China copper demand weaker

Hong Kong
Chinese demand for copper has been weaker than expected so far in 2015, but will pick up in the second-half as government stimulus measures boost orders from factories, a state-backed research firm said.
Yang Changhua, senior copper analyst at Antaike said the research company had cut its consumption growth forecast to 5.7 percent in 2015 from the 6.3 percent predicted earlier.
Weaker demand from the world’s top consumer and producer of refined copper could drag on prices that have been supported by hopes that a global market surplus will be smaller than previously feared.
“We have adjusted down our consumption growth forecast for 2015 because the demand in the second quarter has been weaker than we had expected,” Yang said by telephone on Tuesday.
The lower forecast would put 2015 consumption at about 9.2 million tons of refined copper, down from the around 9.3 million tons expected previously.