China’s economy continues to ‘land’ gently as the Government-induced slowdown in activity takes hold.
Trade figures released yesterday show solid exports, record imports, all a sign of an economy still travelling solidly.
The level of iron ore imports into China is generally regarded as a good indicator of how the economy is going, and in September there was a noticeable improvement.
But oil imports were the better indicator last month as they hit a new all time high.
China is in fact the world’s fourth biggest producer, but its appetite for energy is such, that that leading position cannot meet its demands for fuel.
In fact China imported a record volume of crude oil last month.
It’s probably the best sign that the world’s second largest economy is still growing and still consuming more and more commodities, especially the vital ones like energy and iron ore, copper and grains.
The country’s Customs Department said oil imports hit a record 23.29 million tonnes in September, up 11% from August.
That beat a previous record of 22.27 million tones in June.
Crude oil imports in the first nine months rose 24% to 181.16 million tonnes. That’s 89% of all the crude oil bought into China in 2009.
Meanwhile, China’s appetite for imported iron ore remains undiminished, despite the alarmist claims of some commentators that the country was somehow ‘punishing ‘ the likes of Australia and Brazil by cutting imports in August.
Figures out yesterday show a sharp rebound in the volume of iron ore imports into September.
There was speculation that the sharp fall in August iron ore imports resulted from attempts by China to cut carbon emissions by ordering older steel plants to close, cutting production and demand for iron ore, or that China Inc had ganged up to cut purchases of high priced ore from aggressive shippers in Australia and Brazil.
In fact the size of the rebound was surprising, an 18% rise to the highest level in five months.
Iron ore imports rose to 52.6 million tonnes, the highest since April, from 44.6 million tones in August, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
The September import level was, however, 19% under the 64.6 million tonnes imported in September of 2009.
Over the nine months to September, Chinese imports of iron ore fell 2.5% to 460 million tonnes.
The fall in August was 13%, the biggest in seven months, to 44.6 million tonnes. That was the lowest level since February 2009.
Meanwhile copper imports by China eased for the first time in three months in September.
Shipments of copper and products dropped 3% to 368,410 metric tonnes from 379,527 tonnes in August.
China also imported 410,000 tonnes of scrap copper, up 2.5% from August.
Imports of aluminium and the metal’s products fell more than 9% to 65,772 tonne.
