According to the Beijing-based media, Caixin, Wang Tao, the chief China economist at the UBS global management firm, predicted that 2015 would see a further decline in China’s real estate market. As a result of fundamental changes in supply and demand patterns that have occurred, even if Chinese decision-makers were to relax government policies, it would hardly change the downward trend.
Economy/Resources - 160. page
MIIT: Chinese Industrial Economy Still Faces Downward Pressure
Survey: Most Chinese Private Entrepreneurs Choose Not to Participate in Mixed Ownership Reforms
On August 13, China Review News reported that Central government owned enterprises, such as PetroChina, Sinopec, and the National Grid proposed launching a reform that will include a mixed form of ownership: state-owned and privately-owned mixed ownership. Following their lead, financial service companies such as the China Everbright Group and the Bank of Communications are also lining up to develop their own mixed ownership reforms. Moreover, regional governments are gearing up to join in the mixed ownership process as well. Chongqing City is going to transform two-thirds of state-owned enterprises into mixed-ownership enterprises. Guangdong Province has announced that, by 2017, more than 60 percent of enterprises will be mixed-ownership enterprises. Hebei Province has stated that more than 70 percent of the second level state owned enterprises will complete their task of ownership diversification within the next two to three years. However, a survey showed that over 60 percent of the private entrepreneurs have chosen not to join the state-owned enterprises; over 90 percent of the private entrepreneurs would rather “wait and see.”
Source: China Review News, August 13, 2014
http://hk.crntt.com/doc/1033/3/5/6/103335605.html?coluid=53&kindid=0&docid=103335605&mdate=0813081616
Central Bank: Significant Issues Related to July’s Loans and Nonperforming Loans
World Gold Council: Second Quarter Gold Consumption in China Down 52 Percent
People’s Daily recently published an article on gold consumption. The World Gold Council released its gold consumption and demand report, indicating that gold consumption in China, including gold jewelry, gold bars, and coins, for the second quarter of 2014 was 192.5 tons. This represented a 52 percent decrease from the same period in 2013. Second quarter gold jewelry consumption was 144 tons, down 45 percent from the same period in 2013. The Council adjusted the second half of the gold demand in China downward by 10 percent. The article reported that in 2013, international gold prices had dropped 28 percent, the largest drop since 1981. China’s gold consumption soared in 2013. The article said that China had surpassed India and become the largest gold consumption country in the world.
Source: People’s Daily, August 15, 2014
http://finance.people.com.cn/money/n/2014/0815/c218900-25470245.html
Record Drought Worsens in Northeast China
Xinhua reported that, this year, the major grain producing areas in Liaoning Province and Jilin Province in northeast China have suffered the rarest drought in over half a century. Crops have withered away and rivers have dried up. Even drinking water is in short supply.
Xinhua: China’s Four Largest Banks Suffered a Big Decline in Savings Deposits
Seventy Percent of Coal Mining Companies Are in the Red
The level of the inventory in China’s coal mining industry reached a record high in the first half of 2014 in spite of measures to reduce the price and to restructure production. Seventy percent of these companies are in the red.