Home Appliances

China’s home appliance sales per capita last year was only 39% of its neighbouring Japan, which saw USD293 of home appliance sales per capita.

The central government has been pursuing structural transformation to rebalance the economy and realise mainland’s potential to reach high-income status within the next two decades. As the country progressed further with economic advancement, higher living standard is expected to drive rising penetration in rural areas while replacement or upgrade demand may likely drive growth of home appliance spending in urban areas.

Auto

For new passenger car registration in 2015, domestic models recorded stronger momentum than imported premium models across all geographies in China. 

China has been the largest automotive market in the world. Even with its large base, passenger car sales grew by a respectable 7.3% in 2014 and, by 2020, it is expected to boost annual vehicle sales of more than 30 million. Last year, mainland’s domestically made models of three major German premium brands saw much better registration growth than imported models, suggesting that local brands still enjoy competitive advantages in the automotive sector.

Source: J.P. Morgan Securities, as of July 2016. EU SME Centre, as of 2015. Forbes, as of 04.03.2016.

Internet Access

While the Internet penetration rate in developed economies is as high as 81%, the picture in the Asia Pacific region is drastically different – 58.1% of the population in this region is still offline. 

With Internet usage being the key trend, there is vast growth potential for access to information and communication technologies, particularly broadband. While global interconnectedness is on the rise, more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide and bring the offline population into the digital economy. Demand for more and faster data connection is expected to drive long–term growth of the Asia telecom industry.

REITs

The first REIT in the Asia Pacific region was launched in Australia in 1971, which was one of the three REITs globally (the other two countries that had REITs back then were the US and Netherlands). 

Over the past 20 years REITs have grown rapidly, with presence in only four countries in 1994 to more than 35 countries now. In Hong Kong, the first REIT was launched in 2005, which came later than some Asian economies including Taiwan, Singapore and Japan. The growth of REITs has been supported by governments (legislation) and investors, who look for an alternative “yield-based” investment with liquidity and different risk/reward dynamics from other investments. The impact has been a transfer of real estate assets from the direct ownership to listed ownership. The sector is seeing vast growth potential.

Productivity

Globally, meetings and emails are the biggest reasons for the loss of productive hours – employees on average receive over 100 emails per day! 

According to research, the average number of emails an office worker receives each day is 121. In the US, most employees attend 62 meetings a month, an employee on average is interrupted 56 times a day, which are also considered culprits of productivity wastage. In fact, weaknesses in productivity growth (along with labour force and capital) on the supply side can lead to lower trend growth. Overall, supply side weakness can be an investment theme that offers opportunities.

Sources of weakness in productivity growth

Emails, meetings and interruptions

Middle Class

Growth in emerging markets is likely to accelerate the expansion of the global middle class: from less than 1.8 billion people in 2009 to about 5 billion in 2030, of whom nearly two-thirds will be in Asia. 

In China, the rise in wages and productivity is expected to spur rapid expansion of the middle class, which will, in turn, increase consumption. China’s large and growing middle class will become an even more important source in driving global demand, while the country’s industrial upgrading and expanding trade will lead to further specialisation and increased efficiency in world markets, and its increasingly educated labor force will become a force for global innovation.

Wine

The French are the fourth largest consumers of wine in the world, with each person drinking around 46 litres every year – more than two thirds of their own bodyweight. 

The European Union is the world’s leader in wine production, with almost half of the global vine-growing area and approximately 65% of production by volume. France has been leading game the over the past few years. With China being the most important wine-consuming Asian country projected to become an even more dominant market for wine exporters by 2020, France is expected to further benefit as the largest exporter of wine to China’s market.

Source: They Eat Horses, Don't They?: The Truth About the French, 2013. J.P. Morgan Asset Management. EU-27 Wine Annual Report and Statistics 2015, as of 24.02.2015. Evolving Consumption Patterns and Free Trade Agreements: Impacts on Global Wine Markets by 2020.

Bicycle

Of the 10 countries with the highest rate of bicycle ownership, eight are European. The world’s greatest cycling nation by ownership is the Netherlands; in the Olympics, however, the world’s greatest cycling nation is the UK in terms of the performance in the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Governments of most European countries are focusing on upgrading their road infrastructure by designing cycling tunnels, stop lines for cyclists, cycle track layout at bus stops and traffic light intersections. The children’s bicycle market in Europe will likely be propelled by increasing concerns over childhood obesity, greater availability of training programmes, a growing number of events to promote cycling among children, and the growth of organised retailing. The children’s bicycle market in Europe is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 2.31% during the period 2016-2020.

Source: International Bicycle Fund, International Olympic Committee, Technavio, as of 2016.