Copper may fall for the first time in four days in London as slower growth in manufacturing in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, fans concern that demand might be less robust than forecast. China’s manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in six months in February, figures showed today, after the government raised interest rates and restrained lending to cool inflation and prevent the economy from overheating. The Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 52.2 from 52.9 in January, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on its website. “While the PMI remained in expansionary territory, it still dropped for the third straight month,” suggesting that steps to cool the economy are taking effect, said Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “It also means that demand for commodities and metals especially could ease, and this could weigh on prices.” Copper for three-month delivery slipped $3 to $9,882 a ton at 9:48 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange, rebounding from a drop of as much as 1.1 percent. Copper for May delivery rose 0.1 percent to $4.4995 a pound on the Comex in New York. Spot copper’s discount to futures widened in Changjiang, Shanghai’s biggest cash market, suggesting that consumers may be unwilling to make purchases at higher prices. Changjiang copper was about 1,200 yuan ($183) a ton less than futures yesterday, compared with about 565 yuan last week. LME prices reached a record high of $10,190 on Feb. 15. ‘Demand Is Cooling’ “It’s obvious that demand is cooling down, given copper prices above or close to $10,000 a ton, as can be seen in the rise in inventories,” Briesemann said. LME copper stockpiles are up 11 percent this year, while inventories monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange were near a nine-month high last week. Today LME stocks fell for the first day in four, declining 0.2 percent to 420,275 tons. Orders to draw copper from stocks, or canceled warrants, dropped 0.4 percent to 18,675 tons, a third decline. Copper will average $9,850 a ton in 2011, 31 percent more than last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences. World usage may increase by 3 percent to 19.9 million tons this year and consumption in China may gain by 3 percent to 7.6 million tons, it said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao may outline more steps to tame inflation and cool economic growth when he opens the annual session of the National People’s Congress this week. Wen pledged on Feb. 27 to contain gains in consumer prices and tackle surging property prices that might threaten social stability in the world’s most populous nation. Aluminum for three-month delivery on the LME climbed 0.1 percent to $2,603 a ton. The lightweight metal will average about $2,490 a ton this year, up from $2,170 in 2010, the Australian bureau said. Zinc rose 0.1 percent to $2,523.25 a ton and lead was little changed at $2,562.75 a ton. Nickel added 0.5 percent to $29,130 a ton and tin gained 0.1 percent to $32,350 a ton. To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Kolesnikova in London at mkolesnikova@bloomberg.net; Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter@bloomberg.net.

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