LONDON: Copper prices sat near record highs on Monday as signs of extremely tight supply in the London Metal Exchange (LME) system offset concerns that slowing growth in top consumer China will curtail demand.

Traders were paying huge premiums for quickly deliverable copper after available stockpiles in warehouses registered with the LME tumbled to their lowest level in decades.

Benchmark LME copper was down 0.1% at $10,270 a tonne in official trading having earlier reached $10,452.50, within spitting distance of May's all-time peak of $10,747.50.

Prices of the metal used in power and construction leaped 10% last week and are up and more than 30% this year after gaining 26% in 2020.

Copper's short-term direction will depend on whether high premiums bring more metal into LME warehouses, alleviating the supply squeeze, said independent analyst Robin Bhar.

He said it was not clear if low LME stockpiles pointed to a genuine shortage, or if metal was available in private storage, but copper's longer-term outlook was positive due to rising demand as the world moves from fossil fuels to copper-intensive electrification.

"The fundamentals are bullish," he said.

LME STOCKS: On-warrant copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses rose to 21,050 tonnes from 14,150 tonnes, the lowest in decades, on Friday.