The future may be bright and electric but copper and the rest of the LME metals are currently caught in an old-fashioned industrial downturn. Such "green" investment appears to be acting as a major offset to the downturn in the traditional metals demand driver that is the commercial property market. MIXED SIGNALSThe energy transition and the resulting booster to metals demand was the core talking-point at this year's collective LME Week discussions. Yet the LME metals have not yet escaped the gravitational pull of the traditional industry cycle. But most visitors to LME Week will have returned home braced for more short-term price weakness.

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Persons: Ruben Sprich, Max Layton, Tin, Jeremy Pearce, Jorge Vazquez, Jim Lennon, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, Metal Exchange, Citi, International Tin Association, HIT, Study, GREEN, Groups, European Union, Producers, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Thoerishaus, Bern, London, Macquarie, China, Europe, North America, Indonesia, GREEN CHINA, China . China, United States