Short term not looking so good...CHINALCO Luoyang Copper orders...

Short term not looking so good...

CHINALCO Luoyang Copper orders have fallen 20% in the past quarter.

The decline represents a drop in monthly production to 7000 tonnes in the third quarter, from 9000 to 9500 tonnes a month in the first half, an executive said.

Copper futures have tumbled 47% this year in Shanghai as the world credit crisis deepened and consumption slowed. Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group, China's biggest copper smelter, and Yunnan Copper Industry cut production last month, said research firm Beijing Antaike Information Development.

"The implication for refined copper demand is bad as even processors who have orders are reluctant to buy amid the remorseless fall in prices," Zhao Kai, an analyst at Jinrui Futures, said. "The slowdown at copper rod and tube manufacturers could be more as the two sectors have more excessive capacity than copper sheet, which Chinalco Luoyang makes."

Sales to the US, Canada and South-East Asia had also declined, Luoyang Copper's executive said.

Chinalco Luoyang buys copper to process into products that are used used in generators, phone wires and appliances.

Chinalco Luoyang may produce 105,000 tonnes of copper products this year, 15,000 tonnes below capacity. Last year, it exported 22,000 tonnes of products, including aluminum plates.
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