Linking ports, bulk commodities and trading with indexes, providing a "bellwether" for the development of the industry

QINGDAO,China,Oct. 27,2021 -- At the 2021 "Belt and Road" Land-sea Linkage Qingdao Summit held on October 22,the Global International Shipping Center Index - Northeast Asia Report (2021),Xinhua-Shandong Port Bulk Commodity Index 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 "Global International Shipping Center 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.

Xinhua-Shandong Port Bulk Commodity Index 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 (billet and hot rolled SPHC material) 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.