Copper Demand to Drop as Chinese Buyers Extend Annual Lunar Holiday
Chinese copper purchasers are lengthening their Lunar New Year holiday as prices hover near record levels, dampening industrial demand for the red metal. Shanghai Wooray Metals’ General Manager Wang Wei explained that the recent surge has raised financing pressures for copper pipe and rod manufacturers and shrunk their order volumes. Although the holiday officially starts next Monday and runs through February 23rd, Wang noted that the slowdown in demand is expected to set in fully this week. Buyers in China, the largest consumer of physical copper globally, have been reluctant to follow last year’s price rally amid a weakening domestic economy. Longer factory shutdowns during the holiday are expected to weigh further on market momentum, after investor-driven…