Copper fell to a two-week low as the European Union cut its growth forecast for next year by more than half amid the struggle to contain the debt crisis.

Gross domestic product may expand 1.5 percent this year and 0.5 percent in 2012, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said today. That’s down from projected expansion at 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. Copper also dropped as China’s exports climbed at the slowest pace in almost two years, signaling cooling growth.

“For now, everyone is looking for the next problem,” Dan Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said in a telephone interview. “The story for commodities over the medium term and long term is still a good one, but we’re going to see a few more weeks, or maybe months, of continued volatility.”

Copper futures for December delivery dropped 1.9 percent to close at $3.374 a pound at 1:17 p.m. on the Comex in New York, after touching $3.318, the lowest since Oct. 24. Prices have dropped 6 percent since Nov. 3, the longest slump since Oct. 4.

“The metals markets remain driven by broader economic and sovereign-debt concerns,” Robin Bhar, an analyst at Credit Agricole, said today in an e-mailed report. “Constructive fundamentals have been sidelined by a renewed intensification of funding stress in money markets.”

On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell 2 percent to $7,469.50 a metric ton ($3.39 a pound.)

Tin, zinc and lead fell in London. Aluminum and nickel rose.