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Brief Consumer Manufacturing

Pop Mart adds new overseas factories amid global push

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart has added manufacturing facilities in Mexico, Cambodia and Indonesia as it broadens its supply network to meet surging global demand, reports Reuters. Pop Mart, best known for its toothy doll Labubu, does not operate its own factories but works with local manufacturing partners. The company said the partner-led network will boost capacity […]

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Brief Consumer Economics & Policy Politics & Society

China’s service sector growth hit 6-month low in December

China’s services activity expanded at its slowest pace in six months in December, as growth in new business softened and foreign demand declined, reports Reuters. The RatingDog China General Services PMI, compiled by S&P Global, edged down to 52.0 in December from 52.1 the previous month, marking the weakest reading since June.  New business grew at […]

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Brief Consumer Economics & Policy Health Care Law & Regulation Politics & Society

Beijing taxes contraceptives in bid to boost birthrate

China removed a three-decade-old tax exemption on contraceptive drugs and condoms from January 1 in new steps to boost low birth rates, reports Reuters. Condoms and contraceptive pills now incur value-added tax of 13%, the standard rate for most consumer goods. The move comes as Beijing struggles to boost birth rates. China’s population fell for a […]

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Autos Brief Consumer Markets Tech, Media & Telecom

Chinese EV sector under pressure for 2026

Lacklustre sales at the end of 2025 will bode ill for the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) domestic market this year, reports the South China Morning Post, with low-priced carmakers under pressure to offer further price cuts amid an adjusted trade-in subsidy mechanism. A bleak outlook could also prompt authorities to rein in a discount war as few assemblers […]

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Brief Consumer Economics & Trade

China puts tariffs on EU cheese and cream 

China has slapped tariffs of up to 42.7% on European producers of certain dairy products, reports the South China Morning Post. This includes cheese and cream products. Chinese investigators made a preliminary determination that the European Union provided “substantial subsidies” to the milk and dairy products industry “through programmes such as the common agricultural policy” and […]