| From reuters.com: The European construction boom, led by countries such as Spain and the United Kingdom, has come to a halt dampening demand for industrial metals, physical metals traders said on Wednesday.
Traditionally demand for industrial metals is soft during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but a sluggish housing market has exaggerated the slowdown in demand.
"Italy and Spain are suffering ... and they have consumed a lot of copper so it is very noticeable," a European copper trader told Reuters.
"In Spain orders are down between 20-25 percent."
Permits issued for building new houses in Spain plummeted 57 percent for the year to May from a year earlier, the College of Architects said on Tuesday......Full Article Source |