China Slaps Tariffs On US Imports Including Pork, Nuts And Wine
1
April, 2018
In
a statement
posted on
China's Ministry of Finance website, China’s Customs Tariffs
Commission confirmed reports from March 23, stating that
additional duties on 128 kinds of products of US origin would be
introduced from Monday "in
order to safeguard China’s interests and balance the losses caused
by the United States additional tariffs."
As
was already known, the highest tariffs of 25% will be imposed on top
of existing duties on imports of US scrap aluminium and various kinds
of frozen pork. A lower, 15% tariff, will be slapped on dozens of US
foods including wine, fresh and dried fruits such as cherries, nuts
such as almonds and pistachios, and various kinds of rolled steel
bars
As
the FT notes, the list was consistent with measures
proposed by Beijing last month when
it said it was planning tariffs on $3BN of US imports. The response
was seen as relatively measured since it left out key US exports to
China such as soyabeans, of which the US exported some $14bn last
year. Since Beijing has yet to retaliate to the 25% duty on up to
$60bn of annual imports from China that Trump promised later last
month, it
is almost guaranteed that Beijing will make a tougher response in the
future.
While
most analysts say Beijing is reluctant to escalate trade disputes
with Washington, as its mercantilist economy would have more to
lose in any trade war, some influential commentators in China have
called for a more robust response to the US’s next set of tariffs,
the details of which are yet to be announced but which
are expected to be aimed at strategic sectors such as robotics, which
Beijing is promoting as part of its industrial policy.
Additionally,
as the FT notes, retaliating against soyabean shipments could have a
big impact on US farmers, many from states that voted for Mr Trump in
the 2016 presidential election. But it would also involve significant
pain for China. The country relies heavily on the US for the product,
which is used as an animal feed.
For
now, however, and as laid out below, items on Beijing’s original
hit-list, issued on March 23, includes 128 products split into seven
groups and including U.S. pork, recycled aluminum, steel pipes, fruit
and wine. The Chinese ministry will implement measures in two stages:
first, a 15% tariff on 120 products including steel pipes, dried
fruit and wine, and later, a 25% tariff on pork and recycled
aluminum.
he
full list of US imports targeted by China is below
In Unprecedented Move, China Plans To Pay For Oil Imports With Yuan Instead Of Dollars
Zero Hedge,
1 April, 2018
Just days after Beijing officially launched Yuan-denominated crude oil futures (with a bang, as shown in the chart below, surpassing Brent trading volume) which are expected to quickly become the third global price benchmark along Brent and WTI, China took the next major step in the challenging the Dollar's supremacy as global reserve currency (and internationalizing the Yuan) when on Thursday Reuters reported that China took the first steps to paying for crude oil imports in its own currency instead of the US Dollars.
A
pilot program for yuan
payment could be launched as soon as the second half of the year and
regulators have already asked some financial institutions to "prepare
for pricing crude imports in the yuan", Reuters
sources reveal.
According to the proposed plan, Beijing would start with purchases from Russia and Angola, two nations which, like China, are keen to break the dollar’s global dominance. They are also two of the top suppliers of crude oil to China, along with Saudi Arabia.
A
change in the default crude oil transactional currency - which for
decades has been the "Petrodollar", blessing the US with
global reserve currency status - would have monumental consequences
for capital allocations and trade flows, not to mention geopolitics:
as Reuters notes, a shift in just a small part of global oil trade
into the yuan is potentially huge. "Oil is the world’s most
traded commodity, with an annual trade value of around $14 trillion,
roughly equivalent to China’s gross domestic product last year."
Currently, virtually all global crude oil trading is in dollars,
barring an estimated 1 per cent in other currencies. This is the
basis of US dominance in the world economy.
However,
as shown in the chart below which follows the first few days of
Chinese oil futures trading, this status quo may be changing fast.
Superficially,
for China it would be a matter of nationalistic pride to see oil
trade transact in Yuan: "Being the biggest buyer of oil, it’s
only natural for China to push for the usage of yuan for payment
settlement. This
will also improve the yuan liquidity in the global market,” said
one of the people briefed on the matter by Chinese authorities.
There
are other considerations behind the launch of the Yuan-denominated
oil contract as Goldman explains:
- A commercial benchmark and hedging tool. Until now, Chinese oil imports were based on FOB benchmarks, with long-term procurement contracts settling off Platts Oman/Dubai or Dated Brent. The INE contract has therefore the potential to become the pricing reference for CIF China crude oil, enabling corporate financial hedging. Its warehouse structure is however likely to limit its use for physical crude delivery and may in fact at times reduce its hedge efficiency.
- A new investment vehicle for onshore investors. The majority of China commodity futures trading volumes are from retail investors, yet these had until now little ability to trade oil futures. China’s capital control was the main bottleneck to trading contracts like Brent as authorities only allow $50,000 outflow a year per person. While several petrochemical and bitumen contracts already trade in China, INE will be the first contract for crude oil, likely drawing significant interest.
