The Zhitong Finance App learned that Western Cement (02233) rose by more than 6% and rose 6.31% at press time to HK$1.18, with a turnover of HK$11.7 million.
According to the news, since this year, the issuance of special bonds has clearly been slower than last year. The reporter combed through the Special Bond Information Network and found that as of April 23, a total of about 654.4 billion yuan of new local special bonds had been issued, accounting for only 17% of the total amount of new special bonds added throughout the year, far lower than the same period last year. Wang Jianfan, director of the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance, said that on the one hand, previous years increased the scale of issuance at the beginning of the year in response to the impact of special factors such as the impact of the epidemic; on the other hand, it is also related to factors such as local project construction capital requirements, construction conditions during the winter and spring season, and interest rates in the bond market.
Caitong Securities released a research report saying that in recent years, due to the impact of real estate and the lack of immediate changes in supply-side regulation capacity, prices have declined due to the conflict between cement supply and demand. The amount of new special bonds added in the first quarter of 2024 reached 88.9%/62%/27.8% of the amount of early approval issued in the same year, respectively, and the pace of issuance has slowed markedly. In the past few years, the issuance of new special bonds mostly reached 90% of the annual quota around September. Also, considering the upcoming feedback on the results of the early project review, the issuance of special bonds is expected to accelerate in the second quarter. At the same time, with the support of various policies, real estate may usher in marginal improvements to further support cement demand. Cement prices are expected to rise steadily, and corporate profits are also expected to improve, driving sector valuations to recover.