China Shipping Container Lines Raises Rates
July 7, 2009
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China strains to see light at end of tunnel
February 11, 2009
China strains to see light at end of tunnel
By Geoff Dyer at Financial Times
China to the rescue? There has been a surge of hope in the markets over the past 10 days that China’s struggling economy has already turned a corner.
The Baltic dry shipping index – the much-watched measure of the cost of shipping raw materials around the world – has jumped more than 50 per cent in a week on hopes of rising demand for commodities from China, while the prices of several metals have also risen sharply. The Chinese stock market is up 13 per cent in the 10 days since the end of the Chinese new year holiday.
Such optimism might seem strained given the avalanche of downbeat economic news that has come out of China over the past three months. Yet some government officials have started to sound a similar tune.
Official newspapers on Tuesday quoted Su Ning, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, as declaring that the first signs of recovery had become visible at the end of last year and that China could be the first big economy to recover.
Investors betting on a Chinese rebound are confident that the government’s huge package of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures is beginning to bite and there is some evidence to back them up.
In recent days local media have reported that new loans issued in January reached Rmb1,200bn ($176bn, €135bn, £120bn) following big increases in lending in November and December. If the figure is confirmed, it would be more than three times the average in the first nine months of last year. (Reuters reported that the figure was even higher at Rmb1,600bn.)
The strong credit growth is an indication that the government is succeeding in using state-owned banks to push money through the door.
“Unlike their counterparts in the rest of the world, China’s banks should be an effective transmission mechanism for the ongoing loosening of monetary policy,” says Paul Cavey at Macquarie Research.
Rising prices for iron ore, steel and other metals are being interpreted as signs that China’s big infrastructure spending plans are being implemented quickly. A senior Chinese official told the Financial Times last week that the Rmb4,000bn of projects in the government’s fiscal stimulus had already been approved.
Source: Financial Times
Tags: reuters, Shipping, growthRelated Posts:
The Steel Revitalization Plans in China
January 29, 2009
It is reported that the State Council has worked out the steel revitalization plans, which focus on controlling the whole volume, washing out the obsolete capacity and encouraging technical innovation and merger & acquisition to bail out the slumping domestic steel industry.
Mr Wang Yifang Board chairman of Hebei Steel Group said even though the released plan has not cover detailed regulations, it will provides timely help for the development of the steel enterprises in Hebei province, the largest steel production base in China. To the large-sized steel mills, the plan means low cost expansion.
As one of the largest steel complexes in China, Hebei Steel Group has enhanced its place in steel industry since it was founded, and became the national major supportive enterprise.
As per local steel assistance plan, total crude steel capacity would be controlled within 80 million tons by 2020. In order to realize the goal, the province has to concentrate the quality steel resources by promoting the progress of M&As. Most experts believe that the steel revitalization policy will lay a solid floor for the further development of Hebei steel industry.
According to the plan special funds will be allocated from the central budget to encourage technological advancement of the sector, readjustment of products mix and improvements of product quality
As one of the pillar industries in Hebei province, the steel industry contributes more than 25% of the provincial total industrial profits in recent years. However, it still lacks of competitiveness since most local produced products are primary one, with few high value-added and high-tech contained products.
The local government should draw some supportive policies in line with the steel revitalization plan to encourage the technologic innovation. Only in this way, can Hebei province form high quality vanadium and titanium, construction steel and slabs production lines with high value added products, and end the extensive develop pattern in local steel industry.
Source: China Steel net.com
Tags: steel, steel industry, ChinaRelated Posts:
Attention to VAT Rebate Changes!
December 29, 2008
We want to redraw attention to the newly adjusted VAT rabates again. Because a total of 3,770 items, in the third export tax rebate increase this year, is put into affect in December.
The items involved include labor-intensive, mechanical and electrical products.
So those buying from China is better to learn whether there is a change for their products. Buyers can decrease their buying prices if there is are tax rebate increase on their items. Because, an export rebate increase means a decrease in the manufacturer’s total costs.
