China’s economy to grow in 2008
May 31, 2008
BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) — China’s economic growth is likely to stay high but “may moderately slow down” this year, according to the country’s central bank.
The economy would be affected by a decelerated world economy, weakened by outside demand and domestic disasters such as the snowstorm in January and February and the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in southwestern China, said the People’s Bank of China (PBC) in a report on its website.
It noted that the country’s central areas, the hardest-hit by the snow storm, need to strengthen infrastructure such as power, transport and telecommunications facilities.
Post-quake recovery work was also an arduous task, it said.
Official data showed the freak winter had led to a direct economic loss of 151.6 billion yuan (about 20.8 billion U.S. dollars), while economists estimated the quake loss could reach hundreds of billions of yuan.
The government would continue to carry out a tight monetary policy and properly control bank credits this year, according to the report.
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Chinese chrome ore imports during January to March 2008
May 29, 2008
China imported 541,000 tonnes of chrome ore concentrate in March 2008, generally the same as that in March 2007 and up by 3.6% MoM. Total chrome ore imports in the January to March 2008 quarter amounted to 1.66 million tonnes up by 15.7% YoY.
Despite jumping imports, domestic chrome ore price still climbed. This implies tight supply and rising price in international market as well as swelling demand and deteriorating scant supply in China.
Statistics from customs show South Africa provided 196,500 tonnes in March 2008, acting as the largest provider. Turkey and Oman followed by 79,000 tonnes and 70,000 tonnes respectively. As prices for traditional resources, mainly from India, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, perched at a high level, many domestic producers turned to resources from Oman despite the low grades.
Mainland-HK trade up 9.3% in 1st Quarter 2008
May 23, 2008
Trade between the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) reached 62.98 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of 2008, up 9.3 percent year-on-year, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) showed. The mainland’s exports to the HKSAR reached 58.57 billion U.S. dollars, and imports from the HKSAR reached 4.41 billion U.S. dollars, up 8.5 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, according to the MOC. [Read more]
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China no intervention in steel prices
May 23, 2008
Surging prices of imported iron ore would push up the costs of domestic steel makers by 400 to 600 yuan (57 U.S. dollars) per tonne, said Xiong,Industrial Department deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The overall cost would rise by about 1,000 yuan per tonne, taking into account increased coke prices, shipment and energy charges, said Xiong.
The steel makers might want to pass on the cost rises to downstream enterprises, depending on what downstream players could afford, he said.
“Among them, the electric appliance manufacturers could be weaker in taking on upstream price increases. The high steel prices will go down if they were unacceptable to downstream companies,” said Xiong.
But given the high domestic prices already pressing upon downstream companies, market concern is that the government might raise export taxes to guarantee domestic supply, Hu said.
Source:Xinhua
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Quake not to dampen China corporate profit
May 17, 2008
Profit for China’s listed companies may grow 20 percent this year despite the strong quake that shook southwest China, according to a senior official with JPMorgan Chase.
“The quake would have limited effect on the national GDP growth and further tightening on the economy is unlikely in the second half of this year,” Li Jing, China head of JPMorgan Chase said at a press conference held on Friday.
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