China's Copper Imports in April down 8.25% From March
By Interfax-China
25 May 2007 at 09:14 AM GMT-04:00
resourceinvestor.com
SHANGHAI (Interfax-China) -- China's Customs General Administration today released statistics of base metal imports and exports during the first four months of the year.
Refined copper imports in the first four months of the year totalled 669,697 tonnes, ballooning 141.7% from same period last year. Imports in April soared 161.5% from the same month last year to 186,212 tonnes, but fell 8.25% from March's level of 202,955 tonnes.
Refined zinc exports in April were 13,121 tonnes, representing a fall of 31.0% from the same month last year and a 60.97% decline from the previous month due to the 5% export tax levied on refined zinc effective last November as well as stronger domestic prices than on the London Metal Exchange.
Imports of refined zinc jumped 54.1% year-on-year to 19,679 tonnes in April. China became a net importer of refined zinc in April after it maintained net export status for nearly six months since October last year.
Imports of primary aluminium in the first four months plummeted 45.4% from same period last year to 53,856 tonnes. Imports of primary aluminium in April totalled 5,803 tonnes, plunging 83.5% when compared to the same month a year earlier.
Exports of primary aluminium amounted to 74,087 tonnes in the first four months, down 73.6% from the same period of last year.
The downward trend of aluminium exports were the result of China's restraining policy that lifted aluminium export taxes to 15% from 5% starting Nov. 1 last year.
Copper futures fell again on Friday on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) after copper dropped below the $7,000 per tonne level for the first time since the beginning of April on the London Metal Exchange overnight on concerns of China's rising inventory.
"International investors might have worried that SHFE's copper inventory would rise again this week by a few thousand tonnes, and it appears they were wrong," analyst Xiao Jing at Shouchuang Futures said.
The SHFE's copper inventory dropped 529 tonnes to 99,027 tonnes this week after straight two straight weeks of gains.
"Copper prices might rally next week after seeing this promising data and come back to a range between $7,200 to $7,500 on the LME," said Xiao.
Aluminum futures ended modestly down in Shanghai on Friday amid a relatively tight market. The SHFE reported this week's aluminum stockpiles were down 3,311 tonnes to 29,284 tonnes over the week.
There is market expectation that the Chinese government will reduce the export tax rebate on some aluminum products from current levels of between 8% and 15% to between 0% and 13% in early June, after April aluminium-product exports set a record high.
Zinc Futures ended down on spillover weakness from the poor performance of the base metal market. The most traded July contracts dropped RMB 560 ($73.18) to close at RMB 29,800 ($3,894.15) per tonne.
Zinc stockpile increased by 2,095 tons to 40,249 tons for the week.
LME zinc prices dropped $110 to $3,540 per tonne overnight.
© Interfax-China 2007.
This article comes from Interfax China Commodities Daily, a daily digest produced by Interfax News Agency in Mainland China. To receive 10 free copies of this, please e-mail david.harman@interfax-news.com. |
