londonbengaluru july 27 reuters  analysts have pared price forecasts for copper and other industrial metals as supply expands while demand in top metals consumer china remains muted a reuters poll showed copper prices have been rangebound in recent months after a january slide from their highest in more than seven months and a may rebound from a slump below 8000 a metric ton upbeat sentiment on the postpandemic reopening of china propelled gains early in the year but investors later dumped industrial metals after tepid economic progress by the worlds secondbiggest economy copper is heading into a soft patch as mine supplies ramp up chinese demand is not strong enough yet to stop prices from falling back said dan smith head of research at amalgamated metal trading for the first five months of the year the global market was in a surplus of 287000 metric tons having been in a 74000 ton deficit in the same period last year the international copper study group said the cash copper contract on the london metal exchange lme is expected to average 8450 a metric ton in the fourth quarter a median forecast of 26 analysts showed that is 7 weaker than the forecast in the previous quarterly poll and 15 down from wednesdays closing price of 857725 analysts forecast a copper surplus this year of 111000 metric tons with oversupply rising to 188000 tons next year prices for aluminium were supported early in the year by cuts to output in chinas southwestern yunnan province after reduced hydropower capacity triggered curbs on power usage helping to lift prices to a sevenmonth peak in january however the power curbs have now been relaxed and smelters in yunnan have begun to ramp up production an analyst who visited the region told reuters this month resuming output in yunnan province during this summer will definitely put pressure on the aluminium price said independent analyst goran djukanovic lme cash aluminium is expected to average 2308 a metric ton in the fourth quarter down 8 from the previous polls forecast analysts expect a market deficit this year of 191750 metric tons dropping to 66000 tons in 2024 nickel prices meanwhile have registered the heaviest losses among lme metals this year sliding 27 largely because of rising output in top producer indonesia the asian country mainly produces nickel pig iron npi which has lower nickel content than refined nickel but chinese companies in indonesia are converting npi furnaces to produce highergrade metal against the backdrop of continued robust indonesian production which should to some extent also translate into higher class 1 nickel supply we do see downside potential for the nickel price said thu lan nguyen at commerzbank the main use for nickel is in stainless steel but the metals biggest growth area is for electric vehicle batteries analysts expect lme cash nickel prices to average 20000 a metric ton in the fourth quarter down 11 from the previous poll they expect the global nickel market to show a surplus of 199000 metric tons this year and 150000 tons in 2024