China

22Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

China’s third plenum – watch what they do, not what they say

When trying to understand China’s economy, it’s worth remembering that the gulf between what Chinese policymakers say and what they do can be vast. Let’s call that a ‘Type 1 problem’. But sometimes they just don’t say very much at all, and this one might call a ‘Type 2 problem’. Last week’s third plenum, a five-yearly top-level meeting which on occasion has delivered important signals of Beijing’s grand economic strategy, served up a Type 2 problem. Unless you attribute a great deal of significance to Beijing’s ‘Five-Sphere Integrated Plan’ or the ‘Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy’, the plenum’s communique was long on slogans and short on substance. A lack of clarity To be fair, many of these slogans do genuinely reflect deep thinking about policy. When Beijing offic...
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China economy: Key conference gives scant insights on how to confront the growing crisis.
20Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
China, Market

China economy: Key conference gives scant insights on how to confront the growing crisis.

China’s ruling Communist Party has set ambitious long-term policy goals at its most important political meeting on reform, but offered little detail on how to pull the world’s second-largest economy out of a worsening downturn. In a behind-closed doors meeting known as the third plenum, more than 360 members of the party’s Central Committee — including the most senior political and military leaders and heads of state-owned enterprises — held talks from Monday to Thursday at a hotel in Beijing. According to a communique released Thursday, discussions at the plenum — traditionally held every five years — centered on how to deepen reforms in a wide range of areas and advance “Chinese-style modernization,” a broad ideal for the country’s development backed by Chinese lead...
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<strong>Uncertainty and insecurity in job markets contribute to China’s economic slowdown</strong>
18Jul mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

Uncertainty and insecurity in job markets contribute to China’s economic slowdown

Unemployment and growing job insecurity in China have seen a sharp increase, becoming a major contributor to the ongoing slowdown in the Chinese economy. The real estate crisis is another factor that is being cited for the dip in China’s GDP, which is however a fallout of declining confidence among property buyers amid the disturbing unemployment situation in the country. In the previous financial quarter, the growth rate of the Chinese economy shrunk to 4.1 percent, missing the expectations of 5.1 percent. While the fresh graduates are struggling to find jobs, those already employed are scared of being sacked anytime or forced to work at lower salaries. Joblessness in China is still high, with the youth unemployment rate remaining at 13.2 percent in June. The Chinese job market is ...
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China’s Communist Party plans to revive the economy by focusing on technology and security.
18Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
China

China’s Communist Party plans to revive the economy by focusing on technology and security.

BANGKOK (AP) — In a year of major elections that will determine the destinies of many countries, China’s ruling Communist Party is holding closed, top-level meetings in Beijing to set strategies for reviving its slowing economy. State media likened the meetings that end Thursday to reforms started in the late 1970s that opened China’s economy to foreign investment and private enterprise. State broadcaster CCTV said the agenda for this year’s meetings is to study and endorse “all-around deepening reforms.” Nearly a half-century after the late leader Deng Xiaoping launched China’s ascent as a manufacturing powerhouse, the party is doubling down on leader Xi Jinping’s blueprint for technology- and national security-focused development. Economists say it’s unclear if that will...
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15Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, USA, World

Will China ever overtake the US economy?

The idea of China's outstripping the United States to become the world's largest economy has been a fixation for policymakers and economists for decades. What will happen, they argue, when the US — one of the most dynamic, productive economies — is usurped by an authoritarian regime with a workforce of 750 million? Predictions of when exactly China would steal the US's crown have come thick and fast ever since the 2008/9 financial crisis, which hampered growth in the United States and Europe for many years. Before what became known as the Great Recession, China saw double-digit annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth for at least five years. In the decade following the crisis, China's economy continued to expand by 6%-9% annually. That is, until COVID-1...
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<strong>EU, US retaliate against Chinese attempts to dump electrical vehicles</strong>
15Jul mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
China, USA

EU, US retaliate against Chinese attempts to dump electrical vehicles

The move of the European Union to impose duties of up to 87.6 percent on import of electrical vehicles made in China has thwarted the plan of Beijing to flood the markets in Europe with cheap electrical vehicles manufactured with subsidy from the state. Studies have found that China has been using subsidies extensively to take a leading role in the global markets for green-tech products such as battery electoral vehicles and wind turbines. The World Trade Organization has stipulated under the WTO Subsidies Agreement that: “A subsidy granted by a WTO member government is prohibited by the Subsidies Agreement if it is contingent, in law or in fact, on export performance, or on the use of domestic over imported goods. Those prohibited subsidies are commonly referred to as export subsidies...
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13Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
China

Chinese lithium companies warn of losses amid ‘downturn in the lithium sector’

Lithium prices have fallen dramatically over the past 18 months amid weaker demand and improved availability of material. In the spot market lithium hydroxide prices on a CIF China, Japan, and South Korea basis have fallen by 73% year on year, while lithium carbonate prices have lost 69% in the same period. Fastmarkets’ assessment of lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price cif China, Japan & Korea was at $11.20-12.50 per kg on Thursday, unchanged from the previous day. The assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was at $12.50-13.00 per kg on the same day, also unchanged. In their respective filings to the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX), both compa...
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12Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, World

The global evolution
of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation

The annual meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) – the political, economic, security and defence organisation established by China and Russia in 2001 – have long attracted international attention. This year’s summit on 3-4 July, however, took on a new gravity, set against the backdrop of the Russia–Ukraine war, escalating tensions between Russia and the West, enduring strains in China–US relations, and the dynamics surrounding the US elections. The SCO is seeking to evolve from a regional security framework to powerful geopolitical entity. The recent accession of Russian ally Belarus to membership represents a push to transform the grouping in Eurasia as well as a move towards countering Western institutions led by the United States an...
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12Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

China: Unbalanced economic resilience at home, rising trade tensions and conflict risks abroad

Event China’s economic activity continues to show signs of resilience but with discrepancies among growth drivers. Besides, China is facing rising external risks, from trade to conflicts in Asia. Impact The Chinese economy grew by 5.3% YoY in the first quarter of 2024. In an upward revision from the IMF, it is expected that the country’s GDP growth will reach 5% this year (i.e. slightly less than +5.2% in 2023) while a deceleration to +4.5% in 2025 is still forecast, pursuing the structural economic slowdown. Industrial production, investments and particularly exports tend to support growth. Nevertheless, domestic demand continues to be relatively weak given the households’ confidence crisis – exacerbated by high youth unemployment – deleveraging local governments and a continuin...
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12Jul By Online DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

China: Unbalanced economic resilience at home, rising trade tensions and conflict risks abroad

Event China’s economic activity continues to show signs of resilience but with discrepancies among growth drivers. Besides, China is facing rising external risks, from trade to conflicts in Asia. Impact The Chinese economy grew by 5.3% YoY in the first quarter of 2024. In an upward revision from the IMF, it is expected that the country’s GDP growth will reach 5% this year (i.e. slightly less than +5.2% in 2023) while a deceleration to +4.5% in 2025 is still forecast, pursuing the structural economic slowdown. Industrial production, investments and particularly exports tend to support growth. Nevertheless, domestic demand continues to be relatively weak given the households’ confidence crisis – exacerbated by high youth unemployment – deleveraging local governments and a continuin...
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