Jul 09, 2012 (Dow Jones) BEIJING--China imported 2.5 million metric tons of copper in the January-to-June period, up 47% compared with a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said Tuesday.

The customs department disclosed the data in a press release preceding the actual publication, due later Tuesday, of more detailed preliminary commodity trade data for the month.

Data in such press releases are generally rounded up or down, making them less accurate than the actual data.