Every day, hundreds of workers dismantle large vessels at Aliaga, Turkey, in the heart of ancient Aeolia. Ships are pulled ashore and cut, piece by piece, over the concrete floor – to prevent any leftover fuel and toxic waste from polluting the ground or spilling into water. Piles of sorted scrap metal are sent to melting plants that provide up to 3 percent of Turkey’s gross steel production.
Dimitris Ayvatoglu owns a shipyard in Aliaga. He explains his trade:
“Eventually ships grow older and they need to be disposed of, and the right way to dispose of them is actually to recycle them. There’s a lot of steel onboard the ships – they are made of steel primarily, but there also are other reusable and recyclable materials.”
Worldwide, between 200 and 600 large ships are dismantled every year.
Amid concerns about the human and environmental impact of this industry, the EU is funding a research project aimed to make shipbreaking safer and greener.
It’s called DIVEST (Dismantling of Vessels with Enhanced Safety and Technology) and it looks into every social, technical, economic and environmental aspect of shipbreaking.
Project coordinator Jean-Christophe Saint-Genies spoke of the scheme’s merits:
“What’s unique about our project is the holistic approach to it; the whole integrated approach based on actual studies carried out by the shipbreaking community or even by public bodies. It’s also based on real case studies and analysis done within the industry on different aspects and dimensions of the practice of dismantling,” he said.
Despite international efforts to establish common standards for ship dismantling, current methods and conditions differ significantly from one country to another.
What experts want is a database of reliable information on different practices to help improve the situation. DIVEST’s technical coordinator Selim Alkaner insists on the importance of collecting such information. He said:
“Know your problem first, and observe, and understand, and then start collecting data – measure. If you’re able to measure, you can manage. If you’re not able to measure, you can’t manage. We’re trying to fill that gap by measuring. This is one of the key motivations of that project – collecting quantified data.”
European and Turkish ship dismantling facilities only account for a small fraction of the market.
More than 80% of vessel dismantling takes place in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, where labour is cheap and ship-owners profit is higher. There is little in the way of impermeable floors or heavy machinery to be seen there: ships are broken on sandy beaches, in sometimes
dangerous conditions.
That means high accident rates, health risks and extensive pollution of coastal areas with hazardous materials.
But the industry provides thousands of jobs in poor regions. Besides, manual labour means better sorting: everything valuable is carefully removed from the ship to be reused or recycled, as Shyam R. Asolekar, a Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay explains:
“It is not ship breaking that we are talking about in India. What we are doing is ship recycling. And that is the immediate distinction of the other ways of ship dismantling and the Indian way of ship recycling – that every component possible is recycled and reused, in some form or the other”.
Price is the decisive factor for ship owners: it pays almost ten times more to scrap a vessel in Bangladesh, where safety standards are the lowest, than it costs to do it in Europe.
At regular DIVEST conferences, scientists present their findings to spread the data throughout the industry.
Meanwhile, in Gothenburg in Sweden rests the carcas of “Full City”. The Chinese oil tanker ran aground in storms off the Norwegian coast, badly damaging its hull and polluting the shore with leaked fuel.
Before it sails back to China, the broken metal plates need to be replaced. This gives researchers an opportunity to measure some of the typical risks of ships dismantling.
Swedish scientists Gunnar Rosen and Ing-Marie Andersson have invented a method to study threat exposure levels – such as puffs of toxic fumes released when cutting metal.
A video camera records all the workers’ actions along with data on smoke levels data, collected with wearable sensors.
In Sweden, workers wear breathing masks to protect them from the fumes. But in South Asian countries, smoke inhalation can kill shipbreakers.
Sonny Nilson understands the risks of the craft. He has been working at the Gothenburg shipyard for thirty years and spoke of the dangers:
“You can get burned. You can fall down from a great height – especially in winter when it’s slippery, and, of course, something can hit your head any moment. I think we’ll be the last generation to work here. It’s a dirty and dangerous job – and kids nowadays prefer to work at their computers.”
Careful analysis of workers’ actions might lead to a reduction of exposure to toxic fumes. And that could save lives. South-Asian governments need this data to push their shipbreaking industry to make real improvements in working conditions.
