Newsbits

FT Mining - Amplats says South Africa sucks.

FT Beyond Brics - Amplats again. Let's see what a 7% cut in worldwide platinum production does to the price, eh? Then we'll apply what we learn to the ever-dwindling output in gold mining.

FT Beyond Brics - yabut if you think South Africa's bad, take a look at Hungary. Seriously, when you combine Putinism with Nazism, the result is a very avoidable country.

BI - the global currency regime change. The recent currency inter-relationship has broken down, and a new one is forming. This sounds like a phase change: what happens when energy flows in a complex system change direction. In this case, it'd mean say goodbye deflationary deleveraging, hello positive growth.

Caijing - China heading into an inflationary 2013-2014. Gary T's "i2k12 i2k13" might finally be upon us. Or at least, people are talking about it now: it might be that the real play will be disappointment at the failure of i2k12 i2k13.

FT Beyond Brics - Sensex tickles 20k. Now, what do Indians do when they have lots of money, again? Buy something? Something kinda goldy-coloured and made of metal? You think? Hm?

Bonddad - Are we in for another year of drought and spiking crop prices? What's that? Commodity inflation you say? I was skeptical of the theory, but was converted by a look at the long-term grains charts. Here's two of them:

FT Beyond Brics - the changing tastes of Chinese graft. Although most statements about the corrupt keleptocrat class in China are funny, just because Chinese are a very silly little people when you give them a taste of power and wealth, this especially stuck out:

[A]ccording to a story in the Ningbo Xiandai Jinbao, a local paper in the eastern port city of Ningbo, government officials are cancelling Chinese New Year celebrations. Ten high end hotels and restaurants said pressure to rein in use of public funds to pay for fancy banquets has hit bookings hard. “The impact is more than a small one. We have seen all our orders canceled,” a manager with Citic Ningbo International Hotel told the paper, while another city hotel which normally rented out all of its luxury private dining rooms for New Year said this year’s bookings had fallen 30 to 40 per cent.