Market talks: China may ban imports of copper ore from Australia?

SHANGHAI, Nov 2 (SMM)—China may impose fresh bans on imports of Australian products. Imports of copper ore and concentrate from Australia are expected to be prohibited from this week, while timber from Queensland, barley and coal will also be  affected, according to regional media reports and market rumours. 

However, SMM learned from domestic copper smelters and copper concentrate importers that they have not received notices on the "ban", and they doubted the ban given domestic copper mines high dependence on seaborne copper concentrate.

Data showed that China imported a total of 1.05 million mt of copper concentrate from Australia in 2019, accounting for 4.78% of its total copper concentrate imports, and 696,000 mt in the first nine months of 2020, accounting for 4.25%.