Global commodities under pressure as China’s growth engine slows

Moody’s Talks – Behind the Bonds

The commodities sector isn’t looking rosy and that is largely due to the outsize influence of China, which is currently in the grip of an economic slowdown. These pressures come on top of geopolitical damage to trade and supply chains, and the energy transition which is increasing global appetite for some commodities and eroding it for others. Our analysts look in particular at the fortunes of steel and commodity chemicals – both of which are seeing plunging demand from China.

Later in the episode (at 12.49 mins) we also look more closely at gold. Investors are riding record highs for this very particular commodity, a traditional investment ‘safe haven’ whose idiosyncratic behaviour sometimes ignores the normal rules.

Guests: Hui Ting Sim, Associate Vice President – Corporate Finance Group, Moody’s Ratings; Mike Zhu, Vice President – Senior Analyst – Corporate Finance Group, Moody’s Ratings; Jamie Koutsoukis, Vice President – Senior Analyst – Corporate Finance Group, Moody’s Ratings

Host: Jeff Pruzan, Vice President – Senior Research Writer, Moody’s Ratings

To read more on this topic, visit the Macro Views page on Moodys.com (some content only available to registered users or subscribers).