Waking from a nap at his desk, Xiao, a steel trader from Wuhan in central China, reflects on how, at the end of one of the greatest booms in recent economic history, he is a lucky survivor.

About half of his competitors in this gritty office park, built near the site of China’s first iron works, have gone bust during the country’s three-year-long property crisis. The park itself is overshadowed by the enormous concrete skeleton of an unfinished real estate project.

“The decline was quite severe in the first half of [last] year,” says Xiao, referring to the price of rebar, a steel product used in construction to reinforce concrete. A government pivot towards economic stimulus which began in the autumn has yet to reignite real estate construction, he says. “Demand is still poor.”