LME Copper Settlement Below US$ 8,000/t after 2 Months

Copper spot price at London Metal Exchange declined to below US$ 8,000 per tonne for the first time in late 2 months. Demand is weakening for copper metal in USA, Japan and Europe. Chinese copper import is also decreasing by more than 20% year-on-year. Speculative purchasing is weakening with the fundamental deterioration.LME copper settlement was US$ 7,905 per tonne on 4 July, down by US$ 191 from 1 July. The settlement became below US$ 8,000 for the first time since 12 June. The spot price continued declining to below US$ 7,900 in afternoon trading on 4 July.Oil price downtrend is impacting whole commodity market. West Texas Intermediate price decreased by 19% from the record marked 3 weeks ago. Another negative factor is fundamental deterioration in copper metal market itself.Demand for copper metal is weakening from constructions and automobiles in USA where subprime lending problem emerged. In Japan, copper electric cable shipment for construction market represented y/y decrease for 10 straight months since September 2007.Copper metal consumption in European 15 countries declined by 7% for January-April 2008 compared with the corresponding period of 2007, according to the monthly report issued by International Copper Study Group. Chinese copper metal import decreased by 30% y/y in June and by 23% y/y for January-June.