SMM11, March 30-A trade war between the world's two largest economies, China and the United States, could hit stocks and wreak havoc on commodity prices, but not on demand for copper. This is the view of Nelson Pizarro (Nelson Pizarro), chief executive of Chilean Codelco, the world's largest copper producer. 、
Copper is often seen as an economic barometer.
"what we heard from Chinese analysts during our recent visit was very surprising," Pizarro told reporters Thursday in San Diego. "the trade war has not affected the consumption of copper. Even a 25 per cent tax increase in the US would not have much impact on China. Pizarro returned to the city "fears that the Sino-US trade dispute would hurt economic growth and dampen demand, which helped copper prices fall by about 15 per cent this year, although falling inventories and mine shutdowns supported forecasts for the production deficit".
Codelco recently expected copper prices to hover between $2.80 and $2.90 a pound in the coming months and to rise to $3.50 a pound after 2021.
On Thursday, copper was trading at about $2.79 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Pizarro said the Chinese economy "will continue to grow by more than 6 per cent, but this will be an internal process of developing transport, railways and electrification." This will also significantly boost demand for copper.
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