Copper dropped for a second day in London on concern a global recession will affect demand for industrial metals. Global investors anticipate Europe’s debt crisis will lead to an economic slump, a financial meltdown and social unrest in the next year, a Bloomberg survey found. German lawmakers approved a plan to expand the European Financial Stability Facility’s firepower and allow euro-area officials to consider further measures to bolster Greece and stem investor concern. Copper “is being driven purely by fears of global recession,” Jesper Dannesboe, a strategist at Societe Generale in London, said by phone today. “That is the key driver of the copper selloff.” Copper for delivery in three months dropped $219.75, or 3 percent, to $7,031.25 a metric ton by 12:48 p.m. on the London Metal Exchange. The metal has slumped 24 percent this quarter, the most since the last three months of 2008. Copper for December-delivery fell 2 percent to $3.1825 a pound on the Comex in New York. More than a third of participants in a Bloomberg survey say deteriorating European debt will derail the world economy over the next year, with the pessimism highlighting the pressure policy makers face as they try again to fix the 18-month sovereign debt crisis. “The overall market is in need of a lasting solution to the euro-zone debt issues,” Randy North, a trader at RBC Capital Markets in New York, wrote in a report today. “With Greece teetering on the brink of bankruptcy worries continue that such an event if not controlled could bring down the financial sector.” Tin Shipments Tin for three-month delivery on the LME rose 0.4 percent to $20,636 a ton after gaining as much as 4.1 percent. Eight tin smelters on Indonesia’s Bangka Island may load about 2,000 tons of refined metal before an export suspension comes into force on Oct. 1, with no shipments permitted after that date, industry executives said. Aluminum was down 0.1 percent at $2,232 a ton, zinc declined 1.4 percent to $1,914.25 a ton and lead fell 0.9 percent to $1,991 a ton. Nickel was little changed at $18,500 a ton. To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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