Metal stockpile selloff unlikely

Chinese investors holding metal inventories are unlikely to sell them quickly because of adequate levels of cash on hand, a senior executive at Sucden Financial Ltd said yesterday.

The downside risk to metals prices is limited due to high liquidity, Jeremy Goldwyn, who oversees business development in Asia for London-based Sucden, said in an interview at a Hong Kong conference. Copper prices may rise to record levels sometime next year, said Goldwyn.

Inventories of copper at warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange are more than five times the level at the beginning of the year after 4 trillion yuan in stimulus spending and State stockpiling boosted imports to a record. Prices in London have more than doubled this year on record Chinese imports.