Copper company shares getting hammered; some down as much as a third

Three-month contracts for the red metal fell to a one-month low Wednesday to $7,168 a tonne in intra-day trade in London and extended its losses in New York where it was trading at $3.27 a pound, its lowest level since October 25 and down 30% from its 2011 high of $4.61 set in February.

The price of the metal, which is used in power, telecom and construction and is seen as a barometer of economic growth, has come under pressure due to investor worries about the outlook for demand after factory growth in top consumer China slowed in November, a poor bond sale in Germany intensified concerns about the euro zone debt crisis, and US efforts to tackle its budget flounders, Reuters reported.

The news is not all bad, however.

Paragon Financial reports that the International International Copper Study Group expects world apparent refined copper usage in 2012 to grow by 3.6%, mainly supported by a growth of 6% in China as the rest of the world is expected to grow by only 2%.

Codelco, the world’s biggest copper producer, said on Friday it produced 1.25 million tonnes of copper in the 9 months to September, up 3.5% from the same period last year. The state-run miner said pre-tax profits rose 37% during the January-September period from a year earlier to $5.3 billion.

Codelco is having one of its best production years ever, and will beat its 1.7 million tonne output target for 2011, Chairman Gerardo Jofre told Reuters on Wednesday.