Of all the Chinese economic statistics released last week, one in particular signalled that the world’s second-largest economy may have passed through the worst of its recent slowdown: in March alone, China produced 180m tons of cement.
This was a 22 per cent increase over March 2018, and twice the amount produced by the US in the whole of last year.
The figures were an indication of what powered China’s stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance— rapid growth in real estate and fixed-asset investment and a striking rise in industrial output, up 8.5 per cent year on year in March compared with growth of just 5.3 per cent in January and February.