The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, May 25, edition that copper fell below $8,000 (U.S.) a ton for the first time in six months as investors cool on the prospects for a robust economic recovery in China this year. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that the price of copper is down 7 per cent this month in the face of disappointing economic data from the world's top consumer. Poor domestic demand has seen Chinese smelters ramp up exports, helping replenish exchange inventories. Now, speculators are building bearish bets, marking a rapid turnaround in sentiment since the first quarter, when Trafigura Group and Goldman Sachs Group were calling for copper to hit an all-time high within a year. While the green-energy transition remains supportive of the long-term outlook for the bellwether metal, concerns about China are currently dominating the market. Unlike in previous slowdowns, Beijing is depriving metals of a safety net by not deploying any big-ticket spending on infrastructure or property. "Metals markets have faced significant pressures after the disappointing April macro data from China, which have acted as a wake-up call to the weak reality on the ground," Citigroup said in a note.