China imports record volume of iron ore in March
April 17, 2009
April 14 (Xinhua) — China’s steel industry overestimated the country’s demand for iron ore and as a result imported a record high amount of the material in March.
A surge of domestic steel output and price increases in the beginning of 2009 raised market expectations. Many domestic steel mills and traders increased orders for iron ore in February and March as they anticipated demand would continue growing, said Liang Shuhe, deputy-director with the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), at an industry conference in the port city of Tianjin Monday.
China’s iron ore imports topped 52.08 million tonnes in March, setting a monthly record high. It beat the last record which was just set in February. That’s when the country imported 46.74 million tonnes of iron ore.
In the first quarter, China imported a total of 130 million tonnes of iron ore. In 2008, iron ore imports totaled 440 million tonnes.
“The imports in March mostly came from orders made in February. Iron ore was priced at 80 U.S. dollars a tonne then, but dwindled to 60 U.S. dollars a tonne now. It means huge unrealized losses for steel mills and traders who betted on price hikes,” said Du Wei, an analyst on iron ore with Umetal.com.
Those unrealized losses for the 52.08 million tonnes of iron ore imported in March could be about 1 billion U.S. dollars, Du said.
Liang said iron ore prices were hinged to steel prices.
“Domestic steel prices have dropped and will further dwindle. Thus it’s inevitable for iron ore prices to go down,” Liang said.
Iron ore stockpiled at ports stood at 70 million tonnes in March, nearing a historic high, according to anonymous sources within the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters.
Due to declining iron ore prices, an increasing number of domestic iron ore mines are closing down, said Zhang Ye, deputy-general-manager of China National Minerals Co., Ltd.. No specific figures were available.
“About 90 percent of China’s iron ore mines are suffering from losses,” Du said. “Steel is a kind of product that could be recycled and thus its scarcity could not be exacerbated in the long term.”
Tags: steel prices, industry, TradeRelated Posts:
China’s FDI norms look set to be tweaked
April 16, 2009
April 16 — China will further streamline approval procedures for foreign direct investment (FDI) and channel more FDI into the underdeveloped western and central parts of the country, an official from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday.
The move is part of the government’s efforts to boost FDI inflow, which has been affected by the global financial crisis. China had authorized its provinces to approve FDI proposals worth up to $100 million last month.
MOFCOM spokesperson Yao Jian said the country would ensure a more convenient environment for examination and approval of FDI proposals and launch policies to spur foreign investment flow into China’s central and western regions.
“FDI is of great significance in creating jobs and stimulating the economy,” Yao said.
The ministry will also encourage investment in sectors such as hi-tech, services and environment protection, facilitate the establishment of more provincial-level economic and technological development areas, as well as mergers and acquisitions activity under the Chinese anti-monopoly law, Yao said.
MOFCOM statistics revealed that the value of FDI in March fell by 9.5 percent year-on-year, the sixth monthly drop in a row. FDI touched $8.4 billion in March, the largest ever in the past six months, but the monthly decline rate was far lower than that of the previous months; it had dropped by 32.7 percent in January and 15.8 percent in February.
In 2008, foreign investors in China, who accounted for 3 percent of the nation’s total by number, contributed 30 percent to industrial output, 55 percent to its imports and exports, and created 11 percent of urban jobs.
In the first quarter, FDI in manufacturing and services dropped by 11.5 and 31.3 percent, among which, the real estate sector saw the biggest drop, of 38.3 percent.
Customs data also showed that in March, China’s foreign trade decreased by double digits from a year earlier, the fifth monthly drop since last November.
But a positive indicator was that the contractions were getting smaller. Exports in March decreased by 17.1 percent, 0.4 and 8.6 percentage points lower than that of January and February. Moreover, exports of labor-intensive products including garments, bags, shoes and furniture were growing.
Experts have said China’s foreign trade and FDI would witness mild growth in the last quarter of this year.
“The ease-off is encouraging, but the prospects are still tough and we cannot lower vigilance,” Yao said.
With regard to foreign trade, Yao said the government would assist small and medium-sized enterprises in developing their overseas markets; offer them help in marketing, registration and branding; urge financial institutions to grant loans to the large-scale equipment providers for exports, and encourage the imports of products related to hi-tech and environment protection and primary products.
