2008年7月18日 星期五
China on brink of electricity shortfall
By Jamil Anderlini and Geoff Dyer in Beijing
Published: July 16 2008 19:40 Last updated: July 16 2008 19:40
China faces its worst power shortage in at least four years as soaring coal prices and government-set electricity tariffs force dozens of small power plants to shut down rather than face mounting losses.
Nearly half of China’s provinces have started to ration electricity as the country enters the peak summer season, facing what analysts describe as its worst coal shortage.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Editorial Comment: Cut oil subsidies - Jun-20
Lex: Chinese fuel demand - Jun-20
Angry scenes at China’s petrol pumps - Jun-20
Chinese oil groups surge after price rises - Jun-20
China increases energy prices - Jun-19
China fuel price rise is no quick fix - Jun-20
Analysts warn that this year’s electricity shortfall could be more severe than in 2004, when the country was affected by its worst power shortage in decades because of soaring demand for power as the economy boomed.
China’s problems mirror those of other Asian countries, where the rising price of fuel and other commodities has had an impact on governments that traditionally subsidise everything from the cooking kerosene used by the poor to the electricity used by industry. Companies in Indonesia, for example, have complained of rolling blackouts and action by the government to force them to shift factory production to weekends.
The emerging power shortages have important implications for both inflation and growth, about which Beijing is to publish fresh figures on Thursday. Second-quarter GDP growth is forecast to have dropped to 10.1 per cent from 10.6 per cent in the first quarter.
Consumer price inflation is expected to have fallen in June to 7.1 per cent from 7.7 per cent in May, but problems in the power sector indicate inflation remains entrenched in the Chinese economy as the result of electricity price controls.
Late last month, the government raised fixed electricity tariffs by about 5 per cent but prices are still 30 per cent lower than the current coal price would imply, BNP Paribas estimates.
Coal prices in China have doubled since the start of the year. Beijing last month imposed price controls on thermal coal bought directly from mines but spot market prices continued to rise.
About 38 per cent of China’s coal supply last year came from small-scale operations. Many of these have since been closed by the government in an attempt to improve safety conditions in the country’s notoriously dangerous mining sector.
In spite of new orders from Beijing to reopen small mines that meet basic safety standards, industry executives say most local officials are reluctant to risk career-ending mine accidents in their jurisdictions.
“Large state-owned power companies have no choice but to keep operating and we have seen strong power generation growth from them so far this year despite the high coal prices,” said Daisy Zhang, an analyst with BNP Paribas in Shanghai. “But smaller power plants have been shutting down because the more they operate, the more [money] they lose.”
Power demand has doubled during the past five years, a trend that most analysts agree is unsustainable since China relies on coal for about 80 per cent of its power generation.
China has been struggling with petrol and diesel shortages as rocketing global oil prices forced small domestic refineries out of business. Large state-owned companies also cut production in an attempt to stem huge losses caused by government-set prices at the pump.
June CPI suggests inflation is moderating, but PPI tells a different story
June CPI suggests inflation is moderating, but PPI tells a different story
PrintShare
Delicious Digg Facebook reddit Technorati
Michael Pettis Jul 17, 2008
As expected, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released a new set of economic numbers today. According to the release, CPI inflation year on year for June was 7.1%, its lowest level since January. It was 7.7% in May, 8.5% in April and 8.3% in March. On a month-on-month basis CPI declined by a little under 0.2% (following a 0.4% decline last month). This is more or less in line with expectations. The information is presented a little differently than it has been in the past, and I cannot back out the food and non-food components. I am hoping some cleverer analyst will be able to do so, but so far I haven’t seen anyone else provide a breakdown.
PPI numbers, also as expected, were much worse. PPI prices rose 8.8% year on year in June, compared to 8.2% in May, 8.1% in April, and 8.0% in March. I have already pointed out many times before that as the CPI numbers become increasingly tainted by price controls, more and more of us are looking at PPI to get a sense of underlying inflationary pressures. I think any sense of relief prompted by the continued decline in CPI inflation will be held in check by the frankly very poor PPI numbers.
