On November 16, 2021, the third Global Value Chain Development Report, “Global Value Chain Development Report 2021: Beyond Production,” organized by the Global Value Research Institute of the University of International Business and Economics, was officially released. This online press conference is hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), with Asian Development Bank economist Elisabetta Gentile presiding over the event. Masatsugu Asakawa, President of the Asian Development Bank, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iwaala, Director General of the World Trade Organization, delivered speeches and gave high praise to the third development report.

This report views the global value chain from aspects other than intangible assets, intellectual property, and digital platforms, deepening our understanding of the key role of the global value chain in the global economy. The report particularly emphasizes that the global value chain led by factory less manufacturers, as well as the new business model that combines intellectual property with international direct investment to export intangible asset services to global customers through the global value chain, pose profound challenges to traditional trade statistical frameworks. After introducing the conceptual framework of “Trade in Factor Income (TiFI)”, the report found that if considering the “Missing Value” related to trade in intellectual property services, the size of the global value chain may be twice that of typical reports. If the factor income trade framework is used to re estimate the trade surplus between China and the United States, the trade surplus between China and the United States is reduced by about one-third compared to the values recorded in the Gross Trade statistical system, and it is also 17.4% lower than the valuation under the Value Added Trade (TiVA) statistical framework.

The previous two global value chain development reports emphasized how the global value chain affects economic development and overall growth (Global Value Chain Development Report 2017), as well as how the global value chain affects the lives of workers in developing and developed economies in a world of rapid technological progress and automation (Global Value Chain Development Report 2019). However, both reports focused on manufacturing production, while this report goes beyond previous frameworks and emphasizes other aspects of the global value chain beyond the manufacturing production process.