The copper prices sank below $9,000 a ton on Thursday for the first time since October and most other industrial metals declined as traders worried that a slowing world economy would require less metal.
In a scenario of accelerating inflation and rising interest rates, fears of growth also made the stock markets touch a minimum of a year and a half.
The dollar, meanwhile, reached a new maximum of 20 years against a basket of six major currencies, making metals priced in the greenback more expensive for buyers with other currencies.
The reference copper in the London Metal Exchange (LME) It fell 3% to $9,062.50 a tonne, after falling as low as $8,938. Prices are down 17% from the all-time high of $10,845 in March.
LME tin slumped 6.6% to $33,410 a tonne.
“Demand hopes have given way to demand concerns,” said Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank.
Covid lockdowns in top metals consumer China, the war in Ukraine and aggressive rate hikes are hurting the outlook for the economy and demand for metals, it said.
Copper prices could drop to $8,500 per tonne within the next three months, Citi analysts said.
Among other base metals, aluminum on the LME fell 0.1% to $2,776.50 a tonne; zinc fell 3.5% to $3,542; Nickel was up 0.3% at $27,890; and lead declined 1.6% to $2,085.