Problems at their Grasberg mine led Freeport-McMoRan ^[1] to reduce its production output, which further fueled supply concerns and led to copper's 7-1/2 month low rebounding.  China's import data remains unclear.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N: Quote ^[2], Profile ^[3], Research ^[4], Stock Buzz ^[5]) said on Wednesday it is lowering its 2008 copper and gold production outlook, due to an incident at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia.

Read the article here ^[6].

LME ^[7]'s increased stocks also raise concerns about supply issues.

LME copper prices have slumped about 20 percent since their
record high in July of $8,940 a tonne, fuelled by the heavy
flows of material into LME warehouses which brought total copper stocks to around 203,900 tonnes — the highest since March 2007.

Find the complete article here ^[6].

China's August figures were down although late buying is expected to materialize this month and the figures from September and October will be most critical.