Mar.10 (Bloomberg) --China will have a copper supply deficit of 2.44 million metric tons this year, widening from 2010, the Ministry of Commerce said.

Refined copper imports are expected to remain at a “relatively high level” in 2011, the ministry’s Foreign Trade Department said in a report dated March 7. The report did not specify an exact figure for imports this year or give a comparison for the deficit in 2010.

An additional 920,000 tons of lead-smelting capacity will come onstream in 2011, resulting in an even tighter lead ore market, and higher imports, the report said. The ministry also forecast the nation’s stainless steel output to grow 5 percent to near 12 million tons.

In other metals, tin consumption rose 11 percent to 147,000 tons in 2010, as demand for the soldering material from the electronics sector surged, according to the report.