(Source: China Daily)
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China’s Trade Numbers at January
February 18, 2009
Last week’s trade numbers from China could not have been more dismal. After declining by 2.8 per cent year on year in December, China’s exports plummeted 17.5 per cent in January, placing huge pressure on the country’s manufacturing sector. Already unemployment in China is surging.
Chinese import numbers are even more dismaying. After dropping 21.3 per cent in December, imports fell a staggering 43.1 per cent in January.
At first glance there seems to be a silver lining in the export numbers: they are not as bad as those reported by some other Asian countries. In December, for example, Taiwan’s exports fell by 42 per cent, South Korea’s by 17 per cent and Japan’s by 35 per cent, capping many months of contraction. Less developed Asian countries also performed worse than China, which suggests China may have increased its competitive edge over its trading rivals. But it is precisely this relative outperformance that indicates the severity of the adjustment yet to take place. China’s trade surplus for January was a mind-blowing $39.1bn (€31.1bn, £27.4bn), just under November’s all-time high of $40.1bn and edging out December’s $39bn for second place. In comparison, in the first half of 2008 China’s average monthly trade surplus was an already high $16.7bn. In the second half it surged to $32.9bn.
Pls read the rest of article at Financial Times
Tags: South Korea, Trade, ChinaRelated Posts:
Imports of energy products climb
January 15, 2009
CHINA imported 240 million tons of major energy commodities – oil, refined products, natural gas and coal – in the first 11 months of last year, up 3.7 percent year on year, a report released yesterday by the General Administration of Customs showed.
The growth rate was 9.7 percentage points below the year-earlier level. These imports were valued at US$158.6 billion, up 74 percent, and they accounted for 14.9 percent of total imports for the 11 months. High world coal prices turned China from a net coal importer to a net exporter. In the first 11 months last year, China exported 2.86 million tons of coal against imports of 781,000 tons.
Source: Shanghai Daily
Tags: Export, prices, coalRelated Posts:
China Machine Tool Industry Research 2008
October 13, 2008
China Machine Tool Industry Research 2008
http://www.reportlinker.com/p091023/China-Machine-Tool-Industry-Research-2008.html
China’s machine tool industry plays an important role in world machine tool industry in recent years. In the aspect of output value, China has accounted 1/4 of the world machine tools. Therefore, the healthy development of China’s machine tool industry will promote the world machine tool industry continues to maintain a rapid development.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics data of whole machine tool industry, in 2007 the 4291 manufactories achieved RMB 274.77 billion in industrial output value, up 35.5 per cent year-on-year; RMB 268.1 billion of sale revenue, an increase of 36.2 per cent year-on-year; throughput of 97.6 per cent, an increase of 0.5 per cent year-on-year.
In 2007, the output of metal-cutting machine tool was 606,835 sets, an increase of 11.7 per cent year-on-year, among NC metal-cutting machine tool 123,257 sets, an increase of 32.6 per cent year-on-year; forming machine tool 172,766 sets, an increase of 9.2 per cent year-on-year, among NC forming machine tool 3,011 sets, an increase of 53.7 per cent year-on-year; Woodworking machinery production and casting machinery 19.2 per cent and 15.4 per cent year-on-year respectively, metal cutting tools fell 0.4 per cent year-on-year.
Machine tool export has continued to grow rapidly. In 2007 it made $5.2 billion, up 36.2 per cent year-on-year, including metal processing machine tool $1.65 billion, increased 39.2 per cent year-on-year, NC metal processing machine tool $500 million , an in crease of 48.2 per cent year-on-year, accounting for 30 per cent of the metal processing machine tool, metal-cutting machine tool $1.22 billion, up 31.6 per cent year-on-year, forming machine tool $430 million, up 66.5 per cent year-on-year.
In 2007, the imports of machine tool was $11.77 billion, an increase of 5.7 per cent year-on-year, among metal processing machines tool $7.07 billion, a decrease of 2.4 per cent year-on-year. China’s foreign trade deficit of metal processing machine tool reached $5.42 in 2007, lower than the same period last year $6.06 billion.
Considering the overheated economy and higher inflation, the central government has tied the monetary policy, which has already affected on some investments, particularly small and medium-sized machine tool investors. China’s machine tool industry is expected to slow down, but, on the other hand, high-value-added products such as NC machine tool, large and heavy machine tool will still keep a strong growth, especially the state key projects and 16 major science and technology projects will boost the domestic demand for high-technical NC machine tool. China is expected to maintain a strong demand for NC machine tool in the next three to five years; in particular the large-scale NC machine tools will remain a 30 per cent growth.