Of all the main ship-dismantling countries, only India has so far developed some infrastructure for hazardous waste management, workers’ training and health care in the last few years.
Bangladesh and Pakistan are lagging behind – but they too are voicing their intention for improvement.
DIVEST participants state that Chinese ship-breakers, in cooperation with the Chinese government, are actively implementing strong worker training and environmental protection measures in adequate bespoke, benchmark facilities.
Source: Euronews
Why China Overtook Korea in Shipbuilding
Korean shipbuilders took up the top 10 spots in the global industry in 2006. Back then, No. 5 STX Shipbuilding sought facility expansion. To emerge as a world class shipyard, it needed more than 3.3 million square meters of land, or far more than the 16,500 square meters the company secured around its shipbuilding site in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, for the past five years. Due to uncooperative landowners and thick layers of regulation, the company instead turned toward Dalian, China, which offered better terms. At the same time, world No. 6 Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction decided to build a new shipbuilding site at Subic Bay in the Philippines in the same year. As a result, more than 100,000 new jobs were created overseas, including those generated by partners of Korean companies.
Korea has lost its title of world shipbuilding leader for the first time in 10 years to China. China controlled 34.7 percent of world ship orders excluding those delivered from the total number of orders, or one percentage point more than Korea. Furthermore, Chinese shipbuilders won 142 contracts, or more than half of global orders, this year. China’s success is largely thanks to its domination of the lower-end vessel market with its large foreign reserves and orders placed with Beijing’s support. Though Korea is ahead of China in high value-added areas such as LNG ships and offshore plants, there is no room for complacency. At this pace, China could soon overtake Korea in the two areas.
China took over the world No. 1 spot largely thanks to the passion and dedication of its leadership, which never forgot to visit plants of large conglomerates whenever they came to Korea. For example, then Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao in 1998 visited the plants of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors and Hyundai Heavy Industries when visiting Korea. He was followed by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People`s Congress, who visited the Pyeongtaek plant of LG Electronics in Gyeonggi Province, and the Ulsan factory of Hyundai Motors in South Gyeongsang Province in 2003. In 2007, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made an unprecedented visit to SK Telecom, leading many experts to speculate that China, dubbed “the world’s factory,” was no longer interested in benchmarking Korea’s manufacturing industry.
While Chinese politicians focused on nurturing their manufacturing sector including electronics, cars and shipbuilding, their Korean counterparts simply indulged in corporate bashing. Regulations forced Korean companies to waste three to five years just to get approval for a plant that took a year to build, but what did Korean politicians do? They strengthened regulations to further stifle corporate activity, such as putting a ceiling on total equity investment and restrictions on investment in the Seoul metropolitan area. These deplorable acts simply reaffirm Korea’s reputation as an impractical country. Unfortunately, this means it could be only a matter of time before China surpasses Korea in cars and electronics, followed by shipbuilding.
Source: Donga
Korea has lost its title of world shipbuilding leader for the first time in 10 years to China. China controlled 34.7 percent of world ship orders excluding those delivered from the total number of orders, or one percentage point more than Korea. Furthermore, Chinese shipbuilders won 142 contracts, or more than half of global orders, this year. China’s success is largely thanks to its domination of the lower-end vessel market with its large foreign reserves and orders placed with Beijing’s support. Though Korea is ahead of China in high value-added areas such as LNG ships and offshore plants, there is no room for complacency. At this pace, China could soon overtake Korea in the two areas.
China took over the world No. 1 spot largely thanks to the passion and dedication of its leadership, which never forgot to visit plants of large conglomerates whenever they came to Korea. For example, then Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao in 1998 visited the plants of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors and Hyundai Heavy Industries when visiting Korea. He was followed by Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People`s Congress, who visited the Pyeongtaek plant of LG Electronics in Gyeonggi Province, and the Ulsan factory of Hyundai Motors in South Gyeongsang Province in 2003. In 2007, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made an unprecedented visit to SK Telecom, leading many experts to speculate that China, dubbed “the world’s factory,” was no longer interested in benchmarking Korea’s manufacturing industry.
