Copper prices fell from record levels, amid indications that the slowdown in Chinese demand as winter approaches could ease the severity of a looming crisis in global supplies. The industrial metal was trading at about $11,160 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, ending a two-day wave of gains, down about 1.5% from its highest levels ever recorded in the previous session. Copper futures also fell on the US COMEX exchange. The price of copper has been high since the beginning of the year. Jinrui Futures analysts explained in a note that seasonal demand from manufacturers in China, the largest global copper consumer, saw a decline, making additional quantities of the Chinese metal available for export. In another sign of slowing demand for imported copper, the Yangshan premium, which traders pay to import the metal into China, fell to its lowest level since July. Copper, a crucial element in electricity applications and the energy transition, is still around 27% higher this year on the London Metal Exchange, the global benchmark for the price of the metal. See also: Copper hits a record high as fears of supply shortages escalate and traders seek to supply more of the metal to the United States, as prices remain higher than their levels in London amid expectations that Washington will impose tariffs on imports. Pressure on copper supplies A major copper conference, held in Shanghai last week, highlighted the pressure facing supplies amid a jump in annual premiums for cathode purchases. Chinese smelters are also engaged in difficult negotiations with mining companies to set terms for the annual supply of raw materials, in light of the shortage of raw materials after a series of sudden malfunctions in the mines. Some of these supply concerns were eased by Ivanhoe Mines’ announcement on Monday of the start-up of its Kamoa-Kakula copper smelter in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest in Africa, with an annual production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of solid copper. The price of copper fell 0.8% to $11,160 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange as of 11:06 a.m. in Shanghai. The price of aluminum also fell by 0.3%, and the price of zinc also fell.