Red-hot copper will cool

China's weakening demand for copper is set to put paid to the industrial metal's impressive rise this year.

Copper has had a strong start to 2012, gaining around 15% to a five-month high above $8,500 an ounce. But the risk of a correction is rising.

Demand is "not that magnificent by Chinese standards", says Stephen Briggs of BNP Paribas. Imports into China, which consumes around 40% of the world's copper, have been strong but "the metal is getting stuck in storage instead of being put to use", says Tatyana Shumsky in The Wall Street Journal.

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