China’s copper imports rise in October for a second month By Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s imports rose in October for a second month, customs data showed on Sunday, as traders took advantage of a brief period of favorable prices to consolidate stocks of the metal.

The General Administration of Customs said that imports of copper ore and products to the world’s main consumer of the metal amounted to 410,541.3 tons last month, up from 40,6015.6 tons in September, but down 33.6% year-on-year.

Imports in the first 10 months of 2021 decreased 21% year on year to 4.43 million tons.

Activity in China’s manufacturing sector, a major source of copper demand, shrank more-than-expected in October amid restrictions on electricity use and persistently high prices for raw materials.

London’s copper rose 6.3% in October, outpacing a nearly 4% rise in Shanghai prices and making the foreign metal more expensive, although a brief expansion in the price differential in late September made imports favourable.

This led to a further decline last month in copper stocks in customs warehouses containing metals that had not been cleared, and now stand at 206,400 tons, the lowest level in records dating back to 2013.

China auctioned another 30,000 tons of copper from its government reserves in October, slightly reducing import demand.

The arrival of copper concentrate, or partially processed copper ore, reached 1,797 million tons in October, customs said, down from 2,111 million tons in September, a six-month peak, but 6.3% more than 1.69 million tons in October 2020.

(Reporting by Moyo Xu and Tom Daly. Edited in Spanish by Javier Lira)