Copper prices back at $6,000

Tokyo
Japan's Pan Pacific Copper expects copper prices to rise to $6,000 a tonne over the next 18 months, driven by global production cuts and demand growth in Asia, although any upside will be limited in 2015, its president said on Monday.
"Copper prices will continue to languish this year, hovering between the current level and $5,500 a tonne," President Yoshihiro Nishiyama told a news conference.
Copper prices hit a six-year low of $4,855 a tonne in late August amid fears over a slowing economy in top buyer China. Prices have since recovered to around $5,160 a tonne but are well below recent peaks above $6,300 in May.
Nishiyama said Japan's biggest copper smelter expected prices to recover from next year, led by a series of production cuts by miners including Glencore and Freeport-McMoRan , as well as solid demand in Southeast Asia and India.