Just back from a far east tour of duty meeting steel mills and trading companies. The word on the ground isnt great. Although investment is up over January it mostly going toward state owned enterprises. Steel mills and trading companies on the edge of collapse will be left to their own devises. The consensus seems to be that the west is only getting part of the story.
The chinese not really letting us know how bad things are. Yes they can control gobvernment spending and yes they can try and stall ore imports in order to gain the upper hand in negotiations. One thing they cant control though is export demand. It is so far down due to the realities in USA and Europe that this is the major problem and these are the areas being propped up.
Anyway there is some light at the end of the tunnel. people are expecting a real turnaround by midyear.
