Thursday, 27 Oct 2011
Reuters reported that South Africa logistics group Transnet has been moving coal to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal at a record rate of 1.6 million tonnes per week with stockpiles at the terminal rising.
Mr Brian Molefe CEO of Transnet said "We've been transporting on a weekly basis of around 1.6 million tonnes what has been exported out of the terminal has been around 1.4 million tonnes. There are stockpiles at RBCT of around 5 million tonnes."
He added that the company was exploring options to transport the coal to alternative ports around RBCT to make sure more shipments go out. He also said the allocation of coal export capacity to emerging coal miners needed to be increased.
Coal producers in South Africa including Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Exxaro, Optimum Coal and Xstrata have been eager to export more coal to meet rising demand from India and China but have been limited by infrastructure bottlenecks.
Recent improvements on the coal line have been paying off, limiting bottlenecks and derailments on the line. However, the rail line capacity is still far below RBCT's of 91 million tonnes per year.
Transnet plans to raise capacity on the rail line to 81 million tonnes by 2015. Last year the logistics group moved 63 million tonnes to RBCT.
(sourced from Reuters)
Showing posts with label record high. Show all posts
Showing posts with label record high. Show all posts
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
China July exports hit record high, surplus swells
By Koh Gui Qing and Zhou Xin
Aug10, 2011
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports hit a record high in July as shipments to Europe and the United States proved surprisingly buoyant, allaying concerns that debt problems abroad may hold back the world's No. 2 economy.
But analysts warned it was too soon to declare that Chinese exports can hold up in coming months as debt worries, sluggish consumer spending and now wildly volatile financial markets plague its two biggest customers.
"Both imports and exports are likely to grow at a slower pace in coming months," said Li Xunlei, an economist at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai. "The global financial market turbulence may lead to a contraction in external demand."
July exports rose 20.4 percent from a year ago, the strongest gain since April and surpassing economists' median forecast for a 17.4 percent rise, data on Wednesday showed.
Imports were roughly in line with expectations, rising 22.9 percent in July from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said. Economists had forecast growth of 22.3 percent.
"China's trade sector is still facing great uncertainties," said Nie Wen, an analyst at Hwabao Trust in Shanghai. "Developed countries are forced to take austerity measures, and emerging markets may tighten (policy) as well to tame inflation."
Indeed, just hours earlier, the U.S. Federal Reserve took the unprecedented step of promising to leave interest rates near zero for at least two more years, painting a gloomy picture for the world's largest economy.
Noting that monetary policy risks are shifting to supporting growth from fighting inflation, China has signaled it may pause its 10-month policy tightening campaign for now.
Wednesday's data suggested sluggishness in the U.S. and European economies has yet to put a big dent in Chinese export growth, as many investors had feared. Instead, robust U.S. and European shipments helped pushed the value of China's monthly exports to a record high of $175.1 billion.
Although annual growth in Chinese exports to the United States in July was marginally weaker than June at 9.5 percent, the total value hit the year's high of $30 billion.
Annual growth of exports to Europe nearly doubled to 22.3 percent, lifting the value of sales to $35.1 billion. Export growth to Japan also picked up sharply.
BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), the world's biggest miner, said on Wednesday it expected weak growth in Europe and the United States to persist for many years as they deal with their debt crises, heightening the reliance on China's fast-growing economy.
PRESSURE ON YUAN TO RISE
Other data this week showed that China's inflation hit three-year highs of 6.5 percent in July, and some officials have said that it has likely peaked.
But underlining the fine balance that Beijing has to tread between managing growth and inflation, July's brisk exports caused China's trade surplus to balloon to $31.5 billion, its widest since January 2009.
That could fuel price pressures at home and more criticism from its trade partners abroad that Beijing is keeping its yuan currency suppressed to sell more exports at their expense, allegations China has always denied.
As part of Beijing's policy to prevent the yuan from rising too quickly, it buys dollars earned from trade revenues. But Beijing injects more than 6 yuan into China's banking system for every dollar it buys, adding to a surfeit of cash that fans inflation.
So even if Beijing is reluctant to tighten policy now, it may need to step aside nonetheless to let the yuan climb more briskly if it wants to keep a lid on prices, analysts said.
"China's monetary policy has been kidnapped by foreign capital inflows," said Zhang Lei, an analyst at Minsheng Securities in Shanghai, referring to the widening trade surplus.
"Yuan appreciation is still one important option."
"CHINA IS OK"
To be sure, all signs suggest that China's economy has taken the steady policy tightening in the past year well in its stride, with its red-hot growth moderating only slightly so far.
Most market watchers continue to predict a soft economic landing, with growth easing to 8-9 percent, rather than a sharp decline.
Many economists agreed that the latest trade data showed China's growth engine is whirring along, with domestic demand solid.
Retail sales climbed 17.2 percent in July from a year earlier, albeit not quite as much as analysts had expected, while car sales rose 6.7 percent, picking up momentum from the previous month.
Imports of raw materials such as copper and iron ore saw strong gains from June, and the recent plunge in global commodity prices is likely to stoke more Chinese buying.
That should comfort investors looking to China to pick up some slack in global demand as other major economies sputter.