On a related topic today’s Financial Times has an interesting article by Jamil Anderlini and Geoff Dyer with the rather worrying title “China on the brink of electricity shortfall.”
China faces its worst power shortage in at least four years as soaring coal prices and government-set electricity tariffs force dozens of small power plants to shut down rather than face mounting losses. Nearly half of China’s provinces have started to ration electricity as the country enters the peak summer season, facing what analysts describe as its worst coal shortage.
Analysts warn that this year’s electricity shortfall could be more severe than in 2004, when the country was affected by its worst power shortage in decades because of soaring demand for power as the economy boomed.
This is part of the problem with the inflation numbers. We are exchanging higher prices for shortages, and although one is as much an indication of inflationary pressure as the other, only the former shows up in the CPI and PPI numbers. These kinds of shortages (and there are many more) are masking very real inflationary pressures, but earlier experience, such as those of the US in the 1970s, suggest that shortages are only a temporary way to mask inflation. I expect price increases will have to occur soon.
None of us really expected this batch of numbers to do much to clarify policy-making, and that is more or less what happened. That won’t stop the lobbying, of course. The Ministry of Commerce and its allies are stepping up the pressure to limit RMB appreciation, even though it is very hard to conclude from the numbers that Chinese exports are suffering because of currency appreciation. In fact export growth is remarkably strong given the slowdown in global demand and the high price of commodities.
I suspect the debate about whether or not to further “tighten” monetary conditions will also rage on. In his article on the data release Dong Zhixi in today’s China Daily put it this way:
These concerns may be part of the reasons why the finance committee of the National People’s Congress, China's parliament, pledged on Wednesday to maintain its tight monetary policy for the rest of the year. However, watchers sensed a softening of words in its description of the fight against inflation. The committee said curbing price pressures would be a "prominent task" in the months ahead, instead of "top priority," phrasing that economic leaders repeated in the early months of 2008.
Analysts believe policy makers are trying to find a balance between inflation and economy growth and are gradually shifting towards preventing a major economic slowdown.
In that context Bloomberg has an interesting article today, although it is a little hard to evaluate its importance. In a piece called “China Regulator Warns Against Further Bank Tightening”, the article says:
China’s banking regulator told policy makers that forcing banks to increase reserves has hurt the industry's ability to repay debt, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The People's Bank of China raised its reserve ratio requirement to a record 17.5 percent last month to rein in loan growth and inflation. The China Banking Regulatory Commission has warned against ordering further increases, the person said, declining to be identified as he isn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
China's push to remove funds from the banking system resulted in the slowest loan growth in more than two years last month. The risk is that more banks will fall below the minimum requirement for short-term financial strength, the person said.
Amid all the economic data, the stock markets continue to be depressed. The SSE Composite drifted more or less steadily downward today, to close at 2685, down 0.78% for the day. So far I haven’t heard too much angry noise coming from investors, perhaps because last week was pretty good (up nearly 8%), but I did read with some dread a report on today’s Bloomberg that says “Pakistan investors stormed out of the Karachi Stock Exchange, smashed windows and cursed regulators after the benchmark index fell for a 15th day, the worst losing streak in at least 18 years.”
Global real GDP growth
IMF raises its forecasts of global growth to 4.1% for 2008 after a better than expected H1 (4.5% in H1, down from 5% in 2007) but lowers it to 3.9% for 2009 as U.S. EU and Japan will have weaker growth in the second half. Growth in developing economies expected to fall to 7% in 2008/09 from 8% in 2007. U.S. growth estimated at 1.3%, Eurozone: previous 2008 estimate of 1.4% revised up to 1.7% upon better than expected Q1 data especially in Germany (+1.5% q/q.) 2009 GDP forecast unchanged at 1.2% (2007 GDP was 2.6%); Japan to grow at 1.5% in 2008; China to grow at 10%
Fitch: pessimistic on outlook for advanced economies despite the fact that GDP growth has held up so far. Revised growth outlook lower, and revised up inflation, unemployment and interest rate estimates. US recession still likely in 2008 as consumer retrenchment takes over from the housing sector as main source of weakness. Expects global growth of 2.6% in 2008 (2.7% in 2009)
OECD: US 0.1% in Q108; 0.0% in Q208. EMU 0.5% in Q108; 0.4% in Q208. Japan 03% in Q108; 0.2% in Q208
ECB: Annual real GDP growth in the Euro area is projected to lie in the range of 1.3% to 2.1% in 2008, and to be between 1.3% and 2.3% in 2009.
