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01-01-2016, 10:58 PM
Opportunity for Australia as China converts to a consumer economy
There has been much pessimism about China as the world’s second-largest economy loses speed, growing at the slowest pace in more than two decades. The mid-year stockmarket crash and the sudden devaluation of the yuan have added further concerns to already jittery investors and policymakers around the world.
Much of their fears concern the slowdown in the traditional engines of growth such as manufacturing, infrastructure and real estate. The market reacts poorly to news of further weakness in manufacturing activity numbers. Shares in Australian miners, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, have been hammered.
However, strong double-digit growth in Chinese consumer spending is doing wonders for companies focusing on consumer goods, such as Blackmores and dairy producer A2. Blackmores’ stock briefly crossed the magical threshold of $200 per share recently on the back of strong growth in the Chinese market.
McKinsey & Co conservatively estimates Chinese household income at $5 trillion, which is about three times Australia’s GDP. The gradual transition of China from a manufacturing powerhouse to a more consumption-driven economy has opened up an enormous new opportunity for businesses.
The recent Australia-China free trade agreement is also a game changer for Australian businesses, from financial services to aged care industries. An ANZ report has identified many niche areas of export opportunity, such as honey-related products, pearls, nuts, rock lobsters and fruit juices.
The aged care sector is a new opportunity opening up under the free trade agreement.
China’s population is ageing fast thanks to the one-child policy, which has been abolished belatedly.
Macquarie Capital has already made investments in the sector through China Senior Care, a company founded by US lawyer Mark Spitalnik. In 2014, the Royal District Nursing Service signed a joint venture deal with Zhongshan College to develop and operate an aged care facility in Jiangsu Province, north of Shanghai.
“The issue of ageing population is a critical issue for all countries, especially in our region,” said the chair of the RDNS board, Paul Montgomery. “There are 200 million people over the age of 60 in China and this number is expected to increase to 440 million by 2050.”
In December 2014, Ma Weihua, the former chief of the China Merchant Bank and executive chairman of China Entrepreneur Club, whose members include industry captains like Jack Ma, visited RDNS facilities in Victoria.
He said many business people in China were interested in the sector. “Aged care is not only a personal problem; it is a family problem as well as a social issue. Contemporary Chinese society cares about this issue. Though we have aged care facilities, they just cater for their basic needs. We need them to live there happily,” Ma says.
Under the FTA, Australian companies are allowed to build and own hospitals in China and this is a major concession. China’s healthcare sector is expected to grow from $357bn in 2011 to $1 trillion in 2020, according to a McKinsey report.
There is a chronic shortage of good hospitals in China. There are about 1350 Class-3 hospital and they tend to have the best doctors and equipment. But the problem is they attract most patients.
As China’s economy undergoes transformation, the new investment and export opportunities will be unique. Mark Hand, managing director of corporate and commercial banking at ANZ, says you just can’t pick a product that is successful in Australia and expect it to sell in China.
One promising area of investment is financial services. The FTA offers access for insurers, fund managers and other professionals. There are opportunities for big as well as smaller players. Under the agreement, China has committed to allow Australian insurance providers access to China’s statutory third-party liability motor vehicle market.
“This unprecedented market opening represents a potentially substantial opportunity for interested Australian insurers to leverage their existing expertise across risk underwriting, claims management and portfolio investing into one of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world,” says ANZ.
China insurance market generated total premiums of 1.7 trillion yuan ($260bn) in 2013. It has been growing at 17 per cent a year since 2005. It is interesting to note big investors have forced Insurance Australia Group to abandon its expansion plan in China, citing risks involved. Many executives have been frustrated by shareholder demands for short-term returns.
John Thorn, a former director of NAB, says: “Even large companies get pressed by fund managers to get return on a very short term basis. This just does not happen in the emerging markets.”
The opening up of China’s financial services sector is also providing opportunities for smaller players. Golden Stand is a financial services company based in Guizhou province started by a group of Australian bankers. It is a financial services technology company that provides risk management services as well as securitisation of assets to China’s financial services industry.
Michael Wang, managing director at the firm, explains he and his team are taking advantage of the country’s reform push to deregulate the financial services industry. Beijing has relaxed its grip on the securitisation market, which allows companies and local governments to turn their illiquid assets into securities.
“The Chinese government has just opened up its securitisation market in 2014. We are facing a completely new market in an era of liberalised interest rates and I think the opportunity is simply amazing,” he said.
The company helps Chinese banks and financial services to build up their IT infrastructure to analyse assets, estimate risks and cashflow and use their financial engineering skills to turn them into securities.
One of the marketing pitches to Chinese clients is Australia’s strong record of prudential and risk management. All big four banks escaped the global financial crisis in relatively good shape.
The firm has secured two major contracts within four months.
China has a two-speed economy at the moment. While the industrial sector stagnates, the consumer spending boom is keeping the economy going. Australian companies need to take advantage of the new changing reality in China. They need to look no further than the extraordinary successes of Blackmores and dairy producers to appreciate the scale of the opportunities on offer.
