[1/4]U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gives a statement to the press during her visit in Mexico City, Mexico December 6, 2023. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril Acquire Licensing Rights
MEXICO CITY, Dec 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. and Mexico agreed on Wednesday to cooperate on stronger screening of investments to reduce national security risks and discussed integrating cross-border payments systems, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen insisted that the moves were not motivated by concerns about China.
The Treasury and Mexican Finance Ministry signed an agreement to exchange information on technical information and best practices as Yellen wrapped up a three-day visit to Mexico City.
The Biden administration is promoting Mexico as a premier investment destination for U.S. supply chains and wants to ensure that it has a robust screening regime in place to handle a growing influx of factory investment.
The effort is aimed at helping Mexico develop a screening body similar to the Treasury-run Committee on Foreign Investment the U.S. (CFIUS), which reviews purchases of American companies by foreign-owned entities and other inbound investments.
“Like our own investment screening regime, CFIUS, increased engagement with Mexico will help maintain an open investment climate while monitoring and addressing security risks, making both our countries safer,” Yellen said in announcing the memorandum of intent with Mexican Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O.
FENTANYL VS WEAPONS
Yellen’s trip focused on enhancing economic ties and boosting cooperation to stem the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl to the United States via Mexico, where precursor chemicals from China are often mixed.
Ramirez asked for help in fighting the flow of weapons from the United States into the hands of Mexican criminal gangs that he said often outgun police departments and Mexico’s military.
“On this side of the border we’re doing everything we can to detect and prevent” the shipping of fentanyl to the U.S., he said. “So we have also asked for the same level of cooperation from the U.S. with these (arms) shipments.”
“NEAR-SHORING” BOOM
Mexico is attracting a major influx of manufacturing investments to supply the U.S. market, raising concerns that China or other countries could use it as a back door to get around restrictions on U.S. export controls for sensitive technologies such as semiconductors.
The near-shoring boom brought Mexico $32.2 billion in foreign direct investment in the first three quarters of 2023, close to the full-year 2022 total of $36 billion.
High-profile projects include an estimated $5 billion Tesla (TSLA.O) electric vehicle factory in northern Mexico that has prompted Chinese suppliers to announce plans to invest over $1 billion nearby.
While CFIUS’ increased scrutiny in recent years has sharply reduced Chinese investment in the United States, Yellen said the investment screening talks with Mexico were “not just China-focused.” She said China was welcome to make investments in Mexico to supply the U.S. as long as these could pass national security screenings and meet new tax credit content rules limiting EV battery value chains to 25%.
“If Chinese involvement triggered those rules, which are meant to avoid undue dependence on China, then that’s a no,” Yellen said earlier.
Ramirez, asked whether Mexico was worried increased cooperation with the U.S. would strain its relationship with China, Ramirez said Mexico’s trading relationship with its northern neighbor was “overwhelmingly dominant” and a higher priority than with other countries.
The Treasury and other members of CFIUS, which include the U.S. departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and Commerce, regularly work with governments to improve their investment screening, including recently in Europe, Yellen said. More than 20 countries have implemented or enhanced their regimes over the past decade.
PAYMENTS COOPERATION
Yellen said that Treasury and Mexican Finance Ministry officials on Thursday also discussed cross-border payment systems, including possibly integrating them more deeply, which could enhance trade and investment benefits.
Possible deeper integration of the payment systems between the two countries was “not about China,” Yellen said.
Financial cooperation with the U.S. enabled Mexico to look at issues of interest to the country “in particular digital payments and reducing costs to send remittances,” Ramirez said.
Reporting by David Lawder; Additional reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Richard Chang
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BERLIN, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Volkswagen must regularly check its operations in China to ensure its supply chains are safe and comply with human rights laws, two of the carmaker’s investors said, after an audit of its jointly owned Xinjiang site found no sign of forced labour.
The demands made by Union Investment and Deka Investment on Wednesday reflect ongoing concerns over Volkswagen’s engagement in the Xinjiang region, where rights groups have documented abuses including forced labour in detention camps.
