• China’s medical apparatus market will be worth ¥100 billion ($1 = ¥6.83) in 2010 after growing 12% to 15% annually since the 1990s, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported from an industry summit held in Beijing in late November.

• The US measurement and technology company Agilent Technologies has joined with Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences to open a centre for systems biology in Shanghai. The centre will use biomarker identification to better understand diseases.

• China has granted approval to its first home-grown swine flu vaccine, which the producer Sinovac says is effective after only one dose.

Find out more about the pharmaceutical, medical and biotech market research work we do here.

Sources: CBBC, Xinhua, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, FCO Country Updates and other news sources.

l        Ford Motor Company is to invest US$490m in an assembly plant in China to produce the next-generation Focus compact car, which it plans to sell worldwide.  The US motor giant will partner with Mazda and Chang’an in a joint venture in Chongqing, scheduled for completion by 2012.  This will be Ford’s second plant in Chongqing.

l        A US supplier of clean electric transportation and storage technologies is to establish two joint venture companies with Shenzhen Goch Investment (SGI).  SGI will invest US$10m in a joint company to manufacture and assemble electric vehicle charging equipment, and US$5m in a company to market and sell these charging systems in China.

l       The president and CEO of General Motors, Frederick Henderson, said that China has surpassed US to be the largest market for the automobile giant.  For the first nine months of 2009, GM’s sales in China totalled almost 1.3m vehicles, 56% up on the previous year.  Sales in September were at an all-time monthly record.  GM, the largest vehicle producer in China, last month launched a wholly owned science lab in Shanghai, which will focus on advanced propulsion technology, battery cells, mega-city safety resource, advanced vehicle development and light materials, GM said.

         More information about market research in the Automotive sector can be found at: http://www.b2binternational.com/China/b2bsectors/automotive.php 

Sources: CBBC, Xinhua, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, FCO Country Updates and other news sources.

If ever you needed proof that companies are increasingly viewing overseas markets as vital to overall company growth and profitability, the Ad Age Global Marketer’s survey should give you some idea of the importance of global markets.

The survey showed that the Top 100 global advertisers spent almost two-thirds (62%) of their measured-media budgets outside the U.S. last year, with much of the overseas spend going to China.  Of the 44 U.S.-based companies in the Global 100, a quarter relies so heavily on international sales that they allocate more than half their ad spend abroad.

Coca-Cola Co., for example, allocates just 16.5% of its $2.67 billion measured-media spending to the U.S. market but spends nearly three times that amount in Europe. Three-quarters of Coca-Cola’s sales come from outside the United States.

Procter & Gamble Co., which overtook Unilever in 2002 to become the world’s biggest advertiser, devotes two-thirds of its $9.73 billion measured-media spending to international markets, just slightly ahead of the 61% of P&G revenue that is generated from outside the U.S. P&G is the biggest advertiser in all regions except Latin America and Africa (where Unilever takes the top spot).

The biggest marketers are investing ad dollars wherever they can find revenue or potential for growth in a tough global economy – and increasingly, that’s deemed to be China. 39 of the Global 100 had measured-media spending in China last year, with five – Yum Brands, Pernod Ricard, Avon Products, Colgate-Palmolive Co. and P&G – already investing more than 10% of their budgets there.  Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, spends 20% of its $1.41 billion worldwide measured ad spending in China and, in 2008, generated 31% of its global revenue from the country, with sales surging 36%.

Overall, China represents 3.4% of total advertising spend for the Global 100, with P&G emerging as China’s biggest advertiser at about $1.1 billion.

The Global 100 last year spent slightly more in Europe ($46.3 billion or 39% of their total) than in the U.S. ($44.4 billion, or 38%).  Yet, the United States seems to have appeal for a number of European and Japanese marketers. Six of the 56 non-U.S. Global 100 companies (of whom four are European pharmaceutical manufacturers, subject to more stringent European advertising regulations) spent more than half their media budgets in the U.S.  Unsurprisingly, U.S. pharmaceutical companies concentrate the bulk of their own ad spending in the U.S.

Overall, total measured ad spending for the Global 100 companies rose 3.1% to $117.9 billion in 2008, despite a 3.7% drop in the Global 100’s U.S. spending.

In the latest preliminary figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, covering November 2009, the seventh consecutive month of accelerating economic performance was recorded.

Key figures for November include:

Year on year growth in production was 22% for heavy industry and 12% for light industry.

Uurban investment in fixed assets reached 16,863.4 billion yuan in the year up to and including November rose  up by 32.1 percent year-on-year, or 5.3 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year.

For foreign companies looking at China, however, the a promising figure is the rises in imports:  26.7% higher in November from a year earlier. China’s trade surplus narrowed to $19.9bn in November form $24bn in October.

