BEIJING - London copper prices were flat in early Asian trade on Monday as fears of a recession in the United States, the world's largest economy, were offset by the declaration of force majeure at a key copper mine in Peru.

FUNDAMENTALS
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was steady at $6,338.50 a tonne as of 0129 GMT, after closing up 0.4 percent on Monday. The most traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.1 percent to 48,350 yuan ($7,207.92) a tonne.

* PERU: Chinese copper miner MMG Ltd will declare force majeure under sales contracts at its Las Bambas mine in
Peru after a protest from an indigenous community caused a road blockade. Production is expected to be progressively impacted from later this week, it said.

* COPPER: Chilean state miner Codelco said on Monday it had terminated its contract with Canadian company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc at its Chuquicamata mine in northern Chile, accusing the engineering firm of failing to comply with its work
commitments at the world's largest open pit mine.

* SPREADS: Cash copper is now trading at $3 a tonne discount to the three-month contract , having peaked at a premium of $70 on March 5, indicating more plentiful supply.

* OTHER METALS: Shanghai zinc was the top performer, rising as much as 1.3 percent to 22,090 yuan a tonne amid tightening stocks. In London, zinc, aluminium and lead all added 0.2-0.3 percent.

* ZINC: China's refined zinc imports plunged to a two-year low of 20,350 tonnes in February, according to customs data, due to an unfavourable arbitrage between London and Shanghai. Refined copper cathode imports fell 5.5 percent year-on-year to 213,947 tonnes.

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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares were shaky after U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest since late 2017, further below short-term interest rates and adding to fears of a U.S. recession.

PRICES       

 BASE METALS PRICES                      0128 GMT

Three month LME copper                      6339

Most active ShFE copper                    48330

Three month LME aluminium                 1888.5

Most active ShFE aluminium                 13635

Three month LME zinc                        2838

Most active ShFE zinc                      22035

Three month LME lead                        2015

Most active ShFE lead                      16850

Three month LME nickel                     12930

Most active ShFE nickel                    99680

Three month LME tin                        21335

Most active ShFE tin                      146860

 BASE METALS ARBITRAGE                          

 LME/SHFE COPPER             LMESHFCUc3   -944.26

LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM          LMESHFALc3  -1018.59

 LME/SHFE ZINC               LMESHFZNc3   -584.71

LME/SHFE LEAD               LMESHFPBc3    687.34

LME/SHFE NICKEL             LMESHFNIc3  -3111.37

($1 = 6.7079 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Tom Daly; editing by Richard Pullin)

© Reuters News 2019