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China’s national brand value has risen rapidly in spite of its trade war with the US and economic slowdown, report findings show.

The “Nation Brands 2019” report recently published by the UK consulting business Brand Finance showed China to have a national brand value of US$19.486 trillion, ranking it second after the US. The total, which was up by 40.5% for last year, was attributed in the report to the growth of brands such as Huawei, Alibaba, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). The US held on to its lead, but with just a 7.2% rate of increase in its national brand value, the gap between it and China narrowed substantially from US$12 trillion in 2018 to US$8 trillion in 2019.

S. Korea places 9th, Japan 4th

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Brand Finance has published annual reports on the world’s top 100 “Nation Brands” based on numerical calculations of countries’ brand value. South Korea’s 2019 brand value was estimated at US$2.14 trillion, rising by 6.7% from last year and rising one step to ninth overall. South Korea first entered the ranking’s top 10 in 2018.

Japan rose to fourth, switching places with the fifth-placed UK, which was hampered by uncertainties surrounding Brexit. Japan’s brand value was calculated at US$4.533 trillion, an increase of 26% from last year.

“In spite of predictions that its economy would suffer in the face of a global slowdown, Japan has been able to reap the benefits from its solid consumer spend [sic] and high levels of business investment,” the report said.

India’s brand value rose by 19%, raising it two spots to seventh place. Germany and France remained in place at third and sixth, respectively. Canada was down one spot to eighth, while Italy was down two spots to 10th. No new countries entered the top 10. The 11th- to 12th-ranked countries were Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Russia, Indonesia, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates.

The highest-ranking country in terms of national brand value growth rate was Ghana (a 67.1% increase), followed by Uganda in second (55.8%), Paraguay in third (55.4%), Bangladesh in fourth (53.8%), and Egypt in fifth (50.1%).

By Kim Mi-young, staff reporter

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