Página 2 de 2

Re: Hablemos de China

Publicado: Jue Jul 09, 2015 12:00 pm
por La Rata
Tayavek escribió:Bueno, parece que este año va a ser el año en el que el mundo termine de frenarse..
economia.elpais.com/economia/2015/07/07 ... 18482.html

Las Bolsas chinas vuelven a caer a pesar del apoyo estatal
Los inversores chinos no han recuperado la confianza en los mercados bursátiles del país a pesar del amplio paquete de medidas lanzado por las autoridades a partir del lunes. Las inyecciones de liquidez y el programa de compra de títulos de las grandes compañías estatales salvaron la primera sesión de la semana, pero este martes el índice general de Shanghái volvió a los números rojos y cedió un 1,3%. En Shenzhen, donde ni siquiera ayer se consiguieron frenar las pérdidas, la Bolsa siguió en caída libre y se dejó un 5,8%.
medio forzado sacar conclusiones de cómo va a cerrar el año en base a.... una semana :D

Re: Hablemos de China

Publicado: Jue Jul 09, 2015 9:17 pm
por Tayavek
No son sólo las bolsas.. se está frenando el consumo de hormigón y acero, y la producción de petróleo. Que se caigan las bolsas y que la inyección del estado no pueda evitarlo es sólo algo lo suficientemente llamativo para ser una noticia, pero de fondo hace casi un año que china no pinta muy bien..

Re: Hablemos de China

Publicado: Jue Sep 10, 2015 9:08 am
por Tayavek
Bueno, no era sólo la bolsa

Desplome de China arrastra a los mercados y confirma desaceleración global
http://www.attac.es/2015/09/08/desplome ... on-global/
El mercado bursátil de China sigue a la baja coronando la mayor caída del índice de referencia desde 2008 y contagiando a las bolsas mundiales de manera escalofriante. Si bien parte de este descenso es el resultado de valores inflados que se hicieron insostenibles, la fuerza de la turbulencia va más allá de unos mercados que quieren poner los precios en orden. La caída simultánea en el precio de los activos bursátiles es el reflejo de que nos dirigimos a una desaceleración global.
Imagen

Un sistema que se encuentra en estado de shock desde hace ocho años y ha sido mantenido a flote en el respiradero artificial del dinero barato. Sin embargo, lo más preocupante es que esta vez no habrá una locomotora de relevo, como planteabamos en 2008 con la teoría del desaclope

Comercio exterior de China se acerca a sus mínimos históricos
http://www.mch.cl/2015/09/09/comercio-e ... istoricos/
Las exportaciones del gigante asiático retrocedieron 5,5% en agosto, comparadas con igual período del 2014, mientras que las importaciones cayeron 13,8%.

El comercio exterior de China, según datos de agosto del gobierno del gigante asiático, está cerca de sus mínimos históricos. Esto, luego de que tanto sus exportaciones como sus importaciones registraran fuertes descensos al cierre del mes, dando así nuevas señales de debilitamiento económico en la segunda economía del mundo.

Las exportaciones cayeron 5,5% en agosto respecto a igual mes del 2014 y se trata de su segundo mes de caídas consecutivas. Sin embargo, el dato es menor a la caída de 6,0% que había pronosticado el mercado. En lo que va del año, los envíos hacia el exterior han caído 13,5% respecto del mismo período de 2014.

Se avecina una recesión mundial 'Made in China', según Citigroup
http://www.eleconomista.es/economia/not ... 4BopJITKsy
Los expertos de Citigroup han alertado en su último análisis de que la desaceleración económica de China puede llevar al mundo a una nueva recesión. En dicho informe, el economista jefe del gigante financiero estadounidense, Willem Buiter, ha asegurado que hay un 55% de posibilidades de que se produzca una recesión global en los dos próximos años.

Según los expertos del banco, sólo existe un 15% de probabilidades de que la nueva crisis alcance el nivel de 'recesión severa'. Esta nueva recesión probaría que la estructura económica a nivel mundial está cambiando, mientras que las últimas crisis han nacido en EEUU está sería una recesión 'Made in China' con ayuda de los países emergentes.

Según los economistas de Citigroup, una de las principales razones de preocupación es el 'bajo' crecimiento de China. El gigante asiático estaría creciendo al 4% interanual frente al objetivo del 7% marcado por el Gobierno. Además, otras economías emergentes como Rusia, Sudáfrica o Brasil ya están en serios problemas, mientras que el comportamiento de las economías desarrolladas está siendo mediocre. El precio de las materias primas, el comercio y la inflación son otra prueba de la desaceleración, mientras que los beneficios de las empresas también se están moderando.
Imagen

