, wool imports 5.35 billion yuan, relatively up 45.6% and 10.6%. In addition, imports of unwrought copper and copper product reached 5.3 billion yuan, down by 28.6 percent; liquefied natural gas imports 4.28 billion, surging 1.2 times (www.chinainout.com)

Currencies Lose Firepower As Effective Trade Weapon

When China’s central bank last week triggered the two biggest single-day falls in the renminbisince the 1990s, plenty of people were keen to proclaim a resumption of the currency warsthat have been a feature of the global economy since the 2008 financial crisis.

But if Beijing’s move prompted a predictable political response from currency warriors inWashington and other capitals, it ignored what many trade economists see as an increasinglywell-documented fact: currencies are not the trade weapon they once were.

In a new study of 46 countries including China, economists at the World Bank found thatcurrency devaluations were these days only half as effective a tool for boosting exports asthey were in the mid-1990s.

Moreover, the World Bank economists found the further countries became integrated into theglobal economy — as China has done in spectacular style since the 1990s — the less theeffect was likely to be of any currency changes on their exports.

For countries that weaken their currencies to seek competitive advantage in global tradethere is a “distinction between the perception of the impact of a depreciation and the actualimpact a depreciation can have”, says Michele Ruta, one of the study’s authors. The realitytoday, he says, is that years of data show the impact is likely to be much less than it used tobe.

There are a number of reasons for that. But the biggest, say Mr Ruta and his colleagues, is thedevelopment of global supply chains in the past two decades and the reality that manyproducts today are agglomerations of parts made in many different countries.

The result is a much more complex calculus for many economies, including China.

Weaker currencies still lower the cost and therefore raise the international competitiveness ofmany goods exports while increasing the cost of imports. For something as simple as a bottleof Australian Shiraz from grapes grown on Margaret river vines, that reality still holds andmatters. A weak Australian dollar will lower the cost of an exported bottle and make it moreattractive to offshore consumers. It will also increase the price of imports into Australia ofFrench or Chilean rivals.

But for more complex products, like many of the electronic items assembled in China, the realimpact is far more difficult to calculate. (www.chinainout.com)

China Continues to Be Biggest Buyer of Brazilian Agricultural Products

According to the Brazilian Foreign Trade Department of Agriculture statistics, in July this year, Brazil's agricultural exports to China amounted to $2.92 billion, accounting for 32.1% of July's total agricultural exports, China continues to be the biggest buyer of Brazilian agricultural products.

Data shows that Brazil's exports to China are mainly soybeans, reached $2.47 billion, followed by wood and pulp. Compared to last year, Brazil's exports to China grew by 19.2 percent this year, mainly due to Chinese increasing demand for soybeans, as well as China’s lifting the ban on Brazilian beef imports.

In 2013 China surpassed the EU to become Brazil's largest agricultural export destination country. In the first seven months, Brazil’s agricultural exports to China reached 14.67 billion US dollars. (www.chinainout.com)

Learn Five Truths of Marketing from Roadside Soda Stand

Very few things represent summer more than a lemonade stand. I was reminded while visiting my niece's lemonade stand the lessons all business owners can learn from this first step into the entrepreneurial journey。

Location, Location, Location

The first thing my niece did well is she put her lemonade stand on the corner of a very busy street。

When starting your business, location is everything. If selling a physical product, you need to ensure an adequate number of physical locations and your product must be visible and easily accessible. Don't make the mistake of believing the hard part is getting a product on the shelf--it's just as difficult (and important) to get the product off the shelf and into your customer's hands。

If you are planning to sell a service, picking a city and location within that city is equally as important. When I started my research company, I placed it in the Perimeter area of Atlanta because it is central to the 5 primary business centers. This location made it easy to travel to customers and have them travel to my location. Atlanta is a good market because of the number of large companies as potential customers。

Timing is Everything

Lemonade stands are in high demand in the summer, but don't have much success in the winter。

