Foreign companies bet on China's consumers

Starbucks said its growth in China was without the country having adopted the "morning ritual" of drinking coffee, but it said it was confident China would potentially offer significant additional long-term growth.

Yet some Western trends currently being echoed in China present challenges for companies. As in the United States and Europe, Chinese shoppers are increasingly eschewing hypermarkets. This has hit French supermarket chain Carrefour and companies like chocolate maker Hershey, which mostly sell in large shops.

In response, Carrefour is opening convenience stores and Hershey is refocusing on distributing through such stores.

And even in industry there are bright spots despite the slowdown.

"In China, we're starting to see the aluminum dynamic improving," William Oplinger, CFO of US aluminum producer Alcoa, said on a Jan 11 earnings call.

"We see that fundamentals are solid ... We continue to expect 6 percent growth in aluminum. Demand is on track to double between 2010 and 2020."