Global asset price turbulence brings challenges, opportunities to China

BEIJING - Turbulence in the global asset price has undoubtedly brought challenges to the Chinese economy and the financial market, but at the same time, also generates a series of favorable factors to the country that should not be ignored.

Since the start of 2016, the international asset market has witnessed a continuous sharp fluctuation, Europe, Japan and United States have seen a stock market "roller coaster," and oil markets are still seeking a bottom in a long-short game.

The price turbulence has surely presented challenges to China, as the world is now closely inter-connected. Meanwhile, one should view the issue from a dialectic perspective, attaching importance to the risks while also paying attention to the positive factors.

Benefits from commodity price fall

The first few days of 2016 saw continued decline of prices of staple commodities on international markets such as crude oil and iron ore, and oil prices even hit a 12-year record low.

The drop in commodity prices caused losses for exporting countries, and some industries in China were also negatively impacted. However, the overall advantages outweighed the disadvantages for China.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, China saved $188 billion last year in foreign trade costs from the import of a basket of 10 staple commodities, including oil, soybeans and natural gas.

This largely cut the production cost for domestic enterprises, improved effectiveness, and benefited companies whose profits were squeezed due to low producer prices.

Analysts noted that the favorable factors have infiltrated deep into the whole economy, holding down and stabilizing prices in various aspects such as residential heating and factory raw materials.

For resource processing companies, lower pricing has allowed them to expand long-term reserves at lower cost. The import volume of crude oil, iron ore, copper concentrate and soybean last year all hit historical records.

In addition, the steep fall of commodity prices helped curb inflation, and provided decision makers with bigger monetary policy space to support economic growth.

There is still room for China to lower interest rates in the future, and the family consumption capacity has been enhanced thanks to low commodity prices, said Louis Kujis, former Senior Economist in the World Bank's China office.

Yuan's charm in currency game

The US Federal Reserve's rate hike at the end of last year highlighted the monetary policy divergence between major global economies,stimulating more frequent cross-border capital transaction.