MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Copper falls below 2 USD benchmark; lowest in three years

Copper tumbled below 2 US dollars a pound for the first time since December 2005, having dropped 34% so far this year. Speculation that the world economy is headed for a recession, including slower growth in China, anticipates a weaker demand for metals.

China that has been the biggest contributor to global growth expanded at the slowest pace in five years in the third quarter, according to a report released on Monday. Chinese gross-domestic product rose 9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the weakest quarter since 2003, the statistics bureau in Beijing said Monday. The country is the world's biggest metals user. Copper futures for December delivery fell 10.95 cents, or 5.2%, to USD 2.007 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the price touched 1.992, the lowest for a most-active contract since December 21, 2005. Last May copper had risen to a record USD 4.2605. "Economic conditions have weakened dramatically in recent weeks, and there is significant uncertainty about the near-term price outlook" Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's biggest publicly traded copper miner, said in a statement. Copper is heading for its biggest annual slide on record. In 1989, the year the data begins, the price fell 31%. The metal last had an annual decline in 2001, when the price fell 23% as a U.S. recession curbed manufacturing. Freeport Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said on Tuesday that copper's slump has been "striking" and "unusual". The company said it would delay some projects planned to increase production until market conditions improve. On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months dropped 222 USD, or 4.7%, to USD 4,498 a metric ton (2.04 USD a pound).