Chinese raw material companies continue on acquisition trail

China stocks up on energy & raw materials while prices are depressed

 China has embarked on an ambitious spending spree in order to help stave off recessionary pressures & attempt to maintain a growth target of  8% in 2009. Following on from its massive $585M stimulus package, announced in early November, news of deals in energy & metals has been flowing over the last week. When the stimulus package was originally announced, we heard this from our friends at RBS :

“Whats important here is just how quickly that money hits the street,” said Ben Simfendorfer, chief China economist for Royal Bank of Scotland, speaking on CNBC

Well it would seem not to have taken too long, as we have news that apart from pulling forward the long anticipated 3G rollout, as reported on MyStockVoice in an earlier post, China is beginning to stockpile oil & gas via imports whilst building an inventory of  aluminium & other metals from domestic producers.

Zhang Guobao, the head of the National Energy Administration, said in remarks published on Monday that China would actively push forward the construction of the second phase of state strategic oil reserves after having largely completed the first phase. China has completed the planning of the second phase of government storage facilities that would be able to hold up to 26.8 million cubic metres of oil, or some 170 million barrels, but has not disclosed whether construction has begun. Nor has the government disclosed if the tank farms set up in four locations in the first phase, with total capacity of some 102 million barrels, have been fully filled.

The world’s second-largest oil user will also take advantage of opportunities resulting from the financial crisis and weak energy market to expand energy cooperation with neighboring countries and major energy producers, Zhang said.

State controlled Sinopec (NYSE – SNP) recently completed the construction of oil storage tanks with a capacity of 3.8 million cubic metres in the coastal province of Zhejiang & has also announced a mutual supply agreement with fellow oil giant CNPC  . Similarly, rival PetroChina (NYSE – PTR) has begun to fill a new facility of 1 million cubic metres in the northwestern Xinjiang region in partnership with Kazakhstani oil firm KazMunay. Zhang also confirmed that China will push forward the construction of the proposed China-Myanmar oil and gas pipelines while also proceeding with the China-Central Asia gas pipes and the second phase of the China-Kazakh oil lines.

Meanwhile, counterparts at the State Reserve Bureau (SRB), have announced that will buy 300,000 tons of aluminum at 12,300 yuan (about $1,750) per ton in January 2009 to push up prices and support producers, as reported by Rednet. China’s aluminium producers, like their competitors worldwide and their peers in other base metals, have been forced to shut down some production to cope with the impact of the global economic crisis, which has crippled demand. 

“Aluminium prices were encouraged on the reserve purchase news,” said analyst Jia Zheng at Southwest Futures. “The decided purchase volume seems to be lower than expected but we are looking forward to more movement by the reserve bureau.”

 

Chinese officials have said they plan to buy up resources and materials to support producers, who are smarting from prices that have fallen below the cost of production, rumours abound that this buy up on aluminium could reach a total of 1 million tons by April 2009. The major recipient for this windfall will be state controlled Chinalco subsidiary Chalco (NYSE – ACH), who is reported to be receiving 50% of the order, whilst the remainder will be shared by seven regional producers.

 On the same day as the SRB announced the procurement plan, Bao Steel Group, China’s top steel maker, raised its February steel prices by 100 yuan/ton to 300 yuan/ton, this is widely believed to be in response to a previous SRB announcement that  another 3 trillion yuan ($400M)would be set aside for railway infrastructure construction projects and post-quake reconstruction efforts, the investments are expected to increase steel demand by 200 million tons in 2009. This could also be potential good news for other steel majors, particularly Mittal Steel (NYSE – MT), which acquired a 37% stake in government owned  Hunan Valin, Mittal  already has a $100 million steel plant under construction in the northeast China port city of Yingkou, Liaoning province.

Update 1 (30/12/08) : Myanmar signs gas deal with SKorea, India, China as reported in The Times of India

Military-run Myanmar has signed a deal with South Korean and Indian companies to pipe natural gas from the energy-rich nation’s offshore fields to China, state media reported Monday.

“The agreement was signed to export natural gas to China from Shwe natural gas project at Block A-1 and A-3 at Rakhine coastal region through pipelines,” the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. The paper gave no other details of the project, but Beijing media reported last month that China was planning to start construction on a gas pipeline to Myanmar in early 2009.