BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) Thursday said it expects sluggish global economic recovery and weaker commodity demand from China now that the company has filled depleted inventories.

"Restocking in China is now essentially complete and we are seeing signs of a pullback in demand as a consequence," Chief Executive Marius Kloppers said at the company's annual general meeting.

Outside of China, the miner is seeing the first signs of restocking among the major economies, which will drive incremental demand in the near term.

"We ... believe it won't be until mid 2010 before we see clean underlying demand that is not masked by inventory effects," Kloppers added.

Company Web site: http://www.bhpbilliton.com

-By Jeffrey Sparshott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)207 842 9347; jeffrey.sparshott@dowjones.com