Economic impact of quake exaggerated - analyst

21 May 2008 05:43  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Damages on industrial and agricultural outputs have been guided by emotions and the macroeconomic impact might have been exaggerated, an official from CLSA said on Wednesday.

"Given the horrific human toll of last Monday’s earthquake, many assessments of the Sichuan tragedy’s economic impact appears to have been guided by emotions," head of China Energy Research at CLSA added.

The earthquake’s worst impact was felt in fairly remote and lightly populated areas which were not major contributors to China’s industrial or agricultural output, he said.

A majority of the power production in the country has been restored and the impact on oil, gas, metals and agricultural production was limited, compared to the size and scale of the key players’ operations, he added. 

At the cost of increasing their domestic refining losses for the second-quarter, Sinopec and PetroChina have diverted fuel supplies from coastal regions to Sichuan while boosting imports to assist in the rescue efforts

Measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, the quake on 12 May caused more than 40,000 deaths and another 32,000 were missing, according to official figures late on Tuesday. It caused CNY67bn worth of damage to 14,207 industrial enterprises.

To discuss the effect of the Chinese earthquake visit the forum on ICIS connect

By: Brian Myung
65 6780 4359

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