While Chinese politicians focused on nurturing their manufacturing sector including electronics, cars and shipbuilding, their Korean counterparts simply indulged in corporate bashing. Regulations forced Korean companies to waste three to five years just to get approval for a plant that took a year to build, but what did Korean politicians do? They strengthened regulations to further stifle corporate activity, such as putting a ceiling on total equity investment and restrictions on investment in the Seoul metropolitan area. These deplorable acts simply reaffirm Korea’s reputation as an impractical country. Unfortunately, this means it could be only a matter of time before China surpasses Korea in cars and electronics, followed by shipbuilding.
Source: Donga
China steel prices climb on rising iron ore costs
Chinese spot steel prices rose 3 percent from two weeks ago and retained the upside momentum of the past five weeks, buoyed by rising iron ore prices and China's solid economic recovery which is boosting consumption. After a brief downward correction in September, steel prices in China have been picking up since early October, with benchmark hot-rolled coil prices quoted in south and east China rising to around 3,602.5 yuan ($528) a tonne on Friday, data from Metal Bulletin showed.
Traders expect that the country's two major steel mills, Baoshan Iron and Steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel , will increase their prices for December sales this week as they aim to pass higher costs on to downstream users.
'Steel prices are rising due to higher iron ore costs and that is the only direct reason,' said analyst Hu Kai at industry consultancy Umetal.
Benchmark Indian iron ore prices are approaching $100 a tonne and are expected to recapture that psychological milestone this week due to sustained Chinese demand and a relative shortage of supply.
High demand for ore was confirmed by several consecutive weekly declines in ore inventories at major Chinese ports, which fell by 2.4 percent last week.
'People are talking about higher iron ore prices for next year, as demand will be boosted globally with the bottoming-out of the economy,' said a Shanghai-based steel dealer.
'So the outlook for steel prices is bullish, too. Prices in the first half of next year could return to the levels of the first half of 2008, before the global economic crisis broke out,' he said.
China's economic growth picked up last quarter, while official domestic media have reported that the country's new bank lending may have hit 300 billion to 400 billion yuan in October, down from the previous month but still relatively strong.
China Construction Bank said in a research note that China's GDP growth would exceed 10 percent in the fourth quarter, with an 8.3 percent rate for all of 2009, while the central bank was unlikely to adopt serious monetary tightening anytime soon.
The upbeat outlook has boosted Chinese steel traders' confidence in rising steel prices.
'The market is supported half by fundamentals and half by liquidity,' said a researcher at a Beijing-based trading house. 'We expect steel prices to rise further in the rest of the year as there are no indications yet of a rapid fall in money supply.'
Source: Reuters
Traders expect that the country's two major steel mills, Baoshan Iron and Steel and Wuhan Iron and Steel , will increase their prices for December sales this week as they aim to pass higher costs on to downstream users.
'Steel prices are rising due to higher iron ore costs and that is the only direct reason,' said analyst Hu Kai at industry consultancy Umetal.
Benchmark Indian iron ore prices are approaching $100 a tonne and are expected to recapture that psychological milestone this week due to sustained Chinese demand and a relative shortage of supply.
High demand for ore was confirmed by several consecutive weekly declines in ore inventories at major Chinese ports, which fell by 2.4 percent last week.
'People are talking about higher iron ore prices for next year, as demand will be boosted globally with the bottoming-out of the economy,' said a Shanghai-based steel dealer.
'So the outlook for steel prices is bullish, too. Prices in the first half of next year could return to the levels of the first half of 2008, before the global economic crisis broke out,' he said.
China's economic growth picked up last quarter, while official domestic media have reported that the country's new bank lending may have hit 300 billion to 400 billion yuan in October, down from the previous month but still relatively strong.
China Construction Bank said in a research note that China's GDP growth would exceed 10 percent in the fourth quarter, with an 8.3 percent rate for all of 2009, while the central bank was unlikely to adopt serious monetary tightening anytime soon.
The upbeat outlook has boosted Chinese steel traders' confidence in rising steel prices.
'The market is supported half by fundamentals and half by liquidity,' said a researcher at a Beijing-based trading house. 'We expect steel prices to rise further in the rest of the year as there are no indications yet of a rapid fall in money supply.'
