LME copper hits near-3 year low, Shanghai limit down

London copper futures tumbled 3 percent to an almost three-year low on Wednesday, extending a near 5 percent overnight loss, as worries about demand continued to chip away at investor appetite for industrial raw materials.

Shanghai markets were also caught up in the slide, with both copper and zinc plunging by their daily limits at the open.

London Metal Exchange copper for delivery in three months dropped to $4,365 per tonne, its weakest since January 2006, while the benchmark Shanghai contract plunged by its 5 percent limit to 36,070 yuan ($5,278), a three-year low.

By 0335 GMT LME copper traded at $4,370.

"There are no bulls in the market any more. The overall atmosphere is very bearish," said Li Rong, an analyst at Great Wall Futures.

"There are uncertainties in the fundamentals. If prices keep falling like this, many producers will be forced to shut down." Miners say China is the key to metals' fortunes, but growth in the country -- the world's biggest consumer of copper and a host of other other commodities -- is slowing, with data this week showing soft industrial production and a fall in GDP growth to 9 percent in the third quarter from above 10 percent.

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