Citi: global GDP growth based on PPP weights 3% in 2008 - US to grow 1.3% in 2008. Euro to grow at 1.5%. Emerging markets to grow 6.3%
Mussa: substantial global slowdown, led by a possible recession in the US and trouble in China, is clearly a risk. More likely outcome for 08 is slower global growth, around 4%
MCM Global Investment Management: global growth at 3.6%
Greenspan: "some form" of global recession "is inevitable at some point"
Goldman (not available online): Outside the US, financial conditions have tightened significantly over the last six months. We see downside risk to our 3.7% projection for global growth in 2008. We worry that some assets, such as Chinese stocks, embed too optimistic global growth expectations. Downward adjustment of global growth expectations is a key driver of recent equity market weakness
国民经济继续朝着宏观调控预期方向发展
http://www.sina.com.cn 2008年07月18日 07:59 人民网—人民日报
上半年GDP同比增长10.4%
●全社会固定资产投资68402亿元,同比增长26.3% ●社会消费品零售总额51043亿元,同比增长21.4% ●出口6666亿美元,增长21.9%,回落5.7个百分点
本报北京7月17日电 (记者朱剑红)国家统计局新闻发言人李晓超今天宣布,今年以来,国民经济继续朝着宏观调控的预期方向发展,总体保持了平稳较快运行的态势。初步核算,上半年国内生产总值130619亿元,按可比价格计算,同比增长10.4%,比上年同期回落1.8个百分点。
李晓超还介绍了上半年国民经济各方面情况。
——农业形势总体良好,夏收作物喜获丰收。初步统计,全国夏粮产量达到12041万吨,比上年增产304万吨,增长2.6%,连续第五年增产。
——工业生产增速减缓,企业利润继续增长。上半年全国规模以上工业增加值同比增长16.3%,比上年同期回落2.2个百分点。1—5月份,全国规模以上工业企业实现利润10944亿元,同比增长20.9%,比上年同期回落21.2个百分点。在39个工业大类中,34个行业利润同比增长。实现利润最多的5个行业分别是:石油和天然气开采业、黑色金属冶炼及压延加工业、交通运输设备制造业、化学原料及化学制品制造业、煤炭开采和洗选业。如剔除石油加工炼焦及核燃料加工业和电力、热力的生产和供应业,其他行业实现利润同比增长38.4%,同比加快7.6个百分点。
——固定资产投资稳定较快增长,投资结构有所改善。上半年,全社会固定资产投资68402亿元,同比增长26.3%,比上年同期加快0.4个百分点。其中,城镇固定资产投资58436亿元,增长26.8%,加快0.1个百分点;农村固定资产投资9966亿元,增长23.2%,加快1.7个百分点。在城镇固定资产投资中,三次产业投资分别增长69.5%、26.6%和26.2%,其中,第一产业投资增长同比加快32.0个百分点。分地区看,东、中、西部地区城镇投资分别增长22.4%、35.3%和28.6%,中西部投资增速明显快于东部。
