CBN丨Trade between mainland, Macao sees steady growth over past 25 years

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.Coming up on today’s programTrade between Chinese mainland and Macao SAR increases 4.3 times in 24 years from 1999;GBA spearheads China’s “unicorn" growth.Greater Bay Area, Greater futureEconomic and trade relations between the Chinese mainland and Macao SAR are growing stronger, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday just before the 25th anniversary of Macao’s return to the motherland. Among the significant achievements in economic cooperation, trade between the mainland and Macao reached $3.84 billion in 2023, marking a 4.3-fold increase from 1999.The service trade has also seen substantial growth, as marked by the influx of mainland tourists to visit Macao. From 2004 to 2023, approximately 310 million mainland visitors traveled to Macao. The surge in tourism has boosted local retail, hospitality, and dining sectors in Macao, according to ministry.In a move to enhance tourism, the mainland increased the duty-free allowance for travelers entering the mainland from Macao from 5,000 yuan to 12,000 yuan in July, to boost tourism spending in the Macao SAR.Investment flows have also been robust. As of October, the mainland has attracted $23.93 billion in direct investment from Macao while investing $14.19 billion into the Macao SAR. Since the release of the outline development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2019, the ministry has released supportive policies covering key areas such as consumption, circulation, trade, investment, and economic cooperation to back up Macao's integration into the country’s national development plans.The ministry also introduced special measures to support the relaxation of market access to Hengqin, home to the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone, expanding the development space for diversified industries in Macao SAR.As of September, more than 6,400 Macao enterprises have established operations in Hengqin, marking a growth of nearly 40 percent in the past three years. Growth has been particularly prominent in high-tech industries and traditional Chinese medicine sectors.Sixty-eight companies in the Greater Bay Area have been ranked among the world’s most promising enterprises with a strong potential of growing into “unicorns” within five years, surpassing the combined total of the United Kingdom and France, according to the latest Hurun Global Cheetahs Index 2024. Shenzhen ranked fifth among global cities with 35 “cheetahs”, while Guangzhou contributed 26, an increase of six from last year, placing it eighth. The remaining seven are based in other GBA cities. China had 304 such companies in 2024, ranking second worldwide. The GBA accounted for 22 percent of the nation’s total.Corporate confidence in Hong Kong as a preferred international hub is picking up with the number of startups and multinationals based in the city both hitting record highs. The number of companies in Hong Kong with overseas or Chinese mainland parent companies climbed to a historic 9,960 in 2024, while that of start-ups jumped to a record 4,694, both up 10 percent from last year, showed two surveys released by the Hong Kong SAR government.China welcomed this year's first shipment with around 14,000 tons of Chilean cherries in Guangzhou, cutting price over 20 percent in some sales channels. At Alibaba's Freshippo grocery chain, cherry sales have surged 90 percent month-on-month, with prices declining by 23 percent. Five-kilogram packages of jumbo-sized cherries now cost 199 yuan, down from 259 yuan, while extra jumbo varieties are priced at 299 yuan, reduced from 399 yuan.Next on industry and company newsChinese travel giant Trip.com is considering a more flexible four-day workweek to boost employee satisfaction, support a greener office environment, and give workers more time for travel and family, co-founder James Liang shared at its Global Partner Summit yesterday. Liang also predicted that China’s inbound tourism market to grow by an additional $100 billion to 200 billion.Apple is in talks with Chinese tech giants Tencent and ByteDance to integrate their AI models into iPhones sold in China, media reported today, citing three sources familiar with the matter. The discussions are in the initial stages, with no details made public yet.Chinese auto giant GAC Group launched yesterday its new flying car brand, Govy, and its second flying car, Govy AirJet, aiming for a flight range of 200 km and supporting a quick recharging of 30 minutes. The firm will equip such vehicles with its self-developed all-solid-state batteries in the future, with an expected flight range of 400 km.Alibaba Group Holding has divided its Tongyi Qianwen large language model team to accelerate the integration of artificial intelligence across consumer-facing products, media reported today citing sources familiar with the matter. Tongyi Laboratory's technology development team will remain within Alibaba Cloud, while the application team will shift to Alibaba's Intelligent Information Business Group.The "Xin Shanghai," a vessel operated by China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, arrived in Shanghai's Yangshan Port at around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday after a 23-day journey from Peru's Chancay Port, becoming the first vessel to arrive in Shanghai from Chancay after the Peruvian port officially opened in November.Switching gears to financial newsA pilot cash-pooling service integrating domestic and foreign currency management for multinational companies in China will be further optimized, the country's monetary authorities said Wednesday. The move, which involves 10 pilot regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, will focus on reducing corporate financing costs, enhancing cross-border payment and receipt facilitation, streamlining cross-border fund management, and further improving capital utilization efficiency for multinational companies.Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock marketChinese stocks closed mixed on Thursday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite slid 0.4 percent while the Shenzhen Component gained 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 0.6 percent lower, and the TECH index dipped 0.7 percent.