Posted on 07 Dec 2023
Comments attributed to China's top economic planner helped give a lift to the prices of the country's four major ferrous commodities on derivatives markets on December 6, reversing the previous day's declines, according to exchange data obtained by Mysteel Global.
At the close of daytime trading on Wednesday, the most popular contracts for iron ore, rebars, metallurgical coke and coking coal had all risen on day, as market players were clearly encouraged by comments made earlier by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top government planner.
Iron ore prices led the rise among the four ferrous futures contracts, with the most-traded iron ore contract for May 2024 delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange increasing by 2.76% on day on Wednesday to close the daytime trading session at Yuan 930/tonne ($129.9/t).
Meanwhile, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-traded rebar contract – also for May 2024 delivery – closed the daily trading session at Yuan 3,953/t, higher by 1.28% from ther settlement price on Tuesday.
The rises were market reaction to comments given to Chinese media on Wednesday morning aimed at reassuring domestic and international money markets that the country's economy remains on course for an upswing recovery.
"We are confident and capable of achieving long-term stable development, continuously bringing new impetus and opportunities to the world through China's accelerated development," said an NDRC spokesperson.
The comments come amid discussions over the economic outlook for the world's second-largest economy, and after China on Tuesday pushed back against a decision by US ratings agency Moody's to cut its credit outlook from stable to negative, state media Global Times reported.
"China will remain the main driver of the world's economic growth (and is) expected to account for a third of global nominal gross domestic product growth in 2023," the official highlighted. A more benign future is envisioned for the Chinese economy, he added.
During this year's first nine months, China's GDP increased by 5.2% on year to Yuan 91.3 trillion, according to data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics, representing a substantial improvement on last year's January-September growth of just 3%, Mysteel Global notes.
Similarly, the International Monetary Fund recently raised its forecasts for China's GDP growth rate to 5.4% for 2023 (from just 5% previously) and 4.6% for 2024 (up from 4.2%), according to its latest "World Economic Outlook".
Source:Mysteel Global
