Mining giant sees ‘quite resilient’ economy, good iron and copper demand
TOKYO — China remains a key market for Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining company, even as the nation’s faltering economy and authoritarian regime concerns some Western governments and businesses, Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm told Nikkei Asia.
“There are some challenges in the property sector, but you have to bear in mind that the automotive sector is booming, particularly EV production and the export of EVs,” said Stausholm, who had just come from China to speak at Nikkei’s Global Management Dialogue in Tokyo on Wednesday.
“There is also quite a lot of infrastructure projects in China, so if you take the whole together, the economy is actually quite resilient,” he said on the forum sidelines, noting that he was “not an expert in all parts of the Chinese economy.”
As one indicator, the country’s steel production has risen 4.4% in the past 12 months, he said. This has driven demand for iron ore, a key resource that Rio Tinto leads globally in production, to “very, very good” levels.
For the rest of this article: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Global-Management-Dialogue/Global-Management-Dialogue-2023/Rio-Tinto-CEO-says-China-still-promising-mineral-market-as-EVs-boom