China’s sluggish industrial data have intensified concerns about a slowdown in economic growth, putting downward pressure on commodity prices and causing mining company stocks to fall.

　　Today, copper prices fell by 1% to $4,985 per ton, dropping below the $5,000 mark for the first time since August.

　　Copper has fallen for the fifth consecutive month, marking its longest losing streak since the financial crisis. Compared to its peak in 2011, copper prices have already fallen by more than half.

　　Other industrial metals were also under pressure. Aluminum fell by 1.3% to $1,548 per tonne; nickel dropped by 0.4% to $9,925 per tonne.

　　According to Bloomberg, Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank, noted in a research report that metal prices remain under pressure. It’s clear that major market participants are concerned about the possibility of a “hard landing” for China’s economy—which would weigh on global economic growth and, at the very least, deal a blow to emerging-market economies.

　　Fundamentals remain a major source of market concern. In a research report released last week, Nomura Securities stated that copper production in 2017 will exceed demand by 598,000 tons—a figure twice as large as this year’s surplus. As a result, copper prices could fall further.

　　Analysts expect metal demand to remain weak. According to Patrick Jones and other commodity analysts at Nomura, China’s copper demand this year may grow by around 3%, significantly lower than the 13% growth rate seen in 2000. Inventories have also surged this year.

　　Market research firm CRU Group forecasts that China's demand for copper this year will grow by less than 3%, the lowest level since 2006.

　　Meanwhile, metal inventories remain high. According to Bloomberg data, global copper inventories have risen by 69% this year; LME inventories have nearly doubled this year, reaching a 20-month high in September.

　　Data released today show that in August, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size in China fell by 8.8% year-on-year, a decline that widened by 5.9 percentage points compared to July. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, this represents the largest drop since the Chinese government began releasing monthly data in October 2011.

　　From January to August, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size fell by 1.9% year-on-year, compared with a previous decline of 1%. The decline widened by 0.9 percentage points from the January-July period.

　　Today, as China’s economy slows down, expectations for industrial metal prices have been lowered multiple times. Analysts at JPMorgan stated that demand could shrink further, while the decline in supply has failed to keep pace, implying that prices will continue to fall.

　　Today, the gloomy outlook for industrial metals sent mining company stocks plummeting. Commodity giant Glencore recently saw its stock price plunge 27% during trading hours, marking the largest intraday drop on record and once again hitting a new all-time low.