Got gas? Got coal? Got oil? Got renewables?

What do we learn from the energy supply shock? We learn that the world is still energized and driven by fossil fuel.

In emerging markets, coal is still the main source of electricity (not just China but also India).

And guess what?
Yes, and yes, and yes: THE WINNER IS INDONESIA.

It exports it to China & China is paying higher prices for energy (natural gas, coal, etc).

Best performing currency this month: Indonesian rupiah. Your loss, its gain!

It exports natural gas + palm oil too, both more expensive!
And of course you knew that because I wrote that ASEAN supply shock story a couple months back & that it said: Indonesia is the biggest commodity exporter in Asia, yes, absolute & relative share of exports.

So what? Manufacturers cry over higher costs but Indonesia gains. Right?
China coal import price, off the chart high!!! That means that its energy prices are higher. Yes, that includes electricity as about 70% of electricity in China is derived from coal.

Ok, and it imports from Indonesia so this chart is Indonesia's gain on the flip side. And so?
So we got higher import costs for energy for China (of course it depends on its contracts but frankly undeniable that it is higher). If coal is about 70% of China's source of electricity, then it's hard for it to shift to renewables unless it got massive adjustments. So? Outages!
From Guangdong to the rustbelt in the northeast, we got electricity-rationing measures, impacting output. We also got Delta suppression on going too. This report has a great video on how China generates its energy & the role of coal & renewables.

scmp.com/economy/china-…
Key pts:
Coal is the largest source of energy ~70%)
China produces more CO2 > (US+EU)
To cut emissions, need to lower coal
But China "greener" isn't coal free
"Cleaner" coal plants being built in China
Coal = polluting so China promotes natural gas

Hydro is China's #1 renewable source but dams construction misplaced millions + damaged the environment, causing more flooding etc

Nuclear is growing (has 40 reactors & building dozens)

Got wind & solar but clean energy is wasted due to electric grid projects behind schedule.
China is the biggest renewable energy producer & also the largest COAL producers.

Energy demand is set to rise. How'll it meet this challenge without facing significantly higher costs? Needs to change both the demand & supply side of its energy equation. That's a major challenge

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More from @Trinhnomics

21 Sep
Good morning. I know, I know, many of u have asked me to opine on Evergrande contagion etc. But let's first start with this: Happy Mid Autumn Festival! 🏮 Meaning, eating a lot of moon cakes. That means mainland China is off so if u're waiting for partial bailout, gotta wait🤗
Let's see what has happened & priced. This is month to date (September) that has plenty of news from crackdowns (education, entertainment, property, casinos, tech) to slowdown (retail sales on Delta) & of course the latest is how Evergrande is going down, orderly or disorderly.👈🏻
You can see that at first it was rather contained to just Evergranded and then to high yield and then spreading a bit. But what are markets saying:
* No contagion to systemic (meaning banking sector) as in no Lehman Brothers
* But uncertainty on bailout/scale of it + sector & eco
Read 8 tweets
13 Sep
Good morning! All about inflation again! Dejavu! Okay, why? Well, look at US PPI, off the chart in August at 8.3%YoY on supply-side issues, from raw materials, to intermediates (chips!!!), to logistics, to labor costs.

So what? Well, what's next for CPI & le Fed regarding QE??? Image
Eyes are on US CPI tomorrow - it is expected to rise on a month-on-month basis but decelerate on a YoY to 5.3%YoY.

While CPI may have peaked, don't expect it to fall down to le Fed 2% target anytime soon.

A lot of news about the Fed over the weekend. Mesters wants to taper! Image
If u think I'm being tough on the Fed & apparent disregard for its "data-dependency" and keep saying "temporary" and "transitory" while CPI heads north & GDP higher & asset inflation eroding average Americans' purchasing power, check this:

THEY PROFIT.

reuters.com/business/finan…
Read 4 tweets
9 Sep
Good morning: The Fed says US inequality costs the country nearly USD23trn since 1990.

But guess who is helping push that inequality higher??? Le Fed of course with its zero interest rate policy + quantitative easing (QE) to reduce the costs of risks for capitalists vs labor.👈🏻 Image
Who is fueling asset prices in the US? The Fed. How? By making the cost of taking risks LOW. When that happens, people who have access to cheap credit /capital GAIN at the expense of LABOR as the increase is less than asset price.

So relative wealth WORSENS or inequality rises. Image
Who is responsible for inequality in the US? Well, many many factors. But the one institution that is the ONLY ONE THAT CAN CREATE THE SUPPLY OF MONEY has got to be responsible.

Why? Because the Fed determines the PRICE OF MONEY or the COSTS OF RISKS.

kansascityfed.org/documents/8337… Image
Read 12 tweets
6 Sep
Interesting timing for the ECB as prices already rose rather high & now power prices rising further on higher costs! Rally for gas & coal.

Question: What is Germany #1 source of energy?
It is phasing out nuclear + coal.

Answer: Oil & natural gas. Image
Check this out: Energy consumption in Germany.

Look at solar and wind. Look at how much it increased by? And juxtapose that to the MASSIVE INCREASE OF NATURAL GAS.

It has consumed more natural gas from Russia. That smudge of solar + wind got a lot of press but man it's small. Image
Two things:

When people write about how "green" Germany is, they are not talking about German consumption of energy but SUPPLY. So look at below, that's Germany's production of "green" or <coal & >wind + >solar.

But its CONSUMPTION is more imported fossil fuel - Russian ones!👌🏻 Image
Read 7 tweets
2 Sep
Good morning! You know what makes me really happy??? Really really happy?

OK, a bit nerdy, but I saw my ASEAN supply chain report in the US manufacturing ISM report. Predicted it!

US Manufacturing off the chart but SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES PLENTIFUL, esp CHIPS FROM MALAYSIA 🇲🇾🇺🇸🚗
US ISM manufacturing overnight:

Rose to 59.9 on new orders, production, etc. So it's doing relatively well in comparison to Asia PMI (China was 49.2) but THOSE 2 THINGS ARE LINKED.

Meaning, US doesn't have demand problems but has SUPPLY. ISM could have been even higher!!
US ISM manufacturing is an index made up of sub-indices. And if u look at demand (new orders, new export orders etc), it's UP! ⏫⏫⏫

But the US got supply issues, as u can see by backlog of orders ⏫⏫⏫(negative as DEMAND>SUPPLY) & employment ⏬⏬⏬(negative as DEMAND >SUPPLY)
Read 5 tweets
1 Sep
Good morning! Have u heard? CPI rising in the EUR bloc! Yes! To 3% from 2.2% in July, far above expectations for 2.7% & moving past the ECB’s 2% target. 🔥

Not just food, oil but also industrial goods. Of course we still got negative rates because they want NOMINAL GDP!

Why?
In case u are wondering, this is where we are:

EUR bloc 3% YoY & the USA 5.4%.

Markets ignore this because central bankers are keeping rates low longer no matter what to keep nominal GDP higher to pay off gov debt!

Who pays? U! Through worse purchasing power!
And when I say u, I mean non-asset holders & wage earners because your wage is stagnant.

And by that I mean my generation the millennials and younger.

The older generation is pretty happy. They got higher valuation of real & financial assets 👏🏻!!!
Read 4 tweets

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