China's Communist-Capitalist Ecological Apocalypse
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/3147 ... apocalypse
But China's rise has come at a horrific social and environmental cost. It's difficult to grasp the demonic violence and wanton recklessness of China's profit-driven assault on nature and on the Chinese themselves. Ten years ago, in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine in March 2005, Pan Yue, China's eloquent, young vice-minister of China's State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) told the magazine, "the Chinese miracle will end soon because the environment can no longer keep pace."
Imagen
We are using too many raw materials to sustain [our] growth ... Our raw materials are scarce, we don't have enough land, and our population is constantly growing. Currently there [are] 1.3 billion people living in China, that's twice as many as 50 years ago. In 2020 there will be 1.5 billion ... but desert areas are expanding at the same time; habitable and usable land has been halved over the past 50 years ... Acid rain is falling on one third of Chinese territory, half of the water in our seven largest rivers is completely useless, while one fourth of our citizens do not have access to clean drinking water. One third of the urban population is breathing polluted air, and less than 20 percent of the trash in cities is treated and processed in an environmentally sustainable manner ... Because air and water are polluted, we are losing between 8 and 15 percent of our gross domestic product. And that doesn't include the costs for health ... In Beijing alone, 70 to 80 percent of all deadly cancer cases are related to the environment.
Como dice uno de los artículos, cuando China se frene, no va a haber relevo.. Nos estamos chocando contra las paredes del planeta.. "Te lo contamos allá por el 2012 en el Foro STS" (publicidad para un noticiero)

Re: Hablemos de China

Publicado: Vie Sep 18, 2015 1:59 pm
por p4bl1t0
Lago tóxico en China productos de los desechos de las industrias tecnológicas
In Depth > Gadget > Pollution

The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust

Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech, discovers Tim Maughan.


From where I'm standing, the city-sized Baogang Steel and Rare Earth complex dominates the horizon, its endless cooling towers and chimneys reaching up into grey, washed-out sky. Between it and me, stretching into the distance, lies an artificial lake filled with a black, barely-liquid, toxic sludge.

Dozens of pipes line the shore, churning out a torrent of thick, black, chemical waste from the refineries that surround the lake. The smell of sulphur and the roar of the pipes invades my senses. It feels like hell on Earth.

Welcome to Baotou, the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia. I'm here with a group of architects and designers called the Unknown Fields Division, and this is the final stop on a three-week-long journey up the global supply chain, tracing back the route consumer goods take from China to our shops and homes, via container ships and factories.

You may not have heard of Baotou, but the mines and factories here help to keep our modern lives ticking. It is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of “rare earth” minerals. These elements can be found in everything from magnets in wind turbines and electric car motors, to the electronic guts of smartphones and flatscreen TVs. In 2009 China produced 95% of the world's supply of these elements, and it's estimated that the Bayan Obo mines just north of Baotou contain 70% of the world's reserves. But, as we would discover, at what cost?

Element of success

Rare earth minerals have played a key role in the transformation and explosive growth of China's world-beating economy over the last few decades. It's clear from visiting Baotou that it's had a huge, transformative impact on the city too. As the centre of this 21st Century gold-rush, Baotou feels very much like a frontier town.

Workers in a factory in Shenzhen make MP3 players (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)

Workers in a factory in Shenzhen make MP3 players (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)

In 1950, before rare earth mining started in earnest, the city had a population of 97,000. Today, the population is more than two-and-a-half million. There is only one reason for this huge influx of people - minerals. As a result Baotou often feels stuck somewhere between a brave new world of opportunity presented by the global capitalism that depends on it, and the fading memories of Communism that still line its Soviet era boulevards. Billboards for expensive American brands stand next to revolution-era propaganda murals, as the disinterested faces of Western supermodels gaze down on statues of Chairman Mao. At night, multicoloured lights, glass-dyed by rare earth elements, line the larger roads, turning the city into a scene from the movie Tron, while the smaller side streets are filled with drunk, vomiting refinery workers that spill from bars and barbecue joints.

Even before getting to the toxic lake, the environmental impact the rare earth industry has had on the city is painfully clear. At times it’s impossible to tell where the vast structure of the Baogang refineries complex ends and the city begins. Massive pipes erupt from the ground and run along roadways and sidewalks, arching into the air to cross roads like bridges. The streets here are wide, built to accommodate the constant stream of huge diesel-belching coal trucks that dwarf all other traffic.

A coal mine in Baotou (Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)

A coal mine in Baotou (Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)

After it rains they plough, unstoppable, through roads flooded with water turned black by coal dust. They line up by the sides of the road, queuing to turn into one of Baotou’s many coal-burning power stations that sit unsettlingly close to freshly built apartment towers. Everywhere you look, between the half-completed tower blocks and hastily thrown up multi-storey parking lots, is a forest of flame-tipped refinery towers and endless electricity pylons. The air is filled with a constant, ambient, smell of sulphur. It’s the kind of industrial landscape that America and Europe has largely forgotten – at one time parts of Detroit or Sheffield must have looked and smelled like this.

Quiet plant

One of our first visits in the city is to a processing plant that specialises mainly in producing cerium, one of the most abundant rare earth minerals. Cerium has a huge number of commercial applications, from colouring glass to making catalytic converters. The guide who shows us around the plant explains that they mainly produce cerium oxide, used to polish touchscreens on smartphones and tablets.

