China's Refined Copper Imports up 86% in January
By David Harman
28 Feb 2007 at 08:29 AM GMT-05:00
resourceinvestor.com
SHANGHAI (Interfax-China) -- China's refined copper imports in January surged 86.39% from the same period last year to 131,851 tonnes, the General Administration of Customs said today.
Li Yusheng, an analyst with Antaike, attributed the large increase to a $1,214 per tonne price difference for refined copper on the domestic and international markets, as well as relatively slack imports last year.
The London Metals Exchange refined copper price was $6,230 per tonne yesterday, falling by $60 compared with the previous trading day, while the Shanghai Futures Exchange price was RMB 57,620 ($7,444.44) per tonne, up RMB 220 ($ 28.42).
Copper futures ended down RMB 130 today on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, after China's stock market plunged nearly 9% yesterday and the downtrend on the London Metal Exchange overnight.
"The market believed the tumble of China's stocks might indicate the economy is slowing down, which could weaken speculative demand in the commodity market," said analyst Shai Hai at Tonglian Futures. However, Shi believed the correction might just temporary.
Li predicts the refined copper imports will continue the rising trend if the domestic prices remain higher.
Last year China's refined copper imports were 3.61 million tonnes, down 11% compared with that of 2005, due to higher import costs following surging international copper prices. The increased refined copper output and stockpile release in China triggered a decline in imports as well, Li said.
The General Administration of Customs also released imports and exports statistics on other metals for January 2007.
In other news, China's zinc export surged 558.4% to 71,377 tonnes in January, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs today.
To put this in perspective, Zinc exports amounted to 23.5% of total annual production. Production for 2006 was 3.151 million tonnes, which was higher than forecast. That said, 2007 may see a shortfall as domestic demand increases, therefore January's month-on-month decline in exports may well set the trend for the year.
Lead exports in January stood at 10,700 tons, down 77.21% compared with the same period last year. The General Administration of Customs attributed the decline to an increase in domestic lead smelters.
Henan Lingbao Lingye Co. Ltd., a private lead smelter, started a 100,000 tonne lead smelting project last September. In July, an additional twenty-three small private lead smelters in Lingbao merged to create four larger smelters, each with a smelting capacity of 100,000 tonnes annually.
Lead output for 2006 was 2.735 million tonnes. With demand forecast to increase by 10% in 2007 there will be little room for exports.
© Interfax-China 2007
This article comes from Interfax China Commodities Daily, a daily digest produced by Interfax News Agency in Mainland China. To receive 5 free copies of this, please e-mail david.harman@interfax-news.com. |
