Tag Archives: Chinese economy

morning-coffee

Who Is The World’s Biggest Red Wine Consumer?

Time for a coffee? Better make it a glass of red wine this time because unless you live in China, we’ve all got some catching up to do! The time has come for France and Italy to step aside as China has pipped these famous wine producers to the post to become the world’s biggest consumer of red wine, according to a study by International Wine & Spirit Research.

The survey revealed that Chinese consumers downed 1.865 billion bottles of red wine last year, contributing to a 136 percent rise in consumption over the past five years. The biggest consumers of all types of wine does, however, remain the U.S. As far as red wine goes, the latest data on red wine consumption shows that China has pushed traditional wine-drinking countries France and Italy into second and third place respectively. China consumed 155 million nine-litre cases of red wine in 2013. France consumed 150 million cases and Italy consumed 141 million cases. Consumption of wine and spirits in China, the world’s second biggest economy, has risen sharply in recent years alongside an increasingly affluent consumer society. This reflects a similar situation with the increase in consumable commodities in general as those who follow the markets will be aware.

Apart from the fact that China’s taste for luxury goods is increasing, the Chinese view the colour red as a lucky colour and to some extent this may help explain their preference for red over white wine. The situation has led industry insider,s including Morgan Stanley, to question whether China is actually fueling a global wine shortage. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on those prices. In the meantime, have a glass of red wine on us…cheers!

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BullDown

EU and US Indices Drop in Anticipation of Fed Meeting

The two-day Federal Reserved meeting scheduled for this month begins tomorrow and its advent has driven European and U.S. equity futures down along with silver. A slower-than-anticipated growth in Chinese manufacturing has sent Asian stocks near a three-month low as the yen strengthened.

Euro Stoxx 50 Index futures dropped 0.2 percent while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index contracts slipped 0.4 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6 percent and Japan’s Topix lost 1.3 percent as the yen gained against all 16 of its major trading peers. Gold and silver declined by at least 0.2 percent and natural gas lost 1.4 percent. Only Brent cruse gained 0.4 percent with rebels refusing to open the ports of Libya.

With the U.S. economy and the job market showing signs of improvement and following the bipartisan budget passed by lawmakers, economists foresee a greater possibility that the Fed will start tapering stimulus soon. Today’s reports may show increased manufacturing in both the U.S. and the euro region.

THe market has been anticipating the tapering for a while down and some consider that the Chinese economy will drop its pace even more, reaching more sustainable levels.

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800px-Hong_Kong_Exchange_Trade_Lobby_2007

FOMC Minutes Cause Slide in Asian Stocks

The release of the minutes from the FOMC’s last meeting in late October drove Asian stocks down for a third day in a row and caused the China manufacturing gauge to slip more than expected on speculation that Quantitative Easing will be reduced “in coming months.”

With the prospect of stimulus tapering lessening demand of safe-haven assets, metal prices took a hit with Perseus (AS51) leading the decline of gold miners as it recorded a 10-percent drop. The producer of baby-care products Prince Frog International Holdings Ltd. dove 20 percent in Hong Kong, after it resumed trading following a suspension when a short-seller put the company’s accounting under scrutiny. The Japanese auto-maker Honda Motor Co. rose 3.4 percent as the yen fell, as over 80 percent of its business comes from abroad.

The Asian indices also recorded overall declines with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index falling 0.6 percent to 141.38 as of 2:38 p.m. in Hong Kong as only one of its ten industry drop avoided a slide. At the exclusion of the Japan Index which saw the Topic (TPX) gain 1 percent, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.2 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.4 percent, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong fell 0.9 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.5 percent. China’s factory activity showed signs of decline in November to 50.4 form 50.9 in October in a preliminary gauge by the HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics.

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Iron Burning

Iron Firing Up China’s Expanding Economy

Record iron ore sales to China are unexpectedly seen to extend the bull market as estimators from Morgan Stanley to the World Bank feel encouraged to increase price predictions.

The world’s biggest iron-ore export terminal, Australia’s Port Hedland, has increased shipments to China by 43 percent to record levels last month, port data show. September saw the Asian country importing the largest ever quantities of ors, according to customs data. Standard Bank Group Ltd. and the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics, Australia’s state forecaster, also raised price estimates in the past several weeks.

With data showing Asia’s largest economy accelerating, prices rallied to a two-month high in China last week. Despite higher productions level with Australian producers expanding supply to move into surplus next year for the first time since 2010, no excesses are expected to be stored up until the second half of the year. Iron ore is the biggest source of revenue for Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA and the largest seaborne commodity cargo after crude oil.

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