July 12 (Bloomberg) -- Copper dropped from a two-week high in London after imports by China, the world’s largest metals consumer, decreased in June, signaling that demand growth may be weakening. Zinc slumped. Three-month delivery copper fell as much as 0.8 percent to $6,707.25 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and traded $6,715 at 1:30 p.m. in Shanghai. The contract jumped 5.5 percent last week, the steepest weekly rise since February. Zinc lost 2.1 percent to $1,865 a ton today. Shipments of copper and products into China fell for a third month in June to 328,231 tons, the customs office said July 10. That’s 17 percent less than May and 31 percent less than a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations. Copper in London had its first quarterly decline since 2008 in the April-to-June period on concerns that the global economic recovery was weakening, widening the premium of Shanghai copper over the LME price. “The unexpected decline in China’s copper imports is bearish for prices in the short term,” Zeng Chao, an analyst at Everbright Futures Co., said from Shanghai today. Statistics scheduled for release this week may show China’s economic growth slowed in the second-quarter as compared with the first three-months of the year. Still, “positive signs” on China’s economic policy “may push prices higher in the medium term,” said Zeng. China’s central bank said last week it will stick to a moderately loose monetary policy as economic growth becomes better balanced between consumption, investment and exports. Lending Loosened Some Chinese banks have loosened their standards for mortgage lending, at least on a case-by-case basis, according to Credit Suisse Group AG in a report today. China Vanke Co. led real estate developers’ stocks higher in Shenzhen and Shanghai on speculation that banks are easing lending amid a slowdown in property price gains. “The tone set by China on its monetary policy and reports on an ease in mortgage lending pulled up equities and metal prices,” Xia Caijun, an analyst at Jinrui Futures Co., said from Shenzhen today. Copper for October delivery fell as much as 0.6 percent to 53,330 yuan ($7,875) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange and last traded at 53,380 yuan. Aluminum for three-month delivery in London lost 0.6 percent to $1,992 a ton, tin climbed 0.9 percent to $17,800 a ton, lead dropped 0.8 percent to $1,830 a ton and nickel lost 0.8 percent to $19,350 a ton. --Li Xiaowei. With reporting by Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai. Editors: Matthew Oakley, Jake Lloyd-Smith. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Wendy Pugh at wpugh@bloomberg.net

Source