China’s Commodities Rebound Faces Decisive Test at Policy Meet
- National People’s Congress may offer clarity on fiscal support
- Steel output, energy demand recovered to pre-crisis levels
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The rebound in China’s world-leading markets for industrial commodities will enter a decisive phase this week, as investors brace for a government response to the coronavirus that could determine the course of prices for the rest of this year and beyond.
The policy-setting National People’s Congress beginning in Beijing on Friday is arguably the pivotal stage of a recovery that has seen China’s raw materials output and energy consumption rebound from a virus-induced crash to pre-pandemic levels. Next up could be the kind of fiscal jolt that can sustain demand and reignite an economy that contracted by an unprecedented 6.8% in the first quarter.