Nation needs to import 20m bales of cotton
CHINA, the biggest cotton importer, could buy 20 million bales this year to meet rising demand from the domestic textile industry, sustaining price gains, Olam International Ltd. said. The amount would be a record.
The nation purchased 10.9 million bales in the year ended July 31, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which estimated Nov. 9 that China s imports would rise to 15 million bales. The country imported a record 19.3 million bales in the year ended July 2006, according to USDA data.
Lead consumption growth may slow to 11%
THE country s lead consumption is expected to grow at 11 percent in 2010, down from 16.5 percent last year, as demand from auto production and telecommunications slows, according to Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.
Demand by the world s largest consumer could total 3.69 million tons this year, and was likely to grow at 11 percent again next year to 4.11 million tons, said Antaike analyst Hu Yongda at a conference in Shenzhen on Sunday. China s economic growth is likely to slow down, and the auto industry is unlikely to grow at last year s speed, so both are going to cap the demand gain, Hu said.
China to exceed U.S. by 2020
CHINA will overtake the United States to become the world s largest economy by 2020, according to Standard Chartered Plc.
We believe the world is in a super-cycle of sustained high growth, economists led by Gerard Lyons said in a report published yesterday. China s economy would be twice as large as the United States by 2030 and account for 24 percent of global output, from 9 percent today, Lyons said. India will surpass Japan to be the third-biggest economy in the next decade, according to the report. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates China will overtake the United States by 2027.
China, Argentina in corn export talk
ARGENTINA, the world s second-largest corn exporter, is in talks with China on a sanitary protocol that would allow it to export the grain to China, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The South American country expects to speed up discussions with China next year to become an alternative supplier, it said in a statement Friday. China s Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu held talks with his counterpart Julian Dominguez on Friday in Argentina.
