China’s unwrought copper imports rise in March

Unwrought copper imports into China increased 13 percent in March compared with the previous year, Reuters reports, citing China’s customs data. The imports were needed to address reduced scrap supply in the country as a result of lockdowns related to COVID-19, the disease associated with the novel coronavirus. China has begun to ease its lockdowns, and factories have resumed production as a result.

Citing figures from the General Administration of Customs, Reuters reports that imports of unwrought copper, including anode, refined and semifinished copper products, totaled 441,926 metric tons in March. Imports increased 9.1 percent year over year in the first quarter to 1.29 million metric tons.

Helen Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Argonaut Securities, tells Reuters the increase in imports was a combination of “shortages of scrap and demand coming back.”

Reuters says traders point to slower scrap collection in the country because of low prices and lockdown measures.

The country’s manufacturing sector contracted to a record low in February because of COVID-19, Reuters reports, and the continued spread of the disease globally is expected to continue pressuring the Chinese economy. China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 35.7 in February from 50 in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. A figure below the 50-point mark signifies contraction.

The Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI, which is thought by some to be more reliable than government figures, was 40.3 in February, having fallen from 51.1 in January. The February reading was the lowest PMI reading since the survey began in April 2004.

China’s February imports of copper concentrate, used to produce refined copper, were the lowest since September at 1.78 million metric tons, Reuters reports, as smelters reduced operating rates. That figure increased 0.7 percent year over year in March, though the quarterly imports were 0.5 percent lower than in the first three months of 2019.

However, the supply of copper concentrates is threatened as mines in South America close as a safeguard against the spread of COVID-19, Lau tells the news service.