Aluminum Demand Growth Has Beaten GDP Growth - BHP Billiton
October 08 2009 - 4:59AM
Dow Jones News
Aluminum demand growth has benefited disproportionately from
global gross domestic product growth, Jon Dudas, President of BHP
Billiton Aluminium, a division of U.K.-listed miner BHP Billiton
PLC (BHP), said Thursday.
Aluminum saw the strongest demand growth in percentage terms in
the five years to 2008, at about 36%, he said in a presentation on
the company's Web site. Just over two-thirds of this figure came
from China.
This beat steel, which saw demand growth of about 33% in the
period, of which about half was from China.
"Aluminum saw some of the best demand growth rates during the
recent commodities boom," Dudas said. "However, Chinese supply has
been a key influence on the aluminum market."
Dudas said China continues to rely on overseas bauxite and
alumina to meet the needs of its domestic metal industry.
At the same time, China's domestic energy resources, along with
other developing economies, will need to be managed in the coming
years, he said.
Qatar has the highest energy reserves per capita, followed by
Australia and Norway, but Brazil, China and India are among the
lowest, the presentation showed.
China relies mostly on coal.
-By Andrea Hotter, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9413;
andrea.hotter@dowjones.com