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Strategies & Market Trends : Commodities - The Coming Bull Market -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: craig crawford who wrote (198)	6/12/2001 2:02:30 AM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1643

The Asian economic crisis and the Metals industry The economic crisis that began mid-1997 has been one of the region's most serious problems since World War II, putting a stop to years of healthy growth. The downturn did not spare the region's metals industry. Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong were all affected, some more than others. Although recovery began at the end of 1998, the prospect of a full recovery is still highly dependent on external economic developments. With the current slowdown in economic growth in the US and Western Europe, as well as problems in Japan, Asian metals markets are expected to rough the tide in the next few years ahead. "Business activity has slowed on political and economical issues in several major markets here," a Singapore trader said. For example, aluminum demand in the Southeast Asian region has improved since, "but it has not picked up to expectation because the cable and extrusion industry is still relatively weak," another trader said. "Thailand, for example, used to demand 150,000-170,000mt/year of aluminum, but since its cable industry weakened, its demand has lowered to only 100,000-120,000mt/year currently," the trader added. The export markets for Chinese zinc, lead, and nickel were affected by fluctuating LME prices and weakening demand in Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea. "We started selling more term contracts to US and European markets, and reduced spot trade in the region," zinc giant Zhuzhou Smelter said. Platts takes a closer look at the impact of the Asian crisis on the region's metals industry. This feature was written by Mok Yuen Cheng, managing editor Platts metals Asia and Keith Ho, Singapore web editor with contributions from Alvin Yee, Singapore metals editor and Matthew Boyle, Tokyo metals editor. Created: Apr 30 2001