Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Copper futures in New York rose for a sixth straight session as demand in the U.S. and China, the world's biggest consumers of the metal, outpaced supply.

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, said revenue in the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 49 percent from a year earlier as sales to China more than doubled and demand rose in the U.S., Japan and Europe. Copper prices have climbed 78 percent in the past year as increased purchases sent inventories monitored by the London Metal Exchange to a five-year low.

``Six months ago, we discussed whether the U.S. was actually in a recovery or not,'' BHP Chief Executive Officer Chip Goodyear said on a conference call. ``There is no doubt that it is in a recovery.''

Copper for March delivery rose 2.8 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $1.3295 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices yesterday reached $1.3595, the highest price for a most-active contract since November 1995.

On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months rose $100 to $2,890 a metric ton ($1.31 a pound).

BHP, which owns Escondida in Chile, the world's biggest copper mine, said its copper concentrate production in the second half of 2003 rose 8.6 percent from a year earlier. The U.S. economy may grow as much as 5 percent this year, the strongest pace since 1984, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said last week.

Wolverine Tube

Huntsville, Alabama-based Wolverine Tube Inc., which makes copper pipes for use in construction and appliances, said today that its shipments rose 11 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

``In the second half of the fourth quarter, we began to see tangible improvement in demand across all our product segments,'' Wolverine Chief Executive Officer Dennis Horowitz said in a statement.

Wolverine had a $4 million loss in the fourth quarter from copper contracts used to protect the value of inventory against falling prices, Chief Financial Officer James Deason said in an interview. In December, copper prices rose 14 percent.

Wolverine plans to keep hedging, using a bank rather than an exchange, to protect against falling prices, Deason said. He would not give the bank's name.

``In our opinion, it would not be wise to discontinue the hedge with prices where they are,'' Deason said.

World copper supply fell short of demand by 421,000 metric tons in the first 11 months last year, compared with a surplus of 75,000 tons in the same period a year earlier, the International Copper Study Group said in a Feb. 10 report.

Stockpiles at LME-monitored warehouses dropped 1.4 percent to 308,750 metric tons, the lowest since September 1998, the exchange said in a daily report. Copper inventories stored in warehouses monitored by the LME, the Comex and the Shanghai Futures Exchange have tumbled 40 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in New York at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 19, 2004 14:04 EST