China’s commodity imports for the first half of the year go some way to confirming what is already known about the state of the world’s second-biggest economy, and also offer some pointers for the rest of 2015. Although the dynamics vary across the major commodities, there are some clear trends that have emerged in the first six months that point to a loss of economic momentum in China, the world’s largest importer of raw materials. Iron ore offers the best example, showing that not even record low prices are enough to boost demand for the steel-making ingredient. June imports were 74.96 million tonnes, up 5.8 percent from the prior month but only 0.5 percent higher than June last year. First half imports totaled 452.9 million tonnes, a drop of 0.9 percent over […]