China struggles to deal with momentum loss

<p>Kia ora, </p><p>Welcome to Monday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect New Zealand.</p><p>I'm David Chaston and this is the International edition from Interest.co.nz.</p><p>Today we lead with news China is struggling to adjust to its slowing economic momentum.</p><p>In China, prices for <a href="http://www.dce.com.cn/DCE/Products/Industrial/Iron%20Ore/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>iron ore</strong></a> rose again on Friday, reversing the recent downward trend. And <a href="http://www.dce.com.cn/DCE/Products/Industrial/Coking%20Coal/index.html" target="_blank"><strong>coal</strong></a> prices stayed at their very high level. <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/aluminum" target="_blank"><strong>Aluminium prices</strong></a> are now at their highest in ten years.</p><p>And the growth of profits generated by China’s industrial companies <a href="http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/202108/t20210827_1821180.html" target="_blank"><strong>slowed</strong></a> for the fifth straight month in July, adding signs that the post-pandemic recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy is losing momentum.</p><p>But it going to get harder to really know what is going on in China. Beijing is moving to <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kBKRMCFDxSoRfv33VGtzOg" target="_blank"><strong>crack down on any media</strong></a>, formal or social, that it thinks is bad-mouthing the performance of its economy. Clearly Beijing is unnerved by the reporting of the loss of momentum in economic drivers there. Only rah-rah reporting from inside China now. And there's <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/b24421e7-d7d1-4b29-8679-7be0a7512eb6" target="_blank"><strong>this</strong></a>.</p><p>And China’s policy makers are acknowledging they have <a href="http://m.news.cn/2021-08/26/c_1127797077.htm" target="_blank"><strong>a land-use problem</strong></a>. They are concerned about <a href="http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202108/27/t20210827_36851174.shtml" target="_blank"><strong>the loss of arabl