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AGgressive Metal
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 Posted - 06/14/2010 : 17:15:27
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Bloomberg
China Copper, Product Imports Drop for Second Month (Update2)
June 10, 2010, 12:29 AM EDT
More From Businessweek
By Glenys Sim
June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Copper imports by China, the largest consumer, declined for a second month in May amid ample domestic supplies and on prospects of weakening seasonal demand.
Shipments of copper and products were 396,712 metric tons in May, the customs office said today. That’s 9.1 percent below April’s 436,350 tons and 6.1 percent less than 422,670 tons a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Copper stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped in May from the highest level since at least 2003, losing 17 percent to 157,698 tons. Still, that’s about 60 percent more than at the start of the year. Copper is used to make wires and pipes for construction and manufacturing.
“Imports are moderating but still considered high,” Wen Jinghai, an analyst at Bohai Futures Co., said from Dalian. “This will add to the oversupply and may pressure prices lower, especially now that we’re in the weak-demand period.”
Copper on the London Metal Exchange dropped to $6,037,50 a ton on June 7, the lowest level since October 2009, on concern that the global economic recovery may be stalled by Europe’s burgeoning debt crisis. The three-month contract traded at $6,297 a ton at 11:59 a.m. in Shanghai after losing 0.7 percent.
China also imported 330,000 tons of scrap copper in May, the Beijing-based customs said, compared with 371,705 tons in April and 328,265 tons a year earlier. The 6.6 percent drop in London Metal Exchange prices last month damped demand for scrap, said Pang Ying, an analyst at Shenzhen Rongtuo Trading Co.
In the first five months of the year, imports of the metal and its products rose 8.2 percent to 1.9 million tons compared with a year earlier, according to customs data. Scrap imports from January to May gained 15 percent to 1.68 million tons.
Slower Demand
“Overall imports may continue to decline in the next two months as demand slows and the market remains well-supplied as stockpiles at bonded warehouses stay elevated,” said Pang. Traders store shipments in a bonded zone before duties are paid.
“Consumption so far this year has been strong and barring any major shocks, we should see some support coming back to the market when demand picks up again in August,” said Pang.
Imports of aluminum and the metal’s products were 94,487 tons last month, the figures show, compared with 93,340 tons a month earlier and 331,740 tons in May 2009. Exports of the metal were 73,895 tons last month, compared with 48,546 tons in April and 258 tons May 2009.
--Editors: Jake Lloyd-Smith, Matt Oakley
To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
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And he that hath lyberte ought to kepe hit wel / For nothyng is better than lyberte / For lyberte shold not be wel sold for alle the gold and syluer of all the world.
-Caxton's edition of Aesop's Fables, 1484 |
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Chinese Copper imports drop again
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