Metals haven’t crashed this hard since the great recession

Even so, the magnitude of the accelerating selloff in copper and other industrial metals suggests that investors are betting on much steeper declines in demand in the coming weeks.

LONDON: Industrial metals are on track for the worst quarter since the 2008 financial crisis as prices are pummelled by recession worries.

Copper, the great economic bellwether, has ricocheted into a bear market from a record four months ago, while tin just tumbled 21% in its worst week since a 1980s crisis froze trading for four years.