Alibaba streamlines leadership...Price of Moutai slides below key threshold...China May industrial profits swing back into sharp decline
Alibaba streamlines leadership
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has significantly reshaped its influential partnership system, cutting nearly a third of its members and promoting e-commerce executive Jiang Fan to the company’s top leadership circle, reports Caixin. The overhaul reflects the tech giant’s sharpened focus on international expansion and artificial intelligence (AI) as it seeks to reignite growth.
In its annual report released Thursday, Alibaba revealed it had reduced the number of partners from 26 to 17, down from 28 two years ago—a major restructuring of its unique governance body under Chairman Joe Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu.
The move consolidates leadership and elevates Jiang, whose international e-commerce unit has become a rare success story amid Alibaba’s efforts to rebound from years of regulatory scrutiny and stagnation. The company is now zeroing in on its core strengths in online retail and AI development.
Price of Moutai slides below key threshold
The price of Kweichow Moutai signature liquor has continued its decline, falling below the critical 2,000-yuan ($279) mark amid a seasonal lull in demand, e-commerce discounts and a government crackdown on lavish spending, reports Caixin. The average wholesale price of a 500-milliliter bottle of Feitian Moutai dropped to RMB 1,780 on Wednesday, marking a further decline since it slipped below the 2,000-yuan threshold on June 11, according to liquor pricing platform Jinri Jiujia. Feitian Moutai’s wholesale price reportedly peaked at 3,170 yuan per bottle in August 2021.
State-owned Kweichow Moutai is known for producing “baijiu,” a traditional sorghum-based spirit. Feitian Moutai is its flagship offering and often served at state banquets and presented as a gift. Its price trends are widely seen as a barometer of China’s luxury consumption and broader economic sentiment.
The sustained price drop has rattled Moutai dealers’ confidence. A liquor retailer told Caixin that distributors are often required to purchase less popular product lines alongside the sought-after Feitian Moutai. As long as Feitian Moutai stays above RMB 2,000 per bottle, the profits from its sales offset losses elsewhere, he explained.
China May industrial profits swing back into sharp decline
China's industrial profits swung back into sharp decline in May from a year earlier, as factory activity slowed in the face of broader economic stress and a fragile trade truce with the United States, reports Reuters. Deepening deflationary pressures and a persistent property crisis continued to undercut demand and growth in the world's second-largest economy.
A few signs, including an unexpected pickup in retail sales growth last month, suggested some resilience among households even though market consensus is that more policy support is required to bolster a fragile economic recovery.
Profits at China's industrial firms fell 9.1% in May from a year earlier, snapping a two-month growth streak, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Friday. The profit decline was due to "insufficient effective demand, declining prices of industrial products and fluctuations in short-term factors," said NBS statistician Yu Weining in a statement.
CATL to bring battery-swapping tech to Europe
CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, plans to bring its battery-swapping and recycling technology to Europe, amid a global battle to secure more sustainable EV supply chains, reports the Financial Times. In an interview with the Financial Times, Jiang Li, the Chinese group’s board secretary, said battery swapping—in which EV drivers exchange depleted cells for fully charged ones—had “huge potential” in Europe to make batteries cheaper and longer-lasting.
Battery swapping, technology pioneered by Chinese electric-car maker Nio, takes minutes and lowers the upfront cost of buying an electric car, as drivers do not own their own batteries—the most expensive components of an EV. It also enables the cells to be used for longer.
Battery swapping had been slow to expand outside of China due to the high cost of building the service stations required. But it is gaining traction amid growing concerns about battery supply chains on the back of rising geopolitical tensions and growth in EV sales.
SF Holding to raise $752mn via HK shares
SF Holding, China’s largest courier, announced plans on Thursday to raise more than HK$5.9 billion ($752 million) through a new share placement in Hong Kong and the issuance of convertible bonds, reports the South China Morning Post. Proceeds from the HK$2.9505 billion equity placement and HK$2.95 billion in zero-coupon one-year convertible bonds would be used for the firm’s international and cross-border logistics capabilities, as well as research and development of advanced technologies, among others, it said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.
Its shares fell 4.1% to HK$44.30 in Hong Kong on Thursday after the announcement, while its Shenzhen shares dropped 2.3% to RMB 49.15.
The transactions represent Shenzhen-based SF’s first offshore fundraising since its initial public offering in Hong Kong in November, which raised HK$5.83 billion and became a bellwether of a recent wave of mainland China-listed firms issuing Hong Kong shares, known as H shares.