——国内市场销售快速增长,城乡消费同步较快增长。上半年,社会消费品零售总额51043亿元,同比增长21.4%,比上年同期加快6.0个百分点。
——居民消费价格涨幅回落,生产价格涨幅扩大。上半年,居民消费价格总水平上涨7.9%(6月份同比上涨7.1%,比上月回落0.6个百分点,环比下降0.2%),比1—5月份低0.2个百分点。
——出口增速有所回落,外商直接投资快速增长。上半年,进出口总额12342亿美元,同比增长25.7%,比上年同期加快2.4个百分点。其中,出口6666亿美元,增长21.9%,回落5.7个百分点;进口5676亿美元,增长30.6%,加快12.4个百分点。贸易顺差990亿美元,同比减少132亿美元。上半年,实际使用外资金额524亿美元,增长45.6%,比上年同期加快33.4个百分点。6月末,国家外汇储备余额18088亿美元,同比增长35.7%。
——城镇新增就业稳定增加,城乡居民收入继续提高。上半年,全国城镇新增就业人数640万人,完成全年目标任务的64%;下岗失业人员实现再就业282万人,完成全年目标的56%;就业困难人员就业77万人,完成全年目标的77%。上半年,城镇居民人均可支配收入8065元,同比增长14.4%,扣除价格因素,实际增长6.3%;农村居民人均现金收入2528元,增长19.8%,扣除价格因素,实际增长10.3%。
——货币供应量基本稳定,存款余额增加较多。6月末,广义货币(M2)余额44.3万亿元,同比增长17.4%,比去年同期加快0.3个百分点;狭义货币(M1)15.5万亿元,增长14.2%,回落6.7个百分点;流通中现金(M0)30181亿元,增长12.3%,回落2.3个百分点。金融机构各项人民币贷款余额286199亿元,比年初增加24525亿元,同比少增899亿元。各项人民币存款余额438989亿元,比年初增加49649亿元,同比多增15774亿元。上半年,货币净回笼194亿元,同比多回笼2.4亿元。
国家统计局新闻发言人李晓超
⊙本报记者 李雁争
经济放缓迹象显现
17日公布的最新数据显示,上半年国内生产总值(GDP)130619亿元,按可比价格计算,同比增长10.4%,比上年同期回落1.8个百分点。
其中,第一产业增加值11800亿元,增长3.5%,回落0.5个百分点;第二产业增加值67419亿元,增长11.3%,回落2.4个百分点;第三产业增加值51400亿元,增长10.5%,回落1.6个百分点。
数据还显示,二季度GDP增幅为10.1%,明显低于一季度10.6%的增幅。对此,李晓超在当天举行的新闻发布会上说,今年以来经济增速确实出现了回落,这种回落是朝着宏观调控预期方向发展的,未来保持较快增长的动力和活力依然存在。
值得注意的是,在成本上涨压力的影响下,国内工业企业利润已经受到了影响。1-5月份,全国规模以上工业企业实现利润10944亿元,同比增长20.9%,比上年同期回落21.2个百分点。
平安证券宏观经济分析师李虹蓉认为,此前公布的数据已显示,上半年出口对GDP的贡献较小,而社会资金的活跃性已明显降低,大量资金流向储蓄。虽然总体而言,相关数据还算“好看”,但中国经济放缓的迹象已经显现。清华大学中国与世界经济研究中心袁刚明也认为,如果GDP增速继续下降,可能导致大量劳动密集型企业倒闭。
李虹蓉建议,“在货币政策不放松的情况下,财政政策必须有所作为,否则中国经济趋冷的可能性很大。”
货币政策尚无放松迹象
最新数据显示,6月CPI同比上涨7.1%,较5月份回落了0.6个百分点。不过,1-6月CPI总体上仍大幅上扬了7.9%,远高于年初设定的目标值4.8%。
统计数据还显示,6月份PPI同比上涨8.8%,增速高于5月份的8.3%;上半年的整体涨幅达到7.6%,比上年同期高4.8个百分点。
