Posted on 27/01/2015 in category Non-Ferrous
BIR World Mirror on Non-Ferrous Metals - Issue January 2015
“Add frost to snow”, as the Chinese say
The opening stages of 2015 have not seemed very promising. Owing to the falling oil price and strong US dollar, all non-ferrous values have been trading 10-15% lower than in the closing days of December.
While all of the world’s economists are busy predicting this year’s global growth figure, some expectations are higher than others. We have been facing lower supply and lower demand for quite a number of years already, a period in which the performance of the emerging markets has stunned us all.
Beyond the economic outlook, an increasing number of countries are imposing tighter controls on scrap flows not only across borders in the form of imports and exports, but also domestically. Perhaps the best description of this is to be found in the old Chinese proverb: “Add frost to snow”.
I wish you all a healthy 2015.
by David Chiao
Uni-All Group Ltd (USA)
Interim President of the Non-Ferrous Metals Division
19 January 2015