Beijing denies any such abuses.
The result of the Volkswagen-commissioned audit comes as Germany is carefully recalibrating its relationship with China, its biggest trading partner, to reduce its exposure to a market that is also a systemic rival.
Volkswagen said on Tuesday that the much-anticipated audit, which was carried out by Germany’s Loening Human Rights & Responsible Business GmbH and two Chinese lawyers from a firm in Shenzhen, had found no evidence of forced labour.
Loening, however, noted that the audit had been limited to the site, a joint venture with SAIC Motor (600104.SS), adding the situation in Xinjiang and the challenges in collecting data for audits were well known.
Germany’s Association of Critical Shareholders (DKA), which represents small investors on environmental, social and governance issues, said the audit was raising more questions than it answers.
“If even a single audit … is so difficult, and can only happen without freedom of expression and labour union rights … further audits can hardly be considered an effective measure,” DKA co-managing director Tilman Massa said.
NO ‘ONE-OFF EXERCISE’
A Volkswagen logo is seen on a Volkswagen ID.5 electric car on display at a showroom of a car dealer in Reze near Nantes, France, November 13, 2023. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe Acquire Licensing Rights
While calling the audit a step in the right direction, Henrik Pontzen, who heads sustainability and ESG at Union Investment, said Volkswagen had not yet reached its goal.
“There is still a lot to do: In China, audits must not remain a one-off exercise. A functioning complaints management system must also be established,” he said.
He also said that Volkswagen’s corporate governance, which has drawn criticism from some of its smaller shareholders, remained the Achilles heel of Europe’s top automaker.
Ingo Speich of Deka Investment, which according to LSEG data owns $99 million worth of Volkswagen’s preferred stock, welcomed the results of the audit but demanded more transparency in Volkswagen’s supply chain.
“Investor pressure has worked. VW has followed the example set by BASF (BASFn.DE), which already started audits in China at a very early stage,” he said.
Shares in Volkswagen were up 3.4% to 112.26 euros at 1144 GMT, lifting them to the top of the gainers on Germany’s blue-chip index, with traders pointing to relief after index provider MSCI (MSCI.N) gave it a ‘red flag’ in its social issue category in 2022, prompting some investors to drop the stock.
Volkswagen’s stock market value has halved to 57.6 billion euros in the past two years. Its shares are down 26% year-to-date, underperforming a 37% rise in the STOXX Europe 600 Auto index .
The automaker’s shares trade at just 3 times forward earnings over the next 12 months, down from 8.8 two years ago, which was the highest among its European competitors.
The price-to-earnings ratio, widely used in financial markets to gauge the relative value of stocks, is now below the 5 for the European car sector.
Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Additional reporting by Josephine Mason; Writing by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Alexander Smith and Mark Potter
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Yaskawa Electric robots are pictured at a trade show in Tokyo, Japan, November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Sam Nussey Acquire Licensing Rights
TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Japanese robot maker Yaskawa Electric (6506.T) is considering investing around $200 million in the United States, its president said, with an eye to making its industrial robots there for the first time.
The investment would follow other manufacturers from allied nations moving to build capacity in the U.S. as Washington tries to boost high-end manufacturing and strengthen its control over supply chains amid trade tension with China.
While Japanese rival Fanuc (6954.T) is a leading maker of factory robots for the automotive industry in the U.S., Yaskawa hopes to ride a wave of automation in other sectors.
Manufacturing locally “gives our customers a sense of security and reliability,” President Masahiro Ogawa said in an interview.
The more than 100-year-old company has previously said it is looking to invest more in the U.S. The potential scope of the expansion is reported here for the first time.
Yaskawa is the world’s top maker of servo motors, a type of high-precision motor that is widely used in chipmaking tools.
The company, which already makes components in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio, is considering expanding U.S. production to modules which incorporate its motors, Ogawa said.