Contents1 The Circumstance of Global Machine tool industry1.1 Production1.2 Consumption1.3 Import and Export1.3.1 Export1.3.2 Import1.3.3 Total Amount of Imports and Exports1.4 Summary2 The Circumstance of China’s Machine Tool Industry2.1 The Performance of the whole Industry2.2 The Products of Metal-Cutting Machine Tool2.2.1 Output2.2.2 Value of output2.2.3 Value of output/per unit2.3 Import and Export of Machine Tool Industry2.3.1 Import and Export Amount2.3.2 Export destination2.3.3 Import region2.3.4 Export Products2.3.5 Import Products2.4 The competition pattern in Machine Tool Industry2.4.1 Types of Ownership2.4.2 Concentration of Machine Tool Industry2.5 Impact of Policy3. The future development trend3.1 The Domestic Products will Gradual Substitute Overseas Products3.2 Upgrading of Product Structure and high-technical Products3.3 Expansion of Export3.4 The Rising Price of Cast Iron and Increasing Cost4 key Companies4.1 Kunming Machine Tool4.1.1 Brief4.1.2 Performance4.1.3 The main Business-machine tool4.2 Zhejiang Tianma Bearing Co., Ltd / QIQIHAR HEAVY CNC EQUIPMENT CORPORATION LIMITEDFigure IndexThe Proportion of China’s NC Machine Tool of Metal-cutting Machine Tool 2000-2007The Output Value and Year-on-Year Growth of World Major Manufacturing Countries of Machine ToolsThe value of Output of World Major Manufacturing Countries of Machine tools 2002-2007The Market Share of World Major Manufacturing Countries of Machine Tools 2007The World Machine Tool Consumption of Major Countries 2002-2007The World Machine Tool Export of Major Countries 2002-2007The Output and Growth of China’s Metal-Cutting Machine Tool and NC Machine Tool 2000-2007The Output and Proportion of various products of China’s Metal-cutting Machine ToolThe Output and Proportion of various products of China’s NC Metal-cutting Machine ToolThe Output Value/per unit of China’s machine tool Metal-Cutting tool ProductsForeign Trade Deficit of China’s Machine Tool IndustryThe Amount of Export and Import and Growth rate of China’s Metal-working Machine Tool 1995-2007Foreign Trade Deficit of China’s Metal-working Machine Tool 1995-2007The Export Destinations and Growth of China’s Metal-working Machine Tool 2007The Share of Import Countries of China’s Metal-working Machine Tool 2007The Share of Export Countries of China’s Metal-working Machine Tool 2007The Amount of Exports and Growth of China’s Metal-Cutting Machine Tool Products Jan-Oct 2007The Amount of Imports and Growth of China’s Metal-Cutting Machine Tool Products Jan-Oct 2007The Ownership of Machine Tool IndustryThe Impact of tax policies on Machine Tool listed companiesComparison of Market Share Between Import and Domestic Metal-working Machine Tool 2001-2007The Amount of Foreign Trade Deficit and Growth of China’s Metal-cutting Machine Tool ProductsThe Output, Import and Growth of China’s Machining CentreThe Value of Output of Machining Centre and Proportion of Total Metal-Cutting Machine Tool of Major Countries 2006The Amount of China’s Metal-Cutting Machine Tool Exports and the proportion of Output Value and compared with the world average LevelThe Price Index of China’s scrap, cast iron, cokeThe Cost of Machine Tool IndustryThe Incomes and Growth of Net Profit of Kunming Machine Tool 2002-2007The Revenue of Kunming Machine Tool Main Business 2004-2007The Revenue of Machine Tool Business of Kunming Machine Tool 2003-2007Comparison of the Gross Profit Among Major Machine Tool CompaniesTable IndexThe Operation of Metal-Cutting Machine Tool IndustryThe Top 10 Output and Value of Output of Metal-Cutting Machine Tool Manufactories 2006The Top 10 Output and Value of Output of NC Metal-Cutting Machine Tool Manufactories 2006Bain Model of Industrial ConcentrationCosts Constitute of HT250 Hot MetalThe Impact of Rising Costs of Cast Iron on the Machine Tool industry’s Cost and Gross ProfitTo order this report:
China Machine Tool Industry Research 2008
http://www.reportlinker.com/p091023/China-Machine-Tool-Industry-Research-2008.html
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