PR92609

QINGDAO, China, Oct. 27, 2021 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

At the 2021 Land-sea Linkage Qingdao Summit held on October 22nd, International

Shipping Hubs Competitiveness Index -- Northeast Asia Report (2021), Xinhua-SPG

Port Commodity Index (XH-SPG PCI) and Trade Connectivity Index Report of RCEP

Member States (2021) were published. Experts believe that through accurate

depiction of the changes of port bulk commodity trade in the form of indexes

and establishment of the efficient linkage among ports, bulk commodity and

trade, the competitiveness of ports will be enhanced, trade transformation and

upgrading will be expedited, and the ability to stabilize the price and supply

of bulk commodities will be strengthened, so as to provide a "bellwether" for

the development of the industry.

The "International Shipping Hubs Competitiveness Index", established by China

Economic Information Service with support of the Baltic Exchange, is another

world-class port and shipping evaluation index launched globally, on the basis

of the "Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Center Development Index". The

first phase of the index focused on Northeast Asia, and 17 ports in China,

Japan, South Korea and Russia were selected as the sample ports. According to

the comprehensive scores, the sample ports were grouped into four echelons, of

which Qingdao Port, Busan Port and Tianjin Port were in the first echelon, due

to their leading network connectivity, operation level and basic scale. The

three ports are absolute regional international shipping centers in Northeast

Asia.

XH-SPG PCI was developed and established by Shandong Port Group Co., Ltd. in

collaboration with China Economic Information Service. It is an important move

for the Port to probe into the possibility of taking the index as the starting

point to enhance the ability of global resource allocation. To establish the

index, three varieties (iron ore, coke and crude oil) with large throughput

scale and high market attention in Shandong Port, as well as two steel trading

varieties (steel billet and hot-rolled coil) with active trading at the bulk

commodity trading center were selected based on the advantageous varieties at

Shandong Port. The purpose is to truly reflect the fluctuation trend of port

bulk commodity market, and provide a value benchmark and effective reference

for port trade activities. According to the planning, the varieties involved in

the index will be gradually enriched in the future, and the index will also be

extended to cover other coastal ports. With constant efforts made to build an

index information platform of "seeing Shandong for port bulk commodities", it

will provide accurate positioning and comprehensive data reference for the bulk

commodity market.

In the Trade Connectivity Index Report of RCEP Member States (2021), a number

of bilateral trade network relations were established in terms of trade

exchanges, capital flows and key commodities to show the overall trade status

and future evolution among RCEP member states, and reflect the development

level of trade interoperability of RCEP member states. In 2020, the indexes of

China-Japan, China-ASEAN, Japan-ASEAN, China-Australia and China-South Korea

ranked among the top five, indicating that these countries maintained close

cooperation in trade exchanges, capital flows and key commodities. The report

also points out that the major member states of RCEP are highly complementary

in terms of industrial structure and have a close trade and investment relation

in import and export, with a promising prospect for future cooperation.

Source: China Economic Information Service