Morning Copper Market Report

May copper fell sharply overnight but the market was able to recover a sizable portion of those initial declines. Many traders fell that the copper market continues to be pressured off disappointing Chinese copper demand expectations. There were reports overnight that suggested that China may be restocking their copper supplies but actual physical demand in China for copper could slow during the near term. A major copper producer predicted Chinese copper demand in 2012 would grow by over 6% but that the world copper market might generally be in balance during the next few years. After seeing the world copper balance periodically shift towards a moderate deficit condition when the market was near the 2011 highs, predictions of a roughly balanced world supply situation has been seen by some traders as a negative factor for copper prices going forward.