The AFR has a story
here today quoting prominent China bear Andy Xie giving his thoughts about an iron ore bust. In particular, Mr. Xie is quoted as saying "“This view that China will keep growing because China’s per capita stock of steel is still much lower than in the US – this is totally wrong. Chinese people are squeezed together in big cities. So the per capita stock of steel will be much more like Japan than the US."
Well if he is right and China is going down the Japanese route then things aren't really going to look too much different. In fact the whole logic of that statement is flawed.
The fact that Chinese people are squeezed together in big cities is much more bullish for steel, as urban populations living in high rise buildings requires exponential more steel than the suburbs.
To get a better idea of whats going on, your better off listening to a real expert in the area like Graeme Train at Macquarie, who is also quoted in this article but perhaps too little relative to the nonsense comments above.
