currency


The restricted number of eligible suppliers and airy policies are making it hard for yuan trade settlement to go a feasible option in China’s export manufacturing industry.

More than a year after the yuan trade settlement pilot program was launched, and very few China suppliers are quoting prices in the local currency.

Both manufacturers and buyers are will to settle payments in the yuan. On the part of the makers, doing so eliminates currency exchange losses whenever the yuan gains against the US dollar. For clients, this means export quote will remain stable, regardless of how fast the yuan appreciates.

But current policies make it impractical for both sides to do so. Most companies in China export to buyers in the US and the EU, where the yuan is not widely spread. They cannot see how their customers, who are already used to dealing in US dollars, would be willing to switch to the yuan when it may not always be available in their home countries. It is often clients from South and Southeast Asia who are willing to transact in the yuan, but the majority of China manufacturers have few customers from those regions.

Mike Bellamy, general manager of PassageMaker and board member of the China Sourcing Information Center, said there could be more buyers using the yuan in transactions if individuals and not only corporations could open a yuan account in their home countries. It would also help if conversion fees are not too eminent.

Further, HSBC’s chief economist for China Hongbin Qu said more measures are needed in the months ahead to facilitate offshore yuan investment. Among these are speeding up development of offshore yuan products, including a deliverable forwards market in Hong Kong and a mini-QFII scheme. Unlike the entire version of the qualified foreign institutional investors program, the mini-QFII allows fund managers in Hong Kong to invest overseas yuan deposits in stock markets in mainland China.

Qu believes China also needs to implement more liberal policies, including open the domestic market further to widen the access for foreigners investing in the yuan. Such depositors should be able to transfer funds from yuan accounts in their home countries.

 

Read the full report at Global Sources, a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with China manufacturers and India suppliers, providing essential sourcing information to volume buyers through our e-magazines, trade shows and industry research.