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Copper sheets are seen in a deposit inside Barrick's Zaldivar copper mine at the foothills of the Antofagasta region
Copper prices hit their lowest in two months on Tuesday as stockpiles in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses climbed to a six-month high amid a subdued demand outlook and stronger dollar.
Three-month copper on the LME was down 1% at $9,570 per metric ton during official rings, having earlier fallen as low as $9,551, its weakest since April 18, after exchange data showed a massive copper delivery of 19,175 metric tons to Asian locations.
Inventory at LME-approved warehouses rose to 155,850 tons, pointing to lackluster demand, data released on Monday showed.
"Copper has been hit the hardest by the fading hopes of a global manufacturing recovery," Julius Baer's Carsten Menke said.
Prices came under pressure from disappointing May industrial output from top consumer China and a slowdown of metals-intensive fixed asset investments, Menke added.
LME aluminium also dipped to $2,470 a ton, its lowest in nine weeks. It last traded 0.8% lower at $2,481.
"We think $2,450 is a good buying point. Aluminium's fundamentals are not bad in the medium term," a trader said.
China's aluminium imports jumped 61.1% in May, thanks to inflows from Russia, which is subject to Western sanctions.
Producers also offered to sell aluminum at premiums 25-31% higher than the current quarter to Japan, another major buyer of the light metal.
Japanese buyers were asked to pay premiums of $185 to $190 per metric ton for July-September primary metal shipments over the LME cash price, a sign of solid demand.
For other metals, nickel fell 1.3% to $17,240, zinc dropped 1.1% to $2,785, lead was flat at $2,155 and tin eased 0.5% to $31,995.
Depressing metals prices are a stronger U.S. dollar, which gained strength as traders awaited a U.S. retail sales report and comments from Federal Reserve officials to help gauge the timing of interest rate cuts.
(Reporting by Julian Luk in London; additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Jan Harvey)