- PETER CAI
- THE AUSTRALIAN
- DECEMBER 29, 2015 12:00AM
[img=650x0]http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/16e6fc27349266cfbd7a04289bd12f77?width=650[/img]
[*]As China’s economy undergoes transformation, new ­investment and export opportunities will be unique.
There has been much pessimism about China as the world’s second-largest economy loses speed, growing at the slowest pace in more than two decades. The mid-year stockmarket crash and the sudden devaluation of the yuan have added further concerns to already jittery investors and policymakers around the world.
Much of their fears concern the slowdown in the traditional engines of growth such as manufacturing, infrastructure and real estate. The market reacts poorly to news of further weakness in manufacturing activity numbers. Shares in Australian miners, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, have been hammered.
However, strong double-digit growth in Chinese consumer spending is doing wonders for companies focusing on consumer goods, such as Blackmores and dairy producer A2. Blackmores’ stock briefly crossed the magical threshold of $200 per share recently on the back of strong growth in the Chinese market.
McKinsey & Co conservatively estimates Chinese household income at $5 trillion, which is about three times Australia’s GDP. The gradual transition of China from a manufacturing powerhouse to a more consumption-driven economy has opened up an enormous new opportunity for businesses.
The recent Australia-China free trade agreement is also a game changer for Australian businesses, from financial services to aged care industries. An ANZ report has identified many niche areas of export opportunity, such as honey-related products, pearls, nuts, rock lobsters and fruit juices.
The aged care sector is a new opportunity opening up under the free trade agreement.
China’s population is ageing fast thanks to the one-child policy, which has been abolished belatedly.
Macquarie Capital has already made investments in the sector through China Senior Care, a company founded by US lawyer Mark Spitalnik. In 2014, the Royal District Nursing Service signed a joint venture deal with Zhongshan College to develop and operate an aged care facility in Jiangsu Province, north of Shanghai.
“The issue of ageing population is a critical issue for all countries, especially in our region,” said the chair of the RDNS board, Paul Montgomery. “There are 200 million people over the age of 60 in China and this number is expected to increase to 440 million by 2050.”
In December 2014, Ma Weihua, the former chief of the China Merchant Bank and executive chairman of China Entrepreneur Club, whose members include industry captains like Jack Ma, visited RDNS facilities in Victoria.
He said many business people in China were interested in the sector. “Aged care is not only a personal problem; it is a family problem as well as a social issue. Contemporary Chinese society cares about this issue. Though we have aged care facilities, they just cater for their basic needs. We need them to live there happily,” Ma says.
Under the FTA, Australian companies are allowed to build and own hospitals in China and this is a major concession. China’s healthcare sector is expected to grow from $357bn in 2011 to $1 trillion in 2020, according to a McKinsey report.
There is a chronic shortage of good hospitals in China. There are about 1350 Class-3 hospital and they tend to have the best doctors and equipment. But the problem is they attract most patients.
As China’s economy undergoes transformation, the new investment and export opportunities will be unique. Mark Hand, managing director of corporate and commercial banking at ANZ, says you just can’t pick a product that is successful in Australia and expect it to sell in China.
One promising area of investment is financial services. The FTA offers access for insurers, fund managers and other professionals. There are opportunities for big as well as smaller players. Under the agreement, China has committed to allow Australian insurance providers access to China’s statutory third-party liability motor vehicle market.
“This unprecedented market opening represents a potentially substantial opportunity for interested Australian insurers to leverage their existing expertise across risk underwriting, claims management and portfolio investing into one of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world,” says ANZ.
China insurance market generated total premiums of 1.7 trillion yuan ($260bn) in 2013. It has been growing at 17 per cent a year since 2005. It is interesting to note big investors have forced Insurance Australia Group to abandon its expansion plan in China, citing risks involved. Many executives have been frustrated by shareholder demands for short-term returns.
John Thorn, a former director of NAB, says: “Even large companies get pressed by fund managers to get return on a very short term basis. This just does not happen in the emerging markets.”
The opening up of China’s financial services sector is also providing opportunities for smaller players. Golden Stand is a financial services company based in Guizhou province started by a group of Australian bankers. It is a financial services technology company that provides risk management services as well as securitisation of assets to China’s financial services industry.
Michael Wang, managing director at the firm, explains he and his team are taking advantage of the country’s reform push to deregulate the financial services industry. Beijing has relaxed its grip on the securitisation market, which allows companies and local governments to turn their illiquid assets into securities.
“The Chinese government has just opened up its securitisation market in 2014. We are facing a completely new market in an era of liberalised interest rates and I think the opportunity is simply amazing,” he said.
The company helps Chinese banks and financial services to build up their IT infrastructure to analyse assets, estimate risks and cashflow and use their financial engineering skills to turn them into securities.
One of the marketing pitches to Chinese clients is Australia’s strong record of prudential and risk management. All big four banks escaped the global financial crisis in relatively good shape.
The firm has secured two major contracts within four months.
China has a two-speed economy at the moment. While the industrial sector stagnates, the consumer spending boom is keeping the economy going. Australian companies need to take advantage of the new changing reality in China. They need to look no further than the extraordinary successes of Blackmores and dairy producers to appreciate the scale of the opportunities on offer.