Copper futures rose on expectations that demand will rise as inventories of scrap metal decline. China, the world’s biggest metals user, is planning 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) in stimulus spending, fueling demand for some raw materials. Inventories of scrap metal are down about 40 percent this year, a European industry group said on March 6. Before today, copper surged 41 percent this year on speculation that the global recession has bottomed. “Shortage of scrap supplies in the first quarter and China’s imports have been the main price drivers in copper so far,” Bayram Dincer, a commodity analyst at Dresdner Bank in Zurich, said in an e-mail. “We expect prices to trend lower in a short term, because China will slow down import demand and will wait for lower prices.” Copper futures for May delivery gained 0.7 cent, or 0.4 percent, to $1.997 a pound at 10:31 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division.

Source