By Glenys Sim Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Copper fell in Asia on speculation demand in China, the largest consumer of the metal, will slow further. Consumer prices in the world’s fourth-largest economy rose 2.4 percent from a year earlier in November, the slowest pace in almost two years, the statistics bureau said today. Imports of copper and copper product imports slid to 217,214 metric tons, down 6 percent from October, according to a preliminary report from China’s customs office yesterday. “Given the weak economic outlook, the environment for commodities should remain difficult in the months ahead,” Credit Suisse Group analysts led by Anja Hochberg, wrote in a report. Copper will likely trade between $3,000 and $3,200 a ton by the end of the first quarter, the bank said. London Metal Exchange copper fell as much as 2.1 percent to $3,235 a ton, and traded at $3,258 at 11:20 a.m. Singapore time. A drop in the dollar helped the metal jump 3.3 percent yesterday, even as stockpiles at London Metal Exchange warehouses climbed to 303,600 tons, the highest since February 2004. March-delivery copper on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.4 percent to $1.4750 a pound, while copper for February delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 1.1 percent to 25,030 yuan ($3,652) a ton. China consumes a quarter of the world’s copper. Next week, the country will probably report industrial production growth of 7.2 percent for November, the weakest pace in nine years, based on a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The report is scheduled for Dec. 15. Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum was little changed at $1,524 a ton, and nickel was unchanged at $10,300 a ton. Zinc rose 1 percent to $1,115 a ton, while lead and tin had not traded. To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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