As supplies tighten and local stockpiles dwindle imports of copper by China rose for the first time in three months. The county had imported 280,009 metric tons of copper in June which was a 10% increase from the 254,738 metric tons they imported in the month of May.
This is still about 15% lower than the 328,231 metric tons that China imported in the same month a year earlier. The data was generated by the General Administration of Customs and made public on Sunday. China also imported 64,491 tonnes of unwrought aluminum in June which was lower than the 74,880 tonnes they imported in the month earlier.
The increased copper purchases from China in the last three to four weeks can be traced to the stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange falling from the year’s high of 177,356 tons to 89,498 tons.
Thanks to the increased demand for copper which was boosted by the disruption of supply chains in Chile and Indonesia the prices for the red metal have gone up to a three month high in London. Wang Mingyi, an analyst at Galaxy Futures Co. said that starting from late May, we’ve seen positive arbitrage for most of the time. As transportation takes one to two months, arrivals in July should be even higher.