London/Singapore - Copper fell to its lowest in nearly 10 months on Monday after disappointing data from top consumer China and weak US data last week increased worries about a global growth slowdown.
China's economic recovery unexpectedly stumbled in the first three months of 2013 as the annual rate of growth eased back to 7.7 percent from the 7.9 percent pace set in the final quarter of last year, official data showed on Monday.
Industrial output in March also undershot expectations and added to investor sensitivity after a negative reading of US consumer sentiment, soft retail sales and rekindled worries about sovereign debt in the euro zone late last week.
Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell to $7,260 a tonne at 11:25 SA time, its lowest since June 22, 2012.
The metal is now down 8 percent for the year.
LME nickel and aluminium fell to their lowest in more than seven months, lead and zinc to their lowest in five months and tin to a six-month low.
“The Chinese market is being kept up by credit invested in state-owned enterprises, though even that wasn't enough to keep GDP on track to where the market expected it to be in Q1,” said Tom Kendall, an analyst at Credit Suisse.
“We have a Q4 average of $7,000 a tonne for copper, because essentially demand is growing sluggishly and supply is rising.”
Slowing factory output and investment spending in China has led analysts to start slashing full-year growth forecasts for the world's second-largest economy, despite official insistence that the outlook was favourable.
“Citi expects 2013 to be the year in which the death bells ring for the commodity supercycle after its duly noted sunset, ushering in a new decade of opportunities based on how individual commodities will perform against one another and against broader market indicators,” said the bank in a note.
China consumes about 40 percent of the world's copper.
In the United States meanwhile, retail sales contracted in March for the second time in three months, while consumer confidence tumbled in April, a sign that tax hikes early this year stole momentum from the economy.
Shanghai copper hit 54,180 yuan ($8,700) a tonne, a 10-month low.
LITTLE SUPPORT FROM SUPPLY OUTAGES
Even a spate of supply-side problems offered little support for copper, unlike previous years, as the market heads for its first year of surplus in several years, and inventories of refined metal are near decade highs both in London and Shanghai.
In the United States, a landslide at Rio Tinto's Bingham Canyon mine in Utah extended further into the pit than predicted, and there was greater damage to equipment than previously estimated, Rio's Kennecott unit said on Friday.
In Asia, India's largest copper smelter, run by Sterlite Industries Ltd, will not start commercial production until at least April 29, when a court will again consider a request to reopen the plant, shut over complaints of emissions.
Still, in a sign of opportunistic, price-led buys, one Swiss trader noted an increase in enquiries for copper concentrate.
“(There's been) a definite pick-up in copper concentrates enquiries from China for May shipment onwards,” he said.
Shanghai copper stocks fell by 13,653 tonnes from around 10-year highs, the latest weekly data showed on Friday , while LME copper stocks were at their highest since September 2003.
In other metals, soldering metal tin fell 2.07 percent to $21,550 a tonne, while zinc, used in galvanising, fell 1.68 percent to $1,843.50 a tonne.
Battery material lead dropped 2.27 percent to $2,002.50 a tonne, aluminium fell 0.70 percent to $1,840 a tonne, and stainless-steel
ingredient nickel sank 2.44 percent to $15,464 a tonne. - Reuters