The U.S. views securing access to cutting-edge semiconductors as a priority, with its leading chip equipment makers including Applied Materials (AMAT.O) and Lam Research (LRCX.O).
Foreign manufacturers building out capacity in the U.S. include automaker Toyota Motor (7203.T) and chipmakers TSMC (2330.TW) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS).
Yaskawa, whose shares have risen by about a third year-to-date giving it a market capitalisation of around $10 billion, is looking at possible subsidies to fund some of the cost of the expansion, Ogawa said.
Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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A worker assembles a new bike frame at the Pashley bicycle factory in Stratford-upon-Avon, Britain, June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Britain announced a 4.5 billion-pound ($5.59 billion) investment programme for key manufacturing industries on Friday, with the automotive sector taking up a large chunk of the funds to support the move to zero emission vehicles.
The finance ministry said the funds will be available from 2025 over the course of five years, with 2 billion pounds earmarked for the car industry, 975 million pounds for aerospace and 960 million for clean energy.
The plans form part of the Autumn Statement that finance minister Jeremy Hunt will present on Nov. 22, hoping to revive the fortunes of both a stagnant British economy and the governing Conservatives ahead of an election expected next year.
“Our 4.5 billion pounds of funding will leverage many times that from the private sector, and in turn will grow our economy, create more skilled, higher-paid jobs in new industries that will be built to last,” Hunt said in a statement.
Hunt separately told reporters the commitment was “new money”, rather than a reallocation of previously announced spending, and that Britain favoured targeted support over blanket subsidies.
“We’re not getting into a global subsidy race,” he said.
As of the third quarter, British business investment stood 4% higher than its pre-pandemic level – a better performance than Germany, but some way behind France and the United States, according to a Reuters analysis of OECD data.
Earlier on Friday the IPPR think tank, which describes itself as an advocate for progressive policy, published a report that showed years of incoherent industrial strategy had badly hurt business investment in Britain.
“It’s time to be clear about the UK’s strategic objectives, like growing the green manufacturing and services we need for the future, and then to use every tool in the box to get us there,” said George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at IPPR.
Hunt is considering making permanent a time-limited tax incentive that is designed to spur corporate investment, according to the boss of telecoms giant BT (BT.L), who said any such move would be a “game-changer”.
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Reporting by Andy Bruce, Editing by Kylie MacLellan
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[1/4]An endangered coho salmon swims during spawning season in Lagunitas Creek in Marin County, California, U.S. January 13, 2022. Picture taken January 13, 2022. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Nov 8 (Reuters) – U.S. commercial fishing groups on Wednesday sued 13 tire manufacturers in California, saying a chemical used in their tires is poisoning West Coast watersheds and killing rare trout and salmon.
The Institute for Fisheries Resources and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations sued Bridgestone Corp (5108.T), Continental (CONG.DE), Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT.O), Michelin (MICP.PA) and others in San Francisco federal court, alleging a chemical used in their tires known as 6PPD is killing protected salmon and trout in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
The fishing groups said the chemical, which becomes toxic when it degrades, is released from tires as vehicles drive around and park. They said the degraded chemical can be flushed into waterways during storms, where it kills protected salmon and trout.
Declining fish populations have led to restrictions on commercial fishing, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said researchers have identified the degraded form of 6PPD as causing salmon mortality, and that scientists believe trout and other fish are also likely being killed by the chemical.
The groups, which say that pollution has decimated their industry, want the court to issue an injunction barring the companies from manufacturing tires with the chemical without first taking measures to protect fish and watersheds.
The tire manufacturers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
The lawsuit is the first in the U.S. to target tire manufacturers for their use of 6PPD, which is found in nearly every tire on the planet, according to Elizabeth Forsyth, an attorney for the fishing groups with the environmental law firm Earthjustice.
Forsyth said the lawsuit focuses on West Coast impacts from the chemical, but that she expects there will be further scientific evidence tying the chemical to damages elsewhere in the future.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said earlier this month that it would take steps to regulate the chemical, which has been used in tires for decades and acts as a stabilizer to prolong the life of rubber. The EPA said exposure to the chemical can kill fish within a few hours.
