Just the facts, ma’am, about the alleged collapse China’s demand for commodities and on what the Chinese are really cutting back.

China isn’t the least bit afraid of strategic stockpiling. Russia also does this on a smaller scale. China has financial and credit problems for sure, problems that somebody will have to eat. But its best option given its challenges is to take advantage of the Kmart-style Blue Light Special on commodities that in due course will be inevitably used. The Chinese State values metals in a warehouse or oil in storage much higher than digital IOUs from bankrupt western powers like the U.S. Strategic stockpiling is completely different from synthetic or speculative activities.

Facts and data prove China’s plan is in action: It imported a near-record amount of commodities in December. Now, prices are even lower.

The Chinese Customs Authority reports 530,000 metric tons of unwrought copper and products were imported in December — an increase of 26% year over year and the second-highest monthly figure on record.

China’s crude imports last month were equivalent to 7.85 million barrels a day, a new record.

Its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) are gearing up to hold around 600 million barrels. It has accumulated about 200 million barrels of crude in its reserve so far, according to the International Energy Agency. The big oil-import raid witnessed in December is about 15 million extra barrels more than basic consumption, minus domestic production. China has plenty of room to store oil and look for it to take Iran’s extra oil and for oil imports to accelerate. 

Numbers are hard to come by in rarer metals, like platinum and palladium, but intuition suggests China is taking everything Russia doesn’t need.

China has a number of ways to stockpile gold, including through the People’s Bank of China, it’s sovereign funds and its banks. It’s obvious, and I’ve detailed on WinterActionables China’s (and Russia’s) aggressive and opportunistic scarf of gold bullion.