专家认为,从CPI和PPI数据来看,6月CPI增速有了明显回落,表明宏观调控政策的效果有所显现;但是,在国际油价持续飙升的推动下,国内PPI增速呈加速上扬的态势,“成本推动型”的通胀压力有增无减。由此来看,国内通胀压力依然不容乐观。
统计局有关人士认为,下半年物价上涨的翘尾因素将影响居民消费价格上涨1.8个百分点、近期成品油和电价的上调、灾后重建形成对建材的需求,也都可能形成价格上涨的一些新的因素。
李晓超在会上还提到,下阶段要继续保持宏观经济政策的稳定性和连续性,进一步增强宏观调控的预见性、针对性和灵活性。
袁刚明指出,从以上言论来看,下半年政府宏观调控的思路不会改变,信贷政策没有任何放松的迹象。
中国社会科学院金融研究所研究员易宪容表示,作为先导指标,PPI的上涨必然拉动CPI的上扬,因此央行可能不会调整从紧的货币政策。中国社会科学院金融研究所金融市场研究室副主任尹中立也表示,从紧货币政策必须继续实施下去,否则CPI的进一步增长会危及股市和房市。
袁刚明则认为,从紧的货币政策不一定能抑制CPI的上涨趋势。过度的紧缩反而可能导致经济下滑,一旦中国经济出现滞涨,后果将很严重。
四大因素加大我国通胀压力
国家统计局新闻发言人李晓超17日说,关于未来通胀的趋势,总的来看还面临着比较大的压力。
“第一是国际因素”,李晓超说。今年以来,世界各国价格可以说是普遍上涨。近两个月,包括发达国家、发展中国家的CPI都在冲高,有些达到了十多年以来的较高水平。同时,国际初级产品特别是石油和粮食的价格,今年以来增长都在30%以上。
第二,生产价格涨幅继续扩大,对CPI也形成了较大的传导压力。5月份工业品出厂价格上涨了8.2%,6月份涨幅进一步扩大到8.8%。而近期成品油和电价的上调,灾后重建形成对建材的需求,都可能形成价格上涨的一些新因素。
第三,通货膨胀预期还比较强。虽然近两个月随着居民消费价格水平的回落,但在当前国内外特别是国外价格上涨较快的形势下,社会公众容易产生价格继续上涨的预期。
第四,下半年价格上涨的翘尾因素还比较高。据初步测算,下半年价格翘尾因素将影响居民消费价格上涨1.8个百分点。
猪肉价格对CPI影响仍不能忽视
国家统计局新闻发言人李晓超17日说,今年以来我国猪肉价格涨幅出现逐月回落的态势,但仍在高位运行,对居民消费价格总水平(CPI)的影响还不能忽视。
李晓超在上半年国民经济运行情况新闻发布会上说,今年以来随着扶持生猪生产的各项措施的落实,我国生猪存栏和出栏都出现恢复性增长,猪肉价格涨幅也出现逐月回落态势。5月份同比上涨48%,涨幅比上月回落20.3个百分点,6月份同比上涨30.4%,涨幅比上月回落17.6个百分点。从环比上看,近两个月也下降2%。
李晓超表示,虽然猪肉价格出现涨幅回落、环比下降,但目前仍在高位运行,对CPI的影响还不能忽视。
城乡居民收入实际增幅放缓
国家统计局新闻发言人李晓超17日说,上半年我国城镇居民人均可支配收入和农村居民人均现金收入同比分别实际增长了6.3%和10.3%。
国家统计局在上半年国民经济运行情况新闻发布会上发布的数据显示,上半年,我国城镇居民人均可支配收入为8065元,同比增长14.4%,扣除价格因素,实际增长6.3%,实际增速比上年同期回落7.9个百分点。统计显示,上半年我国农村居民人均现金收入为2528元,同比增长19.8%,扣除价格因素,实际增长10.3%,实际增速比上年同期回落3个百分点。
上半年我国城乡居民收入的名义增长率和实际增长率之所以出现较大差距,主要是受同期居民消费价格居于高位的影响。上半年,全国居民消费价格总水平同比上涨7.9%,比去年同期高4.7个百分点。
奥运会对经济总量较大国家影响不明显
北京奥运会日益临近,奥运对中国经济的影响成为热门话题。国家统计局新闻发言人李晓超17日表示,举办奥运会往往对经济会起到积极推动作用,但经济发展主要还是取决于经济基本面。
李晓超在上半年国民经济运行情况新闻发布会上,回答记者关于中国奥运会后是否会遭遇经济萧条时说,从近期举办奥运会的国家来看,可以粗略得出结论,往往举办前经济增速会有所加快,但对经济总量较大国家的经济影响没有那么明显。
