Briefly

Yiwu handles more cross-border parcels

The eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, Zhejiang province, home to the world's leading small commodities market, handled 1.47 million consignments of cross-border parcels in April, up 867.2 percent year-on-year, the local customs said. The China-Europe freight train service, which was launched in Yiwu in 2014, has provided a new channel for the transportation of international mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More enterprises prefer to transport medical supplies and daily necessities via freight trains, accounting for 68.6 percent of the total.

Australia's trade gets iron ore impetus

Australia's trade surplus ballooned to a record $6.8 billion in seasonally adjusted terms in March, largely on the back of strong Chinese demand for iron ore. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the record number was also helped by a slump in imports due to global supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19.The figure vastly exceeded analysts' expectations and is a steep lift from the downward revised $2.5 billion surplus in February. "In the current situation with the various factors that have hit global trade in recent weeks and months, at times you have to expect the unexpected and today's trade balance was indeed unexpected," said Robert Rennie, head of financial market strategy at Westpac Bank.

BMW to invest $620m in Shenyang plant

BMW Group plans to invest 4.4 billion yuan ($620 million) this year for a new factory in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province, local government said. The investment will be used to complete the main building of the new factory of BMW Brilliance Automotive, a joint venture between BMW Group and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd, according to the provincial development and reform commission. With a total investment of 28.3 billion yuan, the new factory is expected to be completed in 2022, making Shenyang BMW's global manufacturing center.

Xinhua