am sure the ceo of rio knows what he is on about...

am sure the ceo of rio knows what he is on about Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto sees the recent decline in metals prices as a market correction not the reversal of what it believes is a long-term upward trend, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an award ceremony, Rio Tinto Chief Executive Clifford Leigh said slower-than-expected metals supply as well as economic growth in key markets pointed to rising metals consumption.

"(A correction is) what appears to be occuring. Some commodities are in extremely short supply and iron ore is one of those," Leigh said.

"We got to put the the recent slide into perspective. Iron ore prices have just risen, copper has come off from an extremely strong price and is still at a very strong price."

He noted that at more than $3 a pound copper was still well above prices between $1,65 and $1,70 seen last year.

Prices for copper used in construction and electronics, reached an all-time high of $8 800 a tonne on May 11, having jumped more than six-fold since late 2001 on strong demand from China and India, supply disruptions and relentless fund buying.

Since then, copper has retreated about 23 percent, but it is still up around 54 percent since the end of last year.

"The issue that's affecting metal prices is how the supply side responds and ... the supply side is responding a little more slowly than people would have thought," he said.

Rio Tinto said last month that supply and demand conditions favoured a price rise for iron ore even more than late last year as long-term customers were "screaming for it".

"Economic growth in China combined with ... pretty encouraging economic news out of Japan and ... reasonable economic activity in Korea augurs very well for metals consumption," Leigh said, adding that economic growth in the United States was reasonable.

Rio Tinto is the wold's second-largest iron ore miner after BHP Billiton Plc.