2024-07-31
8 分钟Hello, it's Alice Su here.
I'm the co-host of Drum Tower, our weekly podcast on China.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Enjoy.
Over the past two decades, China has devoured enormous amounts of raw materials.
Its population has grown bigger and richer, requiring more dairy, grain and meat.
Its giant industries have been ravenous for energy and metals.
In recent years though,
the economy has suffered from political mismanagement and a property crisis.
Chinese officials are adamant that they want to shift away from resource-intensive industries.
Logic dictates that the country's appetite for commodities should be shrinking and shrinking fast.
In reality, the opposite is happening.
Last year,
China's imports of many basic resources broke records and imports of all types of commodities surged by 16% in volume terms.
They are still rising up by 6% in the first five months of this year.
Given the country's economic struggles, that does not reflect growing consumption.
Instead,
China appears to be stockpiling materials at a rapid pace and at a time when commodities are expensive.
Policymakers in Beijing seem to be worried about new geopolitical threats,
not least that a new hawkish American president could try to choke crucial supply routes to China.