Source: Reuters
Spot coal price rise likely to give a build-up to 2010 power-coal negotiation
Following China Shenhua Group and Datong Coal Group hoisting spot coal prices in September, a number of major coal producers and sales companies announced at the end of October that they would adjust up spot coal prices by 20 to 30 yuan per ton in November, an anonymous insider revealed.
This time the risen spot coal prices have mainly been led by small and medium coal enterprises, said Tian Jaiwei, coal analyst with Zheshang Securities.
Large coal producers like Shenhua, China's leading coal producer, and Datong Coal Group did take large steps this time. Shenhua already lifted spot coal price twice in September, up by 40 yuan per ton, as Datong Coal Group did.
The tight coal supplies in coastal areas in October coupled with the approaching demand season has led the domestic coal market to generally expect a rise in spot coal prices.
Coincidently, the price adjustment occurs at a moment approaching to power-coal negotiations for 2010, highlighting the intent of coal producers to raise prices.
Li Xuegang, coal expert with Qinhuangdao Coal Trading Center, disclosed that the post-adjustment settlement price for two heating grades of coal were expected to reach around 620 yuan/ton for 5,500 kilocalories/kilogram coal, and up to 540 yuan/ton for 5,000 kilocalories/kilogram one.
It seems that power producers expected the spot price adjustment, evidenced by the trading price rise at the end of October, said Wang Shuai, chief analyst with Orient Securities. As the month came to a close, power producers fervently purchased to rebuild stockpiles, which also sparked a price rise.
Since late October, the settlement coal price at Qinhuangdao Port posted a 10 to 20 yuan/ton increase. At the same time, coal prices at other major ports also showed abnormal fluctuations.
Wang believed that coal enterprises would raise prices before the annual power-coal negotiations in order to gain the upper hand, but it is hard to determine if contract coal prices would rise in 2010.
It is noteworthy that rigid coal demand for heating would no doubt support the upward movement. Although major power plants have relatively abundant coal inventories, most are facing dwindling inventories due to increased consumption.
At present, the coal inventories of five large regional power grid companies, three provincial power grid companies, and eleven provinces meet the required level. Northeast China Grid and Central China Grid may face a temporary supply shortage, however.
Source: Chinamining
This time the risen spot coal prices have mainly been led by small and medium coal enterprises, said Tian Jaiwei, coal analyst with Zheshang Securities.
Large coal producers like Shenhua, China's leading coal producer, and Datong Coal Group did take large steps this time. Shenhua already lifted spot coal price twice in September, up by 40 yuan per ton, as Datong Coal Group did.
The tight coal supplies in coastal areas in October coupled with the approaching demand season has led the domestic coal market to generally expect a rise in spot coal prices.
Coincidently, the price adjustment occurs at a moment approaching to power-coal negotiations for 2010, highlighting the intent of coal producers to raise prices.
Li Xuegang, coal expert with Qinhuangdao Coal Trading Center, disclosed that the post-adjustment settlement price for two heating grades of coal were expected to reach around 620 yuan/ton for 5,500 kilocalories/kilogram coal, and up to 540 yuan/ton for 5,000 kilocalories/kilogram one.
It seems that power producers expected the spot price adjustment, evidenced by the trading price rise at the end of October, said Wang Shuai, chief analyst with Orient Securities. As the month came to a close, power producers fervently purchased to rebuild stockpiles, which also sparked a price rise.
Since late October, the settlement coal price at Qinhuangdao Port posted a 10 to 20 yuan/ton increase. At the same time, coal prices at other major ports also showed abnormal fluctuations.
Wang believed that coal enterprises would raise prices before the annual power-coal negotiations in order to gain the upper hand, but it is hard to determine if contract coal prices would rise in 2010.
It is noteworthy that rigid coal demand for heating would no doubt support the upward movement. Although major power plants have relatively abundant coal inventories, most are facing dwindling inventories due to increased consumption.
At present, the coal inventories of five large regional power grid companies, three provincial power grid companies, and eleven provinces meet the required level. Northeast China Grid and Central China Grid may face a temporary supply shortage, however.
Source: Chinamining
Taiwan's Coal Imports Rise on Higher Power Demand
Taiwan, which imports all of its coal needs, increased purchases by 15 percent in September from a year earlier, as electricity producers raised shipments. Imports reached 5.57 million metric tons, the Bureau of Energy in Taipei said in an e-mailed statement today. Consumption dropped 1.4 percent to 5.3 million tons in September.
