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Copper Climbs to Record

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Copper Climbs to Record in New York After Report on China's Manufacturing

By Claudia Carpenter - Dec 30, 2010 7:27 AM CT

Copper climbed to records in New York and London after a report showed that China’s manufacturing is growing, signaling more demand for industrial metals.

An index of China’s manufacturing was 54.4 this month, compared with 55.3 in November, according to the purchasing managers’ index released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics. A figure over 50 signals expansion. Copper futures jumped 31 percent this year as growth in China, the world’s largest copper buyer, intensified demand for raw materials.

“I was there in November and it didn’t look like it was slowing down to me,” said Jay Goldstein, president of Montreal- based Lorbec Metals Ltd., in an e-mail today. “I saw more construction than ever.”

Copper futures for March delivery gained to the all-time high of $4.379 a pound and were up 5.6 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $4.3675 a pound by 8:17 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Copper rose to a record $9,550 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.

China’s economy may grow 9.5 percent next year, according to RBC Capital Markets. That’s up from its previous estimate of 8.8 percent expansion.

Stockpiles of copper in warehouses monitored by the LME, Comex and Shanghai exchanges are down 19 percent this year, heading for the biggest annual decline 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Total stockpiles will decline over next year as supplies fall short of demand by 825,000 tons, Barclays Capital said in a report on Dec. 22. The shortage this year is estimated at 449,000 tons, according to Barclays.

Aluminum was little changed, while lead, tin, nickel and zinc prices all climbed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at [e-mail]