* Itochu to continue to bet heavily on commodities
* Says sees signs of recession easing from its China ops
By Yuko Inoue
TOKYO, March 26 (Reuters) - Japanese trading company Itochu will continue to bet heavily on commodities, its chief said on Thursday, as its bigger rivals signal a shift in their investment strategy away from commodities.
President and Chief Executive Eizo Kobayashi said Itochu plans to allocate 33 percent to 40 percent of its investment budget to natural resources in the fiscal 2009/10 and 2010/11 years, unchanged from the previous two years, he said.
Kobayashi said Itochu, which has a two-year budget and business strategy, had not yet decided the size of its budget for the upcoming fiscal years, although it would focus on the United States, China and other Asian countries.
The company's budget for the 2007/08 to 2008/09 period was 400 billion yen ($4.08 billion).
About half of Itochu's profit comes from its stakes in iron ore, oil and other resources assets in Australia and elsewhere.
Itochu's bigger rivals, Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co, are signalling a shift in their investment strategy away from resources after a plunge in oil and metal prices hit their earnings.
Meanwhile, Kobayashi also said the worst of the recession may be over, citing growing sales of chemicals and some consumer products in China and encouraging U.S. economic data.
"We are still in the dark, but have a feeling that the six months period to March could be the bottom," he said.
Like its rivals, Itochu, Japan's fourth-biggest trading house, has been hit hard by a plunge in oil and metal prices and a downturn of the global economy.
Itochu last month slashed its net profit outlook for the year to March 31 to 180 billion yen ($1.8 billion), down 17 percent from a year earlier, from its original estimate of 240 billion yen. (Reporting by Yuko Inoue; Editing by Andrew Macdonald) ($1=97.74 Yen)