The biggest question facing miners when planning for trade cycles is how flows will be redirected or constrained as a result of discussions between China and the United States, according to the president of marketing and supply at BHP.
Arnoud Balhuizen said that BHP's commodities have been flowing as they always have, and the impact on prices has been relatively muted on a historical basis. How this may change in the longer term remains to be seen and presents opportunities for other participants in the process, he told Fastmarkets MB."We use the expression 'trade war' as if the whole world is involved, but it's a bilateral disagreement between the US and China," he said during a recent interview in London. "Yes, these are two very big economic powers, but they're not the only economic powers, and what we see from our interactions with other stakeholders around the world is that other countries are actually getting closer into their trade discussions.""If China cannot export to the US because it's too expensive, then maybe Japan or Germany can do it. In other words, there may be other opportunities, and those benefits...