Copper rises on higher Chinese car sales, IMF growth forecast

Copper rose in New York and London as Chinese car sales gained and an International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast for stronger-than-expected growth boosted investors’ confidence that commodity demand will rebound.

China’s car sales last month advanced the most since February 2006, buoyed by government stimulus spending. The average car contains 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of copper and alloy cables, according to the International Copper Study Group. The IMF said on Wednesday the world economy will expand 2.5 per cent next year, compared with a previous estimate of 1.9 per cent.

“We’re going to see a little bit of a bounce because of the slightly less negative IMF numbers,” said David Wilson, an analyst at Societe Generale SA in London. “We will continue to see reasonable sales figures in China.”

Copper for September delivery rose 4.65 cents, or 2.2 per cent, to $2.2055 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division at 8.32 am local time. Copper for three-month delivery added 2.7 per cent to $4,850 a metric tonne on the London Metal Exchange. The metal dropped 7.1 per cent in London in the prior five sessions.

The global transport industry consumes about 11 per cent of the world’s refined copper, 32 per cent of its aluminum and more than 50 per cent of global lead output, according to Fairfax IS. Copper has advanced 58 per cent this year, bolstered by demand from China, including for stockpiling. The Asian nation’s imports of unwrought copper rose from 232,700 tons in December, to 422,670 tonnes in May, according to customs data.

Chinese copper buying
“June numbers are going to be reasonably high,” Wilson said. They will reflect “buying from at least a month ago,” and “a lot of the restocking has been done for now,” he said.