KOBUS VAN DER WATH
FOUNDER AND GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR
THE BEIJING AXIS
Kobus van der Wath is the founder and Group Managing Director of The Beijing Axis, a China-focused international
advisory and procurement firm facilitating Australian and Chinese entities to engage effectively in four principal
areas – commodities, capital, procurement and strategy. Here, Kobus provides an informative summary of the various
factors affecting an increasingly complex Sino-Australian relationship within the context of a slowing global economy.
A fundamental understanding of the Sino-Australian
trade relationship, one of the world’s most significant
bilateral relationships, is crucial for stakeholders
in both economies’ commodities sector. Against the
backdrop of a slowing global economy, market prices
for many industrial metals, including aluminium, nickel
and steel, are declining. Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis
is curtailing consumption, and economic growth in the
US remains anaemic. Meanwhile, China, Australia’s
largest export market and the fastest-growing source
of demand for a range of industrial commodities for
more than a decade, is decelerating. Consequently,
Australia’s once-booming mining sector is also bracing
for a slowdown.
ANEWWORLDORDER
‘
China Steel Integrity’
by Simon Phelps
Shifting Sino-Australian relations
in the resources sector
MINESITE 2012
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