For the details form NBS, see

http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/newsandcomingevents/t20091211_402606768.htm

China’s e-commerce market generated $250 million in the third quarter of 2009, up 9.6% compared to the third quarter last year, and up 23.9% year-on-year, according to a recent iResearch report. The market share of Alibaba.com, which is China’s leading e-commerce site, grew by 1.1% during the six months between the first and third quarters, to a 59.2% share.

Source: The China Perspective

China’s manufacturing sector expanded to a 17-month high in September as the country’s recovery continued, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.  The monthly purchasing managers’ index rose to 54.3 in September, from 54 in August, CFLP said.  A figure above 50 indicates expansion.

Sources: CBBC, Xinhua, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, FCO Country Updates and other news sources.

Asia’s most influential business executives are maintaining their spend in the traditional areas of media, while also increasing significantly what they spend on forms of digital media.  This is according to Ipsos MediaCT’s BE:ASIA 2009 Survey, conducted among more than 9,500 members of Asia’s business elite across Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

The research found that these business decision-makers have not reduced their use of international print and broadcast media.  In acknowledgment of the recession, some cuts were found to have been made in business travel spend.

About 67% of respondents read one or more international print publications, with a huge 98% claiming to have read the latest issue of a printed magazine or newspaper.  The Wall Street Journal Asia is the most popular daily title with a 17% share, and Time is the favoured weekly magazine being read by 23% of respondents.  CNN, with 29%, is the most popular international TV channel.

There has been a significant increase in digital uptake this past year.  Since the same survey took place last year, there has been a particular increase in reference to blogs (49% reading one in the past month and 11% contributing a post during this time).  63% had visited an international media owner’s website within the past month (Yahoo News, with a weekly reach of 33%, is the most prevalent); 29% had used social networking sites; and 27% had accessed the internet via a mobile device – a massive eightfold increase since 2006.

Media agency Carat, based in Shanghai, reports that China’s ad market will grow by 6.9% this year, far exceeding their earlier forecast of 4.6%.  While clearly good news in light of the difficult environment this year, 6.9% growth is actually the lowest increase in ad spending in the past decade.

In the article featured in AdAgeChina, Carat asserts that the rapid growth of satellite television stations is putting pressure on local and provincial stations to raise the quality of their programming.  With higher quality satellite programming come better ratings and increased brand awareness in second-, third- and fourth-tier markets (above and beyond the traditional tier one centers).

What’s more, there has been huge growth in digital outdoor media options, which is allowing two-way interaction in even the most traditional of media spaces, such as bus shelters or office elevator lobbies.

Digital developments, for example mobile search, social media or online gaming, are also reshaping how consumers engage with media.

But it hasn’t all been good news.  2009 has been a difficult year at times and the gloom surrounding the recession has meant many advertisers were unwilling to make long-term plans and commitments.  They have, of course, also been squeezing prices down in their drive for efficiency.  2010 is expected to be a better year, although we should not expect to see a complete and immediate change in tactics from advertisers.

Other challenges will need to be taken into consideration by marketers next year as well.  High-profile events, such as the 2010 World Expo which is taking place in Shanghai and the Asian Games being held in Guangzhou, will be inflationary and raise costs in these two cities, just as last year’s Olympic Games did in Beijing.

The regulatory environment is also set to change next year.  China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has announced a whole host of new regulations which aim to limit the amount of airtime given to commercials, setting a maximum advertising allotment per hour, etc.  It is not yet known what impact these new restrictions will have on advertising rates.

To find out how our advertising market research can help you to monitor and track the effectiveness of an advertising campaign, please visit:

http://b2binternational.com/China/research/cn/advertising.php

• China will need to buy 3,710 aeroplanes over the next 20 years, spending around US$390 trillion, said a recent forecast.  The growth of passenger and cargo air transportation will increase China’s aircraft fleet by more than three times to equal the current number of aircraft in Europe.

• China’s domestic aviation market has continued to grow during the first half of 2009.  At Beijing’s Capital International Airport, passenger volume from January to June rose by 20% over the same period last year.

• Taikoo Sichuan Aircraft Engineering Services Company has begun the construction of an Airbus maintenance base in Chengdu.  The plant is expected to become the biggest specialised maintenance base for Airbus in China, if not the whole of the Asian region, after its completion.

For more information on our aerospace market research services in China and Asia, please visit: http://b2binternational.com/China/b2bsectors/aerospace.php 

Sources: CBBC, Xinhua, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, FCO Country Updates and other news sources.

• Banking: The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, is to lend Yn5m (£450,000) to Renshou Minfu Bank, a village and township bank in Sichuan province, to support microfinance in rural China.

• Insurance: HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited, a joint venture set up by HSBC and the Beijing-based National Trust, opened for business in Shanghai recently, marking the global financial giant’s entrance into one of the world’s fastest-growing life insurance markets.

For more information on our financial market research services in China and Asia, please visit: http://www.b2binternational.com/China/b2bsectors/financial.php 

Sources: CBBC, Xinhua, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, FCO Country Updates and other news sources.