[Ferro-Alloys.com] With the slowdown in China's economic growth claiming headline casualties from sellers of luxury goods to shipping companies, a new report says the debt problems of a less visible victim the Chinese steel trader could impact China's banks.

According to the report, produced by Bernstein Research, the problem began, as do so many financial bubbles with plentiful cash. As in other corners of the commodity world, Chinese steel traders, who can get bank loans pledged against their steel inventory, availed themselves of the easy credit that came from the construction led, stimulus induced boom China enjoyed in the aftermath of the financial crisis.