Business briefs for Thursday August 4

EV battery production way up: According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, national lithium-ion battery production in the first half of the year exceeded 280 Gigawatt hours (GWh), a year-on-year increase of 150%, and total industry revenue exceeded 480 billion yuan ($71.04 billion). Installed capacity of new energy vehicle (NEV) batteries was about 110 GWh, and exports of lithium-ion battery products increased by 75% year-on-year.

Ecommerce logistics recovery cut short: According to the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, China’s Ecommerce Logistics Index (ELI) was 106.4 points in July, down 0.7 points month-on-month, ending three consecutive months of recovery, and considered a sign that the recovery of ecommerce logistics is not yet based on a solid foundation. 

Services exports up: According to the Ministry of Commerce, in the first half of the year, China’s services trade was 2.89 trillion yuan ($427.93 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.6%. Total services exports were 1.40 trillion yuan ($208.10 billion), an increase of 24.6% year-on-year, and services imports were 1.48 trillion yuan ($219.82 billion), an increase of 18.9%, for a trade deficit of 79.19 billion yuan ($11.82 billion). 

Largest fruit stock on the way: Hongjiu Fruit 洪九果品, China’s second-largest fresh fruit distributor and largest durian distributor, will soon issue a public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and become “China’s leading fruit stock”. In 2021, Hongjiu had total revenue of 10.28 billion yuan ($1.52 billion), of which durian contributed more than 30%, with sales of 3.48 billion yuan ($515.39 billion).