After falling by almost 20 percent earlier this year, copper prices have rallied over the past two months, helped by an uptick in Chinese economic activity. However, analysts warn the rebound may be short-lived.
"Copper still looks like a market moving into oversupply," David Wilson, director of metals research and strategy at Citi, told CNBC on Wednesday.
"We've had very good supply growth so far this year. For the major miners, production numbers are up around 8-to-9 percent, which is far higher than we thought and we've seen significantly fewer losses on the supply side than we'd usually statistically allow for."
Copper prices have rallied to $7,238/t (per ton) in recent weeks, helped by an upturn in both Chinese demand and business activity in developed markets. This comes after a rout earlier this year saw prices drop from $8,305/t in mid-February to $6,600/t in June. Nonetheless, copper prices are far off their 2011 highs, when the metal hit $10,000/t.