他表示,奥运会对于经济总量相对小一些的国家影响比较明显。如1988年举办奥运会的韩国,举办前包括当年经济增长都保持在10%以上。但奥运会对经济总量较大的国家影响没那么明显,如1996年举办奥运会的美国,举办前一年经济增长2.5%,当年增长3.7%,1997年的增长是4.5%。
李晓超表示,中国还处于工业化、城镇化加速阶段,中国经济依然有着巨大的发展空间和良好的发展基础,仍有保持较快增长的动力和活力。
对于当前股市,李晓超在回答记者提问时指出,从世界各国情况看,往往实体经济和股市在短期相关性相对较小。股市下跌可能经济还不一定下跌,经济增长股市有可能出现下跌。但从长期来看,就比较一致。也就是说,长期看,如果经济增长快,股市就肯定往上涨。(综合新华社电)
基金二季报:封基低仓位运作仍难逃亏损
与此同时,创新基金瑞福分级和大成优选均于今日公布二季报。这两只基金分别于去年7月17日和8月1日成立,当前正值其成立一周年之际。从其二季报来看,两创新基金在二季度中均以较低仓位运作。
大成优选在二季度中亏损21.52%,略落后于业绩基准0.25%,其在二季度末的股票仓位为74.42%,其中金融保险占39.02%。基金经理表示,该基金在二季度中整体组合维持稳定,依然采用优选个股的投资策略,与季初相比适度降低了股票仓位。在行业配置方面,维持银行和地产的较高比例配置,降低了交运板块的配置。
在大成优选的前十大重仓股中,金融股占去五席,包括招商银行(22.73,0.77,3.51%,吧)(600036.SH)、中国平安(41.07,1.67,4.24%,吧)(601318.SH)、浦发银行(21.30,0.88,4.31%,吧)(600000.SH)、兴业银行(24.43,0.59,2.47%,吧)(601166.SH)和深发展A(000001.SZ)。
瑞福分级则在二季度中跑赢基准,亏损17.98%,超出基准收益率3.29%,其股票仓位为80.48%。基金经理表示,报告期基金表现强于基准,主要原因是基金在报告期内主动降低了股票仓位,并超配了医药、信息设备、食品饮料、商业零售等相对抗跌的资产。
瑞福分级在行业配置上与大成优选有较大不同,占比最高的是制造业,占31.22%,金融保险业仅占12.52%。招商银行同样是其最大重仓股,不过市值比重仅有5.79%。
对于三季度宏观经济,大成优选基金经理认为,基于目前经济走势和外围市场环境,三季度宏观调控放松的可能性不大,经济步入周期性调整的趋势明确。更为引起市场关注的是石油、煤炭等能源价格的上涨受价格管制的约束并没有充分向下游传递,但管制的负面效益造成价格接轨将成为趋势,新一轮的成本上涨和需求的下滑将可能引起中下游制造业景气程度的不断下降,市场所担心的实体企业利润下滑、基本面变坏将可能成为现实。
藥明生物 (Wuxi Biologics) 國際配售超25倍. Really crazy!!
最新消息: 藥明生物 (Wuxi Biologics) 國際配售超25倍
-
June CPI suggests inflation is moderating, but PPI tells a different story Print Share Delicious Digg Facebook reddit Technorati Michae...
-
在2007年,北京在經濟形勢上作出了三個重大的誤判。 首先是在通貨膨脹走勢上判斷一錯再錯,以為豬肉、糧食價格屬「結構性」問題,很快可以回落。 政策措施出台遲緩,效果不佳,導致民間的通脹預期發生改變。本來靠進口肉類、食品便可以抑制住的一個小毛病,變成了威脅整體經濟的重疾。 ...
-
China on brink of electricity shortfall By Jamil Anderlini and Geoff Dyer in Beijing Published: July 16 2008 19:40 Last updated: July 16 20...