In July, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control adopted a rule requiring tire manufacturers to evaluate safer alternatives to 6PPD, noting the threat to coho salmon.
Together, the 13 tire manufacturers sued on Wednesday account for 80% of the domestic U.S. tire market, according to the lawsuit.
Reporting by Clark Mindock, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Sandra Maler
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A Peterbilt 579 truck equipped with Aurora’s self-driving system is seen at the company’s terminal in Palmer, south of Dallas, Texas, U.S. September 23, 2021. Picture taken September 23, 2021. REUTERS/Tina Bellon/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
Nov 1 (Reuters) – Aurora Innovation (AUR.O) on Wednesday opened its first lane for driverless trucks connecting Dallas and Houston, supported by its commercial trucking terminal in Houston, ahead of a launch in 2024.
“Bringing our commercial-ready terminals and services online a year ahead of our planned commercial driverless launch between Dallas and Houston enables us to focus next year on integrating our driver-ready trucks into our customers’ operations,” said Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson.
Aurora said it would operate its terminals day and night, which will support more than 75 commercial loads for pilot customers.
The company will support its terminals with Command Centers which will include staff who monitor and guide the fleet.
Aurora’s move comes as federal investigations have been launched into General Motors’ (GM.N) autonomous vehicle unit Cruise, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Cruise’s self driving cars to be removed from state roads citing safety concerns.
Aurora’s portfolio of products includes Aurora Driver, its self-driving technology that can be employed across vehicle types, and driverless trucking subscription service Aurora Horizon.
Aurora has partnerships with Uber Technologies (UBER.N), Toyota (7203.T), Volvo (VOLVb.ST), and PACCAR (PCAR.O), among others.
Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K
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A 2019 Ram Power Wagon Heavy Duty pickup truck is displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
BALOCCO, Italy, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Automaker Stellantis (STLAM.MI) aims to increase sales of its light commercial vehicles (LCV) by 25% through 2027 to catch up with global market leader Ford (F.N), the unit’s head said on Wednesday presenting the group’s new range.
The world’s third largest automaker sold 1.6 million LCVs globally last year under its Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall and Ram brands, with revenues of around 60 billion euros ($63.4 billion), one third of its total annual sales.
“We want to be (global) number one in LCVs. The LCV’s Champions League is Ford, us and Toyota. To be number one we must beat Ford,” said Jean-Philippe Imparato, adding last year Ford sold 300,000 more LCVs than Stellantis.
Stellantis LCV sales amounted to 1.1 million units so far in 2023, while they are expected to total around 1.8 million for the full-year. The group on Wednesday said it had set up a specific unit, called Pro One, overseeing activities of its LCV business.
Imparato, who also heads Stellantis’ Alfa Romeo premium brand, said scope for revenue expansion would mainly come from vans in North America, where the upcoming offer will include the Ram ProMaster EV, and from pick-ups in South America, Africa and Asia, with a key role for a growth of the Ram brand beyond its U.S. home market.
“(Production) capacity is not a problem,” Imparato said.
Stellantis, which is currently number one LVC maker in Europe and South America, on Wednesday presented its revamped line-up of 12 compact, medium and large vans for the Fiat, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel/Vauxhall brands at its Balocco test facility, in northern Italy. They are all based on the group existing X250 and EMP2 LCV-specific platforms.
As part of its plan to 2030, Stellantis, formed in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, aims to double its revenues from LCVs versus 2021 and have 40% of LCV sales from zero-emission vehicles.
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Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari
Editing by Keith Weir
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The logo of Ferrari is seen in the headquarters as CEO Benedetto Vigna unveils the company’s new long term strategy, in Maranello, Italy, June 15, 2022. Picture taken June 15, 2022. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
MILAN, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Ferrari (RACE.MI) has started to accept payment in cryptocurrency for its luxury sports cars in the U.S. and will extend the scheme to Europe following requests from its wealthy customers, its marketing and commercial chief told Reuters.
