China Industrial Metals Demand Monitor (Jul.)

This is a new monthly publication in which we assess the strength of demand in the world’s largest consumer of metals. We are also introducing our Capital Economics Steel Demand Proxy, to help inform how prices relate to their fundamentals. This publication compliments our new China Industrial Metals Output Monitor, which focuses on production. Chinese industrial production figures for July show that industrial activity held up well, which chimes with survey data on manufacturing. What’s more, the sectoral breakdown reveals that parts of industry key to metals demand continued to strengthen last month. However, weak investment data do not bode well for China’s metal consumption further down the line.