Copper may drop next week as reduced industrial production in the U.S. signals lower demand from automakers and other manufacturers. Seventeen of 26 analysts, investors and traders, or 65 percent, surveyed by Bloomberg News said copper would drop. Six people, or 23 percent, expected a gain and three were neutral. Last week, 55 percent expected prices to fall. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange has dropped 2.3 percent this week, to $3,459.50 a metric ton. The metal may decline toward $1.40 a pound ($3,086 a ton) next week, Mark Lewon, vice president of operations at Salt Lake City-based Utah Metal Works Inc., wrote in an e-mail. U.S. industrial production in January probably fell 1.4 percent, the median of 24 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News as of yesterday. The Federal Reserve report is due on Feb. 18. The U.S. is the largest buyer of copper, used in plumbing and electrical wiring, after China. The weekly Bloomberg copper survey has forecast prices accurately in 13 of the past 23 weeks, or 57 percent of the time.

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