Domestic consumption further recovers DESPITE the impact of COVID-19, China’s consumer market in 2021 saw steady recovery, exhibiting strong vitality and resilience, according to the Ministry of Commerce yesterday. Last year, China’s retail sales of consumer goods rose 12.5 percent year on year to 44.1 trillion yuan (US$6.93 trillion), putting the average annual growth for the past two years at 3.9 percent, official data showed. Consumption in 2021 was innovation-driven, backed with new technologies and new models, said Xu Xingfeng, an official with the Ministry of Commerce, noting the 14.1 percent year-on-year increase in online retail sales. Shanghai’s foreign trade hits record high SHANGHAI’S foreign trade hit a record high of 4.06 trillion yuan (US$640 billion) in 2021, with a robust year-on-year increase of 16.5 percent, data from Shanghai Customs showed Monday. Last year, the metropolis in eastern China saw exports rise 14.6 percent year on year to 1.57 trillion yuan, while its imports jumped 17.7 percent to 2.49 trillion yuan, which led to a trade deficit of 917.3 billion yuan, said the customs authority. Tencent fires 70 staff, blacklists 13 firms TENCENT Holdings, China’s biggest social media and video games company, yesterday said it fired nearly 70 staff over bribery and embezzlement incidents last year and named 13 companies it had blacklisted from future contracts. Tencent said in a social media post that it had also reported more than 10 people to authorities over their actions. Tencent started its anti-graft campaign in 2019 and has been regularly reporting the results of its probes. In 2021, one case involved a former employee from its digital music department asking for and getting favors from its suppliers, Tencent said. Another involved a sports content staffer profiting from using a company he controlled to enter a deal with Tencent, the company added. Shimao sells stake in asset to partner PROPERTY developer Shimao Group joined smaller peer Agile Group to sell its stake in a Guangzhou complex to State-owned partner China Overseas Land & Investment (COLI) in a push to reduce its debt. Shanghai-based Shimao, which held a 26.7 percent stake in the Guangzhou Asian Games City, the same as Agile, said late Monday it sold its holdings to joint venture partner COLI for 1.84 billion yuan (US$290.65 million). Agile made a similar announcement earlier in the day. | 