MNI China Press Digest May 26: Yuan, Commodity, Semiconductors

The following lists highlights from Chinese press reports on Wednesday:

• The yuan may gain past 6.2 on the U.S. dollar in the current round of rally supported by the weakening dollar index and strong domestic economic recovery, the Shanghai Securities News reported citing analysts. The Chinese currency may however continue to fluctuate given the increased internationalization and China's opening up of its financial markets, the newspaper said citing Ming Ming, the deputy research director at CITIC Securities. The yuan may fluctuate between 6.3 to 6.7 against the dollar in 2021, the newspaper said citing Tang Jianwei, chief researcher of Bank of Communications. The onshore yuan rose by nearly 200 basis points against the dollar on Monday, hitting an intraday high of 6.4016, near the strongest in three years.
• China must strictly curb hoarding commodities or speculating in futures while boosting supply to tame surging prices of industrial commodities such as iron ore and coal, said the 21st Century Business Herald in an editorial. Ensuring sufficient coal supply is critical to avoiding power outages as consumption peaks in the summer, the newspaper said. China should also maintain a safety margin with thermal or nuclear power amid its push for carbon neutrality, it said. Green energy supply, easily affected by weather, can be unstable and used by speculators, which can trigger inflation expectation, the newspaper said.
• China should overcome U.S. trade barriers on semiconductors by opening up its market and avoid working "alone behind closed doors," the China Daily said commenting on South Korea's announcement to invest USD39.4 billion in the U.S. as well as Japan and other major economies' stated investments as the global shortage has disrupted supply chains. The U.S. administration is trying to move Asia's assembling and testing capacity to the U.S. soil, and relocate factories away from China to shovel China out of the global semiconductor industry, said the official English-language newspaper. It is absolutely necessary for China to stress its independence in semiconductors and core technologies, while using its strengths as the supplier of final products to try to overcome U.S. trade barriers, the daily said.