Rises in tax rebate rates varied among different items. For example, the rate on tires was raised from 5 to 9 percent while glassware was up 5 to 11 percent. Rates on labor-intensive products such as luggage, shoes and umbrellas were elevated from 11 to 13 percent.
The 3,770 items accounted for 27.9 percent of the country’s total exports.
Tags: mechanical parking garages, mechanical parking, ExportRelated Posts:
As Inflation Falls,Time to Support Growth
October 19, 2008
As we frequently emphasized in our posts and told our clients, Chinese government was waging a war against inflation by tightening monetary policies which widely hurts exports of China. Now with the August inflation lowered to %4.9, China rapidly moved to support growth again:
It’s time for China to boost growth (By Wang Yanlin, Shaghai Daily Newspaper)
IN the first eight months of the year, the government’s top priority, while framing macro economic policies, was the fight against inflation. But there has been a slight shift in emphasis.
Last Monday when Vice Premier Wang Qishan delivered a speech at the 12th China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, Fujian Province, he said the current goal of the government was to “realize a stable and relatively fast economic growth” and “put the rising inflation under control.”
This is possibly the first time that “spurring growth” has been put higher on the agenda than “curbing inflation” by a heavy-weight government official during a formal business occasion this year.
Policy makers are usually very circumspect while commenting on policy issues in public. So is Wang’s public stance an indication that top decision makers could be considering the odds of adjusting macroeconomic policies? This may well be so.
Economists and analysts have been urging the government to shift focus from taming inflation to supporting growth.
The newly released economic data show China’s gross domestic product has slowed to 10.1 percent in the second quarter, down from 10.6 percent in the first three months and 11.9 percent last year.
The Consumer Price Index, the main gauge of inflation, grew at 4.9 percent in August – the slowest pace in 14 months. It has been on the decline for four consecutive months and the speed at which inflation eased went beyond economists’ boldest expectations.
Industry slowing
In contrast to the softening inflationary pressure, the risk of slower economic growth is intensifying.
In August, industrial production grew 12.8 percent, the slowest since February last year.
Among the sectors which dragged down output was the automobile industry, which used to be a major growth driver. The automobile sector fell 3.3 percent last month.
Exports, another key element of overall economic expansion, rose 21.1 percent in August, cooling down from a 22.9-percent jump a month earlier.
The slower growth came despite the government increasing export tax rebates for textiles and garments – the two sectors hardest hit by yuan appreciation and weaker demand from developed markets.
China’s urban fixed-asset investment increased 27.4 percent in the first eight months, keeping a stable growth momentum. But analysts said this was mainly bolstered by the demand created by the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province.
On the other hand, domestic consumption looks robust. Retail sales in August jumped 23.2 percent, slightly up from the July figure which saw the fastest rise since 1996.
However, the rest of the year may see a downturn with no new strong selling points, like the housing and automobile sectors of the past, to boost growth.
All figures now seem to point in one direction °?- that the government should take concrete steps to sustain economic growth. Huang Yiping, an economist with Citigroup, said the CPI which fell below 5 percent in August could help shift the balance of policy concerns toward growth.
Sops may work
“The probability of a policy reversal may rise significantly in the coming months, as global economic conditions continue to deteriorate and domestic corporate sectors increasingly feel the impact of growth slowdown,” said Huang.
“Although the People’s Bank of China has so far maintained its bias toward tight monetary policies, it has introduced a number of measures to fine-tune trade policies as well in recent months,” he added.
The analyst said that the central bank’s steps include expansion of credit quota, slowdown of currency appreciation and increases in export tax rebates.
“This shift in policy concerns should be reinforced to keep the CPI at a healthy level,” Huang noted.
But there is a major hurdle in the way of a complete turnaround as producer prices, the factory-gate inflation measure, also keep going up.
The Producer Price Index in August soared to 10.1 percent, the highest in 12 years. Rising factory-gate costs are generally passed on to the end users, but this may in turn affect consumer prices, analysts said.
Economists suggest China should continue with its fine-tuning measures for the time being. Relaxing the credit quota, slowing down yuan appreciation and selected reduction of tax burden could go a long way to boost the economy.
Tags: urban parking, slowdown, ExportRelated Posts:
