yolowire.com - A growing number of analysts are warning that a decades-long Commodities supercycle might be coming to an end as economic growth in China stalls.
China’s construction and manufacturing sectors have boomed since 2000, and the world’s second-largest economy drove surging demand and prices for iron ore and steel.
China is also the world’s biggest energy consumer and leading importer of crude oil and natural gas, helping to underpin that sector too.
And China is a major importer of agricultural products needed to feed its 1.4 billion citizens, one of the largest populations in the world, helping to drive prices for corn and soybeans.
However, some analysts say that Chinese demand is weakening, leading to a possible end of a commodities Supercycle that has been ongoing for a quarter of a century.
China’s economy continues to slow coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic due to a crisis in the country’s property sector, where developers overbuilt, and declining consumer spending.
Consequently, demand for iron ore, crude oil, and agriculture products is on the decline in China, negatively impacting global prices.
An article in The Financial Times newspaper quotes one analyst as saying that China’s commodities “engine is over” and that prices for many items can be expected to continue falling.
This is not the first time that the commodities supercycle has been declared dead.
The Financial Times has declared the supercycle over multiple times in the past, notably during the 2008 global financial crisis.
And not every analyst agrees this time, with some forecasting a rebound in Chinese demand as the government in Beijing enacts a series of economic stimulus measures in the country.
Another recent article in The Economist magazine says that a new global electricity supercycle is now underway as China pushes ahead with its clean energy transition and ArtificialIntelligence (A.I.) applications takeoff.