China moves to rescue SME exporters

<p>Kia ora,</p><p>Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news China is moving to protect its smaller exporters caught in a demand/cost downdraft.</p><p>But first we must note that the Thanksgiving holiday weekend is underway in the US and financial markets are all closed, and won't reopen until Tuesday, NZT. There are major retail activity implications over this period, but they won't reveal themselves until next week at the earliest.</p><p>In China, their exporters are facing severe pressures as order levels fall, supply chains remain congested and costs jump. Beijing is worried about how many of their smaller exporters will survive and is <a href="https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/china-plans-new-policies-to-stabilize-foreign-trade-as-firms-face-pressure" target="_blank"><strong>rushing in new support measures</strong></a> (WTO rules, be dammed).</p><p>And staying in China, the cost of lithium carbonate rose above ¥200,000/tonne for the first time yesterday, the essential element in most batteries these days. The lithium price has risen more than the bitcoin price over the past year.</p><p>In Japan, carmaker Nissan is <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Nissan-to-make-50-of-global-car-sales-electric-and-hybrid-by-2030" target="_blank"><strong>shifting rapidly to EV production</strong></a> and expects to sell more electric vehicles that ICE ones within 100 months.</p><p>In Korea, their central bank raised its policy rate by +25 bps to 1.00% in an anticipated rise driven by higher-than-target inflation. More rises are on their way there, in 2022.</p><p>In Hong Kong, their <a href="https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/web_table.html?id=55" target="_blank"><strong>exports</strong></a> rose +21% year-on-year and their imports rose +18% on the same basis, with exports rising faster than in September and import growth slowing