Total copper imports to China increased by 62.3pc in September from a year earlier, and by 8.1pc from a month earlier, on the heels of recovered demand.
According to media reports, despite the closure of an arbitrage window, which made copper products more expensive, imports reached their second-highest mark this year. In September, unwrought copper and related product imports to China accounted for 722,450mt, declining from the yearly high of 762,210mt reached in July.
China’s demand for copper in construction and heavy industry has kept recovering, driving imports in line with its strategy to build stockpiles for consumption. In the January-September period, these imports increased by 41pc to 4.99mn mt. For reference, China imported 4.98mn mt of copper products in all of 2019.