Forexpros - Copper futures declined for the first time in four days on Monday, as appetite for the industrial metal weakened amid concerns over China’s economic growth outlook and worries over Greece’s credit event ruling. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for May delivery traded at USD3.839 a pound during European morning trade, shedding 0.5%. It earlier fell by as much as 0.75% to trade at a session low of USD3.829 a pound. Official data released over the weekend showed that China swung to a massive trade deficit of USD31.5 billion in February, the largest since 1989, from a surplus of USD27.3 billion in January. The data reflected a significant drop in exports, while imports rebounded after a Lunar New Year holiday slowdown. January-February export growth slowed to 6.9% over the same two-month period last year, barely half of December's 13.4% rate. Imports for the two months rose 7.7%. China’s lackluster trade data follows reports last week that showed the weakest January-to-February gain in factory production since 2009 and retail sales falling below estimates. But losses were limited after the data pointed to cooling inflation. Chinese consumer prices rose 3.2% in February from a year earlier, the slowest pace in 20 months. The tame inflation data was seen as providing policy makers with more leeway to introduce fresh monetary easing measure to help prop up the economy. China is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year. Meanwhile, Greece announced Friday that more than 85% of its private creditors had signed up to a debt swap deal, aimed at restructuring 53.5% of the country’s debt. But concerns remained after the International Swaps and Derivatives Association said the debt swap constituted a “credit event� that would activate credit-default swaps, which designed to protect investors against losses on Greek sovereign debt. Worries about Europe's debt crisis will not fade away with the completion of the Greece debt swap deal, amid renewed concerns over the fiscal health of Spain and Portugal and lingering worries over downbeat growth prospects in the region. Later in the day, euro zone finance ministers were to hold talks in Brussels, to give their final approval to a EUR130 billion bailout for Greece. Ministers were also likely to discuss Spain, after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced earlier this month that the country would cut its public deficit to 5.8% of annual output, instead of the planned 4.4% this year. Europe as a region is second in global demand for the industrial metal. Prices have tracked investor sentiment toward the euro zone’s debt crisis in recent months. Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for April delivery shed 0.25% to trade at USD1,707.15 a troy ounce, while silver for May delivery declined 0.3% to trade at USD34.10 a troy ounce.

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