Why Music, Makeup Are Reasons for Optimism in China

There has been great concern regarding the slowdown of growth in China and its impact on commodity demand and, therefore, commodity prices. Crude oil's price gyrations tend to get the most attention, but China's share of global oil consumption is about 12 percent, which is significant but less than that of the United States.

One could argue that Chinese demand patterns likely have played an even greater part in influencing prices of many other commodities where China holds an even larger share of global consumption. The country's share of global grain consumption was around 22 percent in 2014, and its share of global metal consumption tripled from 13 percent in 2000 to 47 percent in 2014.