Top 3 mining firms still banking on China demand despite cloudy outlook

Melbourne

AFTER spending US$1 trillion since 2002 on projects to feed China's commodity boom, the world's mining companies have a lot riding on their biggest customer.

While commodities may be trading at five-year lows, the heads of three top miners BHP Billiton Ltd, Vale SA and Rio Tinto Group last week all backed China, the world's second-biggest economy, to keep buying increasing amounts of their products deep into the next decade. Not everyone agrees.

"The commodity guys are just too optimistic," Tao Dong, chief regional economist for Asia excluding Japan at Credit Suisse Group AG in Hong Kong, said.

As China moves to a consumer-led from an investment-led economy, ther…