`Bleak’ Copper Seen Needing 17% Drop to Force Deeper Cuts
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`Shell-shocked’ producers may have no alternative but to cut
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World’s biggest producer Codelco says it won’t reduce output
Copper could slide a further 17 percent by next year, plumbing fresh lows and forcing “shell-shocked” producers to make much deeper output cuts as consumption growth stalls in China, according to Ed Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone Inc.
Demand in the world’s biggest user won’t expand next year, Meir said in an interview at an industry conference in Shanghai. “It’s grim-to-bleak, so the onus is on the supply side. The market needs to transition to a lower price point to force more cuts.”
A drop of 17 percent to $3,800 a metric ton would extend a 27 percent decline this year as investors fret over the weakest Chinese growth in a generation and a stronger dollar. Production cuts, most notably the 400,000-ton reduction by Glencore Plc in Africa, have failed to halt the rout…
`Bleak’ Copper Seen Needing 17% Drop to Force Deeper Cuts