The vast majority of blue-chip companies have steered clear of crypto as the volatility of bitcoin and other tokens renders them impractical for commerce. Patchy regulation and high energy usage have also prevented the spread of crypto as a means of payment.
These include electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O), which in 2021 began to accept payment in bitcoin, the biggest crypto coin, before CEO Elon Musk halted it because of environmental concerns.
Ferrari’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera told that Reuters cryptocurrencies had made efforts to reduce their carbon footprint through the introduction of new software and a larger use of renewable sources.
“Our target to reach for carbon neutrality by 2030 along our whole value chain is absolutely confirmed,” he said in an interview.
Ferrari said the decision came in response to requests from the market and dealers as many of its clients have invested in crypto.
“Some are young investors who have built their fortunes around cryptocurrencies,” he said. “Some others are more traditional investors, who want to diversify their portfolios.”
While some cryptocurrencies, such as the second-largest, ether , have improved their energy efficiency, bitcoin still attracts criticism for its energy-intensive mining.
Ferrari shipped more than 1,800 cars to its Americas region, which includes the U.S., in the first half of this year.
Galliera did not say how many cars Ferrari expected to sell through crypto. He said the company’s order portfolio was strong and fully booked well into 2025, but the company wanted to test this expanding universe.
“This will help us connect to people who are not necessarily our clients but might afford a Ferrari,” he said.
The Italian company, which sold 13,200 cars in 2022, with prices starting at over 200,000 euros ($211,000) and going up to 2 million euros, plans to extend the crypto scheme to Europe by the first quarter of next year and then to other regions where crypto is legally accepted.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is Ferrari’s largest region, accounting for 46% of its total car shipments in the first half of this year.
“Interest is the same in the U.S. and Europe, we don’t see huge differences,” Galliera said.
Countries where cryptocurrencies are restricted include China.
Ferrari has turned to one of the biggest cryptocurrency payment processors, BitPay, for the initial phase in the U.S., and will allow transactions in bitcoin, ether and USDC, one of the largest so-called stablecoins. Ferrari might use other payment processors in different regions.
“Prices will not change, no fees, no surcharges if you pay through cryptocurrencies,” Galliera said.
Bitpay will immediately turn cryptocurrency payments into traditional currency on behalf of Ferrari’s dealers, so they are protected from price swings.
“This was one of our main goals: avoiding, both our dealers and us, to directly handle cryptocurrencies and being shielded from their wide fluctuations,” Galliera said.
As the payment processor, BitPay will ensure that the virtual currencies come from legitimate sources and not derived from criminal activity or to be used to launder the proceeds of crime or evade tax.
Ferrari’s marketing and commercial chief said that the majority of its U.S. dealers have already signed up, or are about to agree, to the scheme
“I am confident others will join soon,” Galliera said.
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Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; additional reporting by Tom Wilson in London; Editing by Louise Heavens
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The logo of Mexico’s Central Bank (Banco de Mexico) is seen at its building in downtown Mexico City, Mexico February 28, 2019. Picture taken February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
MEXICO CITY, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Mexico on Wednesday issued a decree to grant tax breaks for companies that relocate operations to Mexico, targeting major export industries such as carmaking and semiconductors, a move that won cautious praise from economists.
The incentives are designed to attract companies that want to shift their offshore operations closer to their customers, called nearshoring, in the wake of supply chain disruptions in Asia during the COVID pandemic.
Deputy finance minister Gabriel Yorio said in a post on X the incentives would apply to 10 sectors of the economy, including the manufacture of batteries, engines, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, medical instruments and agribusiness.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said Mexico should benefit from moves by industry to reduce dependence on China, but critics argue that his administration has been slow to set out clear-cut incentives to encourage investment.
Though welcomed, the measures failed to dispel concerns the government is obstructing investment by failing to provide essential infrastructure for companies, especially because of its nationalist energy policies favoring fossil fuels.
