Economics
China Can Handle the Trade War Just Fine, Copper Giant Says
- KGHM President Chludziński sees ‘positive’ consumption in 2019
- Beijing has ‘good ideas, solutions to come away unscathed’
Red hot molten copper at the KHGM Polska Miedz SA copper smelting plant in Glogow, Poland.
Photographer: Bartek Sadowski/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Global copper consumption is set to expand next year even as the U.S.-China trade war rumbles on, according to a major European miner, which expects usage to be underpinned by shifts in the mainland economy and the government’s plans to develop infrastructure across Asia.
“Demand for copper shall be positive next year and in the coming years,” Marcin Chludziński, head of KGHM Polska Miedz SA, said in an email. “The trade conflict may affect demand to some extent, but on the other hand China is changing its growth model and starting to accelerate internal consumption in order to rely less on exports and more on its domestic market.”