- Direct access to China’s commodity markets for offshore investors. China offers deep and liquid commodity markets to its onshore investors. Due to China’s tight capital controls, however, foreign investors have so far only been able to trade these through qualified onshore subsidiaries. The INE contract opens up the first channel for offshore investors to trade in its onshore commodity market, with both the USD deposit and capital gains transferable back to offshore accounts. The government further announced last week that it would waive income taxes for foreign investors trading these new contracts for the first three years. The obligation to trade in Yuan will also add a currency risk exposure to offshore investors. We illustrate in Exhibit 6 a likely template (amongst others) of how overseas investors will be able to access INE liquidity.
The
danger, of course, is that such a shift would also boost the value of
the Yuan, hardly what China needs considering it was just two a half
years ago that Beijing launched a controversial Yuan devaluation to
boost its exports and economy.
Still,
in light of the relative global economic stability, Beijing may be
willing to take the gamble on a stronger Yuan if it means greater
geopolitical clout and further acceptance of the renminbi.
Which
is why restructuring oil fund flows may be the best first step: as of
this moment, China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer and
in 2017 overtook the United States as the biggest importer of crude
oil; its demand is a key determinant of global oil prices.
If
China's plan to push the Petroyuan's acceptance proves successful, it
will result in greater momentum across all commodities, and could
trigger the shift of other product payments to the yuan, including
metals and mining raw materials.
Besides
the potential of giving China more power over global oil prices,
"this will help the Chinese government in its efforts to
internationalize yuan," said Sushant Gupta, research director at
energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. In a Wednesday note, Goldman Sachs
said that the success of Shanghai’s crude futures was “indirectly
promoting the use of the Chinese currency (which, however as noted
above, has negative trade offs as it would also result in a stronger
Yuan, something the PBOC may not be too excited about).
Meanwhile,
China is wasting no time, and Unipec, the trading arm of Asia’s
largest refiner Sinopec already
signed a deal to import Middle East crude priced against the
newly-launched Shanghai crude futures contract, which
incidentally is traded in Yuan.
The
bottom line here is whether Beijing is indeed prepared and ready to
challenge the US Dollar for the title of global currency hegemon. As
Rueters notes, China’s plan to use yuan to pay for oil comes amid a
more than year-long gradual strengthening of the currency, which
looks set to post a fifth straight quarterly gain, its
longest winning streak since 2013.
In
a sign that China's recent Draconian capital control crackdowns have
sapped market confidence in a freely-traded Yuan, the currency
retained its No.5 ranking as a domestic and global payment currency
in January this year, unmoved from a year ago, but
its share among other currencies fell to 1.7 percent from 2.5
percent, according to industry tracker SWIFT.
A slew of measures put in place in the last 1-1/2 years to rein in capital flowing out of the country amid a slide in yuan value has taken off some its shine as a global payment currency.
But the yuan has now appreciated 3.4 percent against the dollar so far this year, with solid gains in recent sessions.
“For
PBOC and other regulators, internationalization
of the yuan is clearly one of the priorities now,
and if this plan goes off smoothly then they can start thinking about
replicating this model for other commodities purchases,” said a
Reuters source.
Still,
it will be a long and difficult climb before the Yuan can challenge
the dollar and for Beijing to shift the bulk of its commodity
purchases to the yuan because of the currency’s illiquidity in
forex markets. According to the latest BIS Triennial Survey, nearly
90% of all transactions in the $5 trillion-a-day FX markets involved
the dollar on one side of a trade, while
only 4% use the yuan.
* *
*
Still,
not everyone is convinced that the new Yuan-denominated contract will
create a "petro-yuan" as the following take from Goldman
highlights:
The launch of the INE contract is not just about oil, as it will also be the first Yuan denominated commodity contract tradable by offshore investors. Such a set-up meets the PBOC’s monetary policy committee goal to raise the profile of its currency in the pricing of commodities. It has raised however the question of whether the INE contract is an incremental step in achieving the currency reserve status for the Yuan. We do not believe so.
While the INE launch does represent an additional step in the CNY internationalization, the CNY denomination of the INE contract does not in itself imply CNY investments. The INE contract does not represent an opening of China’s capital accounts since foreign deposits operate in a closed circuit, deposited in designated accounts and not to be used to purchase other domestic assets. In practice, the collateral deposit and any capital gains can be transferred back to offshore accounts. The potential for greater foreign ownership of Chinese assets is therefore not impacted by CNY oil invoicing and would require instead oil exporters to recycle their proceeds in local assets, for example. The incentive to do this has not changed with the introduction of the INE contracts. In particular, most Middle East oil producers still have currencies pegged to the dollar and limited ability to hedge CNY exposure.
Whether
or not Goldman is right remains to be seen, however it is undeniable
that a monumental change is afoot in global capital flows, where the
US - whether Beijing wants to or not - will soon be forced to defend
its currency status as oil exporters (and investors in this highly
financialized market) will now have a choice: go with US hegemony, or
start accepting Yuan in exchange for the world's most important
commodity.
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