We will continue to increase investment in China

With the optimization of China's epidemic prevention and control policies and the continuous implementation of various economic policies, foreign and foreign investors have begun to increase their efforts in the Chinese market. According to the latest data of the Ministry of Commerce of China, in the first month of 2023, China's actual use of foreign capital amounted to 127.69 billion yuan, an increase of 14.5% year on year, with a steady increase in scale and continuous optimization of structure, demonstrating that China is still a hot spot for foreign investment.

Global investors are optimistic about China's strong growth "dividend" after the optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention policies, and believe that China will continue to become the "power source" of global economic growth, and cast a vote of confidence in China's economy with practical actions. According to the latest survey of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, 98.2% of the foreign enterprises and foreign business associations interviewed have confidence in the prospects of China's economic development this year and said they will continue to invest in China. This also shows that China's "two-way trip" to attract foreign investment and foreign investors favor China is still continuing.

Continue to "increase" China

On January 18, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China released data showing that the actual amount of foreign capital used by China in 2022 was 1232.68 billion yuan, an increase of 6.3% year-on-year on a comparable basis, and the scale reached a new record.

Since the beginning of 2023, global capital and multinational enterprises have come in droves to seek more investment opportunities in China. On February 27, the American Chamber of Commerce in South China released the White Paper on China's Business Environment in 2023 and the Special Report on the Economic Situation in South China in 2023. The report shows that more than 90% of the enterprises interviewed regard China as one of the most important investment destinations, and 80% of the enterprises will actually reinvest in China in 2022. 74% of the enterprises interviewed chose not to transfer investment to countries other than China, and none of them completely withdrew from China. 75% of the surveyed enterprises plan to reinvest in China in 2023, and reserve $18.3 billion in cash for reinvestment in the next three to five years. Among them, 68% of American enterprises will continue to dig deep into the Chinese market.

Global investors have cast a "vote of confidence" for the Chinese economy through continuous "overweight" of "real gold and silver".

According to the report of the website of ドイツ's "South Deutsche Post", BASF's integrated factory invested 10 billion euros in southern China began to put into operation last September; In January this year, the Volkswagen Group announced that it would invest more than 2 billion euros to establish a joint venture with an autonomous driving company in China. According to the report, data from Rongding Consulting showed that German enterprises invested a record 7.5 billion euros in China last year. According to the statistics of Rongding Consulting, it is mainly large auto and chemical companies that continue to inject funds into the Chinese market. There are also 5200 other German enterprises doing business in China.

The Wall Street Journal reported that due to the optimistic long-term growth prospects of the Chinese economy and the potential of the consumer market, many American enterprises have increased their layout of the Chinese market and expanded their business in China. According to the report, McDonald's will open 900 new stores in China this year. The report also mentioned several other American food companies, Tyson Foods and Homer Foods, which said they would open new factories in China in the future. In November 2022, Tyson Food told investors that half of the six new factories that the company expects to put into operation in 2023 will be located in China. Jim Sney, CEO of Homer Foods, also said that the company plans to continue to expand its business in the Chinese market in 2024.

Starbucks, the American coffee giant, is also eye-catching in China. According to a data released by the company, Starbucks China continued its investment in the Chinese market in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, opening 69 new stores and entering 10 new cities. Howard Schultz, interim chief executive of Starbucks, also said that Starbucks China would invest about 1.46 billion yuan to build the first exclusive technology digital innovation center in the next three years.

"From Apple to Volkswagen, CEOs have returned to China," the Wall Street Journal website reported recently. Volkswagen executives will visit China at the end of January and the beginning of February. The management of Mercedes-Benz will visit China in March. The CEOs of Apple and Pfizer also plan to visit China in the near future. According to the report, for some executives, it is a priority to visit local businesses and meet with managers, while more people like to meet local business partners and government officials.

"We are optimistic about the prospects of China's economic development and will continue to increase investment in China," said Lei Huanli, the senior vice president of the world of German material manufacturer Costron. The development of China's new energy vehicle market and green electricity industry has shown the company opportunities. China has formed a complete manufacturing industry chain, which also brings more development opportunities for the company. The company will continue to invest in circular economy in the future and fulfill its long-term commitment to the Chinese market.

