中国需求疲弱拖累铜价走低

Copper fell below $6,000 on Monday, bringing a haltto a rally in May, on continued weak demand inChina, the biggest consumer of the metal.

周一，铜价跌至每吨6000美元以下，终止了5月份的涨势。原因在于，作为全球最大的铜消费国，中国的需求持续疲软。

Prices for three-month delivery on the London MetalExchange touched $5,985 on Monday. The metalhas fallen more than $400 from its price at thebeginning of May.

周一，伦敦金属交易所(LME)3个月交货的铜价触及每吨5985美元。铜价较5月初已下跌了逾400美元。

There are few signs of strong orders for copper in China by cable makers and for power gridinvestment, despite the arrival of the traditional peak buying season.

在中国，目前几乎没有迹象表明电缆制造商下大额订单或进行高额电网投资，尽管传统的高峰购买季节已到来。

“The downstream demand is still fairly limited, we don’t see sufficient or meaningful recoveryin terms of fundamentals and sentiment has started to turn, said Xiao Fu, an analyst at BOCInternational, a unit of Bank of China.

“下游需求仍很有限，我们认为，在基本面和信心层面尚未看到足够或重大的恢复，中国银行(BoC)子公司中银国际(BOC International)的分析师付晓表示。

Analysts expect China’s copper demand to grow by 4 per cent this year, yet that figure ispredicated on considerable use in power grid investment, based on announced governmentspending plans.

分析师们预计，今年中国铜需求将增长4%，但这一预测的前提是，依据政府方面公布的开支计划，铜在电网投资上的使用量相当可观。

Power grid investment fell by 8.65 per cent in April, according to SMM, a China-based metalsconsultancy. In the first four months, China completed Rmb86.6bn of grid investment, 20 percent of the planned amount for the year, it said. Last year, only 88.7 per cent of gridinvestment was completed.

中国金属咨询机构——上海有色金属网(SMM)数据显示，今年4月电网投资下降了8.65%。该机构表示，今年头4个月，中国完成电网投资866亿元人民币，为全年计划投资额的20%。去年，电网计划投资额仅完成了88.7%。

A fall in copper stocks in warehouses tracked by the Shanghai Futures Exchange in April andMay, which was taken as a sign of better demand, may also not have gone to end users,according to analysts.

4月和5月，上期所(SHFE)所追踪的仓库的铜库存有所减少，这被当做是需求改善的标志。但分析师认为，需求或许也没有流向最终用户。

“The evolution of China’s demand conditions remains the crucial issue for sentiment towardsthe complex in mid-2015, and neither the micro nor macro evidence for May suggests animprovement in this dynamic, Standard Chartered wrote in a note.

“就2015年年中的市场心理而言，中国需求状况的演变仍是一个至关重要的因素，5月份没有任何微观或宏观因素表明中国需求态势发生好转，渣打(Standard Chartered)在一份报告中写道。