Shanghai Futures Exchange copper lost 1 percent to 37620 yuan ($5,914) a tonne on Monday, having dropped to its weakest since late September China's trade figures disappointed analysts expectations by a wide margin in October, reinforcing views that the world's second-largest economy will have to do more to stimulate domestic demand given softness in overseas markets.
"Every week we come in, the prices are worse, the data is tepid. The Chinese economy is huge so trying to turn it around is going to take time," said Daniel Morgan of UBS in Sydney. "Property construction is still weak but some of the other indicators are a bit better. We have seen some action on the supply side but we need more on the demand side."
UBS sees copper prices at 2.50 a pound average next year. "Copper imports remained strong, but we expect these to weaken in November and more so December," said Citi. "We expect demand from the sector over November-December to remain down from September, but up significantly compared to H1." China's imports of copper fell 8.7 percent from a month ago to 420,000 tonnes in October, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.