Coal, which fires about 45 percent of Taiwan’s power output, is also used in steelmaking. Imports rose after electricity sales at Taiwan Power Co., the island’s monopoly grid operator, increased 4.6 percent in September from a year earlier.
Imports of thermal coal, used in electricity generation, rose 33 percent in September, according to the energy bureau. Purchases of coal used in steelmaking fell 32 percent.
Source: Bloomberg
Coal, which fires about 45 percent of Taiwan’s power output, is also used in steelmaking. Imports rose after electricity sales at Taiwan Power Co., the island’s monopoly grid operator, increased 4.6 percent in September from a year earlier.
Imports of thermal coal, used in electricity generation, rose 33 percent in September, according to the energy bureau. Purchases of coal used in steelmaking fell 32 percent.
Source: Bloomberg
Mine industry faces challenges amid boom prediction
The Queensland Resources Council says there are still big challenges ahead for the mining sector, despite forecasts of another mining boom. Economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel says strong demand for commodities from China and India will see another boom from 2011.
But the resource council's Michael Roche says issues like emissions trading need to be resolved or other nations will be ready to take Australia's export markets.
"Countries like Indonesia and Mozambique and Colombia and Mongolia ... are unlikely to load onto their coal producers the sorts of additional costs that are being proposed by the Australian Government," he said.
"We do have some challenges. The potential is huge but we have to work hard to make sure we take full advantage of that potential."
Source: ABC News
But the resource council's Michael Roche says issues like emissions trading need to be resolved or other nations will be ready to take Australia's export markets.
"Countries like Indonesia and Mozambique and Colombia and Mongolia ... are unlikely to load onto their coal producers the sorts of additional costs that are being proposed by the Australian Government," he said.
"We do have some challenges. The potential is huge but we have to work hard to make sure we take full advantage of that potential."
Source: ABC News
Global economies still rise and fall together
Experts have said for years that emerging markets were breaking free of their lock-step movement with developed markets. But the market crisis changed that view. Although few think that emerging markets are as dependent on developed economies as they were 10 to 15 years ago, these developing economic engines aren't yet strong enough to pull the world — or even themselves in some cases — out of recession on their own.
But contagion goes both ways, and developed economies at least sneeze, if not fall ill themselves, when emerging markets catch a cold.
“The decoupling argument is [based on] a historical view that dictates that the [United States and other] core markets impact the peripheral emerging markets but not the other way around,” said Jerome Booth, head of research and a member of the investment committee at Ashmore Investment Management. The firm had $31 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, mostly in emerging-markets debt.
“The reality is that the periphery impacts the core [markets] in a big way,” Mr. Booth said.
Prior to the economic crisis, the notion that emerging markets perform independently of the G7 economies — led by the United States — had been growing for a while.
Following the subprime-mortgage debacle that emerged in the summer of 2007, some investors still thought that certain emerging markets — with their robust growth and giant reserves — would be cushioned against the painful blows dealt to developed markets.
But the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. dispelled any such wishful thinking.
The Brazil Bovespa stock index fell 40% to hit a record-low within about 40 days, while China's CSI 300 index also plummeted by about 18% also to reach a bottom within two months after Lehman declared bankruptcy. Although Brazil and China began recovering from their lows late last year, both the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index and the Russell 3000 Index didn't turn around from their lows until March, after having fallen 40% and 44%, respectively, from the pre-Lehman levels.
As certain emerging economies in Asia and Latin America have outperformed major economies so far this year, the decoupling argument is again resurfacing.
The Bovespa stock index has returned 53% this year through Sept. 30, compared with just 15% for the Russell 3000. China's CSI 300 index was up by 65%, while the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index gained 71% during the same period.
“There's no doubt that we're seeing a switch in industrial firepower to emerging economies — most notably to China and India but not necessarily limited to those markets — from the more developed markets,” said Anne Richards, the chief investment officer and head of multiasset investment at Aberdeen Asset Management Co. “That trend is not going to change anytime soon.”
