Copper headed for its first weekly decline since March on speculation that demand is still weakening. Lead dropped after inventories jumped 13 percent. Japan’s copper wire and cable shipments dropped to a 33- year low in the 12 months to March 31, the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers’ Association said today. Japan is the world’s fourth-largest copper buyer, according to the Lisbon- based International Copper Study Group. “It confirms weak demand,” Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by phone. Five consecutive weekly gains were “a bit exaggerated given that the markets are still showing surpluses,” he said. Copper for delivery in three months fell $27, or 0.6 percent, to $4,315 a metric ton at 10:57 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. The metal has dropped 10 percent this week, paring its gain this year to 41 percent. Lead fell $68, or 4.7 percent, to $1,392 a ton. Inventories in warehouses monitored by the LME climbed 8,075 tons to 71,725 tons. The 13 percent advance was the most since June 17, 2008. The International Copper Study Group said on April 21 that a global surplus of refined copper will widen through at least 2010 as production exceeds demand for a fifth consecutive year. Copper may decline next week on speculation the metal is no longer reflecting the outlook for demand. Fifteen of 20 analysts, investors and traders surveyed by Bloomberg, or 75 percent, said copper would drop. Four said the metal would rise and one forecast little change. Chinese Purchases Still, copper climbed this year as purchases from China, the world’s largest buyer, eroded inventories. Shanghai copper stockpiles fell by 34 percent this week, the largest decline since March 2005, the Shanghai Futures Exchange said in a report on its Web site. Inventories in warehouses monitored by the LME dropped 10,925 tons to 429,550 tons, the exchange said today. The Ifo institute in Munich said its business climate index increased to 83.7 in April. Economists expected 82.3, the median in a Bloomberg survey. Germany is the third-largest buyer and the U.S. is the second biggest. The Ifo report “just adds to recent data showing that economic activity is gradually recovering,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London. Among other LME metals for three-month delivery, aluminum rose $2, or 0.1 percent, to $1,450 a ton. Zinc retreated $25, or 1.8 percent, to $1,392 a ton. Tin dropped $50, or 0.4 percent, to $12,400 a ton and nickel fell $300, or 2.6 percent, to $11,050 a ton.

Source