Update -China March refined copper imports at record
22/04/2009 - 03:34
euroinvestor.co.uk
(Adds details and comment)
By Polly Yam
HONG KONG, April 22 (Reuters) - China's imports of refined copper rose 9.6 percent from the previous month to a record in March, on state and private stockpiling and as a replacement for shrinking scrap supplies.
China, the world's top copper consumer, imported 296,843 tonnes of refined copper in March, up 137.6 percent on the year, Customs figures showed on Wednesday.
This is the second consecutive month of record imports, although was still short of expectations for around 320,000 tonnes.
"Price gaps in March were high, attracting arbitrage imports," said Zhu Yanzhong, analyst at Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of top Chinese producer Jiangxi Copper, referring to the gap between domestic and imported prices.
He added the State Reserves Bureau had also imported copper for a reserve-building plan and merchants had built stocks on expected higher prices.
The SRB may have imported around 100,000 tonnes of refined copper cathode in March, trading sources estimated.
Judy Zhu, commodity analyst at Standard Chartered Bank (China) Limited, said the state body's imports might have reached 300,000-350,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year.
Fabricators had increased buying of refined copper to replace scrap, where supply has fallen.
All these factors would keep refined copper imports at the March level in April, Zhu at Jinrui said.
The country, also the world's top consumer of aluminium, imported 85,965 tonnes of primary aluminium in March, equivalent to more than 70 percent of China's total imports in 2008.
Imports surged 1,486.5 percent on the year and 579.5 percent from the previous month.
Chinese prices have risen 10 percent this year after the SRB bought 590,000 tonnes of primary aluminium since December, opening the door for arbitrage imports as international prices fell by 5 percent, traders said.
China is the world's top producer of lead and zinc but its imports of the two metals rose in March due to strong domestic prices and merchant stockpiling, traders said.
Imports of refined zinc and refined lead reached 121,027 tonnes and 25,370 tonnes, respectively, in March, the highest at least since 2005.
Href="QuoteRef">PB-CNIMP
Href="QuoteRef">ZN-CNREFIMP .
China's imports of nickel rose 28.7 percent on the year to 12,620 tonnes in March, down from February's 12,690 tonnes and much lower than the 20,000 tonnes level that had expected by traders.
For imports and exports of base metals in March, please see table ID:nSHA126116 .
(Additional reporting by Tom Miles in BEIJING; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
((polly.yam@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6933; Reuters Messaging: polly.yam.reuters.com@reuters.net)) |
