UPDATE 6-Aluminium slips to 5-week low as oil prices fall

* Oil prices drop by more than $4 a barrel

* Lead hits 9-wk high on drop in Chinese exports

* Copper supported by rising Chinese demand

(Recasts, adds details)

By David Sheppard

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Aluminium slipped to a five-week low on Tuesday after a steep drop in oil prices weighed on the energy intensive metal, while lead surged to a 9-week high due to falling Chinese exports.

Aluminium traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) touched a low of $3,004.75 a tonne after oil prices dropped by over $4, before the metal recovered slightly to close at $3,035 from $3,045 on Monday.

Lower oil prices -- used as a proxy for energy in general -- tend to reduce the price of aluminium, as up to 45 percent of aluminium's production costs come from power.

However, the metal used in transport, construction and power has been boosted this year by worries about supplies from China, the world's top producer, where power disruptions have hit smelters.

A Reuters poll of 22 commodity analysts around the world released on Tuesday forecast a global surplus of 148,500 tonnes of aluminium in 2008, dropping from predictions for a 325,000 tonnes surplus in January. [MET/POLL]

China has forecast a power shortfall of 10 gigawatts for the summer, about 1.4 percent of installed capacity, but provinces are forecasting more than triple this. [ID:nPEK98235]

Aluminium has risen by 27 percent since the start of the year, hitting an all-time high of $3,380 a tonne on July 10 after China's 20 largest smelters announced production cuts in a bid to conserve energy.

News that China's exports of primary aluminium fell 30 percent in June and declined 65 percent in the first half of the year would help support prices, traders said. [ID:nPEK281630]

LEAD SOARS

Lead soared by over five percent at one stage, hitting $2,160 a tonne -- the highest level since May 22.

Lead MPB3 closed at $2,140 a tonne from $2,050 on Monday, with news Chinese exports of refined lead dropped 96 percent in June and fell 80 percent in the first half buoying prices. [ID:nPEK277912]

"Net lead exports to the west from China were at their lowest this decade in June," said Nick Moore, analyst at ABN AMRO. "China is the largest producer and consumer of lead so anything out of there tends to feed in quite quickly."

Falling stocks of lead have helped the battery-material this week. Lead stocks in LME warehouses fell 650 tonnes to 91,375, down about 10 percent since July 9.

"Lead consumption is growing on demand for batteries in both India and China," said Alex Heath, analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "The car industry as a whole, in terms of western producers, is flagging, but people still need new batteries for their old cars."

Copper inched higher on Tuesday as worries about supply shortages resurfaced, though concerns over the strength of Chinese demand capped gains.

Copper MCU3 closed at $8,130 a tonne from $8,120 on Monday, while U.S. copper for September delivery slipped 0.30 cent to $3.6780 by midday in New York.

News that refined copper demand in top consumer China totalled 2.43 million tonnes in the first half, up by 112,257 tonnes from a year earlie influenced sentiment. [ID:nHKG285902]

However, China's consumption growth slowed to an annual rate of 4.8 percent, raising worries that this year's demand growth will be lower than the 7-15 percent many analysts predicted. [NI:nHKG285902] Analysts polled by Reuters in July see the copper market with a 68,000 tonne deficit in 2008, against predictions for a 144,500 tonne surplus from a similar survey in January.

"The copper market remains quite tight and we are forecasting a deficit for this year," said Standard Chartered analyst Daniel Smith.

"However, we think the market could turn with prices coming lower, perhaps in the fourth quarter or even earlier as Chinese imports of copper have been quite low."

Zinc MZN3 closed at $1,845 a tonne from $1,865, nickel MNI3 eased to $20,500 from $20,550 and tin MSN3 was at $23,450 from Monday's last quote of $23,500/23,600. Metal Prices at 1632 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2007 Ytd Pct

move LME Cu 8115.00 -5.00 -0.06 6670.00 21.66 SHFE Cu* 62530.00 280.00 +0.45 56880.00 9.93 LME Alum 3025.00 -20.00 -0.66 2403.00 25.88 SHFE Alu* 19250.00 125.00 +0.65 18180.00 5.89 COMEX Cu** 372.35 1.35 +0.36 303.05 22.87 LME Zinc 1835.00 -30.00 -1.61 2370.00 -22.57 SHFE Zinc* 15350.00 85.00 +0.56 18950.00 -19.00 LME Nick 20400.00 -150.00 -0.73 26350.00 -22.58 LME Lead 2125.00 75.00 +3.66 2550.00 -16.67 LME Tin 23400.00 -25.00 -0.11 16400.00 42.68 ** 1st contract month for COMEX copper * 3rd contact month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07 (Reporting by David Sheppard; Editing by xxxx)