And China's relatively low -- albeit rising -- production costs could keep its exports competitive when times are rough, analysts said.
"In the past couple of months, the U.S. economy has been turning down, but China's export growth has held out," said Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's Lu.
"This shows China's economy is okay."
Beijing, which has repeatedly voiced confidence in China's growth in the past year, reiterated the line this week, though it has been clearly rattled by heavy selling in financial markets after the United States lost its top-rated credit rating on Friday.
Premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday that China's economy continues to show good growth momentum. But in a sign Beijing would rather err on the side of caution, he signaled China may soften its strike against inflation.
An official Chinese newspaper also said as much on Wednesday by declaring in a front-page editorial that Beijing would refrain from raising interest rates for now due to the rout in global markets.
However, China top economic planner stressed that inflation dangers remained, including the possibility of a new round of monetary easing in the United States which could fuel fresh price pressures.
Aug10, 2011
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports hit a record high in July as shipments to Europe and the United States proved surprisingly buoyant, allaying concerns that debt problems abroad may hold back the world's No. 2 economy.
But analysts warned it was too soon to declare that Chinese exports can hold up in coming months as debt worries, sluggish consumer spending and now wildly volatile financial markets plague its two biggest customers.
"Both imports and exports are likely to grow at a slower pace in coming months," said Li Xunlei, an economist at Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai. "The global financial market turbulence may lead to a contraction in external demand."
July exports rose 20.4 percent from a year ago, the strongest gain since April and surpassing economists' median forecast for a 17.4 percent rise, data on Wednesday showed.
Imports were roughly in line with expectations, rising 22.9 percent in July from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said. Economists had forecast growth of 22.3 percent.
"China's trade sector is still facing great uncertainties," said Nie Wen, an analyst at Hwabao Trust in Shanghai. "Developed countries are forced to take austerity measures, and emerging markets may tighten (policy) as well to tame inflation."
Indeed, just hours earlier, the U.S. Federal Reserve took the unprecedented step of promising to leave interest rates near zero for at least two more years, painting a gloomy picture for the world's largest economy.
Noting that monetary policy risks are shifting to supporting growth from fighting inflation, China has signaled it may pause its 10-month policy tightening campaign for now.
Wednesday's data suggested sluggishness in the U.S. and European economies has yet to put a big dent in Chinese export growth, as many investors had feared. Instead, robust U.S. and European shipments helped pushed the value of China's monthly exports to a record high of $175.1 billion.
Although annual growth in Chinese exports to the United States in July was marginally weaker than June at 9.5 percent, the total value hit the year's high of $30 billion.
Annual growth of exports to Europe nearly doubled to 22.3 percent, lifting the value of sales to $35.1 billion. Export growth to Japan also picked up sharply.
BHP Billiton (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), the world's biggest miner, said on Wednesday it expected weak growth in Europe and the United States to persist for many years as they deal with their debt crises, heightening the reliance on China's fast-growing economy.
PRESSURE ON YUAN TO RISE
Other data this week showed that China's inflation hit three-year highs of 6.5 percent in July, and some officials have said that it has likely peaked.
But underlining the fine balance that Beijing has to tread between managing growth and inflation, July's brisk exports caused China's trade surplus to balloon to $31.5 billion, its widest since January 2009.
That could fuel price pressures at home and more criticism from its trade partners abroad that Beijing is keeping its yuan currency suppressed to sell more exports at their expense, allegations China has always denied.
As part of Beijing's policy to prevent the yuan from rising too quickly, it buys dollars earned from trade revenues. But Beijing injects more than 6 yuan into China's banking system for every dollar it buys, adding to a surfeit of cash that fans inflation.
So even if Beijing is reluctant to tighten policy now, it may need to step aside nonetheless to let the yuan climb more briskly if it wants to keep a lid on prices, analysts said.
"China's monetary policy has been kidnapped by foreign capital inflows," said Zhang Lei, an analyst at Minsheng Securities in Shanghai, referring to the widening trade surplus.
"Yuan appreciation is still one important option."
"CHINA IS OK"
To be sure, all signs suggest that China's economy has taken the steady policy tightening in the past year well in its stride, with its red-hot growth moderating only slightly so far.
Most market watchers continue to predict a soft economic landing, with growth easing to 8-9 percent, rather than a sharp decline.
Many economists agreed that the latest trade data showed China's growth engine is whirring along, with domestic demand solid.
Retail sales climbed 17.2 percent in July from a year earlier, albeit not quite as much as analysts had expected, while car sales rose 6.7 percent, picking up momentum from the previous month.
Imports of raw materials such as copper and iron ore saw strong gains from June, and the recent plunge in global commodity prices is likely to stoke more Chinese buying.
That should comfort investors looking to China to pick up some slack in global demand as other major economies sputter.
And China's relatively low -- albeit rising -- production costs could keep its exports competitive when times are rough, analysts said.
"In the past couple of months, the U.S. economy has been turning down, but China's export growth has held out," said Bank of America-Merrill Lynch's Lu.
"This shows China's economy is okay."
