BHP sees major copper demand boost from China’s widening Belt and Road
Beijing's overseas expansion plan covers 115 partners across Eurasia, parts of Africa, Latin American and Oceania
China’s overseas expansion will spread over land that is home to more than half the world’s population, potentially boosting copper use by 1.6-million tons, or roughly 7% of annual demand, major miner BHP said on Thursday. BHP has analysed the effect of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a network of overseas construction projects, on commodity demand on the basis of a database it constantly updates. It said China’s overseas expansion plan covered 115 partners across Eurasia, parts of Africa, Latin American and Oceania, up from 68 countries or regions it cited in a previous blog post in September 2017. Its latest analysis estimated the Belt and Road represented one-third of the global economy and would drive spending of up to $1.3-trillion over the decade to 2023. Vicky Binns, BHP’s vice-president for minerals marketing, told Reuters that if anything the expectation that an extra 1.6-million tons of refined copper would be needed over the same time period was conservative. More than ...
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