The Dragon ready to pounce

Since 1978, China's economy has doubled every eight years. Today, the average Chinese person has some ten times the purchasing power they had just a quarter century ago.

China was the engine room powering the Global boom of the early 21^st century, however there are signs now that the Dragon is catching its breath.

This is however only a temporary blip. For 18 of the past 20 centuries it had the largest economy in the world until the 19^th century and the industrial revolution.

China’s economy in 200111 was worth US4 11.3 trillion and forecast to rise to US4 18.7t trillion by 2016, whereas the US economy is forecast to grow at a slower pace in the same period from US$ 15.1 trillion to US$ 18.3 trillion.

At grass roots level households with an annual disposable income of US$ 10,000 are expected to quadruple from 57m in 2012 to 222m by 2020.

The implications are clear with dramatic impact to be felt on prices across the energy and agri commodity sectors.

At this time, European markets remain crucially important to China but with European economies in a fragile state the implication for Export growth is obvious.