MNI China Press Digest Sept 6: EU, E-commerce, M&A

MNI (BEIJING) - Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• China’s anti-dumping investigation into EU brandy will continue despite the recent decision not to impose provisional tariffs, said He Yongqian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce. Looking ahead, authorities will make an objective and fair final ruling after conducting on-site checks and other investigation work, He noted. Regarding the U.S.’s recent decision to delay announcing further 301 tariffs, He said the majority of public comments received by the Office of the United States Trade Representative were opposed to the expansion of duties on Chinese products.
• China’s E-commerce Logistics Index reached 114.2 points in August, up 0.1 points from July, according to data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. Zhou Maohua, macro researcher at Everbright Bank, said the results show the domestic e-commerce logistics industry's prosperity and market demand had improved. China Logistics Information Center analyst Wu Jiang noted the summer Olympics had driven demand for sports consumption, with cycling and fitness equipment selling well. E-commerce logistic firms had seen costs decrease in August due to falling oil prices and the use of new energy distribution vehicles, Wu said.
• Leading state-backed securities firms Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities plan to merge in the largest merger in China’s capital-market history, China Fund News reported, citing company announcements. The merger will see total and net assets attributable to the parent company reach CNY1.68 trillion and CNY330 billion, based on 2023 data. Stocks of the two companies were suspended from trading on Friday but will resume within 25 trading days, the newspaper said.