Recent content by SirHenry

Chinese exports dived by about 20% in 2009 so China is using it's foreign reserves to pump prime the economy. This strategy is similar to the spending policies of the Fed and European Central Banks except the Chinese don't have to borrow any money until their reserves run out. The problem for...

Personally I don't think there will be much of a economic recovery in the western world. Growth will be flat or negative which means the Chinese will have to rely on internal consumption and/or economic stimuli to generate growth. So the question is whether that growth will be 5% or 8%? What...

The Chinese economic growth rate in 2009 was 8.7 percent. What would it have been without the economic stimulus? How long can China keep pump priming it's economy to maintain an 8% growth rate if export markets remain weak?

How fast can mining companies downsize? I would imagine pretty quickly as most employees are temporary contract workers, exploration projects can be cancelled and mines can be mothballed. Is this a reasonable assessment?

Re: China - commodity stockpiling. Bloomberg says Chinese copper imports will halve. http://www.forexhound.com/article/Stocks/Stocks/BloombergChina_Copper_Imports_to_Halve/182894

Re: Beijing Commercial Property - 50% vacancy rate. Also read that 70% of the steel produced in China is used for construction. 70% of the steel produced in Japan is used for manufacturing. What kind of impact would a severe down turn in the Chinese property have on the demand for Australian...

Looks like a large amount of the Chinese stimulus was spend on excess commercial property. Crash or no crash? Beijing Seen Vacant for 50% as Chanos Predicts Crash http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a6i2PSZD.Jr4&pos=13

Some market commentators have suggested that China has been stockpiling commodities. If that is true then do we know the size of the stockpiles? How long would they last at current rates of consumption? Six months? One year? Two years?