Glencore seems to be happy with the market that they deal with. KAT is mentioned by the analyst.
* World's biggest commodity trader expects rally to persist
* Sees strong year based on China, India industrialisation
* Oil trading weak in 2010, but improvement seen this year
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - The world's biggest commodities trader, Glencore International, is bullish on the outlook for the asset class, expecting last year's buoyant trends based on growth in emerging nations such as China to persist this year.
Glencore [GLEN.UL], preparing for a possible stock listing,posted a 40 percent jump in 2010 net profit on Thursday, drivenby strong commodity prices, especially metals such as copper.[ID:LDE7220A5]
The privately held group released only a brief financial summary to the public, but its upbeat outlook was included in a full set of results provided to holders of its bonds, an analyst said.
"Their outlook is basically a continuation of the trend we've had this year. The mega-trend for the mining sector is still in place and will continue next year. We'll continue to see recovery in developed markets," said Henri Alexaline, acredit analyst at BNP Paribas.
Take a Look on Glencore [ID:nLDE7201HF]
Some analysts have warned that commodity prices may be overheated and are due for pull-backs, but Glencore expects more overall gains in 2011 based on the huge appetite of China, theworld's biggest consumer of commodities, and other countries needing infrastructure.
"They expect the phasing of industrialisation of emerging countries, such as India and China, will continue, so on thatbasis, they expect another strong year," Alexaline added.The metals and mineral segment was the strongest contributorto profits, Swiss-based Glencore said in its summary, noting"improved market sentiment in important end-user industries suchas automotive and construction".
The price of copper CMCU3, widely used in power and construction, rallied by 30 percent last year and surged tofresh all-time peaks above $10,000 per tonne this year.
The metals segment includes both its trading activities aswell as mining assets such as stakes in Xstrata (XTA.L),Congolese copper and cobalt producer Katanga Mining (KAT.TO) and Century Aluminium (CENX.O).
Glencore's agriculture division also performed strongly following drought in Russia and floods in Australia, butearnings from its energy products unit fell last year.
"Oil commodity marketing was subdued in an unusually stable price environment characterised by surplus refinery capacity anda weak freight market," Glencore said in its financial summary.
The situation should improve in oil trading this year,Alexaline said."One area that has been troublesome has been the energy marketing activities, in particular the oil complex. Butclearly, the increased volatility, the OPEC supply disruption and the curve backwardation seen in recent weeks create opportunities and should help very much trading activity on tha tfront."
(Reporting by Eric Onstad, editing by Jane Baird)