[miningmx.com] — XSTRATA is confident in the medium- and long-term outlook for commodity markets, CEO Mick Davis told an Australian mining conference on Wednesday.
Davis said that recent de-stocking of commodities inventories in China had helped to destabilise metals markets.
“The impact has been exacerbated by the events in Japan in March, recurring concerns about southern European debt and unrest in the Middle East. But despite these short-term influences in commodities markets, we remain confident about the medium- to long-term fundamentals of our industry,” Davis said.
Davis said Xstrata was not opposed to measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but said that there were risks from doing this on a regional basis.
The Australian government is planning to introduce a carbon tax in mid 2012 with government, Greens and independent lawmakers currently working out details, including the starting price and levels of compensation for industry and households.
Davis said “rigorous consultation” was required to hammer out a government polices.
