In 2017, written premiums in Colombia rose by 5.5% in real terms and 8% y/y in nominal terms, despite a backdrop of slow economic activity. In comparison, globally the value of written premiums grew by just 1.5% in real terms in 2017, according to a report by the Switzerland-based insurer Swiss Re. During the 2008-2017 period, the insurance sector in Colombia grew faster than its GDP, driving up penetration rates. Despite this positive performance, insurance penetration lags behind that of developed countries and regional leaders such as Brazil and Chile. This, coupled with government efforts to improve the country’s solvency framework, offers lucrative opportunities for domestic and foreign investors.

The Colombian automotive sector is highly skewed towards the production of motorcycles. As motorcycles are the preferred mode of transport of the population, the country has emerged as the second-largest producer of two-wheel motor vehicles in South America, after Brazil. As to four-wheel vehicles, although Colombia is the third most populous country in the region with 49.3mn inhabitants at end-2017, both the scale of the production base and the size of the domestic market remain small. This is explained by the relatively low disposable income of the population compared to the regional average, which limits purchases of large durable goods, such as motor vehicles. The domestic automotive industry also features low levels of internationalisation, which makes it vulnerable to the ups and downs of the national economy. However, the industry is not able to meet local demand and Colombia’s dependence on imported motor vehicles and auto parts is extremely high.

China’s transportation sector is almost entirely run by state-owned corporations, as its development is viewed as a major driver for the country’s economic growth. In the railways subsector, there was extensive construction of new high-speed rail (HSR) lines, the total length growing by more than 2,000 km to 25,000 km in 2017. In the air transport subsector, the major players have been increasingly active in expanding their aircraft fleets to meet the rapidly growing passenger demand, especially demand for international travel. The shipping subsector is strategically important for China, since it is a major generator of growth and vital for China’s exporting industries. Investment opportunities exist mainly for companies supplying technologies and high-tech products to the sector.

The revenue of China’s textile sector in the second quarter of 2018 plummeted by 25.7% y/y to RMB 818.8bn, due to decreased sales of textiles. With the stringent environmental protection policies of the Chinese government toward some of the most polluting sectors, including textile manufacturing, the output of Chinese textile mills continued to decline substantially. During the second quarter of 2018 the production of yarn plunged by 20.9% y/y to 8.7mn tonnes.

In the second quarter of 2018 the revenue of China’s rubber products sector contracted by 24.7% y/y to RMB 220.3bn, as a result of the decline in production and sales volumes. In this period, the sales revenue of the largest subsector – tyres – shrank by 26.5% y/y to RMB 119.4bn. The respective revenues of the second and third largest subsectors - rubber plate, hose & belting, and rubber accessories - went down by 21.4% y/y and 22% y/y, totalling RMB 29.3bn and RMB 19.8bn.

In Q2 2018, the continuity of financial deleveraging and trade frictions with the US moderated China’s GDP growth to 6.7% y/y from 6.8% y/y in the previous quarter. Due to robust transactions in central and western China, sales of commodity housing registered a 13.2% y/y growth during the first half of 2018 compared to 10.4% y/y growth during the first three months of the year. The buoyant home sales pushed up housing price even as restrictive measures, including limits on housing purchase, mortgage, selling price, and reselling, have been resolutely implemented by both central and local government to stabilise the real estate market. NBS data suggested that in June 2018 the prices of newly constructed commodity residential buildings increased m/m in 63 cites out of 70 cities monitored by the authorities. This figure marked the fourth consecutive monthly acceleration and is the highest number in the past 22 months. Tier-2 and tier-3 cities registered the highest price increases of 6.3% m/m and 6% m/m respectively.

The railway sector has been playing a vital role in China’s social and economic development. The country relies on railway freight, including that of natural resources such as coal, or metal ores. Dynamic urbanisation and socioeconomic changes, on the other hand, increase rail passenger traffic. The country is the second largest railway freight transporter in net tonne-km (tkm) globally and the largest passenger carrier in terms of passenger-km (pkm). It also operates the world’s largest highspeed railway (HSR) network. China’s dynamic railway expansion began after it adopted the Medium to Long Term Plan for Railway Network Development in 2004.

The revenue of China’s food sector in the second quarter of 2018 dropped by 24.8% y/y to RMB 469.4bn, mainly due to decreased prices of meat and refined edible vegetable oil. Meat prices in Q2 2018 slid by 6.6% y/y because of a decline in pork prices. In H1 2018, the price of pork fell by 12.5% y/y due to oversupply in the segment. Refined edible vegetable oil price in the first half of 2018 was down by 1% y/y. The total profit of the food sector in Q2 2018 plummeted by 30.1% y/y to RMB 35.5bn, due to decreased sales and prices. In Q2 2018, most food production saw a significant decline. The production of fresh and refrigerated meat in this period slumped by 35.8% y/y to 5.8mn tonnes due to growing inventory. The output of refined edible vegetable oil in Q2 2018 plunged by 32.3% y/y to 12.2mn tonnes, due to decreased production of oil bearing crops.

China’s retail sector continued to grow in Q2 2018, although the pace of growth slowed down to 3.7% y/y. The sector was driven by strong domestic consumption which contributed 78.5% to the country’s economic growth in the first half of 2018. High consumption was largely a result of rising incomes, with disposable income per capita increasing by 8.7% y/y to RMB 6,248 in Q2 2018. The most dynamic growth was registered in the premium goods and services segment. Online retail generated RMB 2,149bn in sales of consumer goods and services, up by 26.2% y/y, with sales of consumer goods alone going up by 27.9% y/y to RMB 1,671bn. The quarter was characterised by increased implementation of new retail and internet technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, and augmented and virtual reality (AR, VR), aimed to stimulate consumption. In May 2018, Alibaba’s Tmall and Intersport Co Ltd set up a partnership on integrating their physical and online operations through implementation of digital technologies. In Q2 2018, online retailers continued to combine their online and offline operations. Alibaba expanded its Hema branded grocery chain, while JD.Com signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Lushang Group on unbounded retail development in Shandong province. In terms of retail formats, sales of convenience stores, supermarkets and department stores increased by 7.6%, 4.5% and 1.6% y/y respectively, in the first half of 2018.

The revenue of China’s communication equipment sector in the first half of 2018 rose by 10.9% y/y, boosted by increased sales of mobile communication station equipment, according to a report released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The sector’s total profit during this period slid by 4.3% y/y due to increased costs. The gross value added of communications equipment manufacturing in H1 2018 increased by 13.4% y/y, higher than the 12.4% y/y growth of the electronic manufacturing sector, the MIIT said. The higher production of mobile communication station equipment contributed to the growth. From January to June 2018, the output of mobile communication station equipment was up by 1.2% y/y to 145.1mn gates, driven by increased construction of mobile communication base stations. At the end of June 2018, the total number of mobile communication base stations in China reached 6.2mn, up from 5.9mn a year earlier.