China’s imports of unwrought copper and semifinished copper products rose by 5.9pc in November as compared to the same period last year .
The imports come on a rise in manufacturing activity and a shortage of raw material driven by import restrictions.
China imported 483,000mt of unwrought copper and copper products in November, up from 456,000mt in November 2018, according to preliminary data released by the country’s General Administration of Customs on Sunday.
Imports of unwrought copper and copper products from January to November 2019, however, went down by 8.5pc from 4.56mn mt in the same period last year, to 4.45mn mt.
China’s imports of copper ores and concentrates also went up by 27pc, or 0.46mn mt in November, from the same period the prior year, when the country imported 1.7mn mt of primary copper raw material.
Imports of copper ores and concentrates from January to November 2019 were up by 10.2pc or 1.87mn mt from same period prior year, reaching 20.11mn mt.
The increase in copper ore, concentrate and semi-finished products import into China is a result of a shortage of copper scrap being felt by the largest importer of secondary copper raw material. This is because of import restrictions by China’s environment ministry in July this year.
China’s Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Bureau permitted imports of 452,559mt of copper scrap into China in the third quarter ending September, and 108,103mt in the fourth quarter.
China’s copper producers have resorted to importing semi-finished products as raw materials to prevent a drop in production utilisation capacity and to meet demand for copper products.