Author : Hester O'Bryan27 June 2023

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) – Copper prices fell on Tuesday as data from top consumer China suggested that its economic recovery is losing momentum, worsening the outlook for metals demand.

China’s April industrial output and retail sales growth undershot forecasts, the latest in a run of weak figures, with property investment and sales weakening and the metals-intensive manufacturing sector shrinking in April.

Copper reached a seven-month high of $9,550.50 a tonne in January on hopes that Chinese demand Buy Online Casino Script would rebound.

However, the sluggish recovery and slowing economic growth elsewhere dragged copper as low as $8,090.50 on Tuesday.At 1623 GMT, it was down 1.9% at $8,114 a tonne.

“I don’t see a collapse from here, but certainly some further downside, maybe 5-10%,” said independent analyst Robin Bhar.

Copper could start to rise again over the summer when global growth reaches it nadir and investors look ahead to recovery, he said.

Signs of weak copper demand are stacking up.

Chinese copper import premiums <SMM-CUYP-CN> are trending lower, suggesting slack appetite for metal held overseas, and the yuan is weakening against the dollar, potentially stifling demand for dollar-priced metals.

Copper inventories are still falling in Chinese exchange warehouses <CU-STX-SGH>, but stocks in the LME system have swelled to 83,825 tonnes, the most since January.<MCUSTX-TOTAL>

Unusually, almost none of that LME copper – a mere 125 tonnes – is earmarked for delivery. Cash copper now trades at close to a $50 a tonne discount to the three-month contract, implying ample supply. <CMCU0-3>

Speculators in U.S.copper futures have taken note, building their most bearish position since last August.

In other metals, LME aluminium was up 0.2% at $2,264.50 a tonne as data showed China’s aluminium output in April rose 0.8% from a year earlier.

Demand for aluminium has slumped, raising the risk of further downside in prices,

a conference heard

on Tuesday.

Zinc fell 1.7% to $2,490 a tonne, nickel slipped 2.6% to $21,070, lead was down 1.2% at $2,047 and tin fell 2% to $24,505.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson Additional reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila Editing by David Goodman)