East China province records fast growth in silver imports
english.peopledaily.com.cn
The booming Jiangsu Province in East China imported 25.5 tons of silver in January, nearly 20-fold increase over the same time of last year.
The imports were valued at 599,000 U.S. dollars, up 27.9 percent, according to local customs.
Of the total silver imports, about 24.3 tons, or 95.5 percent, were bought in processing trade, up 50.7 times. And 24.8 tons, or 97.3 percent, were semi-manufactured products with a purity lower than 99.99 percent, up 20.6 times.
But the import price dived 93.8 percent from the previous year from 380.5 U.S. dollars per kilogram to 23.5 U.S. dollars per kilogram, the source said.
In August 2005, Chinese electronics and electrical equipment manufacturers began to use silver-bearing tin rods, instead of lead-bearing ones, to weld electronic components, in order to meet the EU environmental protection criteria.
The silver content only made up three percent of the imported silver-bearing tin rods, which was much lower than the silver products imported before last August. The reduction in silver content resulted in the decrease in import price, the source said.
With rapid economic growth in China, the country's silver consumption reached 2,300 tons in 2004, or 156 percent more than the level a decade ago.
Source: Xinhua
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