Insight: China unveils raft of measures to fire up economy

摘要

China has been rolling out a slew of measures to boost growth after the economy - and subsequently the steel market - slowed dramatically ahead of the final quarter of 2018. Beijing's focus on deleveraging, tackling shadow banking, tightening up credit, and getting tougher on local government spending, saw growth slow more markedly than was probably anticipated. Third quarter GDP growth of 6.5% was below expectations and full year GDP should be announced soon. The spot price of hot-rolled coil in the Shanghai market was Yuan 4,400/mt ($641/ mt), including VAT, in late August, but has since fallen 17% to Yuan 3,655/mt at the start of January. Steel margins are under severe pressure, and important segments such as manufacturing have gone into reverse gear.