Missing Recovery Leaves China’s Metals Bears In Charge

(Bloomberg) — The first gathering of the Asian metals community since the pandemic should have been a celebration, fueled by state stimulus and a long-awaited post-Covid rebound for the world’s top commodities consumer. But the resurgence never came.

Merchants, bankers, brokers and fund managers assembled in Hong Kong for the London Metal Exchange’s flagship annual Asian event showed little trace of the ebullience of late 2022, or even of the optimism of early 2023.