OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2015. London copper drifted on Tuesday as worries over Chinese demand lingered, and as businesses wind down ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays next week.

China's annual consumer inflation hit a five-year low in January, underscoring persistent weakness in the economy after China's trade performance slumped in January. The data adds more pressures on policymakers to support growth.

"I am a bit surprised that copper didn't weaken more given the trade numbers we got over the weekend. It really shows that the (Chinese) economy domestically slowing," said analyst Dominic Schnider of UBS Wealth Management in Hong Kong.

"Maybe that is something yet to come, as the market really comes to understand the fact that the Chinese (slowing) story isn't going to run away."

China's imports tumbled 19.9 percent, far worse than analysts had expected in data released at the weekend.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange eased by 0.1 percent to \\$5,665 a tonne by 0706 GMT, after closing a tad firmer on Monday. Prices are rebounding from 5-1/2 year lows of \\$5,339.50, hit on Jan. 26, but are not expected to gain steam until after Lunar New Year, which starts Feb. 19.

The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended unchanged at 41,320 yuan (\\$6,619) a tonne.

Brent fell below \\$58 a barrel on Tuesday after China's consumer inflation figures, eroding a plank of support for metals.

Copper supply continued to be eroded. BHP Billiton said it had suspended most staff operations at its Olympic Dam copper mine following a fatality on Tuesday.

Chile's massive Collahuasi copper mine will be operating at less than half capacity until at least Friday after the company halted its main grinding mill for maintenance work, sources close to the matter said on Monday.

Across other metals, tin prices climbed 0.7 percent to \\$18,375 a tonne, recovering from 2-1/2 year lows touched the session before following what traders said was chart-based selling during European hours.

"Demand has been OK in relative terms. We have in fact seen a small increase of demand from our regular customers," said a tin trader in Shanghai.