China’s economy surges aheadChina becomes the world's largest car market
China's auto market, which overtook the United States as the world's largest earlier this year thanks to a raft of policy incentives, has been a major bright spot amid a global industry downturn.
In the first 11 months, a total of 9.23 million passenger cars were sold in the country, up 49.70 percent from a year earlier, data provided by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.
The people power behind 'Made in China' is increasingly affluent as wise governance sees China surge ahead.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60722O20100108
December 2009 trade boom
Growth in China's exports and imports last month flew past expectations, providing fresh evidence of the vigour of the economy and strengthening the case for Beijing to let the yuan start climbing again.
Exports leapt 17.7 percent from a year earlier, dwarfing the 4.0 percent rise forecast by economists and breaking a 13-month streak of year-on-year declines; imports surged 55.9 percent, much more than the 31.0 percent increase markets had expected.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE60A01620100111?type=usDollarRpt
China to be world's largest consumer market within next decade
BEIJING (Reuters) - Household income in China surged in the last six years, especially for top earners, putting the country on track to eclipse the United States as the biggest consumer market in a decade, Credit Suisse said in a report on Tuesday (11th Jan. 2010).
The bank's survey of 2,700 respondents showed a big rise in property and car purchases, underscoring why many investors are betting big on a rise in China's consumer sector.
"The next big theme for China in the new decade is the rise of private consumption, in our view," said Dong Tao, China economist with Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. "It is likely to provide a badly needed source of spending for the rest of the world, promoting a global rebalance of trade, consumption and growth."
Based on growth in household income and estimates of economic growth, he expects the share of China's private consumption to GDP to reach 23.1 percent in 2020, just surpassing the U.S. ratio at 22.9 percent. Critics accuse China of contributing to global economic imbalances by saving too much. However, the amount that Chinese consumers save relative to household income has dropped to 12 percent in 2009 from 26 percent in 2004.
