Markets in Asia

摘要

The repercussions of the Chinese government's programme of credit restraints are still reverberating around Asian steel markets. They have affected trade longer than expected precisely because they have been effective on the general economy and not on established steelmakers. By cutting demand, especially construction demand, the austerity measures would of themselves have curtailed steel imports. There has been a more dramatic result on imports because the measures did little to slow the rise in steel industry output. The big steelmakers continued to ramp up production at newly commissioned capacity. A large number of small steelworks closed, but for many this was only a brief cosmetic compliance with Beijing's orders and steelmaking was resumed after a brief pause.