After the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the layout of the global industrial chain and supply chain has been adjusted, and cross-border investment has fluctuated greatly.
Still, China's attractiveness to foreign capital has continued unabated.
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, in 2021, the actual use of foreign capital across the country will break through the trillion yuan mark for the first time, reaching 1.15 trillion yuan, achieving double-digit growth for the first time in the past ten years.
In January this year, the actual use of foreign capital across the country ushered in a "good start", reaching 102.28 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%.
Why has China always been a hot spot for foreign investment?
Foreign companies interviewed said that the long-term positive economic fundamentals, strong and diversified market demand, continuously optimized business environment, and perfect industrial chain supply chain system are important reasons for foreign investment to embrace China.
More balanced, the use of foreign capital in the central and western regions has increased by over 40%
Which regions do foreign capital mainly invest in?
In January this year, the actual use of foreign capital in the eastern, central and western regions of China increased by 8.7%, 46.2% and 42.2% respectively year-on-year, and the distribution of foreign investment was more balanced.
The chain of foreign asset sales is continuously extended and the layout is wider——
Since the beginning of the year, Shi Hua, the global vice president of Ailang Medical, has not been idle.
It turns out that this American company with 50 years of medical device manufacturing experience is preparing for its first production base in China in Weihai, Shandong. In the future, it will rely on this factory rooted in China to reach consumers across the country.
"The products sold by Arron in China mainly involve the three major fields of tumor, vascular and nursing intervention. After entering the Chinese market, it has maintained rapid development. In 2021 alone, the year-on-year growth rate of its business in China will exceed 80%. After the Weihai production base is completed and put into operation , will greatly shorten the supply cycle." Shi Hua said.
Shi Hua introduced that in addition to the eastern region, Ailang also has a business layout in the central and western regions, and will increase investment every year.
"In 2022, half of our new colleagues will be based in the central and western regions to better serve consumers." Shi Hua said, the company will also establish a local R&D center in China to speed up the implementation of innovative products. speed.
Accurate overweight in key areas, steaming hot——
Headquartered in Paris, France, Publicis Group's business scope covers digital transformation, media services, advertising creativity, media operations, public relations services and marketing services.
In January this year, the group formally established a regional headquarters in Chengdu, Sichuan to build a global communication and promotion channel for local customers.
"Our business in China has maintained rapid growth. Especially since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, it has still maintained a strong growth momentum. This is due to China's positive promotion of the market, continuous optimization of the business environment and cultivation of enterprises. We will explore and develop the Chinese market for a long time, and will promote further investment to meet greater market opportunities.” Lin Zhen, managing partner of Publicis Groupe Asia Pacific and CEO of North Asia, told this reporter.
Faced with opportunities, the central and western regions themselves are also actively preparing.
"In recent years, we have been actively striving to be the key node of the domestic and international dual-circulation logistics links, continuously strengthening the investment promotion of foreign-funded projects, and accelerating the transformation of locational transportation advantages into industrial development advantages. In particular, we have actively expanded the aviation logistics value chain and promoted aviation, logistics, capital The integrated development of flow and information flow has promoted the landing of a number of high-level foreign-funded aviation logistics projects such as Ambow and GLP, and attracted well-known international logistics companies such as FedEx and UPS to set up representative offices and transit agencies here. In the next step, we will continue to optimize business environment, speed up the attraction of foreign investment projects in new energy vehicles, intelligent equipment, biomedicine, new displays, aviation logistics and other fields, and encourage foreign enterprises to continue to expand investment in Henan.” The relevant person in charge of the Zhengzhou Airport Economic Comprehensive Pilot Zone in Henan told this newspaper the reporter said.
Wang Feng, director of the Department of Applied Economics of Chongqing University, said in an interview with this reporter that it is relatively easy to transfer capital and technology contained in foreign direct investment within a country.
On the one hand, China is a large country with a vast territory, and the prices of housing prices, wages and other factors in the central and western regions are at a relatively low level; on the other hand, the central and western regions are supported by policies such as the development of the western region and the rise of the central region, and the economic growth rate is fast. , the rising momentum is obvious.
All these have prompted more and more foreign investors to choose to overweight the Midwest.
Excellent quality, high-tech industry attracts investment and grows rapidly
In January this year, the actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech industry increased by 26.1% year-on-year, of which the actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 32%, and the actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech service industry increased by 24.6%. The field of foreign investment is more high-end.
At the end of February this year, Honeywell and Donghua Energy Co., Ltd. jointly announced that they are planning to build a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production base with an annual output of 1 million tons in Maoming, Guangdong, to promote carbon emission reduction in the aviation industry through innovative technologies.
Yu Feng, President of Honeywell China, said: "Compared with traditional fuels, using kitchen waste oil and animal fat as raw materials can reduce life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by about 80%. After the project is completed, it will reduce about 2.4 million yuan per year. tons of greenhouse gas emissions, helping China's high-quality economic development."
In fact, the use of foreign capital in various regions has changed from the early "investment introduction" to "investment selection", focusing on cooperating with the local transformation and upgrading industries, and making efforts on the quality of foreign investment.
