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China Copper Demand May Rise in Fourth Quarter, JPMorgan Says

[Ni] CBI Morning Review - 2009/6/4 Nickel Market

BEIJING, June 4 -- Copper demand in China, the world's biggest consumer of the metal, may post a "strong" recovery in the fourth quarter after traders and smelters run down stockpiles, said a strategist at JPMorgan Securities Ltd. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Inventories sitting here will get processed in a big way" in the fourth quarter, London-based metals strategist Michael Jansen said in an interview in Shanghai yesterday. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Copper in London has gained 60 percent this year as imports by China have jumped to record levels on state purchasing and as buyers re-stocked to meet demand from the nation's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package. High domestic prices have also boosted the appeal of imports. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Chinese copper demand may rise by between 7 percent and 8 percent for the whole year, partly driven by investment in power infrastructure, Jansen said. Demand probably rose by 5 percent to 6 percent in the first quarter, he said, while attending a conference in Shanghai. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; China's economic growth may accelerate for the rest of the year, growing 9 percent in the fourth-quarter, as the stimulus plan gathers momentum, Fan Jianping, head of the State Information Center's economic forecast department, said May 11. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Still, "real demand is definitely slowing quarter-on- quarter" in the first nine months, he said, and stocks have been accumulating because of record imports. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Copper imports by China rose to a record for a third month in April, the Beijing-based customs office said on May 12. Imports were 399,833 metric tons in April, 7 percent higher than March, according to customs data. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Imports may remain high in May and June, Jansen said, before probably falling to between 100,000 tons and 120,000 tons a month in the second half, he said. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (Source: Bloomberg)
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