Positive economic prospects

In recent years, China has continuously improved its legislation to encourage and protect the rights and interests of foreign investors in China, which has attracted widespread attention.

From January 1, 2020, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Foreign Investment was officially implemented. On January 1 this year, the Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment (2022 Edition) came into force. スペイン's "Investment Strategy" website reported that the directory contains a list of areas to encourage foreign investors who plan to enter the local market in China. The catalogue has been expanded in recent years and the list has also been extended, including health, sports, elderly care services, vocational training and green energy. China has indicated that it hopes to open its high-tech manufacturing industry to foreign investors. As the list of industries continues to expand, China is still very attractive to foreign investors who want to take advantage of its huge export market and global logistics.

The accelerated pace of China's economic recovery is also an important reason for the full confidence of foreign investment.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun website, the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on March 1 showed that in February, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) of China's manufacturing industry was 52.6%, up 2.5 percentage points from the previous month. It has continued to improve since January, and has been above the critical point for two consecutive months.

According to Reuters, China's manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in more than 10 years in February, exceeding expectations. According to the report, the global market was excited by the big surprise of China's PMI. Asian stock markets reversed their previous decline, the offshore yuan strengthened, and oil prices rose. Investors are more optimistic about China's economic prospects.

According to Bloomberg News, China's economic activity accelerated in February, causing road congestion in major cities and increasing income of restaurants and stores. The latest Chinese consumption data released by UBS shows that the consumption of dining out, offline shopping and entertainment has increased.

Ferrero, the world's third-largest chocolate manufacturer, has been deeply involved in the Chinese market for more than 20 years. Recently, Ma Rucheng, general manager of Ferrero China, said that China is the most important market in Asia. If a multinational enterprise wants to succeed in Asia, it means to succeed in China. Ma Rucheng was very optimistic about the economic situation in 2023: "In the past few years, China has proved that it has a solid economic foundation, which has injected confidence into our efforts to regain momentum and accelerate development."

Boost global confidence

Spain's "Investment Strategy" website reported that China's economy is ready for a rebound in 2023. China's economy shows a "V-shaped" recovery, and takes domestic consumption as the growth lever. This "Asian economic locomotive" has become the preferred destination for major institutions and individual investors around the world.

Earlier, the International Monetary Fund raised its forecast of China's GDP in 2023 to 5.2%. Fitch, an international rating company, recently predicted that China's GDP will increase by 5.0% in 2023, far higher than its previous estimate of 4.1%. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley raised China's economic growth forecast this year to 5.5% and 5.7% respectively.

Many observers and institutions believe that China's role as the main engine of the global economy has not changed, and expect that China's economy will inject new momentum into the world economic recovery while achieving high-quality development.

"In 2023, China will become the most important 'locomotive' for global economic growth," said Harry Saying, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China.

Park Zhishui, chief economist of the Asian Development Bank, said that China's economic recovery would have a huge impact on the Asian economy. The sharp rebound in Chinese consumer demand not only boosted the exports of trading partners to China, but also benefited all value chains connected with China.

French classical music radio published an article saying that in the current uncertain period, there is a topic that brings hope to French enterprises: China's economic recovery. Two thirds of French companies in China predict that China's economy will continue to grow in 2023. More than half of them believe that their business activities will increase by 10% to 20%, which makes the future particularly bright.

According to the Yonhap news agency, a report released by the Bank of Korea recently showed that China's economic growth rate this year is expected to increase by 2 percentage points compared with that of last year, which could increase the economic growth rate of South Korea by 0.3 percentage points. This is mainly due to the increase of South Korean exports to China and Chinese tourists to South Korea.

The economist of the Federal Reserve recently released a research report entitled "What happens in China will not only affect China". It is estimated that if China's economic growth rate increases to 5% to 6% this year, the spillover effect is expected to increase the GDP of the rest of the world by 0.5% to 0.75%, which is equivalent to about 400 billion to 600 billion US dollars annually.

According to a recent report on the website of the American Petroleum Price Information Service, China's accelerated economic recovery may support global economic growth this year. In 2023, China's GDP is expected to grow by 6.5%, which may help to increase the global GDP by 1 percentage point before the end of the year.