Chinese Commodities Slump as Beijing’s Response Is Found Wanting
- Flagging economy a headwind for crude, copper and aluminum
- Soaring energy prices lift China’s imports from Russia
Workers walk past rolls of wiring at a construction site in Beijing, China.
Photographer: Bernardo De Niz/Bloomberg
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Industrial commodities in China continued to slide as markets judge that Beijing isn’t doing enough to support demand, at least when compared to the government’s response to cratering economic activity at the start of the pandemic.
Some 76% of the economy has been affected by the spread of omicron, versus a 62% impact from the original variant two years ago, according to a note from Huatai Financial. However, the “relief measures adopted so far are surprisingly less strong than in 2020,” and have been “aimed at emergencies rather than supporting demand recovery in real-economy sectors,” Huatai said.