Do some research and know your market. Learn what types of products and services sell best and when. Very few companies I work with are immune to some type of cycle--based on fiscal calendars, seasonal factors or even vacation schedules. You must time entering the market and survive the ebbs and flows that are a natural part of running a business。

Give a Sample

My niece is very quick to offer up a sample before letting her patrons know the $1.00 price tag。

You should plan to give away free samples of your products or services. Daniel Lubetzky, creator of the Kind bar, increased his sampling budget from $800 in 2008 to a massive increase in 2009 of $800,000. He credits this increase to the success that Kind is experiencing and now spends upwards of $10 million on efforts to get people to try Kind bars。

Who is Selling the Product Matters

There is no better salesperson for lemonade than my niece. She is enthusiastic about flagging cars down and hustles to get the product in her customers' hands。

Make sure your sales team is just as excited about the product being sold as you are. You need cheerleaders promoting your product or service - not someone who is just there to collect a paycheck. A sales team that understands the product and is enthusiastic about selling it yields higher sales, takes on larger markets and creates more demand. They are willing to attend networking events, promote your product via social media and their efforts will ultimately lead to the greatest success。

Always Have Something to Upsell

My niece had chocolate chip cookies available for upsell and she pushed them to everyone that bought a drink。

When growing a business, don't limit yourself to just one product or service. You may find that your initial product is the giveaway or must be discounted to gain the customer. It's in the upsell that you make the most money. This is especially true in the restaurant space. A burger joint makes very little on the burger. Their profit is found in the milkshakes and fries added to the order。

The hardest part is getting your customer in the door; increase your profit by adding on to their sale. What else can you offer?

Some of the most important lessons in sales can be learned from the simplicity of a lemonade stand。(www.chinainout.com)

China’s Currency Stabilizes on Friday, Ending Three-day Plunge

HONG KONG — China’s currency stabilized on Friday, ending a three-day plunge that shookmarkets globally during the renminbi’s steepest devaluation in decades.

For the first time since Tuesday, the country’s central bank set the official exchange ratehigher — though only slightly — against the dollar.

The renminbi responded by strengthening 0.1 percent, ending the week at 6.392 per dollar.Still, that meant the People’s Bank of China had effectively devalued the currency 4.4 percent.It was the steepest drop since the country’s modern exchange rate system was set up in1994.

The sudden decline added fuel to a global debate about currency wars. It also raised newconcerns about whether Chinese leaders could manage the country’s huge but slowing economyas they pursue market-driven overhauls to the financial system, which remains broadly understate control.

China’s stock markets are still struggling after a sell-off that began in mid-June. Thegovernment took extraordinary measures to support share prices, including barring majorshareholders from selling stocks and ordering state agencies to buy, with backing from statebanks. But they had little lasting effect.

The renminbi’s fall should provide a modest boost to the country’s exporters, as the prices oftheir goods become relatively cheaper to overseas buyers. But officials at the central bank havedenied that was why they pushed the currency down, saying instead that they wished to movecloser to an exchange rate guided by trading.

Instead of ignoring movements in the currency market, the central bank said it would begin touse them as the reference point in its daily setting of the exchange rate. The renminbi’sreaction to this change, they said, was a “one-off” adjustment.

The currency had been under pressure to weaken as China’s economy slowed. But the centralbank kept it closely linked to the dollar, which had strengthened against most other majorcurrencies because of the rebounding economy in the United States.

“China’s equities market crumbled this summer because its regulators were incapable of actingin the face of a bubble,” Daniel H. Rosen, a founding partner of the consultancy the RhodiumGroup, wrote in a research note. China’s central bank “was determined not to repeat thatmistake with the currency,” he added.

By Friday, China had made clear it would allow the currency to move with the markets. But thecentral bank also showed it would not hesitate to step in if needed. And the renminbi’s dailyswings are still capped at a rise or fall of 2 percent.

The central bank set the exchange rate at 6.397 per dollar on Friday, a tiny 0.01 percent gainfrom Thursday’s market close. It remained steady around that level throughout trading onFriday, despite heavy volume, suggesting that the central bank was acting to keep the currencystable. (www.chinainout.com)