MARKET TALK: Copper Price Strength To Ease In 2Q - JP Morgan

Strong copper demand in 1Q is unlikely to continue into the second, says JP Morgan analyst Michael Jansen. The Chinese market is price sensitive "and towards $8,000/mt is likely to see significantly reduced physical activity," he notes. Adds that "much of the physical offtake in 1Q was a function of significant internal stock depletion in 2006 2H that will not, by definition, be replicated." LME copper trades at $7,730/ton, up 5.3% from Thursday.