Everyone agrees that China is struggling, though there a major disagreements on how bad it is or how bad it will get. Today, the PBOC cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks in yet-another move to shore up the economy. The real estate sector is struggling particularly badly.
But have a look of this chart, it’s Dalian metallurgical coal and it’s absolutely surging.
Other data shows that Chinese blast furnace capacity utilization rate among Chinese steelmakers rose 0.49% last week to reach 92.76% — the highest since late Oct 2020.
Where is this steel going? It couldn’t possibly be domestic demand, or is it somehow for autos?
This has to be some kind of export loophole, right? But India, the EU and US are all cracking down on Chinese steel.
If anyone has any idea, I’d love to hear it.