Inside a rare earth mineral processing plant (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)

Inside a rare earth mineral processing plant (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)

As we are wandering through the factory’s hangar-like rooms, it’s impossible not to notice that something is missing. Amongst the mazes of pipes, tanks, and centrifuges, there are no people. In fact there’s no activity at all. Apart from our voices, which echo through the huge sheds, the plant is silent. It’s very obviously not operating. When asked, our guide tells us the plant is closed for maintenance – but there’s no sign of that either: no maintenance crews, no cleaning or repairs being done. When pushed further our guide gets suspicious, wonders why we are asking so many questions, and clams up. It’s a behaviour we’ll encounter a lot in Baotou – a refusal to answer questions or stray off a strictly worded script.

As we leave, one of our party who has visited the area before suggests a possible explanation: could local industry be artificially controlling market scarcity of products like cerium oxide, in order to keep rare earth prices high? We can’t know for sure that this was the case the day we visited. Yet it would not be unprecedented: in 2012, for example, the news agency Xinhua reported that China’s largest rare earth producer was suspending operations to prevent price drops.

One of Baotou’s other main exports is neodymium, another rare earth with a variety of applications. Again it is used to dye glass, especially for making lasers, but perhaps its most important use is in making powerful yet lightweight magnets. Neodymium magnets are used in consumer electronics items such as in-ear headphones, cellphone microphones, and computer hard-drives. At the other end of the scale they are a vital component in large equipment that requires powerful magnetic fields, such as wind farm turbines and the motors that power the new generation of electric cars. We’re shown around a neodymium magnet factory by a guide who seems more open than our friend at the cerium plant. We’re even given some magnets to play with. But again, when our questions stray too far from applications and to production and associated environmental costs, the answers are less forthcoming, and pretty soon the visit is over.

(Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)

The refinement of rare earth minerals, like that done in this factory, can cause toxic byproducts (Credit: Kate Davies/Unknown Fields)

The intriguing thing about both neodymium and cerium is that while they’re called rare earth minerals, they're actually fairly common. Neodymium is no rarer than copper or nickel and quite evenly distributed throughout the world’s crust. While China produces 90% of the global market’s neodymium, only 30% of the world’s deposits are located there. Arguably, what makes it, and cerium, scarce enough to be profitable are the hugely hazardous and toxic process needed to extract them from ore and to refine them into usable products. For example, cerium is extracted by crushing mineral mixtures and dissolving them in sulphuric and nitric acid, and this has to be done on a huge industrial scale, resulting in a vast amount of poisonous waste as a byproduct. It could be argued that China’s dominance of the rare earth market is less about geology and far more about the country’s willingness to take an environmental hit that other nations shy away from.

(Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)

(Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)

And there’s no better place to understand China’s true sacrifice than the shores of Baotou toxic lake. Apparently created by damming a river and flooding what was once farm land, the lake is a “tailings pond”: a dumping ground for waste byproducts. It takes just 20 minutes to reach the lake by car from the centre of the city, passing through abandoned countryside dominated by the industrial architecture on the horizon. Earlier reports claim the lake is guarded by the military, but we see no sign. We pass a shack that was presumably a guard hut at one point but it’s abandoned now; whoever was here left in a hurry, leaving their bedding, cooking stove, and instant noodle packets behind when they did.

(Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)

(Credit: Liam Young/Unknown Fields)

We reached the shore, and looked across the lake. I’d seen some photos before I left for Inner Mongolia, but nothing prepared me for the sight. It’s a truly alien environment, dystopian and horrifying. The thought that it is man-made depressed and terrified me, as did the realisation that this was the byproduct not just of the consumer electronics in my pocket, but also green technologies like wind turbines and electric cars that we get so smugly excited about in the West. Unsure of quite how to react, I take photos and shoot video on my cerium polished iPhone.

You can see the lake on Google Maps, and that hints at the scale. Zoom in far enough and you can make out the dozens of pipes that line the shore. Unknown Fields’ Liam Young collected some samples of the waste and took it back to the UK to be tested. “The clay we collected from the toxic lake tested at around three times background radiation,” he later tells me.

Watch the black byproduct of rare earth mining pouring into the lake at Baotao (Credit: Richard John Seymour/Unknown Fields)

Unknown Fields has an unusual plan for the stuff. “We are using this radioactive clay to make a series of ceramic vessels modelled on traditional Ming vases,” Young explains, “each proportioned based on the amount of toxic waste produced by the rare earth minerals used in a particular tech gadget.” The idea is to illustrate the impact our consumer goods have on the environment, even when that environment might be unseen and thousands of miles away.

After seeing the impact of rare earth mining myself, it’s impossible to view the gadgets I use everyday in the same way. As I watched Apple announce their smart watch recently, a thought crossed my mind: once we made watches with minerals mined from the Earth and treated them like precious heirlooms; now we use even rarer minerals and we'll want to update them yearly. Technology companies continually urge us to upgrade; to buy the newest tablet or phone. But I cannot forget that it all begins in a place like Bautou, and a terrible toxic lake that stretches to the horizon.

Share this story on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.

Read the first two instalments in this series, where Tim Maughan and the Unknown Fields group visits the Chinese city of Yiwu, the real home of Christmas and explore the invisible shipping network that keeps the world running
.
This trip was organised and funded by the Unknown Fields Division, a group of architects, academics and designers at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.
Fuente: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2015040 ... e-on-earth