How demand from China is changing the West

ON EMs

The recent rationing of baby milk sales in UK supermarkets to prevent buyers snapping up supplies and shipping them back to meet surging demand in China neatly underlined the growing significance of consumer spending power in the East.

Whether it is luxury cars, Mulberry handbags or Johnnie Walker whisky, growing demand for consumer goods in China, Russia and the Far East is evidence of the structural shift of global wealth eastwards. Many economists and commentators spent a lot of time last year speculating whether China would have a ‘hard’ or a ‘soft’ landing; in other words, would the Chinese economy slow down gradually from the rapid expansionary rates of the past ten years or would it fall back sharply and thus have a severe negative impact on the rest of the world, particularly on countries which relied on export...