Quotable

"Many Chinese steel companies face operational difficulties and obstacles to upgrading while many problems in the industry are closely related to overcapacity."

Li Xinchuang, head of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute. He said China's steel industry is in its toughest year in two decades, with falling prices, weak demand and overcapacity leading to mergers and acquisitions. In the first two months of 2014, large and medium-scale Chinese steel companies ran a total loss of 2.8 billion yuan ($454 million).

"The agreements both Britain and Germany signed with China show that European powers are keen to engage in opportunities arising from the renminbi's internationalization."

Andrew Carmichael, a partner at the London-headquartered law firm Linklaters. The United Kingdom and China signed an agreement on March 31 to work on setting up a clearing and settlement service for renminbi transactions in London, following the signing of a similar agreement between Germany and China on March 28. The two agreements highlight fierce competition between European financial centers to take advantage of the renminbi's internationalization.

"Overall, we can say that the foreign debt risk in China is decreasing."

Guo Song, deputy director of SAFE's capital account management department. China's outstanding short-term foreign debt accounted for 78 percent of total outstanding foreign debt at the end of last year, the State Administrator of Foreign Exchange said. The internationally accepted safety line is 25 percent.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 04/04/2014 page18)