By Yoshifumi Takemoto and Masumi Suga Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan’s second-largest copper producer, said it will probably cut production in the first quarter of next year as the global economic slowdown reduces demand. The company is considering how much output will need to be cut, spokesman Hiromasa Ooba said today by telephone. Copper has slumped by more than 60 percent from a record in July on a deepening recession. Pan Pacific Copper Co., Japan’s biggest smelter of the metal, may cut output by as much as 20 percent next year on slowing global demand, Nippon Mining & Metals Co., which owns 66 percent of the venture, said Dec. 2. Sumitomo Metal Mining planned to produce 389,268 metric tons of copper and 57,688 tons of nickel, including ferro-nickel, in the 12 months ending March 31, 2009, it said in October. The company would lower production in the first quarter of next year, Mikinobu Ogata, an executive officer at the non-ferrous metals division, told Reuters yesterday. Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange rose 8.7 percent to close at $3,315 a ton yesterday. It fell to as low as $2,991 on Dec. 5, the first time it has dipped below $3,000 since May 2005. To contact the reporters on this story: Masumi Suga in Tokyo at msuga@bloomberg.net; Yoshifumi Takemoto in Tokyo at ytakemoto@bloomberg.net.

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