BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers said today that market sentiment had improved in the past month and that demand from the Chinese steel sector was surprisingly strong.
Mr Kloppers said demand for commodities was also starting to climb outside of China, with some evidence that restocking in other major economies had commenced, although this was progressing cautiously in the US and Europe.
"Even though market sentiment has improved since I spoke at our London AGM a month ago, we continue to believe that we will come out of this recession less strongly than in previous recessions," he told shareholders at the miner's Australian annual meeting.
Click here for more on BHP Billiton's expectations for global growth.
