* Spread of coronavirus: tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7
    * Discount for cash over 3-month copper highest since Jan.
    * Discount for cash over 3-month aluminium near 5-year high

 
    LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Copper prices hit a four-week
high on Tuesday, boosted by coronavirus-linked supply
disruptions and expectations of stronger demand, although worry
that optimism was premature capped gains.
    Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was up
2.7% at $5,154 a tonne at 1056 GMT. Prices of the metal used by
investors as gauge of economic health touched $5,200 earlier,
the highest since March 17.
    "Some people are convinced things are improving and are
positioning accordingly, but a "V" shaped recovery could turn
out to be an illusion," said Peter Fertig, analyst at
Quantitative Commodity Research.
    "China is starting up, but we are far from normalisation,
price gains could be getting ahead of economic reality."
    
    DEMAND: China is the world's largest consumer of copper and
other industrial metals. Markets were cheered last week by a
survey of purchasing managers showing factory activity expanding
in March after plunging in February.             
    But analysts say the survey does not quantify the strength
of the bounce and that industrial production - highly correlated
with metals demand - is unlikely to return soon to levels seen
before the coronavirus outbreak.
    POLL: That idea is reflected in a Reuters survey showing 
China's economy is expected to grow only 2.5% this year, the
slowest annual pace in nearly half a century and a sharp drop
from 6.1% last year.             
    DISRUPTIONS: Peru's Antamina copper mine, controlled by BHP
         and Glencore, said it would halt all
operations for at least two weeks, while miner Freeport-McMoRan
        said it was conducting limited operations at the Cerro
Verde copper mine, also in Peru.                          
    "As Peruvian copper mines joined the rest of the world to
suspend production, the supply risks have strengthened," said
analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities in a note, adding
around a third of China's feedstock for smelting activities is
imported.
    IMPORTS: China's unwrought copper imports in March rose 13%
from a year ago as dwindling scrap supply increased demand for
other forms of the metal and factories restarted.             
    SPREADS: However, expectations of nearby surpluses can be
seen in the discount for cash over the three-month copper
MCU0-3 at three-month highs of $29 a tonne from levels near $3
a tonne on March 24.
    Expectations of large surpluses also pushed the discount for
the cash over the three-month aluminium contract to $40 a tonne
last week, the highest since June 2015.
    Three-month aluminium was up 0.8% at $1,491 a tonne.
    OTHER METALS: Zinc gained 0.9% to $1,919, lead
        slipped 0.8% to $1,708, tin added 2.4% to
$15,320 and nickel climbed 1.3% to $11,825 a tonne.