Copper Rises Most in Six Months on Chinese Demand Expectations
2007-02-22 09:32 (New York)
By Brett Foley
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose the most in more than six
months in London on speculation that demand from Chinese buyers
will keep expanding. Lead advanced to a record and tin reached
its highest in 17 years.
Copper trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange will resume
on Feb. 26 after the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. Chinese
imports of copper and copper products jumped 44 percent in
January from a year earlier, customs data showed Feb. 12. Chinese
refined-copper imports in January were about 132,000 metric tons,
almost double last year's average monthly imports of 69,000 tons,
Macquarie Bank Ltd. said Feb. 19.
``We expect to see, post the Chinese New Year, more activity
by Chinese buyers in the copper market,'' said Daniel Brebner, an
analyst at UBS AG in London. ``We do expect to see considerable
strength in copper over the next quarter or so.''
Copper for delivery in three months on the LME advanced
$280, or 4.8 percent, to $6,070 a metric ton as of 2:21 p.m.
local time. The contract earlier rose as much as 5.4 percent, the
biggest intraday gain since Aug. 4. Today's gain pared this
year's losses to 4.1 percent.
``The market is still expecting to see substantial
restocking by the Chinese,'' said Andrew Silver, a trader with
Natexis Commodity Markets Ltd., one of 11 companies trading on
the floor of the London Metal Exchange.
Tin advanced to a 17-year high for a third consecutive day
on concern that supplies from Indonesia, the world's biggest
producer of the metal after China, will decline after a crackdown
on illegal mining. Tin miners had until today to register for the
right to export the metal.
`Extremely Fluid'
Tin for delivery in three months gained $75, or 0.5 percent,
to $13,925 a ton, after earlier reaching $13,975, the highest
since at least 1989, according to data on Bloomberg.
The situation in Indonesia ``remains extremely fluid'' and
there is ``great uncertainty'' as to how many smelters will be
able to reopen, Robin Bhar, a London-based analyst at UBS AG,
said in a report today.
PT Timah, Indonesia's largest tin miner, has made its last
shipment of tin for this month and hopes to get a license by the
end of next week to continue exporting in March, the company's
president-director said today.
Lead advanced to record for a fifth day as stockpiles fell
to their lowest since June 2005. Inventories monitored by the LME
fell by 150 tons to 32,375 tons, the exchange said in a daily
report. They have slumped 56 percent in the past 12 months.
Lead demand beat production by 88,000 tons in 2006, the
World Bureau of Metal Statistics said in a report yesterday.
Xstrata Plc maintained ``force majeure'' at its Northfleet
plant in the U.K. after ore supplies from Australia were delayed
following a cyclone last month. Force majeure is a legal clause
that allows a company to default on a sales contract due to
circumstances beyond its control.
Lead increased $65, or 3.6 percent, to $1,890 a ton, beating
yesterday's record by $55.
Among other metals for delivery in three months on the LME,
nickel increased $200 to $39,700 a ton, aluminum gained $35 to
$2,793 and zinc advanced $150 to $3,510.
--With reporting by Heather Walsh in Santiago and Claire Leow in
Jakarta. Editor: Wallace (kkl/sjc/slw). |
