The following broker's report was posted by the team at FT Alphaville. If true, growth prospects in China are very much less than are assumed in most people's global economic forecasting models:
"Our resources analysts have recently been touring China and have been talking to a wide range of companies, consultants, users etc. They have returned with a very bleak picture of the Chinese economy, even gloomier than the bearish picture being painted at the moment in the market. The picture can be extended to other sectors of the Chinese economy and will have a regional impact, especially on Australia resource companies. Highlights are:
1. There is a very surprising negative rate of change in the economy being openly vocalised by corporates and other market participants. A significant number of factories are shutting down. These are shutting down due to a collapse in overseas demand as global consumers scale back spending.
2. Trade flow is locking up rapidly - letters of credit and 90-day commercial paper are no longer being accepted or transacted. Companies are resorting to 30 and 60 day paper putting further pressure on working capital. Letters of credit not being honoured beyond 3m will be a key hurdle for foreign traders who have 1-year contracts. Liquidity pressures are being seen in 60-day paper and this is expected to seize up soon.
3. There is a significant collapse in demand with end products not being able to be sold - domestic coastal coal shipments for example have declined by 30% in the past 3 months.
4. All copper smelters are losing money at current prices but demand from power companies remains stable for now. Further closures are expected at zinc smelters, with 85% of smelters thinking prices will continue to fall. A senior advisor to CISA has just said that the steel industry faces a costs crisis as material costs exceed falling prices.
5. The property market has significantly slowed, and companies are now pinning hopes on infrastructure projects. Property prices are down at least 20% in the past few weeks, with 30-40% falls in some areas. Demand for cement, aluminuim, copper, zinc, steel, iron ore and coal have already weakened.
6. For some companies, preservation of capital will be key. Our analysts believe that there are significant risks of survival in the commodities sector.
7. Consensus amongst Chinese corporates is that they are banking on a recovery in 2H09, but in the meantime they expect a significant contraction for the remainder of this year and the first half of next year. The single biggest risk they see is an extended OECD recession post 1H09 and incremental changes to China policies.
There are great hopes being pinned on the Chinese Government to help the economy. Preservation of capital is likely to be crucial over the next
18-24 months - we expect significantly more difficult conditions ahead.
Things are bad and rapidly getting worse - there is no sign that this market is about to form a base any time soon."
SOURCE:
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/10/27/17470/markets-live/