A few charts below from Mac Bank’s monthly Chinese steel mills survey:
The October results of our proprietary steel survey show a modest improvement in conditions after September’s sharp contraction. Steel traders report improving sales and falling inventory, mill orders are contracting less quickly and profitability appears to stabilising at much better levels than previous troughs. For raw materials, purchasing plans still seem muted and stock overhangs are still pressuring prices.
No plans to restock:
And no evidence of any turn in property orders but exports are booming.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
