China’s May copper imports rose 4.4% from the same month a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, as overseas purchases became profitable for Chinese traders and with some COVID lockdowns beginning to lift.
China imported 465,495 tonnes of unwrought copper and products last month, up from 445,725 tonnes a year ago, and slightly higher than the 465,330 tonnes in April, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.
The slight rise in imports came even after outbreaks of the coronavirus prompted lockdowns for the last two months in Shanghai, China’s biggest city and business hub, as well as the northeastern Jilin province, bringing major disruption to the world’s No.2 economy.
Restrictions aimed at bringing the disease outbreaks under control started to ease from the middle of May, however, allowing for some stock from LME warehouses to be delivered to China, said He Tianyu, China copper analyst at consultancy CRU.
“The arbitrage window that reopened in May supports the import increase,” he said.
Imports of copper concentrate, or partially processed copper ore, rose to a record 2.19 million tonnes in May, according to the customs data.
Meanwhile, China exported 676,605 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and products last month, the data also showed, the highest volume in at least nine years.