“These incentives are a good step in efforts to attract companies to the country”, said Gabriela Siller, an economist at Banco Base who is often critical of government policy.
But Mexican authorities need to spend more to guarantee power and water supply for industry and provide companies with a stable policy environment to encourage investment, Siller said.
Mexico could lure annual foreign direct investment flows of $55 billion to $60 billion if it takes better advantage of nearshoring, up from $36 billion in 2022, she said.
The new incentives include accelerated investment deductions of 89%-56% in 2023 and 2024, and additional deductions of 25% during three years for worker training, Yorio said.
The top 89% deduction will be available for machinery and equipment intended directly for research into new products or technology development in the country, the decree said.
The automotive, farm and tech sectors are among those set to receive deductions of more than 80%.
Lopez Obrador has prioritized support for Mexico’s fossil-fuel dependent and cash-strapped state power companies, feeding concerns about shortages of renewable energy that many major investors need to meet more ambitious climate targets.
That has dampened expectations Mexico could benefit from increased investment in semiconductors in North America.
Mexico’s moves to strengthen public sector control of the energy market have sparked trade disputes with Canada and the United States.
Ramse Gutierrez, vice president of investments at asset manager Franklin Templeton Mexico, said the public and private sectors needed to work together to lift the clean energy supply many companies need to win financial backing for projects.
U.S. carmaker Tesla has urged the government of Nuevo Leon state to build vital infrastructure for its planned auto assembly plant in northern Mexico, officials said this month.
Carlos Vejar, a former Mexican trade negotiator, welcomed the government’s announcement but urged it to improve infrastructure, security and the facilitation of permits.
Mexico still faces competition to win investment from both North and Central America, plus Colombia, he said.
“I don’t think this measure is a game-changer to persuade those who have doubts,” said Vejar.
Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Additional reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Anthony Esposito, Grant McCool and Sonali Paul
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A man walks past the Chinese and German national flags before a meeting of officials between the respective trade and economy ministries in Beijing, China, November 1, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
BERLIN, Sept 20 (Reuters) – German direct investment in China eased in the first half of the year albeit remaining close to its record high in 2022 and increasing as a share of the country’s overall investment abroad, according to official data analysed by the IW institute.
Investment in China dropped to 10.31 billion euros ($11.02 billion) in the first half of 2023 from 12 billion euros in the first half of last year, the IW said in an analysis shared exclusively with Reuters.
However, that was still nearly twice as much as the 5.5 billion euros invested in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. It was also more than twice the 4 billion euros invested on average in the first half of the year over the previous decade.
The data underscores concerns that German firms continue to invest heavily in China despite the government’s pleas for companies to reduce their exposure and its sharp cut in investment guarantees for the country.
Overall German direct investment flows dropped more sharply, to 63 billion euros from 104 billion euros last year, as Europe’s largest economy battled recession.
As a result, investment in China as a share of Germany’s overall investments actually increased to 16.4% in the first half from 11.6% last year and 5.1% in 2019, the IW said.
“The trend towards China remains mostly unchanged also this year,” said IW analyst Juergen Matthes. “Although the German economy is overall investing much less abroad, new direct investments in China remain nearly as high as before.”
Matthes pointed out that most of the investments in China were financed by re-invested profits.
Germany’s government has in recent months urged businesses to reduce their strategic dependencies on China given its view that Asia’s rising superpower is a growing threat to global security.
While there are early signs that German companies are beginning to rethink their China strategy, not least because of the economic slowdown there and new security laws, the data is still unclear.
Some China experts say that is partly due to a divergence between a handful of large companies like Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and BASF (BASFn.DE) that are doubling down on their bet on the country, and the rest that are increasingly cautious and looking to diversify, including elsewhere in Asia.
Matthes pointed out that investments in the rest of Asia as a share of Germany’s overall investments was also rising.
“It is notable that nearly a quarter of German direct investment flows recently went to Asia,” he said.
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Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Friederike Heine and Christina Fincher
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