By Li Xiaowei Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Copper fell to near the lowest price in more than three years as stockpiles of the metal gained, indicating a deepening recession and slowdown in demand for raw materials. The London Metal Exchange-monitored stockpiles jumped by 8,000 metric tons yesterday to 314,825 tons, the highest since February 2004. Industrial production grew at the weakest pace in almost a decade in China and fell in the U.S. last month. The two countries are the world’s two largest copper consumers. “Copper fell on bearish economic numbers and rising stockpiles,” Wang Lei, an analyst at Haitong Futures Co., wrote in an e-mailed report today. Copper for three-month delivery fell as much as 1.4 percent to $3,120 a ton on the London exchange and traded at $3,131 at 9:19 a.m. in Shanghai. It fell to as low as $2,991 on Dec. 5, the first time it has dipped below $3,000 since May, 2005. The copper price is down by 53 percent this year, heading for the first annual drop since 2001. A declining U.S. dollar may limit further drops in the copper price, Haitong’s Wang said. The dollar traded near a two-month low against the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve will today cut the target rate for overnight lending to a record low. A falling dollar makes the currency-denominated copper contract less expensive for other buyers. March-delivery copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange plunged as much as 4.1 percent to 23,650 yuan ($3,456) a ton, and traded at 23,850 yuan at 9:26 a.m. local time. March- delivery aluminum contracts in Shanghai fell by the exchange- imposed limit of 4 percent, from the previous settlement price, to 10,355 yuan a ton. Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum was 1 percent down at $1,480 a ton, zinc rose 1.4 percent to $1,095 and nickel fell 2.2 percent to $10,000. To contact the reporter for this story: Li Xiaowei in Shanghai at xli12@bloomberg.net

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