CX Daily: China’s Steel Industry at a Crossroads as Long Winter Looms

Some 33 cities in China are under some sort of lockdown. The country further opens its commodity derivatives market to foreign institutions

China’s current steel production capacity is 1.2 billion tons a year, with annual consumption hovering around 1 billion tons.

Steel /

Cover Story: China’s steel industry at a crossroads as long winter looms

For China’s steel industry, the world’s largest, winter has arrived early, and it is shaping up to be one of the harshest in years as a slowing economy and escalating property market crisis tank demand and evaporate profits.

The real estate sector, which accounts for more than a third of China’s steel consumption, has been squeezed by a liquidity crunch and sliding sales since the end of last year. Meanwhile, more and more homebuyers are joining a mortgage strike to protest stalled construction projects.

Covid-19 /

33 cities in China are under some sort of lockdown

Some 33 cities and 65 million people in China were under some sort of lockdown as of Saturday as the country battles its broadest Covid outbreak since early 2020.

As many as 103 cities across 26 provincial-level regions reported Covid cases Thursday, the most since the early days of the pandemic in 2020, according to public information compiled by Caixin. Nationwide, the country has reported at least 1,000 new cases for 27 straight days, with more than 1,500 local infections detected Sunday, according to the National Health Commission.

Overseas-bound students struggle to leave locked-down Chengdu

Hack /

China accuses the U.S. of hacking a leading aerospace university

China accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of hacking a top public university in aerospace and marine engineering, according to investigation results released by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center Monday.

The investigation found the Office of Tailored Access Operation (TAO), a cyber-warfare intelligence gathering unit of the NSA, used more than 40 NSA-designated cyberattack weapons to steal key network device configuration, management and operation data, and other core technologies data from Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi province.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

Photo: VCG

Derivatives /

China further opens commodity derivatives market to foreign institutions

China made a variety of commodity derivatives including those for gold, copper and soybeans available to qualified foreign institutions, marking a further opening up of the country’s capital markets to overseas investors.

Starting Friday, investors under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program can trade a range of commodity futures and options listed on China’s major derivative exchanges, according to statements published by the bourses the same day.

PMI /

China’s services activity keeps growing, Caixin PMI shows

China’s services activity maintained an expansion in August as the sector continued to benefit from reduced disruptions amid a recovery from an earlier wave of Covid-19, a Caixin-sponsored survey showed Monday.

The Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index, which gives an independent snapshot of operating conditions in services industries such as retailing and travel, edged down to 55 in August from 55.5 the previous month. Readings greater than 50 signal expansion.

The Caixin China General Composite PMI, which covers both the manufacturing and services sectors, declined for the second month in a row to 53 for the month from 54 in July.

License /

China Merchants unit wins financial holding license

The central bank granted a financial holding license to a subsidiary of state-owned China Merchants Group Ltd., the third such license issued since the country tightened oversight of companies that have expanded into multiple financial sectors.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said Friday that it approved China Merchants Finance Investment Holdings Co. Ltd.’s application to operate as a financial holding company, and agreed to allow the company to change its name to China Merchants Financial Holdings Co. Ltd.

Quick hits /

Beijing Stock Exchange to launch its first index

Editorial: Local government overreach is undermining China’s economic recovery

BUSINESS & TECH

Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 23, 2021. Photo: VCG　

Chips /

How new U.S. chip restrictions could hit China’s smart car and cloud firms

New U.S. export restrictions on certain microchips used for machine learning could distrupt China’s development of autonomous driving technology and data centers, market insiders fear.

In an order last week, U.S. officials said chip designers Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. would henceforth need approval from the American government before they can sell their cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese customers.

Vaccines /

In world’s first, CanSino’s inhalable Covid vaccine gets Beijing’s green light

Shares of CanSino Biologics Inc. jumped Monday after China’s top medical regulator approved its inhalable Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use as a booster.

The National Medical Products Administration said CanSino’s vaccine could be used by people on the Chinese mainland who had already been injectedtwice with an inactivated-virus Covid vaccine. Those on the market there include Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd.’s Covilo and Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s CoronaVac.

Livzon Pharmaceutical Covid shot wins China approval

Quick hits /

Chinese stock’s wild run wipes out $19 billion in two days

Buffett’s Berkshire offloads more shares of BYD

Long Read /

Why the Scientific Revolution did not occur in China

GALLERY

A locked-down megacity’s near empty streets