Most managers and consultants interviewed said emerging markets would grow more rapidly than developed economies for at least the next five to 10 years, but few bought into the decoupling argument. For the most part, they questioned the whole decoupling-recoupling-decoupling development with skepticism, pointing to China's traditional reliance on exports for gross domestic product growth.
Yet emerging markets also don't necessarily move in tandem with the economies of Europe, Japan or the United States, as seen in the recent rally. Reflecting the outpaced growth, emerging markets do offer more attractive risk-adjusted re-turns, according to managers and consultants.
“Certain emerging markets, especially China, are starting to have a life less dependent on the Western world to maintain their economic growth,” said Peter Preisler, a director and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at T. Rowe Price Group Inc.
“As we saw during the crisis, the financial sectors may be tightly held together on a global basis, but the economies are not so tied,” he said. “There is a certain level of decoupling.”
However, for emerging markets to be truly independent of the developed economies for growth, domestic consumption in those countries must reach a much higher level than it is now, said George Hoguet, a managing director and global investment strategist specializing in emerging markets at State Street Global Advisors.
“It's a multiyear process that will depend on the development of a stronger social safety net, pension system and political structure among other things,” he said. “It's a function of risk aversion among Chinese investors and consumers.”
Source: Investment News
But contagion goes both ways, and developed economies at least sneeze, if not fall ill themselves, when emerging markets catch a cold.
“The decoupling argument is [based on] a historical view that dictates that the [United States and other] core markets impact the peripheral emerging markets but not the other way around,” said Jerome Booth, head of research and a member of the investment committee at Ashmore Investment Management. The firm had $31 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, mostly in emerging-markets debt.
“The reality is that the periphery impacts the core [markets] in a big way,” Mr. Booth said.
Prior to the economic crisis, the notion that emerging markets perform independently of the G7 economies — led by the United States — had been growing for a while.
Following the subprime-mortgage debacle that emerged in the summer of 2007, some investors still thought that certain emerging markets — with their robust growth and giant reserves — would be cushioned against the painful blows dealt to developed markets.
But the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. dispelled any such wishful thinking.
The Brazil Bovespa stock index fell 40% to hit a record-low within about 40 days, while China's CSI 300 index also plummeted by about 18% also to reach a bottom within two months after Lehman declared bankruptcy. Although Brazil and China began recovering from their lows late last year, both the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index and the Russell 3000 Index didn't turn around from their lows until March, after having fallen 40% and 44%, respectively, from the pre-Lehman levels.
As certain emerging economies in Asia and Latin America have outperformed major economies so far this year, the decoupling argument is again resurfacing.
The Bovespa stock index has returned 53% this year through Sept. 30, compared with just 15% for the Russell 3000. China's CSI 300 index was up by 65%, while the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index gained 71% during the same period.
“There's no doubt that we're seeing a switch in industrial firepower to emerging economies — most notably to China and India but not necessarily limited to those markets — from the more developed markets,” said Anne Richards, the chief investment officer and head of multiasset investment at Aberdeen Asset Management Co. “That trend is not going to change anytime soon.”
Most managers and consultants interviewed said emerging markets would grow more rapidly than developed economies for at least the next five to 10 years, but few bought into the decoupling argument. For the most part, they questioned the whole decoupling-recoupling-decoupling development with skepticism, pointing to China's traditional reliance on exports for gross domestic product growth.
Yet emerging markets also don't necessarily move in tandem with the economies of Europe, Japan or the United States, as seen in the recent rally. Reflecting the outpaced growth, emerging markets do offer more attractive risk-adjusted re-turns, according to managers and consultants.
“Certain emerging markets, especially China, are starting to have a life less dependent on the Western world to maintain their economic growth,” said Peter Preisler, a director and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at T. Rowe Price Group Inc.
“As we saw during the crisis, the financial sectors may be tightly held together on a global basis, but the economies are not so tied,” he said. “There is a certain level of decoupling.”
However, for emerging markets to be truly independent of the developed economies for growth, domestic consumption in those countries must reach a much higher level than it is now, said George Hoguet, a managing director and global investment strategist specializing in emerging markets at State Street Global Advisors.
“It's a multiyear process that will depend on the development of a stronger social safety net, pension system and political structure among other things,” he said. “It's a function of risk aversion among Chinese investors and consumers.”
Source: Investment News