"In January this year, the actual utilization of foreign capital in Wuhan, Hubei Province increased by 27% year-on-year. Enterprises in the high-tech service industry such as Black Sesame Intelligent Technology, Yikatong Technology, and Asia Industrial continued to invest. Multinational companies such as Cummins and Air Liquide in the United States increased their capital. , to expand the scale of investment in Han. Among them, the construction and infrastructure construction of the new base project of Cummins East Asia R&D Center have been completed. The groundbreaking ceremony of the first phase of the Lotus Global Headquarters Intelligent Manufacturing Center project was held on February 22.” Speaking of this year Wan Yonghua, director of the Foreign Investment Promotion Department of Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Commerce, is very excited about the situation of attracting foreign investment.
It is understood that in recent years, with the goal of promoting the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and the innovation and upgrading of the modern service industry, Wuhan has transformed from "introducing enterprises" to "inducing industries", promoting industrial agglomeration, enterprise clusters, and park concentration, and further enriching foreign capital. Project source, customer source.
During this process, relevant departments have focused on key areas and weak links, and promoted industrial investment to make breakthroughs in supplementing the chain, strengthening the chain, and extending the chain.
At the same time, it actively carried out door-to-door investment promotion, and introduced high-end foreign-funded projects such as Siemens Industrial Internet Empowerment Center, German Demops high-end air source heat pump and ground source heat pump production and research and development projects.
In Ningbo, Zhejiang, the Senpu Global Financial Data Center Project, the Antao Industrial Capital Increase Project, and the Liqin Resources Technology Project with a total investment of US$200 million have laid a solid foundation for local high-quality foreign investment.
The relevant person in charge of the Ningbo Yinzhou District Investment Promotion Center said that as the central urban area of Ningbo, the development intensity of Yinzhou District has reached 28%, and the space resources are becoming increasingly tight.
How to dig resources deeply, cultivate increment, encourage enterprises to increase capital and share, improve quality and efficiency, is the main force for attracting foreign investment.
"Take Antao Industrial's capital increase project as an example, it mainly involves bridge steel structures and high-tech PC prefabricated buildings. At present, the project has formed bridge steel structures, large-span steel structures, truss structures, high-rise and super-high-rise steel structures, Seven major product production systems, including special-shaped steel structures, mainly focus on the prefabricated building market." The person in charge told this reporter.
Good prospects, this year will expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment
How do you view the current situation of China's "continuously high" foreign investment?
The promotion of consumption upgrading and industrial upgrading in China has provided more opportunities for foreign investment.
Liu Xiangdong, deputy director of the Economic Research Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said in an interview with this reporter that China continues to promote structural reforms and optimize the business environment, and the market vitality and social creativity have been well released. Quality development has created a broad space.
In particular, consumption upgrading and industrial upgrading not only provide a broad market for foreign capital, but also provide business opportunities for them to increase investment in China in the field of high-tech industries.
Foreign investment in China is "rising steadily", which highlights China's strong pace of accelerating the transformation of new and old kinetic energy, and reflects China's leading position in cultivating and developing new technologies, new economies, new business forms and new models.
"In 2022, although affected by the high base, the growth rate of foreign capital is expected to slow down, but the trend of structural optimization will be more obvious. Next, to maintain the attractiveness of foreign investment, in addition to continuing to optimize the business environment, We must also work hard to open up market access, boost market demand, and improve policy continuity and transparency, so as to create good development expectations." Liu Xiangdong said.
China's complete industrial chain, supply chain and high manufacturing level are very attractive to foreign investment.
Wang Feng believes that China's economy is making steady progress, providing the world with a stable supply of manufactured products, which undoubtedly provides a rare investment haven for foreign direct investment that can earn stable returns.
In 2022, against the backdrop of still great uncertainty in the world economy, China will still play the role of a "hot spot for foreign investment".
In this context, the vast central and western regions need to further create new paths in housing, education, medical care and other fields, attract population inflows, and further form a strong attraction for high-quality foreign investment.
The plan of the year is spring.
This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment, and support foreign investment to increase investment in mid-to-high-end manufacturing, R&D, modern services and other fields, as well as in the central, western and northeastern regions.
More foreign companies set out towards the bright prospects of the Chinese economy.
Gao Yong, Vice President of Bayer China Public Affairs, said that 2022 is another important moment for Bayer's development in China.
In terms of medicine, Bayer will introduce 4 new prescription drug products this year, and actively seek cooperation opportunities with domestic innovative companies in the fields of oncology, ophthalmology, cardiovascular and other therapeutic fields; in agriculture, Bayer and its joint ventures will promote a batches of new crop varieties and crop protection products.
In addition, the plant protection product factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang is also expected to start relocation and expansion this year.
"Bayer highly appreciates China's determination to open up to the outside world and balance regional economic development, and highly appraise China's achievements in continuously improving its innovation and development capabilities and promoting the formation of a modern industrial system. We intend to pay more attention to the central and western regions, and seek to achieve more cooperation with Chinese partners. Win." Gao Yong said.
Wang Junling