MNI China Press Digest Nov 20: Economy, Real Estate, Steel

Highlights from Chinese press reports on Monday:

• The Chinese economy is in a critical period of transformation where the improvement of development quality is more important than the growth rate, said the party-run People’s Daily in a front-page commentary. Despite a lower rate, China’s GDP growth last year was still equivalent to the economic aggregate of a medium-sized country and the added value of “new economy" industries and business models had exceeded CNY20 trillion for the first time in 2022, accounting for 17.36% of GDP. Every one percentage point of GDP growth takes more efforts to meet greater challenges, the newspaper said.
• Financial institutions pledged to meet the reasonable financing needs of real-estate companies of different ownerships and will not hesitate to lend to developers instead of cutting off their loans, during a symposium jointly held by the People’s Bank of China, and other top financial regulatory departments last Friday. Authorities will support private developers to issue bonds and their equity financing through the capital market. Meanwhile, regulators will adhere to the "one company, one policy" approach to resolve the bond default risks of large property developers and ensure stability during concentrated delisting of developers.
• China will need more steel for new industries like automobiles, shipbuilding and home appliances, which will offset the construction downturn, according to Diao Li, director at the China Iron and Steel Industry Association. Speaking at the recent Iron and Steel Technology and Economy Forum, Diao said buyers will demand more hot narrow strip, thick plate, seamless pipe, and large section steel. Tian Zhiling, vice chairman at the China Metal Society noted steel demand from domestic manufacturing and exports will be the main driving forces of steel production going forwards. (Source: 21st Century Herald)