Macroeconomics

1. [Tariffs] The State Council Tariff Commission released the "2026 Tariff Adjustment Plan," which will be implemented from January 1, 2026.  According to the plan, to enhance the linkage between domestic and international markets and resources, and to expand the supply of high-quality goods, my country will implement provisional import tariffs lower than the most-favored-nation rate for 935 commodities next year. The tariff categories and national sub-category annotations will be optimized, increasing the total number of tariff categories to 8,972.

2. [State-owned Enterprise Profits] According to data from the Ministry of Finance, from January to November, the total operating income of state-owned enterprises was 75,625.76 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%; the total profit of state-owned enterprises was 3,719.45 billion RMB, a year-on-year decrease of 3.1%; and the taxes and fees payable by state-owned enterprises were 5,280.30 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 0.2%.

3. [Bank of Japan] The minutes of the Bank of Japan's December policy meeting showed that several members believed that Japan's real interest rates remain at extremely low levels, suggesting that further interest rate hikes are likely in the future. One member suggested that the Bank of Japan adjust its policy at intervals of "several months."

Plastics and Rubber

1. [PE] On December 29, Maoming Petrochemical's 1# LDPE unit produced 951-050; the 2# LDPE unit began major maintenance on November 26, with a planned restart on January 1, 2026; the full-density unit produced 7042; the HDPE unit began major maintenance on November 24, with a planned restart on January 31, 2026. Maoming Petrochemical LDPE (South China Branch) 2426H was quoted at 8,700 RMB/ton, down 150 RMB/ton.

2. [Natural Rubber] On December 29, the natural rubber raw material market in the Thai production area remained stable with slight increases: smoked sheet was quoted at 60.00 Thai baht/kg, stable; latex was quoted at 54.20 Thai baht/kg, stable; and cup lump was quoted at 52.50 Thai baht/kg, up 0.20 Thai baht/kg.

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