Beijing, which has repeatedly voiced confidence in China's growth in the past year, reiterated the line this week, though it has been clearly rattled by heavy selling in financial markets after the United States lost its top-rated credit rating on Friday.
Premier Wen Jiabao said on Tuesday that China's economy continues to show good growth momentum. But in a sign Beijing would rather err on the side of caution, he signaled China may soften its strike against inflation.
An official Chinese newspaper also said as much on Wednesday by declaring in a front-page editorial that Beijing would refrain from raising interest rates for now due to the rout in global markets.
However, China top economic planner stressed that inflation dangers remained, including the possibility of a new round of monetary easing in the United States which could fuel fresh price pressures.
Friday, March 11, 2011
China February daily steel output hits record high
Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:14am GMT
* Jan, Feb total output hits 114.18 mln tonnes
* Strong production attributed to small mills
BEIJING, March 11 (Reuters) - China's daily crude steel output rose 0.5 percent from January to a record high of 1.94 million tonnes in the holiday-shortened month of February, with private mills producing with abandon despite demand uncertainty.
China produced a total of 54.31 million tonnes of crude steel in February, up 9.7 percent from the same month last year, according to official data from China's National Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
Many Chinese businesses were shut for a week in February to mark the Lunar New Year holiday. According to Reuters calculations, average daily output in the first two months of 2011 was 16.6 percent higher than in December, when hundreds of small mills were forced to shut down to comply with a state energy saving campaign. "The ramp-up happened pre-Chinese new year and continued until late in the month when prices began to fall," said John Guise, China editor with Steel Business Briefing. "If you look at everybody's attitude and at steel prices just before the Chinese new year holiday, everybody was thinking it's going to get better and it was hard to find a dissenting opinion in the crowd."
Prices on the domestic market have been on the decline after hitting a peak in early February, with the industry blaming long-standing overcapacity problems as well as uncertainties about demand. While the industry is concerned about its prospects in 2011, producers are unlikely to cut output as long as they are still making profits -- however meagre. "You are not seeing large mills making production cuts -- we've heard billet producers who service smaller mills starting to make production cuts but the major steel makers are not and probably will not do so until they stop making a profit," said Guise. Traders are waiting to see whether or not industry leader Baoshan Iron and Steel will reduce its prices for April delivery, with an announcement due soon. The statistics bureau said China produced 63.54 million tonnes of steel products in February, down from 97.84 million tonnes in December. Iron ore output in February reached 72.45 million tonnes, down from 73.79 million tonnes in January and 98.21 million tonnes in December. (Reporting by David Stanway and Ruby Lian, Editing by Tom Miles and Ed Lane, sourced:Thomson Reuters)
* Strong production attributed to small mills
BEIJING, March 11 (Reuters) - China's daily crude steel output rose 0.5 percent from January to a record high of 1.94 million tonnes in the holiday-shortened month of February, with private mills producing with abandon despite demand uncertainty.
China produced a total of 54.31 million tonnes of crude steel in February, up 9.7 percent from the same month last year, according to official data from China's National Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
Many Chinese businesses were shut for a week in February to mark the Lunar New Year holiday. According to Reuters calculations, average daily output in the first two months of 2011 was 16.6 percent higher than in December, when hundreds of small mills were forced to shut down to comply with a state energy saving campaign. "The ramp-up happened pre-Chinese new year and continued until late in the month when prices began to fall," said John Guise, China editor with Steel Business Briefing. "If you look at everybody's attitude and at steel prices just before the Chinese new year holiday, everybody was thinking it's going to get better and it was hard to find a dissenting opinion in the crowd."
Prices on the domestic market have been on the decline after hitting a peak in early February, with the industry blaming long-standing overcapacity problems as well as uncertainties about demand. While the industry is concerned about its prospects in 2011, producers are unlikely to cut output as long as they are still making profits -- however meagre. "You are not seeing large mills making production cuts -- we've heard billet producers who service smaller mills starting to make production cuts but the major steel makers are not and probably will not do so until they stop making a profit," said Guise. Traders are waiting to see whether or not industry leader Baoshan Iron and Steel will reduce its prices for April delivery, with an announcement due soon. The statistics bureau said China produced 63.54 million tonnes of steel products in February, down from 97.84 million tonnes in December. Iron ore output in February reached 72.45 million tonnes, down from 73.79 million tonnes in January and 98.21 million tonnes in December. (Reporting by David Stanway and Ruby Lian, Editing by Tom Miles and Ed Lane, sourced:Thomson Reuters)
Monday, March 7, 2011
China's yuan strengthens to record high of 6.5651 per U.S. dollar
Mon, Mar 07, 2011 09:39:39
BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB), or the yuan, on Monday strengthened to an all-time high of 6.5651 per U.S. dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.
Monday's central parity rate of the RMB against U.S. dollar was 20 basis points lower than the previous record of 6.5671 set on last Friday.
The yuan has appreciated 3.84 percent since June 19 last year when the People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced it would further reform the exchange rate formation mechanism to improve its flexibility.
On China's foreign exchange spot market, the yuan can rise or fall 0.5 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the RMB against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices before the opening of the market for each business day.
Editor: Zhang Xiang, Xinhua
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