China’s iron ore imports in July rose 10.8% from a month earlier to a record high, customs data showed on Friday, driven by shipments from miners and resilient demand in China as its economy bounced back after disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic....MOREAnd CNBC, August 6:
China’s economic growth indicators are ‘lopsided,’ analyst says
China’s economic growth indicators are lopsided, pointing to possible downside risks for the country in the second half of 2020 as it tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, an analyst said Thursday.
- “The problem with the stimulus measures and the economic indicators is that it’s very lopsided … it’s very focused on online sales and also on infrastructure build,” said Andrew Collier, managing director at Orient Capital Research.
- Steel and iron ore production have been strong in China, “but nobody can quite figure out where all these metals are going,” he said, as auto sales have been rather weak even if the raw materials are going to the construction of infrastructure and property.
- Latest data showed China’s June retail sales fell 1.8% from a year ago, but that was still better than sharp drops in the rest of the world, said Collier.
“On Covid, the Chinese deserve a lot of credit. They certainly locked down much of the country,” said Andrew Collier, managing director at Orient Capital Research, a Hong Kong-based research firm.
“Even though they may have launched the virus, they were pretty good at quelling it. That’s the advantage of an authoritarian regime,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”.......MORE
*****.... Steel and iron ore production have been strong in China, “but nobody can quite figure out where all these metals are going,” he said, as auto sales have been rather weak even if the raw materials are going to the construction of infrastructure and property.
“There is some suspicion there’s a lot of stockpiling,” said Collier....
Hmmmm....intertemporal arbitrage anyone?
