MNI China Press Digest Dec 1: PMI, Iron Ore, Real Estate

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Friday:

• China's manufacturers face insufficient market demand according to Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician at the Service Industry Survey Center of the National Bureau of Statistics. Zhao noted 60% of respondents in the PMI survey said demand remained low. Zhang Liqun, analyst at the China Logistics Information Center believed the PMI result showed policymakers still needed to strengthen the momentum of the recovery and the government should use proactive fiscal policies to increase orders and promote investment. (Source: Yicai)
• The Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) will strengthen market supervision and crack down on illegal trading in key products such as iron ore futures, according to a statement on the DCE website. In response to large fluctuations in iron-ore futures, the exchange will continue to watch for violations such as spreading incorrect information and making false hedging transactions. The DCE this year has imposed multiple penalties on illegal traders, including fines and market bans.
• Zheshang Bank, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and others have successively held meetings with major real-estate companies to understand better their financing needs, fueling market expectations of a fresh round of support policies, Yicai.com reported. Authorities have not issued an official "white list" or ordered banks to increase their proportion of real-estate loans, the newspaper said citing an unnamed source from a local branch of a major state-owned bank. However, market discussion has centered on banks being required to match their real-estate loan growth with the industry average, while the growth of lending to private developers, including corporate loans and mortgages, should not fall lower than overall lending growth to the sector.