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Copper futures in New York were lower at the open on Tuesday, reversing the prior session's strength, as concerns over demand growth from the world's largest copper consumer weighed on sentiment, sources said.

"Chinese demand this year has not been what it was the last couple of years. The Chinese would rather tap into domestic stockpiles ... it's a little too price-sensitive for them to come into the market right now and buy," said one copper broker at a New York trading house.

By 10:28 a.m. EDT (1428 GMT), copper for December delivery was down 3.50 cents at $3.3780 a lb. on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, near the lower half of its $3.3625 to $3.4325 trading band.

Spot October fell 4.65 cents to its morning low at $3.36.

Trading continued to be on the light side due to this week's London Metal Exchange Dinner Week, with COMEX volume at 10 a.m. estimated at a mere 3,000 lots.

The annual convention is attended by producers, consumers, traders, and analysts, who get together to discuss trends in the market.

China, which accounts for nearly 20 percent of global demand for the red metal, imported 34.5 percent less refined copper in August than in the same month a year ago. For the first eight months of the year, total import volume fell 42.3 percent to 526,846 tonnes, while Chinese output in the same period was up 23 percent at 1.9 million tonnes.

However, with expectations of declining prices in 2007, the price-sensitive Chinese may reenter the market in 2007, after taking a breather this year, analysts said.

Meanwhile, Chinese scrap copper demand promises to increase in the fourth quarter as fabricators favor quality scrap over expensive refined copper, traders said.

In currencies, the dollar charged to a three-month high of $1.2523 per euro on Tuesday on expectations the U.S. economy might be in better shape than previously thought.

London Metal Exchange warehouse stocks rose 325 tonnes to 114,025 tonnes on Tuesday, while COMEX stocks fell 394 short tons to 21,198 tons on Monday.

On the fundamental front, workers at Chile's Andina copper division, owned by mining giant Codelco, agreed to a new three-year contract that includes a 3 percent wage increase and two bonus payments worth about $12,000.
LME three-months copper traded at $7,420 a tonne, down $30 from Monday's kerb close.